Road to 800s..

[Revelate]

Clean new file built for nothing but score maximization hits 800 is like 2 years.

That's not long in my opinion .  See registration date at left, see scores below, I suck.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

@sarge12,  I will definitely use your advice. Thanks!

Few more questions I want to ask:

1) If I have 3 credit cards with different CL - will that matter which one of those will keep balance from $1 to $8.99?

2) Does Cap1 make the secured CC an unsecured one at some point? And if yes, when does it usually happen? Do I have to continue use the Cap1 secured CC every month in order to make it graduate?

3) When does Discover report the balance to credit bureau?  I wanted to use the cash back as much as I can by paying for my regular things (which I otherwise would have purchased with my debit card) and paying the balance right away but still leave the balance for Discover to report - will that method work btw?

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Hello Treeqster!  You were planning to do a pull of your reports/scores at Credit Check Total on May 2 -- and then give us an update.  Any news?

I noted one thing above, which is that we may have miscommunicated to you about how to optimize your CC balances.  You do not need to strive for a dollar value of < $8.99.  You need to strive for a percentage utilization of < 8.99%.  That would only turn out to be the same as $8.99 if your total credit limit was exactly $100.

Here is an example.  Suppose you have three credit cards, which have credit limits of $300, $500, and $1000 respectively.  That's a total credit limit of $1800.  Now take 9% of that.  That's $162.  You need to have a total CC debt of < $161.99.  You also need to make sure your individual utilization (each card considered by itself) is < 29%.  And finally, you want all your cards at $0 except one.

All those percentages can be confusing to compute, which is why some people do the simple thing of having all cards at zero except one, with the remaining card at maybe $15 or so.  That will work no matter what your credit limits are.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hey guys,

This is my first post here. I cam across this community and decided to find our what you can recommend I should do. Here is my situation:

I opened my first CC ever in Sept 2016 - Cap1 Platinum Secured CC. Originally it was with $100 deposit and $251 CL. After 6 month (in March 2017) I got CLI for $300 and now it is $551. I use only 1-2% of it keeping my utilization really low. I also PIF every month.

I also have a car loan for $18,5k and paying it every month with autopay.

FAKO score is showing 683 TU with 6 inquiries (due to auto loan, I was set up for lease originally but then financial institution refused to approve lease and the dealership had to - without my consent though - send my loan to several other lenders and I got approved with Ally Financial). EQ or EX are not shown there.

FICO score is showing 710 EX and only 4 inquieries. Doesn't show EQ or TU though.

The ultimate goal is to be able to get mortgage with lowest rates, also to be able to lease good cars and to get and maintain score at 800s.

Want your advice on how to get to the goal fast and safe.

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The best plan is

1. of course pay everything super timely

2. gradually build up to 3 credit cards, with 1 card reporting a small balance and 2 cards reporting zero balance

3. pay the car loan down... when you get it down to 9% of the original amount you'll be more or less optimized

4. let your accounts age, building age of oldest account and average age of accounts, and avoiding recent accounts and inquiries

In the year prior to applying for mortgage don't make any sudden moves.. no applications.. no paying car loan down to zero... etc

[Revelate]

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hey guys,

This is my first post here. I cam across this community and decided to find our what you can recommend I should do. Here is my situation:

I opened my first CC ever in Sept 2016 - Cap1 Platinum Secured CC. Originally it was with $100 deposit and $251 CL. After 6 month (in March 2017) I got CLI for $300 and now it is $551. I use only 1-2% of it keeping my utilization really low. I also PIF every month.

I also have a car loan for $18,5k and paying it every month with autopay.

FAKO score is showing 683 TU with 6 inquiries (due to auto loan, I was set up for lease originally but then financial institution refused to approve lease and the dealership had to - without my consent though - send my loan to several other lenders and I got approved with Ally Financial). EQ or EX are not shown there.

FICO score is showing 710 EX and only 4 inquieries. Doesn't show EQ or TU though.

The ultimate goal is to be able to get mortgage with lowest rates, also to be able to lease good cars and to get and maintain score at 800s.

Want your advice on how to get to the goal fast and safe.

---

The best plan is

1. of course pay everything super timely

2. gradually build up to 3 credit cards, with 1 card reporting a small balance and 2 cards reporting zero balance

3. pay the car loan down... when you get it down to 9% of the original amount you'll be more or less optimized

4. let your accounts age, building age of oldest account and average age of accounts, and avoiding recent accounts and inquiries

In the year prior to applying for mortgage don't make any sudden moves.. no applications.. no paying car loan down to zero... etc

---

Why not open up cards 2+3 right now?  Leaving time on the table where the tradelines could be aging... and if a mortgage is in the wind sometime more than a year out, best bet is to do that like right now heh.

[HeavenOhio]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

@sarge12,  I will definitely use your advice. Thanks!

Few more questions I want to ask:

1) If I have 3 credit cards with different CL - will that matter which one of those will keep balance from $1 to $8.99?

2) Does Cap1 make the secured CC an unsecured one at some point? And if yes, when does it usually happen? Do I have to continue use the Cap1 secured CC every month in order to make it graduate?

3) When does Discover report the balance to credit bureau?  I wanted to use the cash back as much as I can by paying for my regular things (which I otherwise would have purchased with my debit card) and paying the balance right away but still leave the balance for Discover to report - will that method work btw?

---

Hello Treeqster!  You were planning to do a pull of your reports/scores at Credit Check Total on May 2 -- and then give us an update.  Any news?

I noted one thing above, which is that we may have miscommunicated to you about how to optimize your CC balances.  You do not need to strive for a dollar value of < $8.99.  You need to strive for a percentage utilization of < 8.99%.  That would only turn out to be the same as $8.99 if your total credit limit was exactly $100.

Here is an example.  Suppose you have three credit cards, which have credit limits of $300, $500, and $1000 respectively.  That's a total credit limit of $1800.  Now take 9% of that.  That's $162.  You need to have a total CC debt of < $161.99.  You also need to make sure your individual utilization (each card considered by itself) is < 29%.  And finally, you want all your cards at $0 except one.

All those percentages can be confusing to compute, which is why some people do the simple thing of having all cards at zero except one, with the remaining card at maybe $15 or so.  That will work no matter what your credit limits are.

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Also, if your aim is to have a statement balance greater than zero, it should be more than $1. Some lenders will forgive small balances rather than bill you, and they'll report zero to the credit bureaus. $5 should be good.

[Thomas_Thumb]

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@Revelate wrote:

Clean new file built for nothing but score maximization hits 800 is like 2 years.

That's not long in my opinion .  See registration date at left, see scores below, I suck.

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I thought the minimum time for 800 required age of oldest account to be at least 3 years and AAoA at least 2 years. Some have suggested age of oldest account of 5 years is needed but, I have not really researched this issue.

Some young, clean file, data with 800 scores would be enlightening.