topic Re: Paid Off Entire CC DEBT in General Credit Topics

Paid Off Entire CC DEBT

dtran14 — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 03:09:22 GMT

In the past 3 months I paid off $6K of my 10K total revolving CC limit. I am now at $0 in debt, my score's across all 3 bureaus we're at +70, I am now from the low-mid 600s to the 700-740s which feels great. I am only 20 years of age, will be turning 21 pretty soon, now my question is how do I maintain my FICO score and keep it rising. I currently have 11-12 hard inquiries (lol) as these get removed will my score rise? I have no use for any of my credit cards except I am using 1 mainly for entertainment, 1 for gas, and 1 for groceries. I don't ever want to go over 10% utilization like I did in the past.

Re: Paid Off Entire CC DEBT

gdale6 — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 04:24:20 GMT

@dtran14 wrote:
In the past 3 months I paid off $6K of my 10K total revolving CC limit. I am now at $0 in debt, my score's across all 3 bureaus we're at +70, I am now from the low-mid 600s to the 700-740s which feels great. I am only 20 years of age, will be turning 21 pretty soon, now my question is how do I maintain my FICO score and keep it rising. I currently have 11-12 hard inquiries (lol) as these get removed will my score rise? I have no use for any of my credit cards except I am using 1 mainly for entertainment, 1 for gas, and 1 for groceries. I don't ever want to go over 10% utilization like I did in the past.

Good for you! Let only 1 card report a 10 balance to the CRAs, you dont want 0 as that scores at 30% utilization rate. Fico will rise as you continue to pay your bills on time and your accounts age, you may get a few points as those inquries past the 1 yr point as they dont affect Fico after that.

Re: Paid Off Entire CC DEBT

takeshi74 — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 13:23:38 GMT

@dtran14 wrote:
now my question is how do I maintain my FICO score and keep it rising.

Start here:

http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/whatsinyourscore.aspx

SInce Payment History is the biggest slice do whatever you can to avoid derogs. Make sure you payments are on time.

Utilization (Amounts Owed) is the next biggest slice. General recommendation is to not exceed 30% however, optimal is generally much lower. The suggestion to only allow one balance to report at 10% is less is generally only suggested when applying to eke out as many points as possible but some choose to do this all the time. My spend at limits tend to put me at around 10% so I don't bother. Most of my accounts report balances and I'm happy with my scores so I don't worry over number of balances reporting. That said, you have to find what works for you. You may want to monitor your credit reports and scores to help you determine your specific approach.

Most of the other factors take time and responsbile usage.

If you have not established AmEx membership you might want to consider doing so. In future you can leverage backdating to help with your AAoA (Length of Credit History).

@dtran14 wrote:
I currently have 11-12 hard inquiries (lol) as these get removed will my score rise?

11-12 with each of the 3 CRA's or 11-12 total? Score will probably increase as they age and drop off but how much depends on your credit profile and how the inquiries are impacting your profile. Generally speaking, inquiries have a bigger impact for thinner profiles.

@dtran14 wrote:
I don't ever want to go over 10% utilization like I did in the past.

Again, your call if you want to keep it under 10%. Under 30% is the general recommnedation. You'd have to test the effect of different levels ot utilization to see the impact to your credit.

Re: Paid Off Entire CC DEBT

dtran14 — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 16:18:49 GMT

Thank you for the responses! Extremely helpful information, and to answer your question about hard inquiries, it's 11-12 total. I do want to open a AmEx account but scared I'll get denied with so many hard inquries, is a 710 good enough to get one? And which one should I even apply for? Thanks in advance!

Re: Paid Off Entire CC DEBT

alvon123 — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 20:00:03 GMT

@gdale6 wrote:
@dtran14 wrote:
In the past 3 months I paid off $6K of my 10K total revolving CC limit. I am now at $0 in debt, my score's across all 3 bureaus we're at +70, I am now from the low-mid 600s to the 700-740s which feels great. I am only 20 years of age, will be turning 21 pretty soon, now my question is how do I maintain my FICO score and keep it rising. I currently have 11-12 hard inquiries (lol) as these get removed will my score rise? I have no use for any of my credit cards except I am using 1 mainly for entertainment, 1 for gas, and 1 for groceries. I don't ever want to go over 10% utilization like I did in the past.
Good for you! Let only 1 card report a 10 balance to the CRAs, you dont want 0 as that scores at 30% utilization rate. Fico will rise as you continue to pay your bills on time and your accounts age, you may get a few points as those inquries past the 1 yr point as they dont affect Fico after that.

Re: Paid Off Entire CC DEBT

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 20:20:18 GMT

@dtran14 wrote:
Thank you for the responses! Extremely helpful information, and to answer your question about hard inquiries, it's 11-12 total. I do want to open a AmEx account but scared I'll get denied with so many hard inquries, is a 710 good enough to get one? And which one should I even apply for? Thanks in advance!

I was just approved for an Amex ED and all of my scores are lower than 710. My inquiries are lower at 6 across the bureaus, but most are very recent.

Re: Paid Off Entire CC DEBT

RobertEG — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 22:52:46 GMT

Of your three credit cards, if at least one is a major bank card, I would stop applying, letting inquiries drop and avoiding additon of zero age accounts.

Re: Paid Off Entire CC DEBT

9CLINE — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 23:20:40 GMT

Congrats....

A few mths back I too paid off all debt and can understand how great you feel, I did take about a 3-5pt hit on my scores depending on which bureau due to paying off my only car loan. Even now I get the lack of installment loan tip,but I gained all points & more back once CC's reported 0's except for the 1 I let report about 1-3% each mth. Now I am learning all I can about maintaining and improving upon what I have.

+1 on getting a Amex asap,,, to get that member since date established.....

I have both the Blue Cash Everyday and the Amex EveryDay Preferred which I like very much,,but I am sure others with more experience will weigh in on the pros and cons of more cards.

I am awaiting to see answers you receive too,as you've asked some great questions...

Good Luck...

Re: Paid Off Entire CC DEBT

dtran14 — Thu, 15 Jan 2015 06:37:33 GMT

My CC's are as following; Chase Freedom, Wells Fargo Platinum, Bank Of America Cash Rewards, Barclay Card US, Walmart Store Card, Target Red Card, Help Card, Capital One, Amazon Store Card, and PayPal Credit. According to Credit Karma, I have 12 Credit Inquiries, should I just wait til the end of the year of 2015 to apply for the AmEx or do it within these next few months? I have 700's across all 3 Bureaus and in March or April I am expecting to open up a auto-loan.

The term people are using is "Gardening" which I want to do as well but I really want to get my hands on an AmEx before I start. Should I wait? If so how long... don't want an extra inquriy on my report and get denied.

Re: Paid Off Entire CC DEBT

9CLINE — Thu, 15 Jan 2015 21:05:30 GMT

You could go to Amex site and do that pre selection form or whatever they call it and see what they come up with ,,sorta give ya an idea of what they thinking,but bare in mind these don't mean you are gonna get defininte approval.. there are posts on here about such things concerning the verbage....

Re: Paid Off Entire CC DEBT

jamie123 — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 04:17:16 GMT

@dtran14 wrote:
My CC's are as following; Chase Freedom, Wells Fargo Platinum, Bank Of America Cash Rewards, Barclay Card US, Walmart Store Card, Target Red Card, Help Card, Capital One, Amazon Store Card, and PayPal Credit. According to Credit Karma, I have 12 Credit Inquiries, should I just wait til the end of the year of 2015 to apply for the AmEx or do it within these next few months? I have 700's across all 3 Bureaus and in March or April I am expecting to open up a auto-loan.

The term people are using is "Gardening" which I want to do as well but I really want to get my hands on an AmEx before I start. Should I wait? If so how long... don't want an extra inquriy on my report and get denied.

Wow, you are doing a great job for your age!

My advice to most people is to get 5 to 8 quality credit cards as soon as you can and keep them open for your lifetime and you already have them! It is very important to not close any of your CCs from here on out unless you absolutely have to for some reason. When all these cards are 10 years old you will have stellar scores that will be VERY stable so that when new credit is added like an auto loan, your scores won't drop very much if at all.

I agree that your next step should be an AMEX card. I would suggest waiting to app for the AMEX until you have 6 months distance from your last inquiry and you should easily be approved.

Make sure to set-up auto payments for minimum payments on all your accounts. One missed payment can derail you for quite a while.

You are doing a great job in building your credit!

Re: Paid Off Entire CC DEBT

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 21:02:04 GMT

Pay on time and if you use several cards pay them off

Re: Paid Off Entire CC DEBT

oscar_actuary — Sun, 18 Jan 2015 03:19:01 GMT

I have at least 8 cards reporting each month

I PIF, but I dont mess with beating the statement.

Utilization is < 5%

this manipulating paying off to avoid statement balances except on 1 card is silly, imo

Unless you have high utilization

Re: Paid Off Entire CC DEBT

dtran14 — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 17:08:24 GMT

Just got approved for Amex Premier Gold! Finally apart of the Amex family! Beyond excited. I'm going to pay off all my balance and stick to using my Amex, looking forward to the Chase Saphire once I garden a bit so that can be my carry balance card. ^.^

Re: Paid Off Entire CC DEBT

Uppingmyscore — Sun, 25 Jan 2015 19:39:09 GMT

Welcome to Amex Family and Great Job paying off your debt!!!

Re: Paid Off Entire CC DEBT

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Jan 2015 08:09:36 GMT

Congrats on paying off your balance! You're doing it right.