@Anonymous wrote:Thank you everyone, here's some more background as well..
I had a 654 credit score, from what Honda told me when I got my car in September, I am a student with a decently good job, roughly $24-$28k a year.
I app'd for the AMEX the day I got the car, as I had the offer in the mail.
Cards are as following:
AMEX Blue Cash Everyday $1500/$2000 CL
Chase Freedom $900/$1500 CL
Chase Sapphire $2000/$5000 CL
Bank of America Student CC $450/$700 limit
I have no student loans, I only have a Lease from Honda at $221 a month and I'm financing something for my mother at $106 a month ($2800 overall)
No missed payments, longest credit account is 2 years, 10 months old which is the Bank of America card (first one when I turned 19)
Yea your utility is killing your score. I bet if you bring your debt down and let one card report 1-9% of that card limit while the others report zero you will see I nice increase in your score. your using about 53% of your total credit limit right now anything over 30 will hurt your score
Amez BCE 1500/2000 using 75% of CL
Chase freedom 900/1500 using 60% of CL
CSP 2000/5000 your at 40%
BofA 450/700 using 65%(rounded up)
if your pay off most off these cards you will see a score increase. If your pay every thing off and keep a balance of 50-450$/5000$(1-9%) of your CSP you will see a nice increase. Learn your statement cut date on each card and due dates as this will help your tremendously in managing how balances is reported to the Credit bureaus each month but I wouldn't recommend you juggle balances though that can be tempting I would recommend paying down your high balances it will be a lot easier to manage your score efficiently
@Anonymous wrote:Within the next 3 months, I'm hoping everything will be in the 30% or less utilization range.
Roughly how long does it take to make your score go up? A year?
Fico have no memory your score can be 624 this month and 702 next month is takes a snap shot and grade your based on the current information gathered. The thicker the file(older your accounts) the better your score will stand against impacts like a new account are inquiry. That's the point of gardening. Your let your credit age you let time pass so that new inquiries have little to no more impact to your score. Inquiries affect your score up to a year. Gardening is just allowing to past without seeking any type of credit that may affect your score new accounts are credit line increases that would require a hard pull soft pull increases and acceptable and obviously welcomed As a soft pull does not affect your credit score.
@Anonymous wrote:Hello
so I forgot I have AMEX's credit secure frapture which is $14.99 a month, I just checked the 3 scores and it's telling me the following;
678 Experian, 685 Transunion and 685 Equifax
so do you think I can get the gold card with those numbers or should I still garden for roughly 6-8 months
Score alone is not the deciding factor. From your post your util is high. No one can tell you for certain if your profile will grant an approval, however your chances greatly improve with a lower util.
Edit: Scores purchased from Amex are not FICO scores but are FAKOs
