@SouthJamaica wrote:
@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?
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.
I skipped right over the individual clarification.... that is good to know. Hopefully I'll get some a good bump then.
I just paid down a %73 to just under %50 which hasn't reported yet. Same with another account that was at %62.
I have one account that is over %50 which is due this week and I'll get that under %50. I also have one account just over %30 due this week so I'll get that under %30 as well.
@JFox418 wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@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?
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.
I skipped right over the individual clarification.... that is good to know. Hopefully I'll get some a good bump then.
I just paid down a %73 to just under %50 which hasn't reported yet. Same with another account that was at %62.
I have one account that is over %50 which is due this week and I'll get that under %50. I also have one account just over %30 due this week so I'll get that under %30 as well.
I have tested the effects (in my profile) of reducing the number of accounts reporting > 50% to below 50%, in EX FICO 8 and FICO 2, and found the effects to be significant:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@JFox418 wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@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?
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.
I skipped right over the individual clarification.... that is good to know. Hopefully I'll get some a good bump then.
I just paid down a %73 to just under %50 which hasn't reported yet. Same with another account that was at %62.
I have one account that is over %50 which is due this week and I'll get that under %50. I also have one account just over %30 due this week so I'll get that under %30 as well.
I have tested the effects (in my profile) of reducing the number of accounts reporting > 50% to below 50%, in EX FICO 8 and FICO 2, and found the effects to be significant:
Wow that was a great read and seems very similar to my current situation.
@JFox418 wrote:Hello all, I hope this is an appropriate topic for this forum since I think the majority of my work needing done will be based around credit cards. I also apologize for the long read. I'm looking for some input on how I can get to 800+. I'm currently sitting about 715-720 according to creditwise and credit karma with a %62 util on $41,600 available credit. This was from last month but I've been working on getting that down and should be well under %50 after everything updates this month.
I have zero inquiries, zero bad marks, perfect payment history and average account age just under 8 years. Here's how my CC balances should look after everything updates this month. I was really shooting to get the big cards down to %50.
Cap One Quicksilver - $6500/$13k
Cap One Platinum - $6500/$13k
Best Buy (citi) - $3350/$6k
Home Depot - $2800/$9100 (CL was actually just bumped $1500 and hasn't updated yet)
Kohls - $0/$2k
I have a few questions, should I apply for another card or two and try to increase my over all credit limit and help with utilization? I realize I need to stay strong with paying down current balances even if I do this. I'm guessing getting my util down to %30 or less would make a big impact.
I am thinking about switching phone carriers for our family to Verizon and I know they do a hard pull, and I'm going to purchase a new car in the next few months which would be a hard inquiry. How would that fit into my game plan?
Thanks!
It sounds like you don't have an Installment Debt, either a car loan or a mortgage? You didn't clarify whether you have a mortgage yet.
If no Installment Loan, then you should consider opening a Share Secured Loan at a Credit Union. A small balance ( $500 typically ) gets placed in a secured savings account, then the CU loans you a low-interest Term Loan ( fixed monthly payments, not a Line of Credit ) for the $500 and gets you the cash back. You then pay the low monthly payments on the SSL, and that records as an "Installment Debt" category in your FICO scores. Over a few months, it should add some points to your score due to that improvement in credit mix. This new account will have a HP, but that fades in a year.
Next up, to actually get to 800, I think you are looking at a long time, like a year. A new card account would impact score in the short term, but in 12 months that INQ will fade to zero impact. You only have Capital One and Store Cards. That to me is a thin file. I think you need to look at something from another bank to get a non-store card added to your mix. Sure, with high utilization this app may not result in a huge credit line, but it gets you something you can use for daily charging with a grace period, and stop adding additional charges to your Capital One cards. Because even though you are paying down debt, you really should be paying for almost everything with a credit card for the financial insulation it provides that a debit card simply can't. If the new card is from BofA, or Citi, or Discover, then you have an added potential bonus of BT opportunities. With only cards from Capital One, you can't move balances between those cards to try to reduce your APR and speed your card payoff.
And while 800 is a good goal, is the only purpose to get an auto loan? Have you checked with a local CU to see what auto loans you qualify for now, and compare those to "how much better my score would need to be to get even a 0.10% APR reduction"? And is a small reduction in auto loan rate worth worrying about? If it's a larger APR reduction, that makes more of a difference, but it sounds like you are speculating a better score of ( randomly ) 800 might help your auto payment, without any real score numbers and score targets to work with from an actual bank / CU.
800 is a good goal, but nobody pays you for having an 800 ( or 850 ) score. There are benefits to higher scores, but you really want to know how those benefits in better loan rates are calculated by the bank ( that's where you "get paid" for a better score ), and realize it may be sooner than you think, when you can hit the best rates.
@NRB525 wrote:
@JFox418 wrote:Hello all, I hope this is an appropriate topic for this forum since I think the majority of my work needing done will be based around credit cards. I also apologize for the long read. I'm looking for some input on how I can get to 800+. I'm currently sitting about 715-720 according to creditwise and credit karma with a %62 util on $41,600 available credit. This was from last month but I've been working on getting that down and should be well under %50 after everything updates this month.
I have zero inquiries, zero bad marks, perfect payment history and average account age just under 8 years. Here's how my CC balances should look after everything updates this month. I was really shooting to get the big cards down to %50.
Cap One Quicksilver - $6500/$13k
Cap One Platinum - $6500/$13k
Best Buy (citi) - $3350/$6k
Home Depot - $2800/$9100 (CL was actually just bumped $1500 and hasn't updated yet)
Kohls - $0/$2k
I have a few questions, should I apply for another card or two and try to increase my over all credit limit and help with utilization? I realize I need to stay strong with paying down current balances even if I do this. I'm guessing getting my util down to %30 or less would make a big impact.
I am thinking about switching phone carriers for our family to Verizon and I know they do a hard pull, and I'm going to purchase a new car in the next few months which would be a hard inquiry. How would that fit into my game plan?
Thanks!
It sounds like you don't have an Installment Debt, either a car loan or a mortgage? You didn't clarify whether you have a mortgage yet.
If no Installment Loan, then you should consider opening a Share Secured Loan at a Credit Union. A small balance ( $500 typically ) gets placed in a secured savings account, then the CU loans you a low-interest Term Loan ( fixed monthly payments, not a Line of Credit ) for the $500 and gets you the cash back. You then pay the low monthly payments on the SSL, and that records as an "Installment Debt" category in your FICO scores. Over a few months, it should add some points to your score due to that improvement in credit mix. This new account will have a HP, but that fades in a year.
Next up, to actually get to 800, I think you are looking at a long time, like a year. A new card account would impact score in the short term, but in 12 months that INQ will fade to zero impact. You only have Capital One and Store Cards. That to me is a thin file. I think you need to look at something from another bank to get a non-store card added to your mix. Sure, with high utilization this app may not result in a huge credit line, but it gets you something you can use for daily charging with a grace period, and stop adding additional charges to your Capital One cards. Because even though you are paying down debt, you really should be paying for almost everything with a credit card for the financial insulation it provides that a debit card simply can't. If the new card is from BofA, or Citi, or Discover, then you have an added potential bonus of BT opportunities. With only cards from Capital One, you can't move balances between those cards to try to reduce your APR and speed your card payoff.
And while 800 is a good goal, is the only purpose to get an auto loan? Have you checked with a local CU to see what auto loans you qualify for now, and compare those to "how much better my score would need to be to get even a 0.10% APR reduction"? And is a small reduction in auto loan rate worth worrying about? If it's a larger APR reduction, that makes more of a difference, but it sounds like you are speculating a better score of ( randomly ) 800 might help your auto payment, without any real score numbers and score targets to work with from an actual bank / CU.
800 is a good goal, but nobody pays you for having an 800 ( or 850 ) score. There are benefits to higher scores, but you really want to know how those benefits in better loan rates are calculated by the bank ( that's where you "get paid" for a better score ), and realize it may be sooner than you think, when you can hit the best rates.
Lots of good points. Yes I have a mortgage through third federal. We just bought this house 2 years ago. I also have a person loan with Marcus with a balance of about $7500 and about 14 months left on it. No current auto loans. Paid our last auto loan off just before buying the house.
I'd just like to get the best car rate I can when I do decide to buy. I just felt like 800 was a good number to shoot for but it does seem like it's not going to get me much better rates than what I have now.
Those are good points about the CC. We haven't charged anything in a long time. Well besides a cell bill i have on auto pay. These are all balances we've had for 3-4 years.
With those balances for 3+ years, let's talk about how much interest you are paying on CC? It is simply going to blow out of the water ANY potential idealized savings you might get from optimizing ( which could be 2 years more ) these FICO scores for a car loan.
How much is your Marcus loan APR?
I say screw the FICO scores and let's start saving some CC interest and loan interest to get these balances down faster.
@NRB525 wrote:With those balances for 3+ years, let's talk about how much interest you are paying on CC? It is simply going to blow out of the water ANY potential idealized savings you might get from optimizing ( which could be 2 years more ) these FICO scores for a car loan.
How much is your Marcus loan APR?
I say screw the FICO scores and let's start saving some CC interest and loan interest to get these balances down faster.
Believe me... I'm aware. 😢 this last year I've really been grinding to pay them down and making great progress. I'm trying to get them down under %30 before buying a car.
Long story short we were in a rough financial situation 4 years ago or so and had to charge a lot. Managed to get through it with the CCs but no derogitory marks. We really wanted to move a few years ago and unfortunately that soaked up most of the money I wanted to put toward CC balances. Now that we are living where we want I'm back to getting the CCs down. Thinking about the interest we paid definitely sucks but seeing light at the end of the tunnel.
Marcus loan is %7.99 and was actually used for cc consolidation originally.
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@JFox418 wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@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?
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.
I skipped right over the individual clarification.... that is good to know. Hopefully I'll get some a good bump then.
I just paid down a %73 to just under %50 which hasn't reported yet. Same with another account that was at %62.
I have one account that is over %50 which is due this week and I'll get that under %50. I also have one account just over %30 due this week so I'll get that under %30 as well.
I have tested the effects (in my profile) of reducing the number of accounts reporting > 50% to below 50%, in EX FICO 8 and FICO 2, and found the effects to be significant:
Well I goofed up this month after reading that. Not terrible but delayed myself a month as far as seeing score changes I have a feeling.
My statements closed on my two larger CCs and here's how I'm looking right now. I should have paid them down to %49.
Cap One Quicksilver - $6550/$13k (%72 last month, now %50, statement posted today waiting for report updates)
Cap One Platinum - $6560/$13k (%64 last month, now %50, statement posted today waiting for report updates)
Best Buy (citi) - $3350/$6k (due the 12th, going to make sure this is %49 or lower when it reports)
Home Depot - $2800/$9100 (due today, going to pay this one down to %29 or better)
Kohls - $0/$2k
Had a surprise 9 point bump this morning. Lowering UTIL is having more of an impact than I thought it would. Up to 780 from 767 but still have a long ways to go.
Is it best to just keep chipping away like I am? I know I'm paying a lot in interest on the CCs and the Marcus loan is %7.99 with 14 payments left. I don't want to take out any other loans since I'm fairly close to paying off the consolidation loan I have now. Would a BT on a new card make sense? I know this will add a new account and ding me with a HP but it'll save some good money and help me pay things down faster. I guess my only concern is what I'll be approved for on a new card with my current UTIL.
The more I read in the forum the more I'm thinking finances over fico. Score might take a hit but could save me quite a bit and should recover fairly quick.
@JFox418 wrote:Had a surprise 9 point bump this morning. Lowering UTIL is having more of an impact than I thought it would. Up to 780 from 767 but still have a long ways to go.
Is it best to just keep chipping away like I am? I know I'm paying a lot in interest on the CCs and the Marcus loan is %7.99 with 14 payments left. I don't want to take out any other loans since I'm fairly close to paying off the consolidation loan I have now. Would a BT on a new card make sense? I know this will add a new account and ding me with a HP but it'll save some good money and help me pay things down faster. I guess my only concern is what I'll be approved for on a new card with my current UTIL.
The more I read in the forum the more I'm thinking finances over fico. Score might take a hit but could save me quite a bit and should recover fairly quick.
Just keep chipping away. You're doing great.