Building credit score advice

[Anonymous]

So, I know that building credit with any company takes time. At this moment my credit score is 712 equ and 732 trans. I would love to get it up to 800. I have three cards open. A $8000 limit on my BOA credit card. A $5000 limit on my AMEX magnet card. And then I have my AMEX gold charge card which is the only card I use. I don’t have any open loans with any banks such as a mortgage or car finance. So I was wondering if there’s any good advice to get it up to the high 700’s or even 800’s. Also my credit age is about to be 2 years with no hard inquiries

[pinkandgrey]

The “ideal” for scoring is said to be three cards and an installment loan. You already have the cards, but no loan. In my PERSONAL opinion, I would never open a loan that I didn’t need just to boost my score. However, if you’re really shooting for that 800, you could consider a loan such as SelfLender. Lots of people use those “credit builder” loans just to have an installment loan reporting. 

Overall, just use your cards a lot and keep your utilization low. Don’t apply for credit too often either. Your score will keep climbing! Good luck!

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:
So, I know that building credit with any company takes time. At this moment my credit score is 712 equ and 732 trans. I would love to get it up to 800. I have three cards open. A $8000 limit on my BOA credit card. A $5000 limit on my AMEX magnet card. And then I have my AMEX gold charge card which is the only card I use. I don’t have any open loans with any banks such as a mortgage or car finance. So I was wondering if there’s any good advice to get it up to the high 700’s or even 800’s. Also my credit age is about to be 2 years with no hard inquiries

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1. What credit scores are you referring to in your second sentence? If they're from Credit Karma, they're Vantage scores, not FICO scores, and therefore not meaningful for our purposes. If the Amex score is an Experian FICO 8 it's a valid score to look at; if it's a Vantage score it's not. BOA gives you a TransUnion FICO 8 score, which is a valid score to look at.

2. The best way to optimize your present holdings for FICO scoring purposes is to start using the 2 revolvers a little, pay 1 off before the statement date, and the other right after the statement date.

3.  Great job on not applying for unnecessary credit; keep up the good work. You should have great FICO scores very soon, if not now.

[Anonymous]

I heard checking it lowers my scores so I never checked. I had my scoring come in when I got approved for my gold or magnet card and it was the low 700s. I believe like 702 or something around that number.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I heard checking it lowers my scores so I never checked. I had my scoring come in when I got approved for my gold or magnet card and it was the low 700s. I believe like 702 or something around that number.

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Checking your own credit scores does not lower them.  That's a huge myth.  What is the source of the EQ and TU scores that you referenced in the original post.  As SJ stated, if they're from CK they are VS 3.0 and not [meaningful] Fico scores.

[Anonymous]

Wow it actually said that it’s 721 on the Amex FICO score thing.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Wow it actually said that it’s 721 on the Amex FICO score thing.

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That's a good sign.  Still looking for an answer to the source of your EQ/TU scores that you referenced above...

[Anonymous]

Credit karma

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I heard checking it lowers my scores so I never checked.

Old wives tale. Internet legend. Total bunk.

I had my scoring come in when I got approved for my gold or magnet card and it was the low 700s. I believe like 702 or something around that number.

Well start looking for your real scores if you care.

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[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Wow it actually said that it’s 721 on the Amex FICO score thing.

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And remember, your BOA Transunion FICO 8 is a real score too.

Thing with Amex is that they have been bouncing around, sometimes providing EX FICO 8, sometimes providing Vantage 3.0....   so you have to read the fine print when looking at the score they post.