Low card utilization hurt score negatively

[Anonymous]

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I do not even care FICO scores any more.  I get 81x FICO and SO gets 76x FICO.  But SO get more card offers and approvals than I do....

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That's to be expected.  Most card offers come to those with scores in the 650-750 range from what I've seen.  Those on either side of those scores tend to get less, as they are often less profitable customers.  Your SO may be slightly outside of that range, but not nearly as outside of it as your are.

I'm not sure I've seen a single CC offer in the last 6 months since my reports have been clean and my scores have been in the 820-840 range.  Before that though when my scores were in the low-mid 700's I was getting easily 2-3 in my mailbox every week.

[Anonymous]

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Seeing as your new here .Let us clue you in .Those credit karma scores are fake and mean nothing. Your actual fico scores could be way MORE or way LESS or about the same as what CK has for you .BUT your true Fico score will not fluctuate that much with a little utilization. Also if you've been trying for 2 years to improve your scores then why do you only have 1 open credit card? You need at least 3 more max fico score .fyi

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While your overall thesis is well-taken, two things should be pointed out here.  CK (VS 3.0) scores are not "fake."  They are simply not useful, as they aren't FICO scores and aren't used by lenders.  They are still real scores, just from a scoring model that isn't meaningful.  Second, I think it's important to quantify "needing" at least 3 of more credit cards to maximize FICO scores.  I started a thread on this recently and the difference in going from 1 card to 3 cards with respect to FICO scores ranged from 4 points to 11 points based on the limited data points provided in the thread.  4 points is incredibly insignificant and even 11 points IMO isn't a reason to go out and app for 2+ more credit cards unless those cards are going to be frequently used and beneficial.  IMO, the recommendation to have 3+ cards for optimal scoring purposes is a bit over-rated.  I'm perfectly fine though with those that disagree with my stance on it.

[Anonymous]

I was really hoping to see a 680 by this time but I guess it’s not going to happen. I just want the interest rate in the car I’m purchasing to be a fair rate

[Anonymous]

Ok well I guess I should clarify a bit better next time. I didn't expect it to be taken so literally but there are hundreds of posts about credit karma and their useless scores on here that can be looked into .While I'm sure he hasn't seen them, I know that before I made a post on here I went searching for answers first so as not to sound like a broken record by asking questions that have been previously answered . As for the latter part of your statement I do disagree. When I started rebuilding a year ago and I had 1 card .My scores were iffy. After opening up 2 more and getting a secured loan they were up over 100 points .All within less than 3 months. As with everything on this forum though YMMV but I'm just kind of dumbfounded as to how you can work on credit for 2 years with 1 card .Sure you can keep a clean track record. But how far can you really run with a 50 foot track, so to speak. 

[Anonymous]

Sooooo I have to finance this car in mid April. Should I get another card now lol

[HeavenOhio]

It's a tough call on another card right now. Generally, you don't want new accounts when you're about to apply for important credit. But I've seen advice here suggesting that very thin files like yours could be exceptions. I'll let the experts chime in on that.

In the meantime, I'd start reporting a low non-zero balance on your current card (no less than $5 and no more than 4.89% of its limit) and see where that takes you. Once you do that, sign up for a $1 trial at CreditCheck Total, then cancel when the trial ends. That'll give you your three FICO8 scores and full reports. Actually, you could do the $1 trial right now if you'd like and do it again in a few weeks when your card is reporting the desired amount.

For a lot more money, you can get 28 scores from myFICO. I don't know that that's necessary, but it's an option. If you want to do that, I'd do it after your card is reporting your desired balance.

[Anonymous]

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Ok well I guess I should clarify a bit better next time. I didn't expect it to be taken so literally but there are hundreds of posts about credit karma and their useless scores on here that can be looked into .While I'm sure he hasn't seen them, I know that before I made a post on here I went searching for answers first so as not to sound like a broken record by asking questions that have been previously answered . As for the latter part of your statement I do disagree. When I started rebuilding a year ago and I had 1 card .My scores were iffy. After opening up 2 more and getting a secured loan they were up over 100 points .All within less than 3 months. As with everything on this forum though YMMV but I'm just kind of dumbfounded as to how you can work on credit for 2 years with 1 card .Sure you can keep a clean track record. But how far can you really run with a 50 foot track, so to speak. 

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I agree that their scores are useless, just that they're not "fake" as you stated originally.  Yes there are hundreds of posts on here speaking of useless VS 3.0 scores.  Forum members here (especially new ones) are always encouraged to ask questions, even if they have been asked thousands of times prior.  With the nearly 3.5 million posts on this forum, no doubt a huge portion of those are repeats there were already answered.

I have no doubt that your scores went up 100 points as you said, but I can assure you that going from 1 card to 3 cards made up only a fraction of that amount.  You obviously had a lot of other things going on with your profile, which is why your score increased substantially and is also a reason why on your profile it would be nearly impossible to try and quantify the impact of 1 card verses 3.   

I had only 1 credit card for 14-15 years.  For the majority of that time, my FICO scores were in the 790-800 range.  The point is you don't need 3 (or more) credit cards to obtain a top tier score.

[Anonymous]

I have not read through the no doubt excellent thread created by BBS on the 1 vs. 3 card issue.

What I would say is that it is important distinguish having one card from having one account.  There's a wealth of evidence (including white papers from FICO) that suggest that having a tiny number of accounts places you in a special scorecard (assuming you have no derogs).  This special scorecard sharply caps how high your score can go, and also appears to cause inquiries to have a much greater effect.  And of course the tiny number of accounts causes your AAoA to drop much more if a new account is added.

Adding more credit cards (especially if they are no annual fee) can be one of the simplest practical methods of having more accounts.  They cost nothing and can be kept open typically forever.

All of which is to say that there may be a big difference between Bob and Steve.  Both guys have exactly one open credit card.  But Bob has no other accounts on his profile (closed or open).  Steve has five accounts total: a couple closed loans, an open loan, and a closed credit card.  The long term benefit to Bob to opening more cards is substantial.  For Steve the benefit may be less, as lomg as he can see that he'll still be opening a new account (possibly a loan) on average every three years.

PS.  Although being able to have several cards with exactly one showing a positive balance (and all others $0) may not get you that much in FICO 8 Classic (I honestly don't know) the evidence seems much clearer that this helps a lot with the old mortgage models.  Contributor Thomas Thumb has shown this and he may also have shown that it helps in certain other models/flavors (he'd have to comment to see if I am remembering right).

Thus a person with few cards (one or two) who envisions that he will one day wish to buy a house (13+ months from now) should consider adding some cards -- again just a practical move to cover his bases.

[Anonymous]

Thanks a lot for all the help guys. One more question. Which time of the cycle does the card holder recognize your debt or utilization and report it to the credit bureaus. I actually use my credit car 90% of the time and pay it off every week and within a week of the billing cycle I stop the usage and figure out how much I need to keep on there to maintain or lower that utilization. Is it at random or is it a good idea. I mainly do it for the extra cash back and throw the cash back towards my balance.

[HeavenOhio]

Your card is a Capital One card. Like most cards, it reports the statement balance right after the statement cuts. Your timing is good.