FICO Causes and Effects (What Happened, and How Did it Affect Your FICO?)

[ronq]

I noticed a 9 point jump when my CC UTL went from 6% to 2%. UTL has proven to be the fastest way to raise or lower your score in my case. I am going to have it at 0% for a couple of months and see what that does to my score.

[Anonymous]

rein

[andyaycw]

Experian seems to not care about inquiries. A single inquiry on my EQ dropped my score 8 points, yet 4 inquiries on my EX left my score unchanged.

EX went from 735 to 736 after an inquiry with Citi and after Discover started reporting.

EQ went down from 738 to 730 after a single inquiry.

[Anonymous]

Hi everybody. New to your forum and want to say right off... THANK YOU one and all. The info you folks are providing is beyond placing a value on to say the least.

Please excuse the stupidity off this question but as I said, new to this all...

If I have a hokey type 'pay this yearly fee, get this card' CC ( HBSC) with a lousy max. credit line of like $300, and pay it down to say $5.00 owed, do I reap the same benefits in scoring for being below the 1-9% utlz. as say a major CC with a very high credit limit being paid down to that same 1-9% utlz.?

Guess what I'm asking is, is the Fico scoring 'standard' across the board regardless of the type of card or who the issuer is and/or if it's a low limit card and 'for fee' card and so forth?

 AGAIN, REALLY APPRECIATE YOU FOLKS SHARING ALL THIS VALUABLE INFO!! YOU'RE ALL GREAT!!  Silverwolf

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi everybody. New to your forum and want to say right off... THANK YOU one and all. The info you folks are providing is beyond placing a value on to say the least.

Please excuse the stupidity off this question but as I said, new to this all...

If I have a hokey type 'pay this yearly fee, get this card' CC ( HBSC) with a lousy max. credit line of like $300, and pay it down to say $5.00 owed, do I reap the same benefits in scoring for being below the 1-9% utlz. as say a major CC with a very high credit limit being paid down to that same 1-9% utlz.?

Guess what I'm asking is, is the Fico scoring 'standard' across the board regardless of the type of card or who the issuer is and/or if it's a low limit card and 'for fee' card and so forth?

AGAIN, REALLY APPRECIATE YOU FOLKS SHARING ALL THIS VALUABLE INFO!! YOU'RE ALL GREAT!! Silverwolf

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The answer is yes and no.

Yes, any revolving tradeline paid on time and kept below 9% utilization, but above zero, helps your credit score over time. So if you're rebuilding credit and that low-end card is all you can get, get the card.

But no, that $300 CL card won't help you as much as a $2000 CL card, because FICO does factor in credit limits. The higher your credit limits, the higher your FICO, at least up to $5000 or so.

[Anonymous]

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@ronq wrote:
I noticed a 9 point jump when my CC UTL went from 6% to 2%. UTL has proven to be the fastest way to raise or lower your score in my case. I am going to have it at 0% for a couple of months and see what that does to my score.

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From what I've observed, you want to have a balance for optimum credit scoring. Even a tiny balance will do. Charge a Big Gulp at 7-11 and let it report.

[Anonymous]

Thanks a lot for that precise answer Newworld/Mod!!

Yes, digging out from under after  BK 2 yrs. ago, so very limited on card availability...  (good ones anyway!)  Have a Cap1 also with a $1,500 HL,  (of course both cards are about maxed)

Was trying to figure out which one would provide more bump by paying down, right... and you gave me the answer, THANKS! (granted, I understand to pay BOTH, L.O.L.!)

We have a house financed, and  a new truck, both loans just at 1 yr. old now, and a couple paid off auto loans since the BK was filed, not a single late payment on a single thing ever since the discharge, (2+ yrs.)  but seem to be having a heck of a time getting Fico to rise no matter what I do, just fishing for options and soaking up all you brilliant folks knowledge!!  

THANKS! Silverwolf

[creditballer]

I am at a 685 FICO and I recently closed a 1st Premier Visa that I had for 20 months (way too many fees) I now have a Visa and MC and a new Installment Loan with the Credit Union all opened in AUG and my tax liens drops in OCT...Can anyone tell me if they believe my score will take a big hit from closing the 1st Premier account? And how will this new credit affect my score? And, my BK drops in Sept 2008 how will this affect my score? tks

[Anonymous]

As a little demonstration of "When Good Credit Goes Bad," here's a breakdown of the effect of my breakup on my credit score:

-Starting EquiFax score:  787

-Increased charges, 2 new accounts opened, lots of inquiries, blah blah blah (and yes, I was charging the ever living bejebus out of everything), drops to 768.  (-19 points)

-Student loan enters repayment period, statement gets confiscated with ex's mail.  One 30 day delinquency.  Slight increases on revolving credit.  Score drops to 691.  (-77 points).

-Student loan people are still sending mail to the old address (ex is still holding my mail), USPS hasn't forwarded statement to me, I've completely forgotten about it in the breakup mourning period.  Everything else is unchanged.  Enters 60 day delinquency.  Score drops to 634.  (-55 points).

Well crap, now my breakup cost me 151 points over ~3 months.  Grr.              

Now for the rehabilitation:

-Increases for no apparent reason (acount age, perhaps?):  Score rises to 649.  (+15 points).

-Student loan people get a payment, status changes to "currently paid as agreed."  A little less anger in the world.  Score rises to 695.  (+46 points).

-Score goes up because my delinquencies aren't hurting my score as much anymore.  Score rises to 712.  (+17 points).   

-Score goes up for no reported reason:  723.  (+11 points). 

I've been able to bring it back up 89 points in ~3.5 months, although I'm still 64 points off my initial starting point.  And, the ex and I are back together.  The Student Loan people have no sympathy and won't change the reported delinquencies even though I tell them how awesome I really am.  I'll try a GoodWill letter after 6 months or so of on-time payments and see if that does anything (not hopeful).

In the meantime, I'm still working on decreasing my big balances (going to Paris and Brazil doesn't help with that), but I'm not expecting to get back to my starting point anytime soon with that delinquency on there. 

Happy crediting!