This is a good question im not sure my self exactly which would be more important. It would seem kind of dumb if both where equally important so one of them has to have some greater benifit even if it is small.
Starting Score: 651
@user5387 wrote:
@xsvspd wrote:
@RED_Knives wrote:
Thanks, I just wish I knew how to speed things up so I could get there faster. seems like its more of a waiting game. like can I resist the temptation.I'm in a similar boat... I just got approved for a 3k limit MC from Cap One. Most of the advice I've seen on here is the same. Single digit balance on the statement date of you card; this is the balance reported to the CAs, 99.9% of the time (I just read that some bank like BofA report mid-statement on occasion, but pretty rare).
The other side of it is what do the CC issuers like to see? Obviously PIF every month, but do they want to see using most/half/some/a % of your credit limit, and PIF? I.E. Putting all your everyday purchases on their card, and just making sure you have a single digit balance come statement time. If you get points or miles or rewards, I can understand doing this for your own benefit, but will this behavior increase your opportunity of a bigger CLI than say, someone who only charges one, single digit purchase each month and PIF? I just don't know, and would really like to.
I'm sure each lender is different, and YMMV, as is commonly said here in the forums.
I'm in an excellent situation to use my card and PIF a couple times a month because I travel for work, and am reimbursed as soon as I return from my week long trips. I use my card for my hotel, car rental, plane tickets and food. As soon as I get home, I fill out my expense report, and my company cuts me a check. I immediately PIF my card, then repeat for the next trip. I've just started traveling, so I will see how well it works.
There are things you can do to speed up the process. The most basic one is maintaining a clean credit report, with low utilization.
Beyond that, the best advice I know of is to work smart, and do lots of research about how to improve your situation. There are multiple credit forums and credit pulls databases available, and these contain a wealth of information.
As an example, there are certain banks and CUs that are known to be generous with CLs, and this is a way to accelerate your credit standing. There are other institutions where you may end up going sideways indefinitely.
Pretty much this. My own personal method for approaching this (with solid income, YMMV depending where you are on the curve) was to pickup an Amex revolver and a GE-backed card (Walmart in my case, large number of random items to purchase to generate a balance, and freebie FICO score) and push whichever one you can.
In my case I simply did the Amex, even with a 1K starter limit it went to 3K then 9K on subesequent CLI's in 8 months, and I'm coming up on my next CLI target which I'll take the full shot at 25K.
For reference I don't have any other tradeline on my report greater than $2500 currently, and most of my lines are in the 1-2k range. Whenever I come out of hibernation and close on a mortgage, I don't have much doubt I'll get approved for Siggy level limts or even better. Does take soime time, but it can be accelerated while putting lipstick on the pig by making yourself look patient and stable by not applying for anything else while letting the magic of new credit files continue to boost your FICO while increasing your limits for no penalty for the next round of applications.
I think I have the answer. Companies generally don't really care too much how you use there cards as long as your using them its the swipe that matter to the company and as for the agencies that index our reports and score us I think the best thing we can do is to keep our utilization ratio at 10 percent and every now and than toggle between paying in full and having a very small balance so they can have a snapshot of how we can pay off big balances but also show we carry small ones for the majority of time. I think we need to show them that we can pay off a slightly bigger balance as a pif, yet maintain our temptation to spend and rack up debt by keeping a small utilization ratio. In general I think as long as we use the cards every month at least a couple times even if its a small balance we should be good.
except I wonder if theres more to this than meets the eye. It would be cool to see how they actually go about rating us and thinking in there minds "oh this guys will fair well hes utilization is 12% we as a company always like these types of people and because of this i can see here he doens't fall into the risk group" im sure they have some weird generalized way of knowing automatically whos gonna be a success with there credit and who isn't(fico score duh).
but what if they used a different system? a system of ranking that we didn't know about? like my fico but something else...
That's an amazing advancement job well done. I will have to try this strategy! I'm currently going read on the business credit forums section to see what they say since that's my primary interest but still I'm aware they will look at my personal credit first before anything! Great advice thanks!
As everybody has mentioned, there is NO fast lane through this. I started 8/9 years ago & still working on it, & mine is 761
, but YOU LEARN AS YOU GO! My advice, SLOW DOWN. Don't apply for anything, don't request credit limit increases for several months (November, December). During the Christmas Holidays has always worked for me. Work with what you have now. Remember, you have to build a credit history. Keep paying on time & your CU low. They don't have a specific time frame of when you can apply or ask for a CLI. The only thing that can provide with CLIs & more CCs is your score & history. Your hurting yourself now the way your going about this. Good Luck.
Bobby1146,
yeah I'll take your advice and slow down a bit. I just see this as a good learning experience and would like to be very thorough.
yeah I'll take your advice and slow down a bit. I just see this as a good learning experience and would like to be very thorough.