Spring Gardening and AAoA/AoYA

[Anonymous]

Really enjoying the forum. It's such a great resource for me, and I hope I am able to contribute some of my knowledge to the discussions the longer I spend here. As I mentioned in a previous thread, I am in a pretty good place with cards right now, but there are still some gaps (e.g., rewards card that covers streaming/phone/cable as an advanced category). That said, I realize that my file at this point looks relatively young in the world. While there is always the rush of finding a new card (as we all know), I am wondering if this might be the right time to garden instead of chase (no pun intended) shiny things. Rather, if I disappear to the garden until my AoYA reaches 1 year this fall, should I expect a reasonable score boost? Moreover, if I get down to sub-8% util, should I expect a tangible benefit?

Current Stats:

Fico 8 Scores (May 11): 

EXP: 690

TU: 710

EQ: 705

Util: 28% (current...so the scores I expect will change positively as this was 42% at time of reporting on May 11)

AAoA: 2yr 1mo

AoYA: 8 months

Lines: 40,400

Baddies: a few 30 days on Student loans from 2015

Goal score: >750

Cards and UTIL:

CSR- 7k on 20,500

FU- 2600 on 6500

Free: 500 on 5000

Amazon Visa: 400 on 5300

Hilton Aspire: 950 on 3100

Again, I love the rush of credit building. Just bad at waiting for things to get there and hoping for a light at the end of the tunnel.

[Anonymous]

Lower utilization will get you more bang for your buck when it comes to points.  The 1 year thing could gain a few points.  

The USB Cash+ can fill that techno gap you have. 

There's also another card when you hit $5K in spend they'll pay you $50 towards your streaming accounts that are billed to the card.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Really enjoying the forum. It's such a great resource for me, and I hope I am able to contribute some of my knowledge to the discussions the longer I spend here. As I mentioned in a previous thread, I am in a pretty good place with cards right now, but there are still some gaps (e.g., rewards card that covers streaming/phone/cable as an advanced category). That said, I realize that my file at this point looks relatively young in the world. While there is always the rush of finding a new card (as we all know), I am wondering if this might be the right time to garden instead of chase (no pun intended) shiny things. Rather, if I disappear to the garden until my AoYA reaches 1 year this fall, should I expect a reasonable score boost? Moreover, if I get down to sub-8% util, should I expect a tangible benefit?

Current Stats:

Fico 8 Scores (May 11): 

EXP: 690

TU: 710

EQ: 705

Util: 28% (current...so the scores I expect will change positively as this was 42% at time of reporting on May 11)

AAoA: 2yr 1mo

AoYA: 8 months

Lines: 40,400

Baddies: a few 30 days on Student loans from 2015

Goal score: >750

Cards and UTIL:

CSR- 7k on 20,500

FU- 2600 on 6500

Free: 500 on 5000

Amazon Visa: 400 on 5300

Hilton Aspire: 950 on 3100

Again, I love the rush of credit building. Just bad at waiting for things to get there and hoping for a light at the end of the tunnel.

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Yes.

And yes.

[VanderSnoot]

I agree with Obscure-Expert above. Gardening is a good choice right now. You'll get a bump by paying down your balance to 8% (don't know how much), and another when your AoYA hits 12 months (about 15-20 points). In addition, when your youngest inquiry hits 365 days, you may gain as much as 4-5 points (I've also seen 2-3 on this forum). You should be pretty happy in about 4 months.

[Anonymous]

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@VanderSnoot wrote:

I agree with Obscure-Expert above. Gardening is a good choice right now. You'll get a bump by paying down your balance to 8% (don't know how much), and another when your AoYA hits 12 months (about 15-20 points). In addition, when your youngest inquiry hits 365 days, you may gain as much as 4-5 points (I've also seen 2-3 on this forum). You should be pretty happy in about 4 months.

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Interesting. Is that typical that youngest account can drive that much of a jump? I am still relatively new to understanding the affect of age on scoring (I just know I don't have a ton of of it). 

[VanderSnoot]

From what I've read here, yes, it can be that large. I've started keeping track of relevent factors on a calendar spreadsheet, so I can forecast how my score will change based on different events and then compare to actual. I'm looking forward to the bump in 11 months and 7 days!

[800FICOGoal]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Really enjoying the forum. It's such a great resource for me, and I hope I am able to contribute some of my knowledge to the discussions the longer I spend here. As I mentioned in a previous thread, I am in a pretty good place with cards right now, but there are still some gaps (e.g., rewards card that covers streaming/phone/cable as an advanced category). That said, I realize that my file at this point looks relatively young in the world. While there is always the rush of finding a new card (as we all know), I am wondering if this might be the right time to garden instead of chase (no pun intended) shiny things. Rather, if I disappear to the garden until my AoYA reaches 1 year this fall, should I expect a reasonable score boost? Moreover, if I get down to sub-8% util, should I expect a tangible benefit?

Current Stats:

.

.

AAoA: 2yr 1mo

AoYA: 8 months

For a complete picture would you mind posting your AOOA?

[Anonymous]

So I apparently relied on my Vantage stuff on CK for the oldest accounts and average, which is wrong. Updated:

AAoA: 3 years, 8 months

Oldest: 12 years, 7 months (a card I closed in 2014 with Citi). 

AoYA: Now 9 months