Hello everyone,
This forum has been quite educational and life changing for me at the same time. But I have been seeing a lot of discussion about the AZEO formula to keep your FICO scores high.
Do you think rotating cards while maintain AZEO could increase points. For example, I have 19 cards, but I mainly use 6 of them while leaving them paid in full each month. However, my AZEO strategy would be to start using all 19 cards. I will leave a balance on CC #1 pay it off after the balance reports to the CB, then repeat but this time leave a balance on CC#2 repeating this until I have used all 19 credit cards over a 19 month period. I am just curious as to would that increase my FICO faster? I would be keeping all of my cards in good standing as they will be aging 19 months and aging over the 1 year and half threshold as well.
I am lead to think you will get more views and some responses to this if we could have a moderator move this to General topics or another board. Also, i believe the score could increase more favorable if a Bank issued card is used for AZEO.
@UncleB
@Antredd wrote:Hello everyone,
This forum has been quite educational and life changing for me at the same time. But I have been seeing a lot of discussion about the AZEO formula to keep your FICO scores high.
Do you think rotating cards while maintain AZEO could increase points. For example, I have 19 cards, but I mainly use 6 of them while leaving them paid in full each month. However, my AZEO strategy would be to start using all 19 cards. I will leave a balance on CC #1 pay it off after the balance reports to the CB, then repeat but this time leave a balance on CC#2 repeating this until I have used all 19 credit cards over a 19 month period. I am just curious as to would that increase my FICO faster? I would be keeping all of my cards in good standing as they will be aging 19 months and aging over the 1 year and half threshold as well.
I would say that use whatever "process" works best for you. We all tick a little bit differently so what works for one person very well might seem like complete hogwash to another. So, my suggestion would be to use whatever works for you.
A couple things to consider:
1. For the one card that is reporting a balance, please ensure that it is a credit card issued by a major financial institution.
2. For that one card, please do not use a "store credit card"....thinking Target or Lowes (or similar) right here.
3. For that one card, please do not use a credit card from a Credit Union.
4. For that one card, please research the "major financial institutions" (as some, like Chase, reportedly do not like to be "the one" card)
What I have been doing (well, for full disclosure, I have been playing with carrying a balance on my cards for the last four months) was to use my Discover IT card as the one card to report a small balance. For me, that made it simple. And, I have only five cards....so it is not really terribly difficult to manage this. Not for me, anyway.
But, find a way that works for you....that is easy to manage (for you)....and stick to it.
I like to investigate things (really love doing that) so every now and again I will do the good old "wonder what happens if I start doing xyz? Well, only one real way to find out....let's do it!" I am going - in the next two months - back to AZEO...
And, keep in mind that the balance reported (at the Statement Billing Cycle date) changes each and every month. So, whatever last month was is forgotten and replaced with this month. So, if you "screw up" there is no damage done (in theory). Just wait on month and make sure that the balance reported is what you wanted.
Are you playing with this simply to maintain as high of a FICO credit score as possible? Or are you planning on purchasing a home "soon"?
The reason that I ask is because AZEO is not required....it is a very nice tool for those of us who choose to implement it. Where it REALLY helps is when you are looking to purchase a home "soon". And the reason that it really helps is because those FICO 2/4/5 scores are really influenced by (a) accounts with a balance and (b) credit utilization.
So, AZEO is really up to you and is a personal choice, generally speaking. Unless you are looking to purchase a home....then it really becomes important for optimizing your credit scores (and, specifically, the ones that heavily influence your approval chances and the interest rate that you will be paying).
Enjoy the forum!
Starting Score: Exp 627
Thanks for your response. I am already a home owner, and I benefited from historic low interest rates. But I guess you can say I am just experimenting to see what would happen using the AZEO strategy as long as I keep my cards in good standing.
I didn't know that store charge cards are not factored in the same as credit union or bank cards. That's good to know. Also, I don't even like store cards, but because my Lowes (Synchrony) and Home Depot (Citibank) are technically store cards I pay them off in full and won't leave a balance on them.
I will tell you this. My Shell gas card offered me a $25 statement credit if I used the card and make $100 gas purchases by June 30th. I live in CA and I can do that easily on one day LOL. So the other day I used my Shell card after it had been dormant for over a year just charging about $25 on it. Now get this my Experian and Transunion account jumped 1 and 2 points respectively to my surprise after Shell reported the $25 balance on both CBs. So what is up with that? That's what made me ask the AZEO question.
@Antredd wrote:
Thanks for your response. I am already a home owner, and I benefited from historic low interest rates. But I guess you can say I am just experimenting to see what would happen using the AZEO strategy as long as I keep my cards in good standing.
I didn't know that store charge cards are not factored in the same as credit union or bank cards. That's good to know. Also, I don't even like store cards, but because my Lowes (Synchrony) and Home Depot (Citibank) are technically store cards I pay them off in full and won't leave a balance on them.
I will tell you this. My Shell gas card offered me a $25 statement credit if I used the card and make $100 gas purchases by June 30th. I live in CA and I can do that easily on one day LOL. So the other day I used my Shell card after it had been dormant for over a year just charging about $25 on it. Now get this my Experian and Transunion account jumped 1 and 2 points respectively to my surprise after Shell reported the $25 balance on both CBs. So what is up with that? That's what made me ask the AZEO question.
Ha! Ha! Hey, it is always good to know the "why"! There are a lot of things in this credit game that make one ponder.
Question: have you seen | discovered | stumbled upon the "The Scoring Primer" post? It is an amazing post that goes over - in intimate detail - all of the scoring factors and and and in this crazy FICO world? If you have not, and can not find it (and if you can not....well, we need to talk! HA! HA!), then post back and someone (likely me) will provide a link to it.
I H.I.G.H.L.Y recommend checking that Scoring Primer post out (if you have not already). It is a lot of info....but well worth the time invested. Especially for us "hey, let's see what happens if..." kinda folks!
The "The Scoring Primer? No
moved to CC for better coverage
@Antredd wrote:But I have been seeing a lot of discussion about the AZEO formula to keep your FICO scores high.
A lot of work for approx: 10 to 20 points. Just do all zero and add 15 points as your approx: score
Do you think rotating cards while maintain AZEO could increase points.
No, you need to have a card you know reports to all credit bureaus when it is suppose too. Find one you use or one that is easy to just let a few dollars report every month.
For example, I have 19 cards, but I mainly use 6 of them while leaving them paid in full each month. However, my AZEO strategy would be to start using all 19 cards. I will leave a balance on CC #1 pay it off after the balance reports to the CB, then repeat but this time leave a balance on CC#2 repeating this until I have used all 19 credit cards over a 19 month period.
Some card issuers are known to close cards if not used every 4-9 months, If I wanted to keep a card alive it would be used every 3-6 months. 19 is too long. A lot of better ways to keep sock drawer card alive.
I am just curious as to would that increase my FICO faster?
No,
To be honest, it wouldn't make a difference. The AZEO method is to optimize scores to their highest, but whichever card you are using as the one showing a balance doesn't make a difference as far as FICO is concerned, so long as it's a bankcard.
