To maximize Fico, only 1 card should report?

[orestrus]

I have 5 cards in total. Just want to confirm what i heard earlier that out of 5, only 1 should report 2-3% util and the rest 0's. Is this correct? Thank you guys

[Anonymous]

1 card reporting at 1-9%

[Anonymous]

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@MstrPTato wrote:

1 card reporting at 1-9%

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+1.. And you must have some loan in there also.  Not just cards..

[orestrus]

Anyway i can get a secured installment loan of some sort?

[orestrus]

(Pref without HP)

[Anonymous]

I would inquire at a local CU.

[Anonymous]

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@orestrus wrote:
(Pref without HP)

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Alliant CU.  I have 2 installment loans with them.  If you want you can message me your email and I'll send you the link for $10 to cover the member "share" fee.

I have never been HP'ed by Alliant using their products...although I don't have an Alliant credit card.  I only have their  Savings and Secured Loan.

Doing a secured loan with them is easy and pretty quick...make sure you have the money your Alliant account before initiating the loan.

On a sidenote, FICO score chasing is sometimes a waste of time.  The secured installment loans are a worthwhile bonus boost because it's on autopilot after you get the loan...and it does result in a nice score bonus.

Chasing your balances to have only 1 report below 10% and the rest $0 ... that seems like a whole lotta wasted time for a few points.

I go for the keep overall utilization low and PIF when I can.  I use cards and pay cards as it is convenient and beneficial to me.  

For example, I'm not going to pay off my 0% Overstock card just so I can 0 it out and gain a couple points on FICO.

[barthooper]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@orestrus wrote:
(Pref without HP)

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...

Chasing your balances to have only 1 report below 10% and the rest $0 ... that seems like a whole lotta wasted time for a few points.

...

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Seems to be a reasonable amount of effort that is worth it if you want to get your score as high as possible for an upcoming card app, loan, or mortgage, or if you're benchmarking what your current maximum score can reach, but it's not something to worry about every month.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@orestrus wrote:
(Pref without HP)

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Alliant CU.  I have 2 installment loans with them.  If you want you can message me your email and I'll send you the link for $10 to cover the member "share" fee.

I have never been HP'ed by Alliant using their products...although I don't have an Alliant credit card.  I only have their  Savings and Secured Loan.

Doing a secured loan with them is easy and pretty quick...make sure you have the money your Alliant account before initiating the loan.

On a sidenote, FICO score chasing is sometimes a waste of time.  The secured installment loans are a worthwhile bonus boost because it's on autopilot after you get the loan...and it does result in a nice score bonus.

Chasing your balances to have only 1 report below 10% and the rest $0 ... that seems like a whole lotta wasted time for a few points.

I go for the keep overall utilization low and PIF when I can.  I use cards and pay cards as it is convenient and beneficial to me.  

For example, I'm not going to pay off my 0% Overstock card just so I can 0 it out and gain a couple points on FICO.

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I understand the one time effort, but opening a totally unneeded loan, and paying (presumably) some interest, seems way less efficient than paying off all but one card at the time you need to maximize score (which shouldn't be every month)

[gdale6]

I would not advise anyone run out and get a secured instalment or any other instalment loan just for Fico purposes, it would result in a Fico ding for the inquiry and new account which would be recovered over time. Its not necessary to build your Fico, paying on time and keeping your util low is the best thing you could do for yourself combined these 2 categories are 65% of the Fico score.