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Very interesting, so I see 8 and 9 went up, however slightly.
And look at 5-4-2....interesting indeed. 2 stopped complaining about new accounts. Still there on 4, not on 5....just short revolving history.
January 10, 2020: End of Experiment
I didn't end up anywhere close to the 'Excellent' range, but I was able to get 20 of 28 scores to 'Very Good' with 2 credit cards and 1yr 1mo total revolving credit history.
I'm still not sure how much that closed loan is helping now, but the one year of loan repayment history prior to applying for any credit cards surely helped with my total starting credit limit of $8,500. I ended up getting 2 SP CLIs along the way, so I'm now at $13,500 total credit limit.
While I never let any card report above 9% utilization on any monthly statement for the past year, I did go well above that during several of the later months - sometimes as much as $5,000 on the Visa card. My original hypothesis stipulated never going above 9% utilization at any point in time.
I also found that I had to be at AZEO (1 of 2) to get these final scores. It wouldn't have been possible if both reported 8% to 9% utilization at the same time. 50% of cards with a balance definitely helps a lot with EQ/TU 8 scores and several others when you only have 2 cards. EX 8 has been really slow the past year, going from 699 to 735 over the course of a year.
I'm happy with the scores and credit limits I have now, although I need to get those mortgage scores up another +26pts to 760. I have a few more years to do that, so it shouldn't be a problem.
This is PART 1 of the table. PART 2 in a reply below. (The whole table now exceeds the 20,000 character message limit due to changes in score factors on so many scores.)
CRADIS "Zero INQ + AZEO" 01/10/2020 | Common data
| |||
Previous Report 12/10/2019 |
| |||
Current Report 01/10/2020 What changed? |
Major changes:
| |||
| New statement balances recorded at all 3 CRA's between 1/1 and 1/10. Score reports from myFICO's FICO Premier subscription, Credit Karma (TU/EQ VS3), American Express MyCredit Guide (TU VS3 score factors), and Credit.com (EX VS3). | 12/10 | Δ | 01/10 |
FICO 8 | EQ | 719 | +30 | 749 |
[Change] | Short credit history, No recent loan activity | |||
| Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances | |||
FICO 8 | TU | 731 | +23 | 754 |
[Change] | Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances | |||
| Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances, Too many inquiries last 12 months (only 1 inq) | |||
FICO 8 | EX | 732 | +3 | 735 |
| Short credit history, No recent loan activity | |||
FICO 9 | EQ | 730 | +25 | 755 |
[Change] | Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances | |||
| Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances, Short revolving credit history | |||
FICO 9 | TU | 725 | +35 | 760 |
[Change] | Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances | |||
| Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances, Short revolving credit history | |||
FICO 9 | EX | 742 | +12 | 754 |
[Change] | Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances | |||
| Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances, Short revolving credit history | |||
FICO 5 | EQ | 724 | +12 | 736 |
[Change] | Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, High revolving balances, Heavy use of revolving credit | |||
| Short credit history, High revolving balances, Short revolving history, Seeking credit | |||
FICO 4 | TU | 728 | +12 | 740 |
| Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Recently opened new credit account, High revolving balances | |||
FICO 2 | EX | 711 | +23 | 734 |
[Change] | Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances | |||
| Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, Seeking credit, High revolving balances | |||
Auto 8 | EQ | 694 | +31 | 725 |
[Change] | Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short installment credit history, Short revolving credit history | |||
| Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances, Short installment credit history | |||
Auto 8 | TU | 721 | +27 | 748 |
[Change] | Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, No recent auto loan activity | |||
| Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances, Seeking credit | |||
Auto 8 | EX | 720 | +3 | 723 |
[Change] | Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Few accounts paid on time | |||
| Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Few accounts paid on time, Short revolving credit history | |||
Auto 9 | EQ | 737 | +29 | 766 |
[Change] | Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances | |||
| Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances, Short revolving credit history | |||
Auto 9 | TU | 728 | +39 | 767 |
[Change] | Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, No recent auto loan activity | |||
| Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances, Short revolving credit history | |||
Auto 9 | EX | 751 | +15 | 766 |
[Change] | Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances | |||
| Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances, Short revolving credit history | |||
Bankcard 8 | EQ | 720 | +35 | 755 |
[Change] | Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances | |||
| Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances, Short revolving credit history | |||
Bankcard 8 | TU | 735 | +32 | 767 |
[Change] | Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances | |||
| Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances, Seeking credit | |||
Bankcard 8 | EX | 737 | +6 | 743 |
[Change] | Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Few accounts paid on time | |||
| Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances, Few accounts paid on time | |||
Bankcard 9 | EQ | 739 | +26 | 765 |
[Change] | Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances | |||
| Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances, Short revolving credit history | |||
Bankcard 9 | TU | 736 | +35 | 771 |
[Change] | Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances | |||
| Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances, Short revolving credit history | |||
Bankcard 9 | EX | 751 | +12 | 763 |
[Change] | Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances | |||
| Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances, Short revolving credit history |
PART 2 of the End of Experiment update. ( PART 1 in a reply above. )
Auto 5 | EQ | 732 | +11 | 743 |
[Change] | Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, High revolving balances, Recently opened new credit account | |||
| Short credit history, High revolving balances, Short revolving credit history, Seeking credit | |||
Auto 4 | TU | 716 | +12 | 728 |
[Change] | Short credit history, Recently opened new credit account, No recent loan activity, High revolving balances | |||
| Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Recently opened new credit account, High revolving balances | |||
Auto 2 | EX | 689 | +21 | 710 |
[Change] | Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, No recent auto loan activity | |||
| Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, High revolving balances | |||
Bankcard 5 | EQ | 725 | +14 | 739 |
| Short credit history, Short installment credit history, High revolving balances, Short revolving credit history | |||
Bankcard 4 | TU | 757 | +12 | 769 |
| Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Recently opened new credit account, High revolving balances | |||
Bankcard 2 | EX | 720 | +20 | 740 |
[Change] | Short credit history, Short installment credit history, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances | |||
| Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, High revolving balances, Seeking credit | |||
FICO 3 | EX | 749 | +14 | 763 |
[Change] | Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, Recently opened new credit account, High revolving balances | |||
| Short credit history, Seeking credit, Short revolving credit history, High revolving balances | |||
VS3 | EQ | 746 | +1 | 747 |
VS3 | TU | 744 | +2 | 746 |
[Change] | The date that you opened your oldest account is too recent, Lack of sufficient credit history, Lack of sufficient relevant real estate account information, The total of all balances on your open accounts is too high ($539 of $11,000) | |||
| The date that you opened your oldest account is too recent, Lack of sufficient credit history, Lack of sufficient relevant real estate account information, You have too many accounts that were opened recently | |||
VS3 | EX | 746 | +1 | 747 |
@Anonymous wrote:
Congratulations!
Did you consider average age of revolving accounts while going through this?
Might be time for SP CLI on M/C!
My AAoRA is the same as AoYA since both cards were opened within a few days of each other in late December. I'll watch it more closely after I get a 3rd card. If I did that this month, my AAoRA would be 29mo/3 (9mos) in February. That would drop below 1year.
Yeah, it's definitely time to see about the Mastercard CLI. It's from a relatively small credit union, and I think they might want to hard-pull my TU8 score.
@Anonymous wrote:
Sometimes the HP is worth it. But considering your thin profile and what your inquiry costs, it might be time to get that third card. Maybe get a CLI on TU and another card or 2 on either EQ or EX? It will improve your scoring in the long run. And allow you to run tests at less than 50% of accounts with a balance. Maybe break out of that thin profile?
lol You're worse than Credit Karma with the new card suggestions! "How about a shiny new card?!" ...you know I'm just kidding.
Your advice is well received. Take the HP for the CLI if necessary, and add Amex BCE and Discover IT. I might not make it through this week without doing all that.
@Anonymous wrote:
If only I got the kickbacks credit karma gets!!! LOL!!
No doubt, would totally be retired with that sort of passive income.