I need my fico score to go up 5 points. Please help!!!

[aarono8410]

1 credit card opened 2/12 with $750 limit and a $45 balance. 3 installment accounts opened 1/13 balance $17516 opened 7/11 balance $1320(oldest account) opened 10/13 $1000 currently closed with zero balance. 9 inquires this year. 5 from a mortgage company. I just need five points.

[Shogun]

Can't think of an instant boost, your util looks good.  You will get more boost from more cards, but it would probably take a bit for that to catch up and you would probably take a loss at the first.

[aarono8410]

If I open a new account how big of a loss am I looking at?

[ChicAndFabulous]

I'm no expert by any means, but I'm in the market to buy a house as well and a LO last month told me to open a cc last month to have another cc reporting in good balance. I had 1 cc for $16,500, 1 retail cc for $250, 1 installment loan. All revolving credit lines were low utilization. In my case, my scores went slightly up...I'm guessing because I had another account in good standing, but I also think its bc I had a ton of inaccuracies/collections that were double reporting that came off. Keep in mind the average age of account stuff too. My oldest account is from 2001. And this is now my newest. My average age of account is 6.5 - 7 years.

654 EX, 636 EQ, 608 TU

[Shogun]

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@aarono8410 wrote:
If I open a new account how big of a loss am I looking at?

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It would be a crap shoot, could go up, could go down.  I've seen it go both ways.  You would take a hit for the inquiry and a hit to your AAoA because of the new account.  But on the otherhand, you would get a boost from the new revolving account seeing as you only have one now.

I couldn't tell you for sure either way, like I said, I've seen them go both ways on these.

[tufa4311]

5 points isn't much. I would do two things - pay off the $45 and, depending on the age of your only CC acount, request a credit increase. Both of these actions would lower your UT and thus MAY raise your credit score a bit. The request for a credit increase should only be a Soft inquiry (confirm with them that it's only a soft one) and they will most likely send you a written reply within 5 business days.

Now, that said, the equations that they use to figure out credit scores are crazy and you really DK what would happen - using credit and having a balance is a good indicator that you can responsibly handle a CC and if you pay off your balance in full, heck, that could drop it a few points, never know. In addition, just sitting there and doing nothing for week could change it.

One thing I would do for sure, I would not let them do a hard inquiry until you know the score is where you need it to be. If they check it that MAY lower it a bit due to the hard inquiry. Checking it yourself will do nothing although if you want a real score you'll have to pay for it.

I know...it's a crap shoot. I dropped my UT from about 45% to 9% and my score jumped about 40 points the next day.

[myjourney]

For 5 points the most you can do is 2 things 

1) lower any UTL

2) do nothing

The chance of picking up 5 points with another month of on time payment history, increase of AAoA should get you what you need.

What not to do 

1) apply for any new credit 

This would most likely result in a lower score due to the HP and decrease in AAoA should you be approved another TL

Good luck I'll be pulling for you

[rckstrscott]

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@tufa4311 wrote:

5 points isn't much. I would do two things - pay off the $45 and, depending on the age of your only CC acount, request a credit increase. Both of these actions would lower your UT and thus MAY raise your credit score a bit. The request for a credit increase should only be a Soft inquiry (confirm with them that it's only a soft one) and they will most likely send you a written reply within 5 business days.

Now, that said, the equations that they use to figure out credit scores are crazy and you really DK what would happen - using credit and having a balance is a good indicator that you can responsibly handle a CC and if you pay off your balance in full, heck, that could drop it a few points, never know. In addition, just sitting there and doing nothing for week could change it.

One thing I would do for sure, I would not let them do a hard inquiry until you know the score is where you need it to be. If they check it that MAY lower it a bit due to the hard inquiry. Checking it yourself will do nothing although if you want a real score you'll have to pay for it.

I know...it's a crap shoot. I dropped my UT from about 45% to 9% and my score jumped about 40 points the next day.

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I disgree with paying the 45 off... if you show 0 balance you will LOSE points.. FICO likes to see credit usage...

-scott

[Shogun]

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@rckstrscott wrote:

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@tufa4311 wrote:

5 points isn't much. I would do two things - pay off the $45 and, depending on the age of your only CC acount, request a credit increase. Both of these actions would lower your UT and thus MAY raise your credit score a bit. The request for a credit increase should only be a Soft inquiry (confirm with them that it's only a soft one) and they will most likely send you a written reply within 5 business days.

Now, that said, the equations that they use to figure out credit scores are crazy and you really DK what would happen - using credit and having a balance is a good indicator that you can responsibly handle a CC and if you pay off your balance in full, heck, that could drop it a few points, never know. In addition, just sitting there and doing nothing for week could change it.

One thing I would do for sure, I would not let them do a hard inquiry until you know the score is where you need it to be. If they check it that MAY lower it a bit due to the hard inquiry. Checking it yourself will do nothing although if you want a real score you'll have to pay for it.

I know...it's a crap shoot. I dropped my UT from about 45% to 9% and my score jumped about 40 points the next day.

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I disgree with paying the 45 off... if you show 0 balance you will LOSE points.. FICO likes to see credit usage...

-scott

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Agreed, you actually get dinged for $0 reporting.  I'm betting a month of aging might do the trick.

[tufa4311]

As I said, "using credit and having a balance is a good indicator that you can responsibly handle a CC and if you pay off your balance in full, heck, that could drop it a few points"