New credit card owner with scores improving quickly...what to expect?

[Anonymous]

I am a college student and just opened my first credit card in September. It's the Discover It Secured Card and I have a $200 credit limit which I chose to be safe since I currently only work a part-time on-campus job. The only other credit history I have are from small student loans (2 x $1000) that were paid off within 3 months of opening, and were opened 4 years ago.

I've been seeing pretty good increases in my credit scores since September: FICO just jumped from 677 to 731 in this past month's update, and my checking account which tells me my Transunion score shows me the following history:

September - 613

October (new account is now on record) - 628

November (balance of $7/4% utilization) - 642

December (balance of $61/31% utilization) - 670

I'm wondering if I will continue to see to see big improvements in the next few months if I keep paying on time and maintain relatively low credit utilization? Or is this probably going to plateau soon?  I also have no idea why my FICO score jumped 54 points. Also, why could my FICO and Transunion scores possibly be so different? 

I've been reading a little bit about tips for increasing credit scores, but I'm wondering if people with more experience have other advice!! I'd love to get another card with more benefits (even though I don't really need it...), or at the very least find out what else might be out there for someone in my sort of situation, things to look forward to mostly.

[Anonymous]

Is the score provided by your checking account a FICO score?  If not it has no real value and you should stop investing effort in tracking it or explaining it.

The score provided by your Discover credit card is a TransUnion FICO 8 and is very much worth tracking.  I'd also suggest you begin tracking your Experian FICO 8 as well, which you can do for free via creditscore.com.  That website will also give you a free Experian report as well.

If you haven't signed up for Credit Karma that would also have value.  Ignore its scores and any advice or recommendations if gives you, but the free Equifax and TransUnion reports are quite valuable.

To optimize your FICO score you'll want your utilization to be under 8.99% and above $5.  That means keeping it reporting in the range of $5 - $17.

[DIYcredit]

Hi,I think  your score jumped is because you didn't have a credit card previously.After about  6 months to a year.You should apply for a capital one quicksilver.As far as plateau as long as

#1.Your derogatory free

#2.Pay bills on time every month

#3.Keep credit card utilization below 10%

#4.Only open accounts you actually need

#5.Keep oldest credit cards accounts open. 

Your scores will gradually increase over time.

[Anonymous]

The score is from my Chase checking account but it does not say FICO anywhere, so I'd assume it is not. I do have a credit karma account, which also cites the same 670 scores (although I should ignore those now?). I didn't realize the utilization should be that low, but I will definitely keep that in mind from now on. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Yeah that's a likely explanation for the jump. I will look into the Capital One Quicksilver. Although they rejected me the first time when I was trying to get my first credit card! Thanks!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The score is from my Chase checking account but it does not say FICO anywhere, so I'd assume it is not. I do have a credit karma account, which also cites the same 670 scores (although I should ignore those now?). I didn't realize the utilization should be that low, but I will definitely keep that in mind from now on. Thanks!

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Those are not FICO scores.  If you go to creditscore.com you can get a genuine EX FICO 8 score for free.  That's a meaningful score that a lender could use and tracking it from month to month would be a good thing.