AZEO works the best with 3 cards. Your doing it right having one report $0 balance and a small balance on the other. Comes down to FICO likes less than 50% of your total cards reporting a balance. So at 50% your on the edge. Once a 3rd card is obtained. Thats when you'll see the FICO bonus with 33%. Any loans?
Thats great you have some type of installment loan. To get the credit mix bonus takes 3 open cards. 2 cards is 50%. To get the FICO rebuild bonus as I call it. The third card will drop you from 50% reporting down to 33%. Then you'll see a score bump. With 2 cards and AZEO there isnt that much of a change. Once that 3rd card is approved and you follow true AZEO. Here comes some points.
Firemedic has spelled out AZEO in terms of FICO and the boost in points for following the method very well.
There is always alot of conversation about AZEO but I would like to add that unless you are about to seek new credit in some capacity (car, mortgage, CC account, etc) and want to insure you have done all that you can to maximize your scores, it is not something that you need to stress about month to month.
Yes, I believe its always best to pay in full every month and as a general rule I myself pay all accounts accept one to zero prior to statement date but if you slip and do not get all to zero except one before a statement cuts there is no need to stress about it.
The beauty of utilization whether on a single account as an aggregate for all accounts is it has no memory. Once you bring accounts to zero (accept one) any points that you may have lost for not being at AZEO will come back.
@Anonymous wrote:FireMedic1Thank you!! That makes sense. After reading the abbreviations forum I believe Im in the gardening phase. I only have the 2 most recent inquiries for the last few years so I don't want to apply for anything else. Certainly welcome any future suggestions/ protips.
Respectfully,
After 1 year FICO doesnt count inq's any longer. If its been more than a year since your last inq. Then you have none. You wanted help to get credit going. Get the 3rd card and follow the directions above and then garden. And inq's are the least of a score hit than anything else. But its up to you. Good Luck!
Link to pre-qual for Discover. Its all laid out there for you above for AZEO.
https://www.discovercard.com/application/preapproval/initial