Okay...A few things that you should know to get the highest scores that you can possibly get.
1. You need at least 3 credit cards. There are a couple of credit calculations that will ding you no matter what if you don't have at least 3 credit cards.
The way your credit cards report their balance is important. To get the highest scores, you want 1 card to report a balance of 9% or lower of its credit line and all the rest of your cards to report $0. You can do this by paying your reporting card down to less than 9% of its CL a few days BEFORE the card's due date and then not using that card for 5 days AFTER the due date. In this way you are controlling the reporting balance. Once the card reports to the credit reporting agencies, go back and pay this card down to $0. (I tested this once with a balance of $3 and yes, the difference in reporting $3 vs $0 was 18 points!)
You need to pay $0 reporting cards down to $0 a few days BEFORE the due date and not use them for 5 days AFTER the due date.
It is very important that 1 card report a balance of less than 9% of its CL. In my case, if I pay all of my cards to $0 I will lose 18 points! Everyone's loss will vary here but you will lose points if all of your cards report a $0 balance.
Once your credit scores are above 760 everything else is bragging rights. A score of 760 or higher will get you the best rates a lender has to offer.
There are really only 2 ways for most people to make money off of a high credit score. Buying a house or auto and getting the very best rates will save you hundreds or thousands of dollars over the life of the loan.
Starting Score: EQ 653 6/21/12
Current Score: EQ 817 3/10/20 - EX 820 3/13/20 - TU 825 3/03/20
