How can I raise a 716 FICO score?

[Anonymous]

I am trying to figure out how to raise my FICO from 716 to >730 as I am trying to get the best new mortgage rate possible.

I have no current mortgage nor have I ever had a mortgage.

I have no current auto loans, but I had one that was paid off in 2006.

I have 3 credit cards all of which I keep the total balance to under 10% of available balances or I pay them off entirely each month.

I had 1 school loan to the Dept of Ed which was paid off in 2007.

I have no bankruptcies, or collectons, or public records.

All this but I cannot seem to get my FICO higher. Any thoughts?

[fused]

Welcome to the forums!

Your "credit mix" looks good. Do you have a short credit history? Short average age of accounts? Are you carrying a balance of less than 10% on all three of your cards (it sounds like it)? Are you sure your "reporting" balances (what is actually on your report) are less than 10%?

[Anonymous]

Thanks for responding.

My oldest account is 21 years old. My max utilization ever was 10%, but my average utilization (reporting balances) is more like 1%. I frequently just use my cards to have some card activity then I pay them off online before the balance is due.

Until 8 years ago I had a lot of credit, a lot of debt, and I had a credit report full of late pays then I just said no more. I paid off 70K (auto loan, school loan, credit cards) in 2 years and for the last 6 years I have been pristine. Low utilization, all on time pays, and 1 only sought 1 new card to get a lower rate.

Despite this pristine behavior my credit score has only gone from 650-716 and in just the last 2 years.

I will be looking for a mortgage in Spring 2011 and I want to get a great rate. What can I do between now and then?

[CrdtLrnr]

Just to be clear, you mentioned no bankruptcies, collections, or public records.  Do you have any late payments (e.g., 30, 60 days past due) at all listed on your credit reports? 

[Anonymous]

No nothing on my report. I had some but they were those old things from 8 years ago and they fell off last year in 2009. So I don't have a single late payment on my TU, EQ or EXP reports.

[fused]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for responding.

My oldest account is 21 years old. My max utilization ever was 10%, but my average utilization (reporting balances) is more like 1%. I frequently just use my cards to have some card activity then I pay them off online before the balance is due.

Until 8 years ago I had a lot of credit, a lot of debt, and I had a credit report full of late pays then I just said no more. I paid off 70K (auto loan, school loan, credit cards) in 2 years and for the last 6 years I have been pristine. Low utilization, all on time pays, and 1 only sought 1 new card to get a lower rate.

Despite this pristine behavior my credit score has only gone from 650-716 and in just the last 2 years.

I will be looking for a mortgage in Spring 2011 and I want to get a great rate. What can I do between now and then?

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A credit history of 21 years is very good! Okay, so you have no lates on your reports, right?

Do you have a balance reporting on each CC? As for paying your cards and playing the FICO revolving util game for more points, its important to pay CC balances before your statement dates, not the due dates. If you pay by due dates, you will more than likely have higher util reporting. 

[vanillabean]

Can I ask how you arrive at your utilization percentage? It's calculated in a very specific way.

Also, I think (but could be wrong) that by carrying balances fused was referring to your reported balances that you appear to being paying in full by the due date. To me however, to carry a balance means that a balance is not paid in full by the due date, but carried over to the following cycle.

[Anonymous]

Good questions.

I have 3 credit cards - 2 MCs and a Visa. Of the 3 cards I allow a balance carryover once per quarter and only on 1 card. That balance must be below 10% of the credit limit for that card. I only do this to let the card company make some money or I am concerned they will drop my limit or raise my rate due to "lack of profitability".

By statement date do you mean the statement closing date? If so, yes I pay by the statement closing date. Not the due date, sorry poor wording on my part.

While I have read about "playing the FICO game for points" I don't know what more I can do than keeping my util to a single card per quarter, etc. and paying by the statement closing dates.

Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

I  calculate my util as the percentage of credit used relative to the total allotment for a card credit limit. For example, 5,000 limit, 10% is 500. Is this wrong?

Again I don't have any loans so I know that would make the util more complicated. 

[vanillabean]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I  calculate my util as the percentage of credit used relative to the total allotment for a card credit limit. For example, 5,000 limit, 10% is 500. Is this wrong?

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That is the basic idea, so that's good! You take the monthly balances and the credit limits that are listed in your credit report, I assume.

But not all cards' credit limits are used for util calculation. Visa Signature and Citi World cards, I think, are such and don't count. That means that any such card's monthly balance and credit limit (or high balance except with TU 98, the TransUnion formula used by FICO) are ignored. You could theoretically have none of your three cards used for util. Your FICO score report will list what your util is.

Furthermore, if you have a very high credit limit, it may be ignored (along with the card's monthly balance) for util purposes.