increasing FICO score

[Anonymous]

Ok, Hauling, now I understand.   This is exactly what I do too.   NEVER PIF before the statement date, as $0 will report to the CRA's.  Rather, as you say, PIF after the statement date but before the payment due date, and your balances/account activity will be reported.

I'm just not thrilled that I will need to apply for another card since I have 2 mtg loans and a car loan, but only 4 open cc's.  I need to be able to have more than 1 card with balances.   2 w/bal I can do, but if I do this, that is 5 accounts with out of 7 with balances.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I'm just not thrilled that I will need to apply for another card since I have 2 mtg loans and a car loan, but only 4 open cc's. I need to be able to have more than 1 card with balances. 2 w/bal I can do, but if I do this, that is 5 accounts with out of 7 with balances.

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That is my situation, too, which is why I have my little wish list on my siggy. I did pay off the SL, which might help, I guess (it hasn't reported yet.) I might not bother with the store cards, but we need a good gas card for family budgeting, and I'd like to get the AAA card just to have a little more diversification.

I really only have 2 cards that I use, both from USAA, because the 3rd is DH's Discover, which I don't use, and the 4th and 5th are Cards from Heck that I have consigned to the sock drawer for eternity. Right now they irritate me so much that if the CCC's were to cancel them for inactivity, I wouldn't shed a tear.

[Anonymous]

One other question for your, hauling...

How long does it take the initial hit for a new account and corresponding dip in avg. age of accounts to be offset by the positive history of getting a new card and using it?

I too would like to add another account or two, but don't want to drag down my avg. age too much. 
Which is why I want to do it in the next few months, then stop app'ing for quite awhile so all my cards age like fine wine......

[haulingthescoreup]

I found that within a month, my scores had recovered, and they kept going after that. But I had a lot of other changes going on, too. The problem is that must of us have so much other stuff going on that's it's almost impossible to isolate the effect of one action.

Has anyone added an account when everything else was stable? What happened with your scores and when?

[MidnightVoice]

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haulingthescoreup wrote:

Has anyone added an account when everything else was stable? What happened with your scores and when?

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Case#1 - DW got a $15K Barnes and Noble Juniper.  Her score went up two, I was an AU and my score went down 7.

Case#2 - Closed a CU card and upgraded to their top of the line card.  It reported as "new with two years history - go figure".  No effect on score..

In both these cases out util was not significantly impacted.  Our Non-EX scores were 780+, and our inq number was very low

[RobertEG]

If PIF is a plan you intend to pursue, be careful of this wrinkle.  Let us say you intend to pay a few days before  your next statement date, so look up on the internet your current balance and pay it in full.  This might NOT give  you a PIF on your next statement if you charged anythind during the last month, since many charge interest on your "average monthly balance"  rather than the closing balance Thus, you might well have a buck or two showing as a balance on your next statement that you did not anticipate.  I know this is fine-tweaking, but could be important if you want at least half the cards to appear with zero balances.

[64met]

Hi; My FICO score is 708; however after looking at it more closely thay are taking into account a home equity loan that we took out to pay off CC debt... this loan will be PAID OFF with the sale of our home... but this balance of $63k is pushing our total debt off the map!! I am convinced that w/out this number my score would be closer to 800!  Is there anyway to handle this? Should I just tell which ever mortage co. we go with... then maybe I can qualify for better interest rates? 

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Thxs!!

[Anonymous]

A HELOC over 50K does not factor into your revolving UTL-

I looks like and installme t account or ignored in the eyes of FICO.

I can't figure out what the other questions are asking-

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64met wrote:

Hi; My FICO score is 708; however after looking at it more closely thay are taking into account a home equity loan that we took out to pay off CC debt... this loan will be PAID OFF with the sale of our home... but this balance of $63k is pushing our total debt off the map!! I am convinced that w/out this number my score would be closer to 800!  Is there anyway to handle this? Should I just tell which ever mortage co. we go with... then maybe I can qualify for better interest rates? 

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Thxs!!

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[64met]

Timothy; Thxs for the reply!  My question is/was my home equity loan of $63,000 was calculated when my FICO score was run and because of this $63k my total debt is way overstated; thus giving me a score of 708.  This loan will be paid off when we move! And when we move we will be looking at a Jumbo Loan and interest rates on jumbo loans seem to vary greatly depending on your score!  So.. my issue is since this loan will be paid off when we move... do I challenge this listing of my home equity loan on my credit score?  Again; it will be paid off when we move. Hopefully this makes sense.

Thank you!!

[Anonymous]

Sorry I was not more clear- 

The HELOC is affecting your score very little 0 to 10 points.

FICO does not look at Debt (your banker does) it looks at risk factors. 

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64met wrote:

Timothy; Thxs for the reply!  My question is/was my home equity loan of $63,000 was calculated when my FICO score was run and because of this $63k my total debt is way overstated; thus giving me a score of 708.  This loan will be paid off when we move! And when we move we will be looking at a Jumbo Loan and interest rates on jumbo loans seem to vary greatly depending on your score!  So.. my issue is since this loan will be paid off when we move... do I challenge this listing of my home equity loan on my credit score?  Again; it will be paid off when we move. Hopefully this makes sense.

Thank you!!

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