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Better to gain another hit point?

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jhollow509
Established Member

Better to gain another hit point?

Hi everyone,
I just recently joined fico forums, though I’ve been coming here to look for answers to all my questions since I started rebuilding around 2 years ago. I really want to up my scores and be able to get a good mortgage in a year or two.
Right now my scores are 691 for Experian, tu is 670, and equifax is 628. My average age of accounts for experian is 4 years, 5 months (from me being part of a BoA account that was taken out before I was born, which I don’t know where it’s from) and the other two are 2 years, 2 months.
The scores and info listed are from experians paid service.
So here is my predicament: I had an emergency dental procedure done today, and it’s going to add 3370$ to my line of credit through LendingClub (Comenity bank). That will bring my balance to $5752.00 with a credit limit of $8000. All the simulators I run say this will drop my Faco scores down below 600. Will it drop my fico scores as well?
I actually opened a Discover It Card with a $6000 starting limit a month ago, which dropped my faco scores by thirty points. I was debating whether I should accept the offer for the new Apple Card for $2500 with 23.99 apr to make sure my overall utilization stay below 30%.
I apologize for the drawn out post, but I do blame it one the meds I’m taking after the surgery. Lol.
Any input is greatly appreciated!

P.S.
I have one collections account on TU and equifax for $400. One more (paid off) on Equifax that is a year old. Experian report is clean and all payment history is exceptional (other than collections).
I’m not sure how to do the signature to add my cards.
12 REPLIES 12
AllZero
Mega Contributor

Re: Better to gain another hit point?

Not knowing all the details of your credit profile, I will give you estimates.

Remember these utilization thresholds: 8.9%, 28.9%, 48.9%, 68.9%, 88.9%

For aggregate utilization crossing a threshold, +- 10-15 points per threshold.

For individual utilization crossing a threshold, +- 5 points per threshold.
Message 2 of 13
jhollow509
Established Member

Re: Better to gain another hit point?

Hey! Thanks for the response. 
So would it better then to lower what I can of my other lines to try to keep my overall utilization down? Or would it be better to take a HP for another card? 
Right now I have around 20 accounts. 
2 Cap1 cards both creditsteps with $500 limits. (55/500) (93/500)
5 Comentity cards that I opened in the last year and a half. One of which is my dental line. 
Two Synchrony cards, CareCredit and amazon. (1090/6500) (292/400)
Two Discover it cards. (1938/2700) (1100/6000)
Then I have a Mission Lane visa ($600) and student loans and a car loan. 
some of my older cards I wanted to close because it came after me getting one good approval and splurging. 

Message 3 of 13
AllZero
Mega Contributor

Re: Better to gain another hit point?

You need to ask yourself is the Apple card useful in your spending or can you afford the penalty points for: hard pull inquiry, reset if any of AoYA Age of Youngest Account, new account.

With that in mind, you stated your goal is to purchase a home in a year a two. It is recommended no credit application 12 months leading up to a mortgage.

You need to address your derogatories: delinquencies, charge offs, collections, and, etc. so you can boost your mortgage scores.

If your goal for mortgage is in a year, you should not get another CC. It is best to pay off your debt on your other cards to reduce utilization.

Look into AZEO All Zero Except One when you are getting close to apply for a mortgage or want to see your optimized credit score.

If mortgage goal is two years, the decision to apply is yours. I don't have an 🍎 product. So my opinion for the usefulness is irrelevant. For getting the apple card soley for lowering utilization, I personally would not.
Message 4 of 13
AllZero
Mega Contributor

Re: Better to gain another hit point?

When is the last time you asked for a credit limit increase on carecredit?

ETA What about your other CCs?
Message 5 of 13
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Better to gain another hit point?


@jhollow509 wrote:

Hey! Thanks for the response. 
So would it better then to lower what I can of my other lines to try to keep my overall utilization down? Or would it be better to take a HP for another card? 
Right now I have around 20 accounts. 
2 Cap1 cards both creditsteps with $500 limits. (55/500) (93/500) Might as well close these since they won't grow
5 Comentity cards that I opened in the last year and a half. One of which is my dental line. These are going to end up being useless 
Two Synchrony cards, CareCredit and amazon. (1090/6500) (292/400) This is probably where your Dental should go instead
Two Discover it cards. (1938/2700) (1100/6000) When you're eligible for a CLI... don't accept it but, call in and ask them to combine them into a single larger limit card and they'll still give you the CLI on top of it when they merge the accounts (provided one of them is at least 12 months old)
Then I have a Mission Lane visa ($600) Get rid of it if it's charging you fees

student loans and a car loan. 

Stop apping for new cards until you don't need them..... The key to credit is get it when you don't need it and don't over use it when you do.

 

Once you declutter your scores will go up as you pay things down.  Also, those store cards kill your insurance scores whcih means you'll pay more for home/auto rates because they're there.  

 

The more major bank cards w/o a balance will give you a rebucket into a higher scoring bracket as well.  Cards with balances hurt almost as much as high utilization and will raise some flags with lenders.  Manage things to under 10% UTIL, as few cards as possible with a balance reporting each month, and well, keep the balances low if you do have to carry somehing a bit longer term.  For the Dental charges... it's just something that's happening and once they're paid off your scores will go back up.  In the meantime if it's going to put you into a higher bracket for debt/limit knock out your small balances and quit using those cards while you pay down everything else.  Let the cards cycle through with a $0 balance and check for residual interest on the next statements to make sure you don't miss a payment and make it all worse.  Which leads into the Autopay is a must for at least the min payment due!!!

Message 6 of 13
jhollow509
Established Member

Re: Better to gain another hit point?

Care credit I received around a month ago from the original $800 SL to $6500



@AllZero wrote:
When is the last time you asked for a credit limit increase on carecredit?

ETA What about your other CCs?

CareCredit I received an increase around a month ago from the SL of $800 to $6500. 
Cap1s haven't increased since the credit steps, so around 11 months for one, 8 months for the other. They deny repeatedly for too much usage even if I've only put three charges, or bank balance too high for income. 
my first Discover it I received an increase from the SL of $1400 to $2700 in August. 
Amazon store card is stuck at the $400 SL and refuses to grow for me. 
Mission Lane randomly gave me another $100 around 2 months ago. I've never used it because I have remorse about getting it, and it only charges the $59 annual fee if you use it. 
comemity bank has been good to me. Through them I have an Overstock, West Elm, Ikea Projekt, LendingClub, and Express. I recently received increases within the past two months on all of them except Express. It always states in the denial letter that I don't have a Mortgage account. 
Overstock is $2650, ikea and LendingClub are both at $8000. West Elm is $5600, and express is $500. 
I also forgot to mention that I also have a Gettington account with a $1000 limit. 

Message 7 of 13
AllZero
Mega Contributor

Re: Better to gain another hit point?

Just a quick reply. I'm not sure on the soft pull intervals for care credit. Ask for $15k or more next time. That'll help with your utilization
Message 8 of 13
jhollow509
Established Member

Re: Better to gain another hit point?


@Anonymous wrote:

@jhollow509 wrote:

Hey! Thanks for the response. 
So would it better then to lower what I can of my other lines to try to keep my overall utilization down? Or would it be better to take a HP for another card? 
Right now I have around 20 accounts. 
2 Cap1 cards both creditsteps with $500 limits. (55/500) (93/500) Might as well close these since they won't grow
5 Comentity cards that I opened in the last year and a half. One of which is my dental line. These are going to end up being useless 
Two Synchrony cards, CareCredit and amazon. (1090/6500) (292/400) This is probably where your Dental should go instead
Two Discover it cards. (1938/2700) (1100/6000) When you're eligible for a CLI... don't accept it but, call in and ask them to combine them into a single larger limit card and they'll still give you the CLI on top of it when they merge the accounts (provided one of them is at least 12 months old)
Then I have a Mission Lane visa ($600) Get rid of it if it's charging you fees

student loans and a car loan. 

Stop apping for new cards until you don't need them..... The key to credit is get it when you don't need it and don't over use it when you do.

 

Once you declutter your scores will go up as you pay things down.  Also, those store cards kill your insurance scores whcih means you'll pay more for home/auto rates because they're there.  

 

The more major bank cards w/o a balance will give you a rebucket into a higher scoring bracket as well.  Cards with balances hurt almost as much as high utilization and will raise some flags with lenders.  Manage things to under 10% UTIL, as few cards as possible with a balance reporting each month, and well, keep the balances low if you do have to carry somehing a bit longer term.  For the Dental charges... it's just something that's happening and once they're paid off your scores will go back up.  In the meantime if it's going to put you into a higher bracket for debt/limit knock out your small balances and quit using those cards while you pay down everything else.  Let the cards cycle through with a $0 balance and check for residual interest on the next statements to make sure you don't miss a payment and make it all worse.  Which leads into the Autopay is a must for at least the min payment due!!!


I've always paid my statement balance on Cap1 cards because I don't want to pay interest (25.49%apr). This is the first month they'll be reporting less than $100 though. I'm a little scared to close them because they were my first cards, and I don't want it to negatively affect my AAoA. (Also scared they'll be gone and I'll need them. Especially since my job doesn't give sick leave or anything 😂)

Almost all of my available credit lines comes from my Comenity accounts and their large limits, I do actually use the West Elm, LendingClub and Ikea. Express is my favorite store(only place that has clothes that fit me) but it doesn't have any offers, just a high Apr. 

Overstock I definitely barely use, same with Gettington. 
i had a thin file when I first started building three years ago and didn't realize that getting as many cards as I could (stupid now I know). 
The only other reason I Keep Cap1 cards is because that's where all my savings accounts are. 
Do you think I should close the Cap1 soon? Or wait and let my Discover accounts age more first? Also, would you by any chance have any recommendations on banks to move to from there? For credit and savings. 
thanks! 

Message 9 of 13
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Better to gain another hit point?

I would not close any cards until that dental bill is paid. Your utilization is going to tank as it is. If you're just getting the Apple Card for utilization I would not bother. $2,500 is not much and nobody knows what the CLI policy will be. GS says in 6 months but that does not mean they will be generous with increases, and 6 months is not official.

Message 10 of 13
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