Very good to Exceptional credit mix with Citi rewards wmc flexible spending account

[Anonymous]

I've noticed my credit mix on Experian went from very good to exceptional after I got the Citi card.
I figured I would be stuck at very good until I got a mortgage.
Since it's a flexible spending account it's a different type of trade line.
This helps explain why my score has stayed the same or gone up slightly since my approval. I am posting this because I didn't know it would be different than any other cc I have.
Does anyone know how much it really affects a score getting a flex spend account? I have a somewhat short, thick profile, 27 months aooa, but I have many open accounts. Did this card actually help my score right away? Utilization ect stayed about the same 6-8%. I had a 745 Trans Union that went down 2 points after approval, and Experian and Equifax stayed right at 730. They pulled trans Union (likely reason for 2 point drop)
I have CC's SC'S, 1 installment loan a charge card and a flex. Other than a mortgage is there any other credit lines to add to credit mix? I'm not applying anytime soon!! Just curious for future. Thanks

[Anonymous]

It doesn't help at all in terms of credit mix.  The "very good" and "exceptional" terms are just CMS fluff and have no bearing at all on Fico scores.  If one has a revolver and an installment loan their credit mix is satisfied and can be considered "exceptional" if you choose to assigned a word to it.

If someone has an auto loan, they're all set as far as an installment loan goes.  Them opening a student loan, personal loan etc. may make a CMS display a pretty dark green "exceptional" instead of a light green "good" or something, but adding either of those loans isn't going to "help" their scores.  These graphics are one of the many things that you'll find from a CMS which are misleading.

[Anonymous]

Ty very much. I thought it was odd going from very good to Exceptional. Makes sense that it's just the CMS trying to give me information.

[Anonymous]

Before I found this place a few years ago, I thought that I needed a personal Loan and a Charge card to round out the "mix" in my file. So I ended up getting a loan i didn't really need at the time, as I had a Auto Loan that met the Installment criteria. I also got a charge card because I heard that it helps with the "mix" part, and could see a potential score increase. Had I found out sooner, could have avoided those unnecessary accounts. I was looking for any way to boost my score higher that 700, I had hovered between 650/700 for so long. 

Not that it was a big loss, as I use that Charge card quite often now, and the personal loan helped out a little. The only time I ever saw that description was after I brought all my balances down to well under the 28% and then 8%. That's when my scores began their ascent, and then finally tapped at 800's door. And i ended up having to get an expensive medical procedure, and carried debt again. So my scores went back down to mid 700's.

I've never gotten a score increase from opening a CC acount, if anything the dings from the HP and new account lowered it. 

[HighAchiever]

Kudos for the exceptional rating and increase in score!!! I think it has to not only do with the types of accounts, but also with the number of accounts as well. If you have a myFICO account, you can click on scores and below that, in the FICO Score 8 ingredients, you can click on the Credit Mix section. This area will give information of the types and number of accounts between the three CRAs. Mine has an exceptional rating with EX and very good ratings with both EQ and TU. Maybe, you or someone can confirm this by the number of accounts showing on your profile as well.

The DPs on myFICO are as follows...

EX: 9 Revolving Accounts, 8 Installment Loans, Including Mortgages, 7 Bank-Issued Credit Card Accounts

EQ: 9 Revolving Accounts, 7 Installment Loans, Including Mortgages, 6 Bank-Issued Credit Card Accounts

TU: 8 Revolving Accounts, 3 Installment Loans, Including Mortgages, 5 Bank-Issued Credit Card Accounts

[Anonymous]

For Fico scoring purposes, all one needs as far as I know is 1 revolver and 1 installment loan.  Credit mix is then satisfied.

[HighAchiever]

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@Anonymous wrote:

For Fico scoring purposes, all one needs as far as I know is 1 revolver and 1 installment loan.  Credit mix is then satisfied.

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I didn't get the exceptional rating until my number of Bank-Issued Credit Card Accounts with Experian went to 7. I will know for sure on the other CRAs around the 21st when the second statement cuts for my Hilton Honors and it should finally show on my credit reports.

[Anonymous]

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@HighAchiever wrote:

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I didn't get the exceptional rating until my number of Bank-Issued Credit Card Accounts with Experian went to 7.

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That's just because CMS's like to try and get people to apply for additional credit cards that they don't need.  Moving from 6 to 7 bank issued credit cards isn't going to do anything at all for credit mix.  It's all CMS front-end software fluff.  And, unfortunately, it works or it wouldn't be there.

[Queen_Etherea]

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@Anonymous wrote:

For Fico scoring purposes, all one needs as far as I know is 1 revolver and 1 installment loan.  Credit mix is then satisfied.

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To get the "Best" score possible, one needs 3 revolvers and 1 installment loan, while keeping all balances zero except one, which should be a small balance. 

[Anonymous]

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@Queen_Etherea wrote:

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To get the "Best" score possible, one needs 3 revolvers and 1 installment loan, while keeping all balances zero except one, which should be a small balance. 

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While this may be true, it's worth quantifying how much "best" would be here with 3 cards relative to 1.  9 times out of 10 the score gain in having 3 over 1 when looking at number/percentage of cards with a balance isn't significant; the majority of the time it's a single-digit number of Fico points depending on profile/model.