What type of account mix should I be trying to achieve to boost my score?
I have seen it stated that 3 credit cards is a good mix, does anyone have any input on that? Would the card I am an AU count in that mix?
I currently have 1 CC in my own name. am an AU on a Lowes card, and have a joint installment car loan. Our mortgate is in my wifes name only and she has a really good interest rate, so refi to get my name on it wouild probably cost us more than what we pay now.
With a 612 FICO score do I have a chance to get an unsecured card? If so what would be some good options?
Scores
Current Fako scores range from 574 up to 632, Current FICO from Discover is at 612.
The Bad:
House lost to back taxes, It will drop from my CR in November of this year.
Old CC debt owed to Credit One scheduled to drop from CR in January 2018.
4 Medical Collections accounts 3 will drop from CR by December 2017, The Last one will not drop until Feb 2019
Car loan with 3 120 day lates and 1- 30 day late, account was pd in full Feb 2014, 120 day lates will drop from CR in Sept 2018, and the 30 day late in Aug of 19.
The Good:
Car loan with State Farm Bank opened Aug of 2015 - Never Late
Capital One Secured Card Opened Oct. of 2015 - Never Late CL 500 paid off every month
AU on my wife's Lowes Card CL 8000 Never Late. This card is either paid off every month or within the time of a zero APR promo for a couble of large purchases. This card really helps me keep my credit utiliztion down.
The CU is always under 10% total and rarely is the CU on the cap one card over 30%
@MakingProgress wrote:
What type of account mix should I be trying to achieve to boost my score?
I have seen it stated that 3 credit cards is a good mix, does anyone have any input on that? Would the card I am an AU count in that mix?
I currently have 1 CC in my own name. am an AU on a Lowes card, and have a joint installment car loan. Our mortgate is in my wifes name only and she has a really good interest rate, so refi to get my name on it wouild probably cost us more than what we pay now.
With a 612 FICO score do I have a chance to get an unsecured card? If so what would be some good options?
Scores
Current Fako scores range from 574 up to 632, Current FICO from Discover is at 612.
The Bad:
House lost to back taxes, It will drop from my CR in November of this year.
Old CC debt owed to Credit One scheduled to drop from CR in January 2018.
4 Medical Collections accounts 3 will drop from CR by December 2017, The Last one will not drop until Feb 2019
Car loan with 3 120 day lates and 1- 30 day late, account was pd in full Feb 2014, 120 day lates will drop from CR in Sept 2018, and the 30 day late in Aug of 19.
The Good:
Car loan with State Farm Bank opened Aug of 2015 - Never Late
Capital One Secured Card Opened Oct. of 2015 - Never Late CL 500 paid off every month
AU on my wife's Lowes Card CL 8000 Never Late. This card is either paid off every month or within the time of a zero APR promo for a couble of large purchases. This card really helps me keep my credit utiliztion down.
The CU is always under 10% total and rarely is the CU on the cap one card over 30%
Your credit mix is fine. You have a credit card, and are an authorized user on another, and you have an installment loan.
You need to get rid of the negatives.
The best way to maintain the 2 cards is to let one report a zero balance and the other a 9% or lower balance.
Your installment loan will improve your score when you have it paid down to 9% of the original loan amount.
@jamie123 wrote:Don't worry about account mix too much. Like you stated, it would be too much of a hassle to get you on the mortgage so don't worry about it.
Your baddies are a problem but I think you already know that. You have 2 options with the baddies, either try and get them removed or let time do its thing and have them age off. Reading between the lines, I think that you plan on waiting for them to age off. Just be aware that until the very last baddie ages off it will be a drag on your scores. All baddies aren't created equal as you will find out. As long as you have 1 baddie on your reports you will not be able to attain really high (720+) scores but that is okay. Scores of 680+ are really okay for most folks.
I think that your scores will significantly improve by February of 2018 but won't be great. I'm thinking somewhere around 650-700 when those baddies drop off.
You don't clearly tell us how many credit cards you have but from reading through this a few times I take that you have the following cards:
Discover - Your Name
Lowes - AU
Cap1 - Your Name
The only major lender that I know of that might give you an unsecured credit card at this time is Walmart. I know you would almost be guaranteed approval if you score was 620 or above but I think that it is worth a hard pull to see if you can get a Walmart card now.
Right now you want to set yourself up so that when all these baddies drop off your file that you already have good well aged credit and your scores will climb fast. That means thinking long term and getting about 5 to 8 credit cards as soon as you can. I would suggest apping for a Walmart card now and then waiting until February of 2018 to app for anything else. Add 2 cards a year until you have 8 cards so you can build a thick file.
For what it’s worth, here’s my 2 cents – I have three accounts on my CR with derogs. All from when I had financial issues a few years ago. One closed mortgage with ten (30 -120) late payments, one closed second mortgage with nine (30 -90) late payments and one open mortgage with ten (120+) late payments. All the late payments are 5+ years old.
All the inquiries on my CR are within the last 18 months. As these inquiries age over 12 months my score continues to increase, about 5 points per inquiry. I keep my utl at 2-3% and one of the two cards report every month. My scores are in my signature.
It is possible to achieve 720+ respectable scores with derogs still present on your CR. The older they are the less impact they have on your score
As far as the baddies go I am planning on letting everyting that will drop in the next few months just age off. That leaves me with the late payments, and one medical collection account. I have sent a coupel of GW requests on the late payments, but have had no success on that front. I will keep trying every couple of months and maybe I will get lucky. I would offer a PFD for the medical collection account, but am not sure if I should or not because the other medical collection accounts that will age off soon are held by the same CA.
As far as my credit cards go I do not have a Discover, I simply use their scorecard to get a free FICO score each month.
I really hope you are right about where my score will be after Feb.2018. Considering I just broke 600 this month I would be thrilled to hit 650 by Feb.
You say "Your installment loan will improve your score when you have it paid down to 9% of the original loan amount." Are you saying I am not getting a bump by having the installment loan and keeping up with my payments? 9% of the original loan amount means it is almost paid off and will soon not be an active account.
@MakingProgress wrote:You say "Your installment loan will improve your score when you have it paid down to 9% of the original loan amount." Are you saying I am not getting a bump by having the installment loan and keeping up with my payments? 9% of the original loan amount means it is almost paid off and will soon not be an active account.
No from my experience you do not get a "bump" from keeping up with your payments. It's a good thing, factored into your score, that you are keeping up with your payments, but you don't get a "bump" from that.
You only get a "bump" when you get it down to 9% (possibly some small bumps on the way down to 9%, but evidence -- and opinion -- is mixed on this).
Then when you pay it down to zero you get a "ding".
If this is all counterintuitive, especially the part about the "ding" for paying it off, don't blame me, blame Messrs Fair and Isaac.