topic Does my score look normal to you? in General Credit Topics

Does my score look normal to you?

mohammadmoghimi — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 23:48:31 GMT

I'm wondering why I have a sub-700 score based on banks' fico score/karma/sesame etc. Here is my profile.

- 13 cc (12 open, no loan/mortgage)

- AAoA (2y3m)

- Utilization 19% (I have a 99% and a 70% card, rest are 0-10%)

- Inquiries (1 from like 2 years ago) and no new accounts in the last 18 months.

- 100% on time payment history.

- One last point is that I had a medical bill collection that was added to my account which I had them remove and I believe is removed

Does this look normal to you? I expect to have a mid 700s score now, but I don't.

My second question is that I am hoping to increase my score to more than 750 after I pay down the balances because I may apply for a mortage later this year. At point this woule be the situation: AAoA would be ~3y, inq ~1, utilization ~1%. Would I get a score to qualify for the best mortgage rates you think?

Re: Does my score look normal to you?

Pway — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 23:56:47 GMT

@mohammadmoghimi wrote:
I'm wondering why I have a sub-700 score based on banks' fico score/karma/sesame etc. Here is my profile.

- 13 cc (12 open, no loan/mortgage)
- AAoA (2y3m)
- Utilization 19% (I have a 99% and a 70% card, rest are 0-10%)
- Inquiries (1 from like 2 years ago) and no new accounts in the last 18 months.
- 100% on time payment history.
- One last point is that I had a medical bill collection that was added to my account which I had them remove and I believe is removed

Does this look normal to you? I expect to have a mid 700s score now, but I don't.

My second question is that I am hoping to increase my score to more than 750 after I pay down the balances because I may apply for a mortage later this year. At point this woule be the situation: AAoA would be ~3y, inq ~1, utilization ~1%. Would I get a score to qualify for the best mortgage rates you think?

The thing that sticks out to me is your utilization on two of your cards. They are maxed out, to have the best scoring one card should post a balance no more than 30 percent and the rest 0. It also looks like you have no installment account reporting so your score is taking a hit for that as well.

Re: Does my score look normal to you?

RobertEG — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 01:52:50 GMT

Get the % util on all cards under 50% and you should see a score of 700'ish.

Re: Does my score look normal to you?

Thomas_Thumb — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 03:00:15 GMT

@mohammadmoghimi wrote:
I'm wondering why I have a sub-700 score based on banks' fico score/karma/sesame etc. Here is my profile.

- 13 cc (12 open, no loan/mortgage)
- AAoA (2y3m)
- Utilization 19% (I have a 99% and a 70% card, rest are 0-10%)
- Inquiries (1 from like 2 years ago) and no new accounts in the last 18 months.
- 100% on time payment history.
- One last point is that I had a medical bill collection that was added to my account which I had them remove and I believe is removed

Does this look normal to you? I expect to have a mid 700s score now, but I don't.

My second question is that I am hoping to increase my score to more than 750 after I pay down the balances because I may apply for a mortage later this year. At point this woule be the situation: AAoA would be ~3y, inq ~1, utilization ~1%. Would I get a score to qualify for the best mortgage rates you think?

99% utilization on a card is "maxed out" territory. According to Experian a card at 90% and above is tagged as mased out. That could cost you 20 to 30 points alone. Bring it under 50% and you may pick-up 20 points. The card at 70% is not really maxed out but that high a utilization is still costing you points. As mentioned above, dropping it to under 50% should gain some points (say 5 to 10).

Ideally you really want any card that reports a balance to show less than 30% utilization and your aggregate utilization to be under 9%. Getting your aggregate utilization from the high teens to under 9% may buy you 10 to 15 points. Reducing the # of open CC accounts reporting a balance (to one or two) may also help your score (potentially another 10 points)

In total dropping your two highly utilized cards to under 30%, reporting zero balance on other cards and having aggregate utilization below 9% may bump your score 40 to 50 points - IMO. Give it a try, I think you will like the result even if my estimate proves way off.

Re: Does my score look normal to you?

takeshi74 — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 13:38:22 GMT

@mohammadmoghimi wrote:
I'm wondering why I have a sub-700 score based on banks' fico score/karma/sesame etc.

Always keep the relevance of the specific scoring model to a given creditor/product in mind. All FICO's are not the same and the specific FICO model will impact the number generated. If you're looking to apply for a mortgage, the more common FICO 8 model is not typically used for mortgages. Credit Karma's VantageScores are only relevant to creditors that use a TU or EQ VantageScore. IIRC Credit Sesame is also providing a Vantagescore these days but it's EX.

@mohammadmoghimi wrote:
- Utilization 19% (I have a 99% and a 70% card, rest are 0-10%)

@mohammadmoghimi wrote:
I expect to have a mid 700s score now, but I don't.

As others have pointed out individual utilization matters as well. A maxed card and another card with very high utilization are at least part of your problem.

@mohammadmoghimi wrote:
- One last point is that I had a medical bill collection that was added to my account which I had them remove and I believe is removed

Verify that is has been removed from all 3 CRA's. A collection can definitely hold you down.

@mohammadmoghimi wrote:
Would I get a score to qualify for the best mortgage rates you think?

No idea but collections and revolving utilization have significant impacts. I'd sugges pulling your mortage scores once you'd taken the advice provided above versus relying on the scores you've been looking at.

Re: Does my score look normal to you?

mohammadmoghimi — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 09:39:11 GMT

I'll pay off the credit debts once I get the money for it. Currently those are at 0% and I'm not planning for any sort of credit application, so I don't care much right now. Hopefully once I do that the score goes high enough to get the best mortgage rate.

Re: Does my score look normal to you?

mohammadmoghimi — Fri, 05 Feb 2016 13:53:48 GMT

I just called to consolidate my credit lines at one of those banks to bring than the utilization from 70% to 45%. Didn't close the other lines. Lowered them down to $1k each. The 99% card has a relatively low limit so I'll pay it down once I have cash at hand. Hopefully the score goes up.

Re: Does my score look normal to you?

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Feb 2016 23:41:07 GMT

The score looks normal to me. You have too many credit cards and average age is young. Also the utilization is too high on 2 cards. Pay off the 2 cards, and start spreading utilization to be less than 10% on any card. Consider closing cards some accounts.

Also it's good you have low inquiries. I think you're on track to improve your score but getting to 750 might be a stretch because you just need longer time with those accounts.

Re: Does my score look normal to you?

Anonymous — Sun, 07 Feb 2016 00:44:09 GMT

Just for point of reference... I was at 740s with no baddies and 2 cards reporting low balances. (<10% util) I charged my kitchen remodel to 2 cards going to approx 50% on my chase card and 60% on my lowes card. Score dipped to 690ish on all 3. Paid down chase card to 25% scores now around 715. Lowes will post at sub 50% later this week... but that was a 50 point swing with neither being in maxed territory.

Re: Does my score look normal to you?

Anonymous — Sun, 07 Feb 2016 01:07:26 GMT

Definately a lot higher than mine