How will adding my first credit card affect FICO 9?

[Zenoctra]

I'm trying to refinance like 75000 in student loans and I need to increase my FICO 9 score to 720 for the lender I want to apply for. I don't know my FICO 9, but I know my FICO 8 is 710. I only have student loans at the moment and was wondering about how many points I could expect to increase by opening my first CC that I keep in single digit utilization. I'm considering using OpenSky to avoid the hard credit inquiry because I only need a 10 point jump and so even though a CC credit check doesn't hurt much, it feels like a lot compared to how few points of an increase it seems I need in the short term. But I really don't know what I don't know in the end so I'm looking for advice from people with more experience. I have about 100k total but the private is only 75k of that 100k. The private are at 12.48% interest so after a year and a half paying them off, my principal is still pretty much exactly the same, but the 1500$ monthly payment is becoming too much for me to handle. 

[GZG]

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@Zenoctra wrote:

I'm trying to refinance like 75000 in student loans and I need to increase my FICO 9 score to 720 for the lender I want to apply for. I don't know my FICO 9, but I know my FICO 8 is 710. I only have student loans at the moment and was wondering about how many points I could expect to increase by opening my first CC that I keep in single digit utilization. I'm considering using OpenSky to avoid the hard credit inquiry because I only need a 10 point jump and so even though a CC credit check doesn't hurt much, it feels like a lot compared to how few points of an increase it seems I need in the short term. But I really don't know what I don't know in the end so I'm looking for advice from people with more experience. I have about 100k total but the private is only 75k of that 100k. The private are at 12.48% interest so after a year and a half paying them off, my principal is still pretty much exactly the same, but the 1500$ monthly payment is becoming too much for me to handle. 

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if your FICO 8 is 710, pay the $15 and find out what your FICO 9 is, or use the free trial from Experian to find out 

you practically need revolving accounts for the highest scores, so I imagine it will help, if it will take time to help is another, harder question to answer given your need for the higher score now as opposed to later

[Zenoctra]

This might be a dumb question, but how do I pay for the FICO 9 score? The only way I could see is to join the myFICO monthly subscription for 30$?

[GZG]

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@Zenoctra wrote:

This might be a dumb question, but how do I pay for the FICO 9 score? The only way I could see is to join the myFICO monthly subscription for 30$?

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you should be able to grab a one time report for $20 (it must be ~$15 for subscribers, my bad) 

https://www.myfico.com/products/fico-score-credit-reports 

but try the experian free trial thing for your Experian FICO 9 score first, if you want to save the money, at least at first before you go and pull the report for the report the lender uses

[FicoMike0]

Credit.com offers a 7 day free trial. I used it last year. They provide fico8, 9 plus the auto and bank card versions and mortgage versions for all three bureaus. No fico10

No hard pull would save a few points. You'll probably get hit with a age of youngest account less than 12 months penalty. 

[Zenoctra]

Oi. My FICO 9 is actually 16 points lower than my FICO 8 apparently. 694. Is the hope of getting to 720 quickly dead, or just try and see cause you never know?

[rooeez]

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@Zenoctra wrote:

Oi. My FICO 9 is actually 16 points lower than my FICO 8 apparently. 694. Is the hope of getting to 720 quickly dead, or just try and see cause you never know?

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It might take some time as credit mix is not a big factor and may have a short term offset with a new credit line/inquiry. Depending on your starting limit it may help with utilization. With your current score, what rate do you qualify for? I'd shop lenders with zero fees, consolidate/refinance with a longer term to lower payment to make more managible, work on my score to be eligible for a better rate, and then refinance again. Play with some online calculators to look at scenarios for term and rates. Good luck.

[FicoMike0]

Here's a link on scoring. It's for fico8, but the delta's are similar.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Credit-Scoring-Primer-pub-5-17-20/m-p/60...

From table 2, you'll pick up 35 points by going from no revolving account to utilization less than 6%. You should also pick up 10 points by going from no cards to one. You'd pick up 30 more going to two, 5 more for three. These gains should show up as soon as the accounts report, usually the first month.

So, adding one card should gain 45 points. The new account penalty shouldn't be more than 20 points, for a net of +25.

Make sure you understand utilization. Look up azeo.

[FicoMike0]

I just read you post, you need +26 points, bad luck! So, looks like you need two cards, for a 30 point gain, minus 10 for a hp. That brings you a net of +45, more than the 26 you need.

For best scores, you want three bankcards, total utilization under 6%, individual utilization under 29% and do azeo.

[Zenoctra]

I am so grateful for your advice. Thank you!