FICO score dropped by 60 points - how do i get it back up in the next 3 months?

[SouthJamaica]

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@jamie123 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@jamie123 wrote:

To get the best FICO scores you need to have a minimum of 3 credit cards. You are leaving points on the table every month that you don't have at least three credit cards.

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While you aren't wrong in what is stated above, it's not a necessity.  The score gain the OP would see in adding 1 revolver would be significant.  The score gain from adding 2 more would be minor and arguably near net zero when you factor in the inquires and the age of accounts drop from 2 more.  I agree that as a long term goal this is a good suggestion, but for the OP we're looking at more of the short term with a mortgage app on the horizon.  As for the benefit of having more than 1 card, I honestly don't even put the Fico scoring gain in the top 5 reasons to have more than 1.

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Yes, I should have been more clear. OP should only get one credit card now. He could potentially lower his score if he tried to get more than one at this time.

And I know we have debated the benefits of have more than one credit card in this forum before BBS, but this is a perfect example of how having more than one credit card wouldn't have put OP in this situation in the first place.

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I don't see how we can be advising OP on anything without knowing what the mortgage scores are.

[Anonymous]

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@jamie123 wrote:

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And I know we have debated the benefits of have more than one credit card in this forum before BBS, but this is a perfect example of how having more than one credit card wouldn't have put OP in this situation in the first place.

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I disagree.  It was lack of knowledge , not the lack of an additional revolver that was really the cause here.  It wasn't like his card was closed by the lender; the closure was self-initiated.  I'm quite sure if the OP knew that replacing his only revolver with a charge card would have resulted in a 60 point drop when he's anticipating a mortgage in the near future he wouldn't have closed the revolver.

[Anonymous]

Yeah I think we need the mortgage Scores and Reason Codes and age metrics before we can really advise, but I have a couple really important questions that might add to the communities knowledge base, if OP would be so kind.

You closed your only credit card and it had been open for more than a year, so you were in a “no new account” scorecard, as we call it. You opened up a chargecard, so I wonder if that caused Scorecard reassignment to a “new account scorecard.”

I don’t know where you’ve been monitoring your scores or sourcing your scores from, but I wonder if you know the score changes before and when the Revolver/credit card closed and when the chargecard reported as open, and maybe the accompanying Negative Reason Codes?

But I definitely think you’re losing points by failing to have revolvers open. But we definitely need to know more about your profile to help.

[yapsalot]

Call the card you closed in October and ask them if they will reopen it.