I really need to bump up my FICO score by at least 20 points very quickly and desperately need some advice. First, Although I have a long credit history, I paid off and closed most of my accounts recently (I know, big mistake). I currently have six open accounts all with zero balances. If I charge about 5-10% on 2 or 3 of those accounts, how much of a boost can I expect the next time they report? Second, a good friend is willing to list me as an AU on some of his cards with low balances and perfect payment history. If I do this, can I expect to see a score increase even though it increases the total number of my accounts and the amount of available credit? If so, any guesses as to how much of a gain I will see as an AU on 2 accounts? Thanks!
your better off getting an installment loan of some sort instead of adding more credit cards. diversity helps your score more.
Unfortunately, that's not an otion for me. My only options left are increasing utilization to 5% or so and getting added as an AU. Will my score go down further if I am listed as an AU on 2 solid TL's with perfect payment?
well from everything I have read be a AU on an account may not help quickly.. IF I understand it correctly the CC company wont list the whole good history of the account on your report.. Just what happens from the time you were added as an AU.
Are you sure about that? From everything I have read so far, an AU gets the whole history (good and bad) listed on their report, which is the point of becoming an AU to either establish credit or boost scores. Can you point me to where you saw that a TL's past history is not reported on an AU's report, as I don't want to do this if it's just going to show up as a brand new TL.
I am not positive ... In fact what I meant to say is that some credit cards companies will do that.. Unfortunatley I cant remember exactly which site I seen that on though. however I did read the following... "when a new credit grantor reviews your file, he may insist that the balance on the card appear on your debt-to-income ratio balance sheet If your income is high enough I dont think that part of it will be much concern.. Maybe one of the credit experts can tell us for certain.
That's a good idea on going for about a 5% utilization. You don't have to do it on 2 cards, one is fine. You seem to get more fico points on a very small util% than a zero %. Remember, nobody knows the exact optimal utilization %, but 5% or so sounds safe. Also, for the AU, I **think** it will depend on how old that account is in comparison to your existing accounts. The older it is compared to your reporting accounts, the more help it would be to your scores. Fico considers average age of accounts, and the older your average age, the better. Just make sure they are not at high utilizations and have no derogs! I only keep my poop1 card around for this reason, so I can add a friend/family member as an AU if they need a quick boost to their scores. If you have more than two hard inquiries reporting in the last six months, might want to dispute them with the creditors and CRA's. I hear sometimes with enough patience (call, call, and call again) some CRA's will take them off via phone call or written dispute. I haven't kept on inq's so I don't know the complete skinny on them, might want to do a search or post.
Thanks Cinderella, you've confirmed my understanding. Do you (or anyone else reading this) have an educated guess as to what kind of FICO increase would be normal for increasing utilization from zero to about 5%? Also, are you suggesting that I use just one card to increase my overall utilization by 5%? I have 6 open accounts (grand total of about $45K in credit) all with zero balances. I was planning on charging just a little on 2 or 3 of them to bring up both individual utilization to about 5% for each. Would that hurtmy score? Finally, with regard to becoming an AU, my friend's account is about 5 years old. When FICO calculates the average age of TL's, does it only look at open accounts? Thanks!
Robgold, I don't think fico cares if the 5% is spread out over two cards or on just one. Your scores for utilization are based on total available credit of all cards. I say keep your balance to one or two cards. It seems fico has a tendency to ding you on carrying balances on more than two cards, even within the low % utilization. When I went from carrying a 0% to a very low %, between 1 - 10%, I gained about 15 points or so. Have your tried the Fico stimulators? They kind of give you a broad range, but it will you an idea.
Thanks for the great advice Cinderella. I will try just putting a small balance on two cards and see what happens. 15 points would be great...I hope it works! Now, if I can just get the CRA's to report me as an AU on a good card with a perfect payment history, I just might get my score to where it needs to be.
I just tried PG's simulator. Sure enough, it predicts a 20 point increase if I put a small (less than 5%) balance on even one card. What's weird is that I tested it with each of my open accounts, and it gives me the same increase *except* with my Discover card. Even if I put a small balance on my Discover card, PG's simulator predicts Iwill take a very small hit. Does Discover have a lower rating with FICO than other cards?
Remember, PG's simulator is not the same as Fair Isaac's (fico's). Both aren't exact and give a range, but Fico's stimulators are going to be more accurate than PG's. You can check it out at Myfico.com. I think there are some promos out there, might want to do a search. Gotta order your report and and FICO score to get to the fico simulator.
Re: Re: Getting Desperate to Increase Score The problem is that MyFICO only gives me a simulator for TransUnion, which is an already high score (737) that will not benefit from a small balance on my cards. I can't seem to find a way to get an Experian simulator to work on MyFICO. The one clue I do get from MyFICO is that under the "Top Negative Factors" description in my Experian report, it says that a zero balance is hurting my score. At least that seems to confirm that I will get a boost on my Experian score by putting a small balance on my cards. Still can't figure out why the PG simulator does not like a balance on my Discover card though.
Re: Re: Getting Desperate to Increase Score Privacy Guards what if is a little strange .. I once tried what if I paid one of the accounts in full.. It told me I would lose 2 points.. its doesnt let you do a what if it was deleted kind of thing..
Re: Re: Getting Desperate to Increase Score I got my utilization down to 1-2% and that was my highest score. I'm now up to about 4% and I've seen a drop. I have a 2.5 year old BK, so my story is not neccesarily your story. Things that help - a mix of credit. If you don't have a store credit card, that could help.
Re: Re: Getting Desperate to Increase Score Another thing to try... If you pull a PG report, it gives you the three factors which affect your score (both positive and negative), so you can use that information to accentuate the postive, and have an idea on what is holding you back. Also, an interesting thing to remember is that utilization can actually make up not one but TWO of those factors. Both as a $ amount (You have $1,400.00 available), and as a % amount (You are using 0% of your available credit) If you are going to pick & choose which cards to place the utilization on, I would pick the one or two which are reporting 100% correctly, including the credit limit. Because if the credit limit isn't included (or they list high balance as the credit limit) then it is taken out of the utilization calculations (or a lot lower than your true utilization if you didn't max the high balance).
