HELP! New Card & Less Utilization: Affect on FICO?

[Anonymous]

Good Evening, myFICO aficionados:

Three days ago I applied and was approved for an American Express "Blue" card after reading many positive reviews in regards to AmEx's customer service and the card's reward system: $2,000 CL

Here are my other accounts in order of when they were opened:

Capitol One Visa: $1,250 CL
Chase Visa: $1,200 CL
WaMu Visa: $2,000 CL
Cabela's Visa: $4,000 CL
1 Closed card
No mortgage or car payment
Credit history length: Appx 2 years (as I am now coming up on 20 years old).

I have never missed a payment and am in good standing with each issuer.

My last TransUnion score was pulled by Wamu (as part of my account summary) 02/01/08 with appx $1000 in revolving balances (11.8% utilization). At that time, my score was 702.

My balances were paid off and as of today, sit at $0.00 (Finally!).

How do you anticipate that 1) the change from almost 12% utilization to 0% utilization, and 2) the addition of the new Amex, will affect my credit score? I'm fighting to get in the 760 club. Any other suggestions for doing so?

Thanks all for your help.
Jason

Message Edited by HuntingGuy on 02-25-2008 04:29 PM

[Anonymous]

2 things-

Having them all REPORT at 0 will make your score drop- I tested this a few months ago and I dropped 20 points.

The PFICO from WAMU is 30 to 50 days behind-

Keep up the good work!!

Use the cards and PIF-

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HuntingGuy wrote:
Good Evening, myFICO aficionados:

Three days ago I applied and was approved for an American Express "Blue" card after reading many positive reviews in regards to AmEx's customer service and the card's reward system: $2,000 CL

Here are my other accounts in order of when they were opened:

Capitol One Visa: $1,250 CL
Chase Visa: $1,200 CL
WaMu Visa: $2,000 CL
Cabela's Visa: $4,000 CL
1 Closed card
No mortgage or car payment
Credit history length: Appx 2 years (as I am now coming up on 20 years old).

I have never missed a payment and am in good standing with each issuer.

My last TransUnion score was pulled by Wamu (as part of my account summary) 02/01/08 with appx $1000 in revolving balances (11.8% utilization). At that time, my score was 702.

My balances were paid off and as of today, sit at $0.00 (Finally!).

How do you anticipate that 1) the change from almost 12% utilization to 0% utilization, and 2) the addition of the new Amex, will affect my credit score? I'm fighting to get in the 760 club. Any other suggestions for doing so?

Thanks all for your help.
Jason

Message Edited by HuntingGuy on 02-25-2008 04:29 PM

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[Anonymous]

Score goes down at 0% and down over 2%. ...So what is the magic utilization %?

[Anonymous]

1 to 9%

Less than 1/2 of open accounts with a balance-

I like 4% or 5% myself.

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HuntingGuy wrote:
Score goes down at 0% and down over 2%. ...So what is the magic utilization %?

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[haulingthescoreup]

I'm in a different score bucket than Timothy (long history, few accounts), and my best results come from having only one card report, and that with very low util. It seems that those with long histories are expected to have pretty low usage.

I don't think that this holds true with those with shorter histories, those who are rebuilding, etc.

edit: although my oldest account history is pretty long (18 years on EQ and TU, 20 years on EX), my average history is hysterically low --already not quite 5 years, and my escapades from 9 days ago haven't hit yet, yikes. It will be interesting to see what happens on EQ and TU when the history drops from 18 years back to 13 when FICO 08 hits, as that history is due to an AU card. I suppose I'll wind up going joint on the card after all, but right now morbid curiosity is making me hold off. tick * tick * tick

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 02-25-2008 08:41 PM