What score “counts” more?

[Anonymous]

My Experian FICO score is a 640,my capital one credit wise score which I believe is TransUnion VantageScore is 560. Which do I actually pay attention too and which will lenders be looking at?

[Jnbmom]

FICO scores are the only ones that "count".

Creditwise, Credit Karma complete garbage.

[TaperRandy]

The goal is to pay attention to them all. What is it that you would like to do, specifically? You know, are you looking to approach a certain lender for something. More details guarantee better answers. Broadstroke credit questions isn't much unlike asking..."Why are we here"? 😉

[Anonymous]

I am looking to buy a new car this summer hopefully. Waiting until my FICO Score reaches 700. Next week I am going to pay down my utilization from 60 to 25% and keep it there or lower to help my scores.

[TaperRandy]

25% is still too high. Do some part time work, eBay antiques or electronics for extra dough. Get your util BELOW 10% for optimum results. 25% is better than 60%, but only in your world as a personal achievement to pay down and curb spending. 25% in the unforgiving world of lending is "moderate risk." Get it below 10%, bring down your risk factor...and you stand a much better chance of shaking hands with a khaki wearin' car salesman with a cheesy moustache, who will be handing you the keys to the car of your choosing. 😀

[Anonymous]

Good to know. I always thought under 30% was where I needed to be but it makes sense the lower the better. Our car right now is in my wife’s name but since we had our baby I let her stay home and I’m the only one working. Have about 45g a year income. Is it achievable to go from 640 to 700 by day August? I have a cap one platinum,Kohl’s,and Victoria secret and also an auto user on my wife’s platinum card. Between all of them our utilization is about 69% but they’re low limit cards so it will be easy to pay off. I recently had two collections fall off my report so my score went from 509 to 640 fico. Should I maybe try to get another retail card or something and let it sit to help with utilization?

[TaperRandy]

Retail is okay, but in my opinion it is not as significant a building block as a bank issued card. That is to say, the institution where you do your banking primarily. Go there. Sit in one of the rigid seemingly comfy-but not really, chairs and wait to speak with a bank rep in an office.  Spell out what you are looking forward to them, and they will research your background and give you options on the spot. Banks where you are a customer are always your best bet.

[Anonymous]

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@TaperRandyThe goal is to pay attention to them all. What is it that you would like to do, specifically? You know, are you looking to approach a certain lender for something. More details guarantee better answers. Broadstroke credit questions isn't much unlike asking..."Why are we here"? 😉

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No need to pay attention to them all (VS 3.0) as lenders don't care about that score.  The "more details" here should not include VS 3.0 sources.  More details meaning different FICO score versions, sure.  Specifically if the OP is looking toward an auto loan, learning his auto scores would be beneficial relative to the FICO 08 score that he's getting from Experian.

[Anonymous]

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@AnonymousShould I maybe try to get another retail card or something and let it sit to help with utilization?

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Absolutely not.

Any time you are going to be applying for a loan in the near future, the last thing you want to do is open up additional credit prior.  It's a bad look, weakens your profile and can weaken your scores.

If you're sitting at utilization in the 60's percentage wise across all your cards, you're likely leaving 50-60 points on the table right now with your FICO scores.  If you were to take all your cards down to $0 and leave a $5-$10 balance on just one of them, I wouldn't be surprised if within 30 days (enough time for all of those new/lower balances to report) your 640 FICO score was right at 700.

[Anonymous]

That’s what I’m going to do just pay them down to almost no utilization. I’d be extatic if it went from 640 to 700 just from that!