Goal for 800+

[Anonymous]

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@JFox418 wrote:

My auto loan score was lower than I anticipated which I plan to use soon. Haven't had a car payment in a few years. 

How often can you expect to get a CLI? Both the cards were bumped from $10k to $13k a few months ago without asking them. 

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You are looking at 6 months between increases so that's out.  Your BB and Home Depot are certainly hard pulls and I've heard mixed reviews on the Kohls.  I wouldn't try any of them so I guess you're stuck for a little bit.

If you did open a new card for utilization help, you're going to take scoring penalties for the inquiry, lowering of AAoA, and resetting your youngest revolving account to less than 12 months.  That's why I said don't if your goal is to hit 800 soon.

Do you know where you are getting the auto loan?  There is no guarantee that they will use your auto scores.  They can use any model they want. 

[JFox418]

If my current car gets me through winter I won't buy until spring. I've been putting off the car buying to pay down my cards. 

I'll probably just sit tight and keep paying down cards like you said. Looks like if I just get the util down I'll hit 800. No real reason for the goal other than having a goal haha. 

[SouthJamaica]

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@JFox418 wrote:

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@OmarGB9 wrote:

Firstly, have you checked your true FICO 8s? Either here on MyFICO, or on Credit Check Total? Because neither CK nor CreditWise provide FICO 8s. They both provide Vantage scores, which are nearly usless, as most lenders use FICO 8s, or some variation of FICO. Moreover, your Vantage scores can vary wildly from your FICO 8s, by as much as 100 points either higher or lower.

Secondly, I'd focus more on paying down your balances if I were you. You'd be hard pressed to get an approval with 62% overall utilization and 5/6 cards showing balances. Even if you did get approved, the limit would probably be very small.

Inquiries are a minor thing, as you probably wouldn't lose many points from them, if any. Plus, they're only calculated into your score for 1 year. And while they will remain for another year beyond that, the FICO algorithm will ignore them.

Finally, getting to 800 scores just takes time, more than anything. Credit age helps a lot with that. People with 800 scores typically have LONG histories, as in 20+ years.

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Ok I signed up for the 7 day free trial for Credit Check Total for a base point. Should I go ahead and run my credit report so I can see the equifax and transunion too? It says I get 1 free with the trial and won't be able to do it again for 30 days. Here's where I'm at. 

Fico Score 8 - 767 (only negative is high credit usage)

Mortage Lending - 751 (high credit usage, high account balances, short revolving history)

Auto Lending - 717 (high credit usage, high account balances, short revolving history, high revolving balances)

CC Lending - 747 (high credit usage, high account balances, short revolving history, high revolving balances)

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Your path to 800 is

1. make no applications for any new credit, any credit limit increase request that could trigger a hard pull, or anything else that could trigger a hard pull, for 12 months

2. pay down all your revolving credit, so that one bank card reports a small balance, before you pay it off, while all the other cards report zero balances

No guarantee that that will get you to 800 in 12 months, but I can pretty much guarantee that you will not get to 800 unless you follow those 2 principles

I know this isn't what you wanted to hear, but it is the answer to your question

[JFox418]

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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@JFox418 wrote:

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@OmarGB9 wrote:

Firstly, have you checked your true FICO 8s? Either here on MyFICO, or on Credit Check Total? Because neither CK nor CreditWise provide FICO 8s. They both provide Vantage scores, which are nearly usless, as most lenders use FICO 8s, or some variation of FICO. Moreover, your Vantage scores can vary wildly from your FICO 8s, by as much as 100 points either higher or lower.

Secondly, I'd focus more on paying down your balances if I were you. You'd be hard pressed to get an approval with 62% overall utilization and 5/6 cards showing balances. Even if you did get approved, the limit would probably be very small.

Inquiries are a minor thing, as you probably wouldn't lose many points from them, if any. Plus, they're only calculated into your score for 1 year. And while they will remain for another year beyond that, the FICO algorithm will ignore them.

Finally, getting to 800 scores just takes time, more than anything. Credit age helps a lot with that. People with 800 scores typically have LONG histories, as in 20+ years.

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Ok I signed up for the 7 day free trial for Credit Check Total for a base point. Should I go ahead and run my credit report so I can see the equifax and transunion too? It says I get 1 free with the trial and won't be able to do it again for 30 days. Here's where I'm at. 

Fico Score 8 - 767 (only negative is high credit usage)

Mortage Lending - 751 (high credit usage, high account balances, short revolving history)

Auto Lending - 717 (high credit usage, high account balances, short revolving history, high revolving balances)

CC Lending - 747 (high credit usage, high account balances, short revolving history, high revolving balances)

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Your path to 800 is

1. make no applications for any new credit, any credit limit increase request that could trigger a hard pull, or anything else that could trigger a hard pull, for 12 months

2. pay down all your revolving credit, so that one bank card reports a small balance, before you pay it off, while all the other cards report zero balances

No guarantee that that will get you to 800 in 12 months, but I can pretty much guarantee that you will not get to 800 unless you follow those 2 principles

I know this isn't what you wanted to hear, but it is the answer to your question

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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@JFox418 wrote:

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@OmarGB9 wrote:

Firstly, have you checked your true FICO 8s? Either here on MyFICO, or on Credit Check Total? Because neither CK nor CreditWise provide FICO 8s. They both provide Vantage scores, which are nearly usless, as most lenders use FICO 8s, or some variation of FICO. Moreover, your Vantage scores can vary wildly from your FICO 8s, by as much as 100 points either higher or lower.

Secondly, I'd focus more on paying down your balances if I were you. You'd be hard pressed to get an approval with 62% overall utilization and 5/6 cards showing balances. Even if you did get approved, the limit would probably be very small.

Inquiries are a minor thing, as you probably wouldn't lose many points from them, if any. Plus, they're only calculated into your score for 1 year. And while they will remain for another year beyond that, the FICO algorithm will ignore them.

Finally, getting to 800 scores just takes time, more than anything. Credit age helps a lot with that. People with 800 scores typically have LONG histories, as in 20+ years.

---

Ok I signed up for the 7 day free trial for Credit Check Total for a base point. Should I go ahead and run my credit report so I can see the equifax and transunion too? It says I get 1 free with the trial and won't be able to do it again for 30 days. Here's where I'm at. 

Fico Score 8 - 767 (only negative is high credit usage)

Mortage Lending - 751 (high credit usage, high account balances, short revolving history)

Auto Lending - 717 (high credit usage, high account balances, short revolving history, high revolving balances)

CC Lending - 747 (high credit usage, high account balances, short revolving history, high revolving balances)

---

Your path to 800 is

1. make no applications for any new credit, any credit limit increase request that could trigger a hard pull, or anything else that could trigger a hard pull, for 12 months

2. pay down all your revolving credit, so that one bank card reports a small balance, before you pay it off, while all the other cards report zero balances

No guarantee that that will get you to 800 in 12 months, but I can pretty much guarantee that you will not get to 800 unless you follow those 2 principles

I know this isn't what you wanted to hear, but it is the answer to your question

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thanks! Not really after a certain answer. I was playing around with the simulated score on experian and it seems like paying down my balances would be enough to get over 800. I guess time will tell!

[FireMedic1]

Simulators are for entertainment. So dont go by them alone. And 760+ is just as good as 800.

[rostrow416]

Honestly, don't worry about specific FICO scores while you are carrying balances and have high utilization. 

Since your overall credit history is very good, simply paying off everything but 1 revolver could get you within close enough distance to an actual 800 score. 

[JFox418]

Are there tiers to utilization? I'm waiting on a few payments to post that will take me below %50. Hoping that'll get me a few and then it seems like %30 is the next magic number. 

[SouthJamaica]

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@JFox418 wrote:

Are there tiers to utilization? I'm waiting on a few payments to post that will take me below %50. Hoping that'll get me a few and then it seems like %30 is the next magic number. 

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50% and 30% (really 49% and 29%) are tiers in individual revolving account utilization.  Getting below 50% can give a boost. Getting below 30% can give a boost.

There may be other tiers, but they are less clear.

[JFox418]

Thanks! Out of curiousity, would individual card balances use this tier system too? Say one is over %50 even though my overall is below %50 would that single card being over %50 have an impact?  

[SouthJamaica]

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@JFox418 wrote:

Thanks! Out of curiousity, would individual card balances use this tier system too? Say one is over %50 even though my overall is below %50 would that single card being over %50 have an impact?  

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This is what I wrote: "50% and 30% (really 49% and 29%) are tiers in individual revolving account utilization."

I was only talking about individual accounts.