Congratulations on your success!! Yes, definitely go into detail when you have a chance!! I, too, have been paying balances before the cycle ends. I think it is hurting me though since the cc cos. aren't making money on me. My scores are steadily rising though. I would love to hear more about what you have done to increase your scores. Thanks for sharing your success.
Wow, triple 800's. that's awesome!! when you refinance, with scores like that, they should pay YOU for your business!!
Christi-- You made a great point about the CC companies not liking you as much when you pay them off in full each month before the cycle ends. I have noticed that while other people at work who are heavily in debt keep getting awesome offers (from Citi and ATT Universal, Chase & others) to increase their limits if they will Balance transfer at 0% to3.9% till paid in full, I stopped getting those. I guess I am now a "deadbeat" (LOL) in their eyes, since I am using their services without paying interest. This 800 point quest was inspired by 3 things -- 1) My desire to refi at the lowest rates in 30 years 2) my natural stubborness, to see if I could do it and 3) My curiousity on exactly how this scoring mystery works. I have to admit that after I get my refi I am not going to be quite so compulsive (This has been a ton of work!) I may go back to letting my statement cycle and then paying the balance each month. Other than qualifying for mortgages or auto loans, I doubt that there is much difference to the CC companies between a 740, a 760 or an 810. They might even like the 740 customer better. Over 800 might = unprofitable to them. The one part of my story that I left out was that right before I started checking my scores in August 2001, I closed all of my retail accounts but two. (I had 6 or 7) That was before I heard the advice that you are not supposed to close a bunch of accounts at once) I assume that lowered my scores initially and took a while to recover. I also applied for (and received) 2 new Amex cards about 6 months ago. I think the scoring model actually liked it, since my scores went up. But I fought tooth and nail (and used Doc's trick once) to get erroneous inquiries off of my reports.
