A few questions re. my FICO score

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

Today I pulled two creditreports, one from TU via annualcreditreport.com and one with FICO score from EQ via myfico.com.

The EQ credit report showed a score of 776 with zero late payments, inquiries and public records. The only negative factor was "You have too many credit cards carrying balances". And indeed right now I have 5 open CCs, 4 of which carried a balance (total utilization was a 1%, which I didn't understand, because they apparently didn't consider the balance on my World Mastercard).

From doing a bit of reading on this site, it seems that I should get the number of CCs reporting a balance below 50%, so that would be only 2 out of 5 (e.g. by paying them off in full before the closing date). That's actually a bit difficult, because three of those cards are reward cards and I use each of them for different purposes (e.g. one for amazon.com with 3% points back, one for groceries and gas with 2% cash back and the World Mastercard as my main CC with 1% cash back), so it would take quite a bit of coordination to not slip up on this.

I have the following questions now:

1. Would it be advantageous to apply for two new credit cards to elimiate the "too many card with balances" issue? I guess for every two new CCs I can keep one balance that I don't need to pay off before the statement closing date. How much would that hurt my score by lowering the average age of accounts? (My open cards are from 6/05, 7/06, 1/01, 6/99, 7/06 and my 2 closed CC accounts are from 6/99 and 5/03, no other LOCs on file). I am less concerned about short-term temporary hits, since I don't anticipating any need for major credit in the near future.

2. If I were to apply for two new credit cards, should I do this in fairly short order or should I leave some time in between? If so, how much time?

3. As I mentioned one of my CCs was originally a platinum MC and is now a World MC. I noticed that the EQ credit report listed a credit limit of $19500, but the TU report didn't (although it listed a credit limit for other CCs). Does the EQ report just list the "last known" credit limit, before this became a World MC, or is there another reason for this discrepancy?

4. I noticed from browsing in the forums that several people here get their FICO scores, pretty frequently from all the 3 CRAs. Any recommendation for a service that allows that and isn't too expensive?

 If you have any other recommendation to maintain/improve my score in the mid-/long term, I'd be very interested to hear them.

I know these are a lot of questions, so if you could even answer just some of them, I'd really appreciate it.

[nathan]

The best and easiest way to eliminate the "too many cc with balances" is to let only one or two report a small bal (1-9%). Opening new accounts will be a bad idea and will likely drop your scores due to low aaoa, inq, and recently opened accounts.

[Anonymous]

If your EQ FICO score is over 760, I personally wouldn't bother with new cards. If your score is under 800, Equifax lists a reason for it being low, no matter how inconsequential it may be.

You are right, it is a bit of a juggling act with keeping reported balances at 0% with more than half your cards. I do it because with all that optimization I still top out in the 690s at all 3 CRAs. If I was over 760 with more than half reporting, I wouldn't spend the time.

I was getting my scores frequently because I was rebuilding my credit and applying for a mortgage. Now I am going to do it semi-annually.

[smallfry]

I would not get any new cards. It will hurt your average age of accounts. The point hit you will take if you let 3 cards report a balance will be small compared to the long lasting damage you will do if you open new accounts.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi all,

Today I pulled two creditreports, one from TU via annualcreditreport.com and one with FICO score from EQ via myfico.com.

The EQ credit report showed a score of 776 with zero late payments, inquiries and public records. The only negative factor was "You have too many credit cards carrying balances". And indeed right now I have 5 open CCs, 4 of which carried a balance (total utilization was a 1%, which I didn't understand, because they apparently didn't consider the balance on my World Mastercard).

From doing a bit of reading on this site, it seems that I should get the number of CCs reporting a balance below 50%, so that would be only 2 out of 5 (e.g. by paying them off in full before the closing date). That's actually a bit difficult, because three of those cards are reward cards and I use each of them for different purposes (e.g. one for amazon.com with 3% points back, one for groceries and gas with 2% cash back and the World Mastercard as my main CC with 1% cash back), so it would take quite a bit of coordination to not slip up on this.

I have the following questions now:

1. Would it be advantageous to apply for two new credit cards to elimiate the "too many card with balances" issue? I guess for every two new CCs I can keep one balance that I don't need to pay off before the statement closing date. How much would that hurt my score by lowering the average age of accounts? (My open cards are from 6/05, 7/06, 1/01, 6/99, 7/06 and my 2 closed CC accounts are from 6/99 and 5/03, no other LOCs on file). I am less concerned about short-term temporary hits, since I don't anticipating any need for major credit in the near future.

4. I noticed from browsing in the forums that several people here get their FICO scores, pretty frequently from all the 3 CRAs. Any recommendation for a service that allows that and isn't too expensive?

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Since you have no need for credit at the moment there is no need to worry about how many CCs are reporting a balance ...if, in the future, in you need to shine up your report for a credit app or insurance, you can then pay off balances before statement date to have them report fewer/lower balances. Your credit score is just a snapshot of that moment in time.

The scores you received here at myfico are true FICO scores...we can only see TU and EQ scores...if people are receiving all 3 scores from one site, they are seeing FAKO scores from a credit monitoring site such as True Credit.com or Creditchecktotal.com. These services are great for monitoring what is going on with your credit report, but the scores are not true FICO scores.

If you'd like to use one of these services I suggest Creditchecktotal...you can do daily pulls of all 3 reports. If you sign up for a free trial and call to cancel beore the trial period is over, they will nomally offer you 6 months of service at $9.95 per month.

[cobaltnv]

I agree with VEEnVegas on this. Since you state you do not intend on applying for anything major soon do not worry about it. Your score of 776 is perfectly good (very good in fact). If you are thinking about shopping for a car loan or mortgage than payoff the cards and bump up your scores a bit. Adding 2 new cards will just give you more to worry about--keeping them active etc. Your AAoA will drop, possibly significantly, lowering your score more than the "too many accounts with balances" statement. 

Good luck and congrats on having such good credit!

Cheers 

[cobaltnv]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi all,

1. Would it be advantageous to apply for two new credit cards to elimiate the "too many card with balances" issue? I guess for every two new CCs I can keep one balance that I don't need to pay off before the statement closing date. How much would that hurt my score by lowering the average age of accounts? (My open cards are from 6/05, 7/06, 1/01, 6/99, 7/06 and my 2 closed CC accounts are from 6/99 and 5/03, no other LOCs on file). I am less concerned about short-term temporary hits, since I don't anticipating any need for major credit in the near future.

---

 

So I did a quick calculation on your AAoA which based on the information you provided is currently 6.3 years. Your Fico reports round down so 6 years is what your report should say. If you added two new accounts your AAoA would drop to 4.9 years (4 years). Fico high achievers (above 760) have AAoA between 6 and 12 years. Yours would fall out of that range for over 1 year. So unless there is a card you want for some reason (like good rewards or something) I would sit tight with your 5 cards.

Cheers 

[RobertEG]

With 5 open revolving accounts, I see NO reason to apply for more,  You already have a thick credit file.

And, has been said, the monthly frittering over FICO scores is just an academic mind game that you dont have to play until approx. 2 months before you are ready to app for new credit.

You have an excellent credit score.  Knowing how FICO scoring works, worry about fine-tweaking only two months before you app for new credit, and then get over half of your cards with no reported balance, and all others with as low a balance as you can afford.

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much to everyone who responded. Your feedback was extremely valuable for me.