topic Re: Credit increase, time in General Credit Topics

Credit increase, time

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 01:53:10 GMT

i have 10 months credit history. I would like to know what credit score I can expect on near feature.

For example, can I expect 750 Fico on 12 months credit history or this is impossible? What max credit score I can expect on 12, 18, 24 months? 720 or 780??? What's max limits on these time frames? So I guess someone with 5 years credit history can reach more highly credit score than someone with 1 year credit history with other equal factors.

Re: Credit increase, time

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 02:01:22 GMT

What was your max credit score when you had 12/18/24 months credit history?

Re: Credit increase, time

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 03:23:20 GMT

While the age of your credit lines does play into your score there are a lot of other factors such as utilization, late and on time payments, defaults, bankruptcy, credit limits, types of credit lines, ETC. Without the full picture the community wouldnt be able to tell you even a guess. Could you provide a little more info into what your credit profile looks like?

Re: Credit increase, time

Pway — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 03:25:20 GMT

It really depends on how you treat your credit during this time and futher down the line. Applying for too many accounts, inquiries, AAOA and utilization are all key factors. It is really hard to say what kind of score you would have. If you do everything right I can guess that you should be around the 700 range. I'm sure other will chime in as well on their opinion.

Re: Credit increase, time

JagerBombs89 — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 03:57:38 GMT

Just checked my stats from a few years ago and I was at 705 at 30 months credit history, 1yr AAoA, and 10% utilization. Of course, this was on EQ04 and not the EQ08 that is being widely used today.

Out of curiosity, what is your score right now?

Re: Credit increase, time

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 06:42:23 GMT

It depends. I am a little ahead of you with 14 months history since I moved to the US, my score is currently 736. It could have been higher but I decided to open several accounts early so I took a hit on inquiries. I think that is costing me about 20 points. I am on with that because they will age off my report soon.

If you opened two accounts and made payments monthly for a year you might get to 750. For sure 740. But then you would have only two accounts and your next app would hurt.

I decided to open more accounts and as a result took that hit, it will take me until month 15 or so to hit 750 but then I will have a stronger history after that.

I think realistically you need just over a year since you need your initial HP's to age off which they will do one year later. So 12 months is aggressive but by 16 months should be no problem.

Re: Credit increase, time

takeshi74 — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 12:10:07 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
i have 10 months credit history. I would like to know what credit score I can expect on near feature.
For example, can I expect 750 Fico on 12 months credit history or this is impossible? What max credit score I can expect on 12, 18, 24 months? 720 or 780??? What's max limits on these time frames?

It's difficult to give a score or limit for reasons stated above. Limits aren't just a matter of score and can vary by creditor as different creditors will be comfortable extending different amounts of credit even for a given credit profile.

Building/rebuilding is a long, slow process so set realistic expectations. 10 and 12 months are no time at all. Even 18 and 24 months are still very young profiles.

Why are you looking for a 750? Keep in mind that you don't have just one score. For one thing there are a number of different FICO models used by creditors. For another, you typically have a score with each of the 3 major CRA's for most models.

Re: Credit increase, time

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 17:24:45 GMT

I have now 650-680 Fico, 15 accounts, most opened 2-3 months ago. Util 12%.

I had 705 TU Fico month ago and it was my highest score. But few days ago my TU dropped to 650 and now it's my lowest score. I don't understand why it happens.

Re: Credit increase, time

damac2004 — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 17:40:53 GMT

does having open accounts that you don't carry balances on help you when they average the age of all your credit accounts? im in the same boat i guess and have been making purchases on all of them and leaving balances so i can make payments thinking actual payment history would matter.

Re: Credit increase, time

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 17:58:13 GMT

Yes, I think it helps with AAoA. Better open few accounts early than later. But I don't understand why my TU score dropped so.

Re: Credit increase, time

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 20:32:51 GMT

Hi Alex. Remember that you opened a huge number of accounts, probably all of them credit cards, very recently. It could be that half a dozen or more are just starting to hit TU.

Do you have a tool that enables you to check your credit reports (not score, but reports) and to do so frequently? Any time you are puzzled by a score drop you should always be looking at your reports to see if there is anything that looks unexpected. Be sure to look not just at the accounts reporting but all the different fields on each account.

So that's a big idea: always look at credit reports.

Another big idea question: is it clear to you why you opened so many accounts in such a short period of time? That's a good question to ask yourself in life -- why am I doing X? Although it is true that one needs more than just one credit card to eventually get an ultrahigh score, you don't get really any scoring benefit for having more than 3-4 cards.

If you don't see anything unexpected on your TU report (compared to your other two reports), you should just give yourself some time, keeping your head down and always paying in full -- and stop opening credit cards for a good while. Your profile will stabilize and you will get a sense of what your scores actually are and are likely to be.

PS. You have mentioned your scores a few times. What service are you using to get and monitor your scores?

Re: Credit increase, time

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 20:43:08 GMT

Quick note to Damac and Alex:

Both you guys seem interested in what kinds of medium and long range behavior would be good for your credit scores. One thing you should be doing for sure is paying in full (or PIF). This is as opposed to carrying a balance. Allow your cards to report balances, sure. But in the week or two after the statement cuts, be sure to pay it in full.

This is not just wise financial management. PIF-ing classifies you as what is called a transactor, rather than a revolver (which is what people who often carry a balance are called). Transactors are known to be much safer credit risks than revolvers, so you want to establish yourself in your reports as a transactor as soon as you can.

The FICO 8 score does not currently make the T vs. R distinction, but many creditors are using other products that do make that distinction and in the future this will be VERY common. So get started on establishing a history as a transactor now.

Re: Credit increase, time

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 22:10:43 GMT

Hi CreditGuyInDixie,

Thank you for advise. My point is simple - utilization. More cards - more limits - low util and more money that you can spend without hurt your score. I think it's the point for all here.)

About TU - nothing unusuall except inquaries (I have approximetely 20 on each CR). And I have strange inquary from "CREDCO-SCM". ?! Also I have 2 cards with util more 60%. But all util 12%. So maybe this is the issue. But I didn't expect if 2 of 15 cards with util 60-65% can drop my TU score by 60-65 points. But EX and EQ scores doesn't dropping.

Re: Credit increase, time

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 22:35:46 GMT

I understand if I left balance when statement cuts I must pay interest.

If I PIF after statement cuts, bank has money and has interest. So I prefer PIF before statement cuts. Maybe it's not so good for lenders. So obviously scoring models created more for banks and creditors.

Re: Credit increase, time

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 22:44:21 GMT

Hi Alex. Glad you are thinking hard about your credit. Wish you all the best for it.

Wanting to have a very low utilization is very commendable. Good for you! But it's just not a good reason for adding new credit cards. A guy with one card and a total credit limit of $300 can spend as much as he wants/needs and still have a utilization in the range of 1-5%. Now there are definitely good reasons for wanting more than one card. And as a long term goal it certainly is reasonable to eventually plan to have a much bigger CL (e.g. eventually $30,000 rather than $300).

But if somebody is paying in full, then the only real advantage of a big CL is convenience. It does not in itself enable you to have a low utilization that you were not already perfectly capable of obtaining with the much smaller CL. And the big total CL does not give you a better FICO score than the small CL does.

If you are interested in hearing how to have an ultralow utilization while spending whatever you need to, let me know and I'll explain.

PS. I still feel that you will benefit a lot from allowing your credit profile to stabilize in the way I described earlier. It sounds like you have no immediate need to buy a house or a car, so just using your cards naturally, keeping each card at under < 40%, paying in full, and opening no more lines of credit will help you a lot. In 3-4 months things will be stable and you can try zeroing out all cards except one with the remaining card having a small balance. That will give you an idea about where your score is. And then after all these accounts and their associated 20 inquiries are at least 1 year old, you will see again a good deal of improvement.

You have no negative data on your report, right? No lates, collections, etc?

Re: Credit increase, time

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 23:00:06 GMT

No negative, no collections.

But I suspect that inquary from "CREDCO-SCM" could hurt my TU score. Can it be true?

And it's a little frustrating that you can not predict your score. I have 2 unexpected jumps from EQ - 1st down by 50 points and then up the same. It was within recent 2 months. Now drop from TU, I hope EX will be OK. They stable for now.

Re: Credit increase, time

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 23:04:03 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I understand if I left balance when statement cuts I must pay interest.
If I PIF after statement cuts, bank has money and has interest. So I prefer PIF before statement cuts. Maybe it's not so good for lenders. So obviously scoring models created more for banks and creditors.

Nope. You are mistaken. Paying the full amount on your statement after it cuts does not result in you paying any interest to the credit card company.

The way credit card balances work is this. At the end of every billing cycle, your card produces a statement. This is the Amount Owed -- the same as the balance at the end of that cycle (plus fees, etc.). That amount is reported to the three credit bureaus. You then have maybe 25 days or so to pay your bill. If you pay that amount in full, you owe no interest. To PIF means exactly this: paying the full amount that appears on your statement, after the statement cuts but before it is due.

To pay your card down to $0 before the statement cuts is fine if you want to. It's just that you do not need to do that to avoid paying interest. And there is something nice about creating a record on your credit reports of you owing money on the statement and then paying it in full.

There is a totally different thing which is called carrying a balance. That where you do not pay the full amount on the statement, but do pay the minimum payment. Whatever amount you did not fully pay is carried over to the next statement and THAT you do have to pay interest on.

Re: Credit increase, time

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Oct 2015 00:21:16 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
No negative, no collections.

But I suspect that inquary from "CREDCO-SCM" could hurt my TU score. Can it be true?

And it's a little frustrating that you can not predict your score. I have 2 unexpected jumps from EQ - 1st down by 50 points and then up the same. It was within recent 2 months. Now drop from TU, I hope EX will be OK. They stable for now.

No, a single inquiry is not hurting your score. It is the total inquiries that can have an impact. A cursory search indicates that Credco is involved in pulling reports for auto loans. Have you applied for one?

Re: Credit increase, time

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Oct 2015 00:31:53 GMT

No, I already have auto loan.

So I thought it was something like security inquiry or something like this.

I read about this Credco inquiry, maybe even here and most people wrote the same things - no applied and then score dropping. Strange.

Re: Credit increase, time

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Oct 2015 01:06:26 GMT

It's what I found

https://www.creditkarma.com/question/in-my-inquiry-account-fa-credco-is-listed-where-did-this-inquiry-come-fromwhy?pg=1&pgsz=25