What a difference a week will make?

Anonymous · ‎07-03-2018

I'm about 6 weeks into my rebuild and learning daily. My scores are hampered by a couple of medical CO, an insurance company squabble, and one 30 day late (letter writing campaign well underway) and poor Util. When I joined 6 weeks ago my Util was 17125 / 20650 = 83%. Since then I've added 6600 more credit and paid down 2000 in debt, putting me at 15133 / 27250 = 56%. Still have a ways to go. I've also learned to re-structure the debt such that as many accounts as possible report 0 (6 of 10) and to pay attention to certain balance thresholds (88.9, 68.9, etc). However when calculating my paymenst last month I somehow misfigured the interest and left my Discover balance at 89.56% i.e., 90%, thus "maxed out." Also when I ran today's three CRA report, only two of the three show a 2500 CLI (TU not yet showing).

My question: I had planned today to app w/NFCU for both a CC & CLOC, after verifying the CLI had reported and my scores were as good as they'd get for awhile. Now I feel I should wait on the CLI to report, and, as long as I'm waiting on that, the corrected (< 88.9%) Discover will report on the 10th. Is it possible to pick up 10 points for the Discover change (I was reading ABCD's thread on Util earlier today and i gathered the "maxed out" penalty was that severe)? I'm also hoping to pick up a couple of TU points for the CLI (since 6/26 report Ex increased 5 points, EQ gained 8 points, while TU gained 3 -- the only change was paying one 59 balance to zero, plus the aforementioned CLI not yet shown by TU).

Is it possible I'll pick up 10 points with EQ and 12 with TU by waiting a week? (Nothing else posts between now and then except for an auto loan payment )?

HeavenOhio · ‎07-03-2018

I think that losing the maxed out balance will be significant and that the effect of the CLI will be marginal at most. You absolutely want to let the maxed out card update. That looks bad even when one's score is good.

I like to suggest applying when utilization is at 28.9% or below — or at least 48.9% or below. Any chance of hitting 48.9% overall in the next couple of weeks? Is there any rush to get new credit now?

Anonymous · ‎07-03-2018

@HeavenOhio wrote:
Any chance of hitting 48.9% overall in the next couple of weeks? Is there any rush to get new credit now?

Yes, there is a chance. A 1600 payment to Discover will bring the total to 48.9 and Disco to 66.9. It'll cause some temporary cash stress, but do you suppose it'll add a decent score bump?

Anonymous · ‎07-03-2018

I'd think you'd see 10-15 points or so, give or take.

Anonymous · ‎07-09-2018

@HeavenOhio wrote:
I think that losing the maxed out balance will be significant and that the effect of the CLI will be marginal at most. You absolutely want to let the maxed out card update ...

Small update: when I ran the CCT 3-bureau report on 7/03 the CLI increase had only reported on 2 of the 3 CRA. Today I got a 7/04 FICO 08 update from my Disco card showing the 2500 CLI. The result was a TU bump of 5 points to 683. Total Util did not cross a threshold (61% to 56%) nor did a particular account.

As soon as my payment posts to the maxed out account -- hopefully tomorrow -- I'll rerun my 3-bureau and update scores.

@Anonymous: I read somewhere that Wallet Hub runs daily TU @ like 6AM -- do updates trickle in at various times of the day, or is it more typical for Lenders to auto-send at close of business? I don't want to burn my 3-credit without the update (I also don't want to wait another day ... lol).

Anonymous · ‎07-09-2018

Yeah, you'll get 6AM updates from WH daily that will include everything updated by TU in the last 24 hours.

I know you were considering apping for another CC. My advice is not to, plain and simple. I know some people say don't app if your utilization is above 28.9% or 48.9%. My take is don't app unless your utilization is ideal, that is, less than 8.9%. It just doesn't make financial sense to do so.

Ask yourself honestly, are you able to pay off all of your CC debt today if you wanted to? If not, adding additional credit is not a wise move. If you can, are you going to? The best and smartest financial move you can make is getting your debt paid off. Doing so will give you the most favorable result with respect to apps, CLIs, etc.

Also, circling back quickly to your original post, I wanted to say GREAT JOB coming here and educating yourself. I can tell from reading your first post that you've definitely been doing your homework and have learned a lot. Keep it up and good things will come.

Anonymous · ‎07-14-2018

Update: Today the Disco payment finally posted to TU, but with little scoring effect. Yesterday my TU FICO 08 was 683, today it is 684. The only thing changed is Disco dropped from maxed (90%) to 66% and total Util dropped from 56% to 48%. I crossed two thresholds yet gained only 1 point? As noted in Post 5 I gained 5 points for the 2500 CLI that dropped Util from 61 to 56%

I promise, I'm not making this up.

My new scores: FICO 08 EX 686 (was 674) TU 684 (was 678) EQ 728 (was 714). A 12 & 14 point gain from EX & EQ, yet TU is lagging?