Hi, I am wondering if my conservative stance is hurting my quest to improve my credit score. I have only three retail tradelines. One is a Sears with an $1100 balance ($1200 credit limit), a MC with $200 balance ($300 credit limit) and a VISA from Providian with $525 balance ($600 credit limit). My major focus has been working to pay down Sears which had been up to $2300 (they extended the credit but didnt raise the credit limit, go figure) Anyway, I have been receiving credit offers, which since joining this board, I have been able to scrutenize carefully. I received a credit offer for Spiegel, which I have been debating about accepting. My major fault is that I have the high balances, and I have a plan they will all be paid off by the summer. Should I still apply for Spiegel, or are one dept store card and one MC/VISA enough? TU says a reason code for me is not enough retail accounts. Spiegel is offering a $1400 limit...... I would welcome any opinions!
I'd also like to know this answer...the "ideal" credit mix if one is starting all over again. In reference to your case, I'd tend to lean towards paying things down before any new applications...it's my conservative approach... DB
I can give you an idea of 2 types of good mixes as far as TU's scoring is concerned. Jason and I recently compared our TU tradelines. He's around an 800 and I'm an 873. We list out the types of accounts we have, etc. TU Score comparison (Jason)
Revolving ratios are one of the key credit drivers. If I were you I'd do several things. One: you are almost maxed on your balances and that will kill your scores. It doesn't matter if you have 3 or 30 cards when it comes to ratios, but based on what you have you're 87 percent utilized. That's too much. But the scores also take number of accounts with balance as a factor. Did that reason code come up on your score??? Anyway, I'd do this: Pay the mc 200 off completely. then pay 300 or so on Providian (get comfortably under 50 percent used) then pay more on Sears. If Spiegel doesn't care that you're maxed, you can get the card now and it actually helps the ratios (and ratios are more important than the negative hit you'll get for a new card). But, once you get that card, pay the others off or all under 20 percent before applying for anything else. YOUR RATIOS ARE KILLING YOUR SCORES!!! As an aside, have you gotten all your credit reports yet? If so, look at the Sears "High Credit" section. It should reflect 2300... and for that matter so should your credit limit. Call Sears and ask that they acurately reflect the real credit limit they've extended you. By letting you go 2300 out of 1200 they screwed your credit score if that's reporting. If they didn't report the high limit at all it's a fcra violation... regardless, be nice. point out the omission, and ask that it get corrected.
