Unsure...

[Anonymous]

Hey Everyone,

I'm new to myFico. I joined to understand and get a grip on my credit score and future. 

Growing up, I was never taught about credit or finanacing because my mother herself was horrible at it. From there I never really fully understood. I'm open to all suggestions and appreciate all help.

About me:

I have a score of 560.

Three credit cards, I usually use them to buy things and pay more than the minimum. 

1 Chase, and 2 Capital One

I have 4 inquiries of credit because one is Chase and the other is Capital One. (I know those will fall off in 2 years)

Ultimately is there anything I can do short term to increase the score besides low utilization?

[Anonymous]

Welcome to the board.  You have taken a good step by joining the board and asking a question.  To begin and get better responses, how old is your credit file? Is your credit score a FICO or a FAKO?

Do you have any negatives on your credit file?  Why is your score so low?

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the quick response.

I had a secured credit card for about 3 years when  I decided it was time to have more credit standings. I applied for a Best Buy CC (mistake now, understanding APR), Chase Freedom (which I got), and a Capital One Quiksilver card (which i got as well.)

What I didn't understand was that it takes my credit history down with each card...so what was 3 years is now 1 year and 3 months.

Secondly, I lost my job 2 years ago and had to give back my car I was paying monthly on. They were able to get what it was worth so I didn't owe anything, but it looks bad on my account.

I was 640 4 months ago, but because of the inquiries and credit history has dropped it.

I got my credit score from Credit Karma, and annual credit report.

Am I going about increasing my credit score the right way? I've been budgeting money every week so that I pay more than the minimum. Just got a credit increase from Capital One to 1500 and my secure credit card is still at 200 limit. The Chase is 500 but I asked for a credit increase so that the utilization would go down. 

[Anonymous]

If you have 3 CC's, your target should be a 0 balance on two of them and a balance on the 3rd of 1-9% of the credit limit.  What is your current utilization at right now on each card?  I'm thinking it's got to be pretty high.  Your first goal should be getting your two cards with the highest interest rates paid down to 0, then targeting that 1-9% balance on the 3rd card.  Depending on where you're at utilization wise right now, accomplishing this could be worth 25, 50, 100 points; there's really no way to know.  Your cards don't have very high limits from what you said, so getting the balances down or gone completely shouldn't be too difficult, especially for that $200 limit card.  Watch going after CLI's though.  Yes they will slightly lower your utilization, but they can also tempt you to spend more.  Target lowering your balances first, then CLI's once you have everything in order. 

With your AAoA being 1 year (months aren't included) your next goal should be hitting the 2 year mark where you'd see some more credit score points.  Accomplishing this is simple; don't open any more credit lines for the next 7-8 months.  Around the New Year you'll be at a 2 year AAoA.

[Anonymous]

I appreciate it the input.

I'm currently at 80% utilization on one of the cards. 50% on another and 30% on the last one. I'll pay the 80% to 0 this friday and the 50 to 30%. 

As far as AAoA, I defenitly don't want to open another line of credit for a while. 

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I appreciate it the input.

I'm currently at 80% utilization on one of the cards. 50% on another and 30% on the last one. I'll pay the 80% to 0 this friday and the 50 to 30%. 

As far as AAoA, I defenitly don't want to open another line of credit for a while. 

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Then you're absolutely on the right track. You should see a nice bump from that.

[RonM21]

That would raise your score a little. Then if you keep doing that monthly, they'll continue to rise and so will your increases.

[jamie123]

The most important thing that you need to learn about using credit is how to budget your money!

You should always have the money in your bank account to pay for your charges BEFORE you use your credit cards to buy anything. You need to spend less than you earn.

The only reason you want to use credit cards is to earn cash back or other rewards and by using credit cards it will build your credit score. You never want to carry a balance month to month on a credit card. The interest they charge is too costly.

You want to use credit cards to build a high score that will save you money on the ONLY things that you should borrow money for like an auto or house. If you have a high score when you borrow for an auto or house you will get a low interest rate that will save you hundreds of dollars on a car and thousands of dollars on a mortgage.