My score vs. what bank sees

[TLinFargo]

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watchingfico wrote: I put $35 on it this month and then paid the next day.  Didn't help.  Wonder what closing the old department store card would do to my score?  I don't even have the card but kept it on my profile cause it would show i had years of credit which is good. Boggles the mind!

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Paying it off the next day may not help...  $35 is a good number, let the statement close with that balance, then you're free to pay it off if you like. Your credit report can only see what appears on your statement.

[CS800]

Bvwatson,

I have said this many times.

If you have 0 credit and apply to get credit, it negatively impacts you. Catch 22

You don;t have credit, you're out of luck, but when you look for credit, you get penalized.

I have said it many times, FICO was never challenged and it's not always realistic. It need to be renewed to reflect the current state of affairs given circumstances.

[haulingthescoreup]

Actually, if you have no open revolving credit, your score will increase with the first 2 new revolving accounts (= credit cards) that you open, and sometimes with the third as well. I've seen this happen time and again in posts here.

That's because the ability to handle revolving credit is scored higher, so if you don't have any open revolving credit, it hurts.

Also, there generally isn't a score drop for the first inquiry within a year. I've seen this on my own reports. Just sayin'.

Yes, it can be a brutal system, but if you're willing to learn how it works, you can make it work for you.

[Anonymous]

I had 2 other inquires to my credit in April 2010 (when I applied for a house loan and was denied and when I opened my credit card to increase my score)  Hopefully when those 2 inquires drop off this month my score will raise.  Myfico report did say that i had too many inquiries on my report.  (3 within a year).  I guess I could apply for a gas card or another credit card; as long as i get a reasonable credit limit it shouldn't hurt my score too much.  Thanks for your input!  I'll let you know how I progress.  I'd really like to purchase a house while rates are low.

[Anonymous]

Oh wait!  If i apply for another credit card then that will generate another inquiry and then I'll be at my inquiry limit for the year!  What a game of Chess!  Opening a credit card would mean that I couldn't apply for another loan until April of next year!  So any benefit I get in points for getting a new card would be deminished by the lowering of my score for inquiries.  Seriously, I'm stressing way to much over this! 

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Oh wait!  If i apply for another credit card then that will generate another inquiry and then I'll be at my inquiry limit for the year!  What a game of Chess!  Opening a credit card would mean that I couldn't apply for another loan until April of next year!  So any benefit I get in points for getting a new card would be deminished by the lowering of my score for inquiries.  Seriously, I'm stressing way to much over this! 

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lol, you are!

To quote the Big Kahuna who runs this site, inquiry damage is way overrated when it comes to scoring. (Particular lenders see this differently, of course.)

What typically happens --and this varies by your current scores and general credit profile --is something like this: no score change for the first inq, 2-5 points for the second, none for the third, maybe another 2-5 for number four, and so forth. We have some over-the-top appaholics here, and if inq damage kept adding up and up and up, their scores would be in the negative numbers. They're hurting themselves by continually lowering their AAoA and get new account dings, but inqs are the least of their worries.

You just want to be smart with applications. Research cards, find out who they pull and what they like and don't like, think through whether the card would make sense for your usage and finances in general, and if it's all good and pass if it doesn't.