How I raised my CS 200 Points in 6 months! Now... what?

[Anonymous]

Historically I'm "bad" with numbers. My ex ran up credit card debt and I took a Heloc and paid them off then resolved to never have credit cards. I sold my house in 2005 and that mortgage does not show on my credit.

Then in 2006 I opened a business and needed credit. Then the economy crashed in 2009 and so did my business where I had personal lines of credit.

Now I had to teach my 19 yr old about credit and my credit had to be dealt with. I hadn't checked my credit in over 8 years because of shame and guilt about my business failing and the debt I wasn't able to pay back. My score was 525 in October of 2016.  So I got to work.

I had 5 negatives disputed and they dropped off (have 3 medical ones that are true errors and waiting for those to come off Experian).

I had a Credit One card at $1200 unsecured for the last 3 years as well as 2 Cap1, 1 at $3k and another at $1500.

This was my starting point and I only had a 4 yr history here (I'm 50 btw). My paid car loan still shows up but mortgage dropped off. After disputing then I asked a family member if I could be a AU on a few of his long term accounts. I don't even have the card, just the favor. 1 BofA with 11 yr history and $16k CL, and Discover with a 15 yr history and a $16k CL. These helped tremendously.

Then I starting paying things off, Credit One even removed a late payment from 2 yrs ago.

In feb I applied for Citi Diamond and approved at 5500. That helped pull me out of subprime land and score was 660 after just 3 months. Paid down other 3 cards to a 30% utilization.

Then my fico score got to 702. I said I would be good with a 720 score and stop playing.

In the last month I'm now in the 720-730 land so I got approved for a Discover iT at $2500, Citibank Costco at 5500, and a Blue Everyday Amex at $2000. Whoohoo!

So my thought was just to farm for 6 months on these cards so I can be prepared for a mortgage. I'm still self employed and make $90-$100k average per year for the last 6 years.

Learning to play the Credit game has empowered me in ways I hadn't realized and woke me up to a world where all of this is important. I e been hiding under the rock of guilt and shame I just navigated the world with cash and staying in budget which has helped tremendously.

Any suggestions on how to move from a cash perspective to utilizing These cards for. Haines expenses and start accumulating points. Do I need a travel specific card (I want to travel now that kids are grown!), or should I stay in the garden with these cards and wait for October until my Cap 1 inquiries drop?

Any suggestions appreciated.
Thanks

[Anonymous]

If you're thinking about a mortgage, just garden for AT LEAST 6 months but preferably longer.

With any luck, in 6 months you might have a longer AAoA on all your accounts which can help quite a bit with your FICO score.

Do you subscribe to any credit monitoring services to monitor your FICO scores or are you just buying a credit score whenever you want an update?

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous

Welcome to MyFICO

I took the liberty of adding some paragraph breaks to your post to make it a bit easier to read.  Everything else was left intact.

Good luck and I am sure you will receive some great advice.

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much. I've been lurking for the last 2 weeks and not really a person who uses discussion. Parts
Bless you.

[Anonymous]

I'm a little obsessed since I had a goal of 720. My FICO monthly subscription, CK, CRedit sesame, Discover FICO, CreditWise. I'm still amazed at how many variations there are. I think I'll just keep the MYFICO as a primary check in.
My mortgage guy said they will throw out the high and low score and take the middle mortgage based scoring model so that should still put me in my 720-730 range.
My partner has a 780 CS so the mortgage will have his buffer. If we are trying to get the best possible rate. We keep our money separate, and credit separate. This will be our first co-purchase in 12 years. Lol

[Anonymous]

The most important thing for you to do right now is to NOT apply for any more accounts.  As your overall accounts age, your AAoA will go up.  In 6 months (or less) it's possible you will bump from one age group to another, and this can have a nice bump in your scores.

Keep your utilization across all accounts to 0% except leave $3 balance on ONE credit account.  This maximizes FICO08 (which isn't used for mortgage but never hurts).  

[Anonymous]

BTW, I'm currently at 9% utilization of $60k possible CU. I did do 4 inquiries the last 2 months while I acquired better cards. The amount of cards/accounts I have still puts me the "poor" rating bracket.
Should I get 1-2 more to move me up? Does it make a. IG difference (this seems to vary here on the. Paris so more of a rhetorical question).

[Anonymous]

Ok that makes sense.
Finally I did request a CLI on all older accounts and received them. Ranging from 150-$2000. Is there a 60 day rule on this? How often does one play that game.
I'm a little obsessed at this point. Lol

[Anonymous]

You want 3 credit cards total or more -- if you have 3 cards now, that's perfect.  You don't need more.

For FICO08 purposes, you want an installment loan active and reporting, but this won't help your mortgage FICOs except for Experian.  No need to add one.

9% overall utilization is great but what's your highest utilization on any one credit card?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Ok that makes sense.
Finally I did request a CLI on all older accounts and received them. Ranging from 150-$2000. Is there a 60 day rule on this? How often does one play that game.
I'm a little obsessed at this point. Lol

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It depends on the credit card lender and each individual.  The same credit card company might give CLIs every 30 days to one person but another person has to wait 6 months.

Be careful to confirm that CLI requests do NOT cause a hard pull inquiry.