Advice Please on How Soon a Credit Score Can Go Up

[vanillabean]

girl11, I was wondering what the points are for the tiers you mention.

Also, did you find the util in your husband's myFICO EQ score report?

[Anonymous]

How do I find the utilities?

I don't want to check his score until December 1 because I'd rather check it when I know it's most likely going to be up to date.  His Equifax score was the best already, so it was more Transunion and Experian I had to worry about.

Sorry for the tiers, I was in a tier that I believe was over 760.  The credit score they used for him was 719 because two of his scores was 719 with the other being 724.  If he was over 720, he would only be one less tier below me, but the 719 puts him two below me.  My score doesn't matter in this scheme either because they are going to use his.  That's why if we could just at least get it up one point to put him in the next category, maybe I could get a bit of a better deal then too.  I believe that 719 is putting him in the same category as people with around 680-719 or something like that.

[Anonymous]

Also I just got a notice in mail from my one credit card with the $3900 balance saying my credit line had been increased to $30,000 from $23,000 so when I said my credit line for that was $30,000, I guess that just happened recently and probably was not listed that way on our last credit report.  So before we had $6800 balance on what was possibly a $23,000 credit line then.  Now we have a $3900 balance on a $30,000 credit limit.  I hope that helps because if it was listed the $6800/$23000 way before, the balance was 30% of credit limit.  Now it's 13% on that card. 

My husband just charged $300 on another credit card that had a 0 balance...wondering if I should see when statement date is and pay that off too just because I think it was charged recently so maybe a quick payment will help.  That's a credit card with his credit union.

[Anonymous]

I just have another quick question.  If I check my husband's scores with TU and/or Experian, are they going to be the same scores that the lender will see when they do a credit check?  Because if not, I don't know how useful it is for me to even check it then.  Thanks.

[llecs]

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@Anonymous wrote:

How do I find the utilities?

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Do you mean "utilization"? To calculate util, take all of your CC balances, including on closed CCs reporting a balance (if a CL is reported) and divide the sum of those into the sum of the total CLs reported. This equals your overall utilization. Ideally, you want it to be under 9%. This is the fastest way to increase or decrease a FICO score. If you have a solid mix of credit (e.g. 3 or more CCs), then going from 90% util to under 9% with $) balances reporting on all but one of those CCs, you can possibly see a 100 point gain. That's an example and most of the points gained when improving util will come when the CC hits below 20% closer to 10% and below. If you don't want to do the math, you can often see the util listed on your FICO reports.

[llecs]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I just have another quick question.  If I check my husband's scores with TU and/or Experian, are they going to be the same scores that the lender will see when they do a credit check?  Because if not, I don't know how useful it is for me to even check it then.  Thanks.

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Do you mean Equifax? MyFICO sells TransUnion and Equifax FICO reports and scores, and nobody anywhere offers Experian FICO scores for sale, without an added inquiry anyway.

There are three FICO scores for each of the three CRAs. To compound things, the FICO formula changes from time to time and lenders will use a different version to calculate that FICO score. There is nearly a 100% chance that the score pulled by your lender for EQ will exactly match the score pulled from myFICO. This version is called Equifax Beacon 5.0. TU is different. This site offers a TU version called TU98. Many lenders still use that version, however, most now use a newer version called TU04. This version is traditionally lower for most, though it has been higher for some as reported in this forum. IMO, you have a 50/50 shot of having the scores match. You can certainly know ballpark where your TU FICO score lies with the TU score from here. TU04 is only available via a lender.

[Anonymous]

Well his Equifax score was already in the next higher tier because it was 724, but they had to use 719 because that's what TU and Experian was.  That's why I thought it'd be beneficial to know either of the latter two.  To tell you the truth, I'm wondering if I should even have them re-rerun.  Credit scores seem like they can change so dramatically over the littlest thing, what happens if we check it and for some reason his score went down a lot with this added inquiry from the mortgage lender.  Maybe I should leave it as is.  And then if they check mine, that's a third inquiry from them, and I have scores over 760...maybe that would mess up my score?   I just don't know if it's worth the gamble. 

I notice on the credit score disclosure we got, one of the reasons for his score is serious delinquency.  Whatever delinquency he's had, that had to be like 6 or 7 years ago.   I guess it hasn't all come off yet, but I think his scores are improving and getting there.  I think it should help when he has the mortgage under his name

[llecs]

If you want to know your scores to see if there are any changes, then I would pull both for each of you via myFICO. It'll be a lot cheaper than from the lender (plus google "myFICO discount codes" for more savings) and at least you'll have an idea pre-reapp. The inquiries from the lender could hurt your FICO scores and the inquiries from pulling in here do not hurt.

[Anonymous]

True, I think I'll do that but will wait until the end of the month when I know our balances should be up to date or at least reflect the most current statement balance.  Thanks!