topic Re: Hey guys (and gals) - Newbie Questions Here! :) in General Credit Topics

Hey guys (and gals) - Newbie Questions Here! :)

Anonymous — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 15:42:51 GMT

So I recently signed up for the myFICO score watch and received my credit report. I have a few questions regarding both the product and future actions:

1. Will Score Watch show an immediate (or close to) change in score when paying off credit card accounts? Or do I need to purchase a new report to see the adjusted score?

2. Almost 2 years ago, I opened a Chase credit card account... since then they have not increased my credit limit on the card even after a request. All of my other credit card limits are $1000+ and my Chase limit is $400. Would it be advisable to close this account? It's my second to newest credit card but with the balance of $400 I don't see it helping much...

Thanks!

Current EQ Score: 682

Re: Hey guys (and gals) - Newbie Questions Here! :)

Anonymous — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 16:25:27 GMT

ScoreWatch is not real time. You will get delayed alerts, and only on "triggers" that scorewatch looks for.

Closing the account will not help you. Closing it will not remove it's age from your AAoA calculation, it will remove the CL from your uti calculations which can only hurt you, or be neutral at best.

Re: Hey guys (and gals) - Newbie Questions Here! :)

marty56 — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:38:40 GMT

These days, closing a CC account that doesn't have an anual fee can serve no good purpose. A 400 CL card handled properly can take you to 800 credit scores and anything you need mortgage and auto loan wise just as good as a 10k one.

Re: Hey guys (and gals) - Newbie Questions Here! :)

Anonymous — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 23:22:16 GMT

Excellent. Thanks for the answers guys. I currently have all my credit cards paid off and carry a $13 total balance between 6. I'm trying to get my score to 700+ prior to applying for a mortgage. My EQ score currently stands at 682 and it's awaiting the last amount of balances to be reduced.

Hopefully within the next month or two I'll edge closer to that goal and can safely apply.

Re: Hey guys (and gals) - Newbie Questions Here! :)

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:25:19 GMT

I set a score alert at 545 when I started working on my reports (June 09), my score jumped to 568 from 540 and I received the alert 10 days later. The reason I know for sure is because I had a collection fall off and I bought my score the same day it fell and score power showed 568. I just received the alert today 10 days later. If you can't wait and you know your credit report had a major change, the best thing to do is to buy another score. I've read of people with even more of a delay.

Re: Hey guys (and gals) - Newbie Questions Here! :)

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 05:35:55 GMT

Six credit cards? 2 should be plenty and one of the two should have a 0 balance on it.Especially if they are not old, your FICO score is probably not over 700 because you have all those cards.

Message Edited by arrgy42 on 08-06-2009 10:35 PM

Re: Hey guys (and gals) - Newbie Questions Here! :)

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 03:01:16 GMT

Well... I actually have 7 total credit cards, but not all from banks (3 from stores). My score this past week actually hit 700 for EQ (715 for TU). So I'm happy and I want to keep it rising

Re: Hey guys (and gals) - Newbie Questions Here! :)

cobaltnv — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:21:48 GMT

Having a large number of cards will not stop one from reaching 700 (or even 800). One of the negatives often reported by myfico is too many accounts, this negative appears to have very little if any weight.

Two credit card would be considered too few by most. The standard rule is that you want fewer then 1/2 of your cards reporting a balance. With two cards you cannot have less than 2 report (it would have to be 0 which will also ding your score).

In my opinion 5 is an ideal number of credit card. Currently I have 7, with 2 being cards I rarely use (Sears and a Bailey Banks and Biddle card).

@Anonymous wrote:
Six credit cards? 2 should be plenty and one of the two should have a 0 balance on it.Especially if they are not old, your FICO score is probably not over 700 because you have all those cards.
Message Edited by arrgy42 on 08-06-2009 10:35 PM

Re: Hey guys (and gals) - Newbie Questions Here! :)

Lel — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:30:13 GMT

cobaltnv wrote:

Having a large number of cards will not stop one from reaching 700 (or even 800). One of the negatives often reported by myfico is too many accounts, this negative appears to have very little if any weight.
Two credit card would be considered too few by most. The standard rule is that you want fewer then 1/2 of your cards reporting a balance. With two cards you cannot have less than 2 report (it would have to be 0 which will also ding your score).

Agreed. My credit reports have 22-24 accounts reporting, depending on the CRA. 13-15 are credit card accounts, of which 10 are open accounts. This has not caused my scores to remain below 700.

Re: Hey guys (and gals) - Newbie Questions Here! :)

cobaltnv — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:38:05 GMT

I have 26-38 accounts reporting on most reports (26 on EQ due to their quick trigger) 11 open. Pretty sure this is not hurting my scores much.