FICO scores with 1 vs 2 cards out of 9 with balance

I got a little sloppy with my balances and accidentally had a second report (while in mortgage process, for shame I know) and decided to spend $41 in the name of "science" since we've been debating this for longer than I've been on the forums at any rate. 5/24: 1/9 cards with balance. $43/1000 individual balance, $43/34600 aggregate balance (and a Zync in a Pear Tree) 5/29: 2/9 cards with balance. $43/1000 and $86/8400 individual balances, $129/34600 aggregate balance (same Zync at $0 discounted from limit) Data speaks for itself, am a little surprised personally by the findings but if we trust the 3B scores as reference, well... I'd seen this played out on FICO 8 with my balance fun over time though not rigorously tracked, but here's two point in time snapshots over the entire suite of scores we have access to on MF. Disclosure: I have a dirty file still, clean file may not exhibit same behavior on the anecdotal evidence that every little hiccup counts for comparitively more if you're gold-plated. Also the scores are listed as they are in the MF additional scores interface, if a translation is needed to the bureau name for it, that can be provided. Score24-May29-MayEQ 8690690EQ 5700700EQ Auto 8701701EQ Auto 5697697EQ Bank 8705705EQ Bank 5721721 TU 8706706TU 4731731TU Auto 8728728TU Auto 4746746TU Bank 8723723TU Bank 4745740 EX 8712712EX 2725725EX Auto 8717717EX Auto 2741741EX Bank 8726726EX Bank 3697697EX Bank 2739739

StartingOver10 wrote:
Revelate wrote:
jamie123 wrote:
About 5 months ago I had my scores all nice and groomed. One card was reporting 5% of its CL all others $0. Then I screwed up and bought a $2.99 app on my cell phone and forgot it was charged to one of my $0 cards. The card reported a $3 balance and I lost 3 points. So for me, $3 on a second card equals 3 points! That's why I tested this time with a relatively high balance card reporting. I wanted to see what worse case scenario would do. So I had one card at 5% of its CL and the "test" card reporting at 71% of its CL (Still 5% total UTI) and I lost 6 points.Hmm, didn't see a breakpoint at 73% when I tested it once, but I'm really leaning towards getting the silly SDFCU secured minimum limit card and see if I can try to isolate individual balance scoring with an otherwise pristine report. Depending how much furniture I wind up financing Wonder what it says when you get an offer accepted on a new place, and you're looking around your current domicile thinking: I'm not moving any of this junk. Part of it I know I bought as throw away junk several years ago but realized when I was doing a quote for home owners insurance, if I'm not counting it for dollar value in the total loss scenario, probably not worth keeping heh.I am laughing....I moved in Feb 2015 and did the exact same thing. Looked around and said - Hey, I'll just get some new furniture rather than moving the old stuff! That's how $16k ended up on my cc's for a few months (Mar was first month, will be paid off by Aug) but I tanked my scores.... And FWIW it doesn't save as much time as you think it will save. But it is nice to have a new place with new decor I'm sure you will love getting yours together...I wasn't worried about the time so much (I really haven't got much, I'm usually pretty good at cleaning out detritus from my life), was just more if I don't care about it, I should buy something I do care about. I have been living in the bottom floor of a dark, rare does it get natural sunlight apartment. Just realized looking around when doing the homeowners insurance I fell into building around a couple of random furniture pieces I picked up and there's a lot of dark tones everywhere... and I absolutely don't need to take that with me. Actually it would feel wrong in the new place. One of the things I really liked in the condo was top floor and a lot of natural light, so I'm thinking unless I bought it to keep forever (bed, entertainment pieces) just give it away to the other apartment denizens and fill the new place with lighter "happier" tones. I don't even need my portable air conditioner hah, the other side of the hill by the Pacific doesn't get the temperature spikes nearly as much and I doubt the new place holds heat appreciably. So yeah, new place after 10 years, psychologically it's worth spending the money for a clean start. Really isn't that much, I need a table and chairs, a couch, and something to sit the TV on and entertainment stuff into. Realistically that's maybe like 10K max if I go 1st/2nd tier on the high but-not-absurd end and spending more than that... I'm doing something really wrong, plus if I pick well this goes under the keep forever or until it breaks category I buy the stuff I care about under under typical amortization-style math. Everything else, pictures, painting knockoffs, plants, can be added later, and figure if I ever do get to the theoretical wife she'll almost assuredly have a much stronger opinion than mine and I don't really care about decor so she can do it all other than I get a veto of a depressing color tone . It'll also be an interesting test, other than my installment loans I've never been in debt previously, not once, anywhere in my life. Floating some credit card debt on Cap 1 / Discover 0% promos, I sort of want to see how I react to it emotionally. Rationally I know it makes sense but hard to say how I'll feel about it seeing the balances and not PIFing them off. Better to know that now, even if it's not 1:1 to the conserving cash because of financial stress scenario, it is a change which wouldn't want to be surprised by if the fecal matter ever does hit the air circulation device.

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Asked Chase How I See My FICO Score With Slate Card.....

an FYI for those with Slate already. I was planning to close mine out after the BT period at 0% ends since it will have served its purpose and will go towards resetting the clock for hte offer in the future if I need it..... Thank you for contacting Chase about the free monthly FICO
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Irish80 wrote:
Monoglot wrote:
signaturecardmember wrote:
an FYI for those with Slate already. I was planning to close mine out after the BT period at 0% ends since it will have served its purpose and will go towards resetting the clock for hte offer in the future if I need it..... Are you saying you can use the slate offer 0% offer again after you close it for a period of time...? Monoglot, this a 4 month old thread. It's very possible that the OP isn't monitoring it any longerAww thanks for pointing this out. Would you happen to know if offers reset if you app again?

Now AT&T Universal Card offers Free FICO Score!!!

I got an email from Citi. Now they offer Free FICO® score for AT&T Universal Card. Ron.

core wrote:
Notice how the most recent month in the chart is June, but it's now practically August. Yep, that's just about how Citi's free scores work. At least they're honest. BTW didn't even know this card was still alive. This one was my very first default back in '94. Back when you could keep switching long distance companies twice a week and collect $50 cash bonus each time. Some things never change....You took the words right out of my mouth. I was thinking the same thing. That was my first credit card and it was the one I defaulted on sometime back in the mid or late 90s.

Balance dropped, score dropped. FICO scores a mystery.

They only reason to pay for the service of credit monitoring here on myFICO is so you have some idea of where you stand when you apply for any type of credit or loan. All the information about understanding FICO scoring is all cookie cutter garbage that you can read on any other "credit monitoring" service. And the people that work for myFICO have no idea what they are talking about either. They just repeat the same cookie cutter garbage I was just mentioning. I really hope they are providing their "services" for free, because if they receive any kind of compensation, it is undeserved. My statement balance on my American Express Everyday card went from $50 to $0 and my scores dropped by 11, 12, and 17 points (Equifax, TransUnion and Experian.) I brought the statement balance back up to $50 the VERY next month. Did my scores recover the lost points I just lost a month ago? No. And I am sure all these "credit experts" will say, "something else in your report must have changed." That is code for, "I have no idea what happened, I am just as clueless as you why your score changed the way it did." The precise formula for generating your FICO score is a well guarded secret. It is the same formula used in determining battle damage to your characters in the old Sega Master System game Phantasy Star. Sometimes when attacked, your character would lose 6 health points, other times 80 health points, and even other times 3/4ths of your total health, and so on and so on. This is how FICO scoring works. The formula basically goes, OOGA BOOGA, OOGA BOOGA, this is your updated score. The only advice on this site (again which you can find on EVERY other credit monitoring service) that is worth anything is what responsible credit habits you should be practicing. Other than that, just hope for the best. Your score is a mystery, and it always will be.

Beavakos wrote:
What difference does it make if there are any negatives on my report? I lost points for doing something negative, which is bringing my balance to zero, than returning it back to its previous balance. THAT IS ALL I DID. I thought time heals all wounds when it comes to credit. Any credit missteps I might have had taken should be corrected with time. I really don't know how to make this any clearer. Nothing in my report changed except TIME. If I have two dollars in my bank account, and spend one dollar, then deposit one dollar, I should have now have TWO dollars AGAIN. ?????????????????I understand what Beavakos is saying here and we all get it. Most of us love analyzing data which is why we are here after we've already cleaned up our reports and greatly increased our scores. Again, I understand how Beavakos feels - it is said time and again that UTIL has no memory and what is lost due to UTIL will be regained - well, not always true. Looking strictly at the data two things changed on Beavakos' report: 30 days were added to age and UTIL went from something above 0% to 0%, then back again and yet Beavakos' score did not fully recoup the loss. The reason for this, I think, is very clear - we do not know as much as we think we know about FICO or any other scoring algorithm. If I lost 10 points for going from 5% UTIL down to 0% UTIL but then gained those 5 points back by raising my UTIL to 5% again then scoring algorithm's are not as complicated as they are made out to be and are thus not worth paying for. The previous scenario is simple math and if indeed it was only that I should be able to retest that hypothesis time and again and get the same exact results - not happening. That said, I do not believe that scoring is a crap shoot or something only a witch doctor can understand. It is a complicated mathematical equation that has 100's, if not 1000's, of factors all having a different weight at a different time and I believe there is no one that can determine with 100% accuracy the effect any one factor, forget about multiple factors, will have on your score. Not even the people who wrote the code would know as no one person wrote the whole code. We should probably stop getting so frustrated with how our scores react to the different changes in our reports. The reason we get upset is that we think this is some simple black and white game and it's not. It is very complicated and we will never know what we want to know to the accuracy level we want to know it. What's important is we know what hurts our score to a high degree and what helps our score to a high degree. Take care of all those things we know about and your score will go up; don't take care of those things and your score will go down. After that it is just a game we play to see how we can get to 800...

AU not counting toward AAoA Equifax FICO score!!

I recently pulled my Equifax FICO score and report. The Equifax FICO score usually indicates the oldest account that was opened and average age of accounts. I have a AAoA calculator which when populated with all the accounts on my credit report produces an AAoA of over 10 years. After messing around with the AAoA calulator, I figured out that the Equifax FICO calculation is not counting my AU credit card. When I delete the AU from the calculation, the AAoA produces 7 years, which matches the FICO report. Additionally, I saw on my FICO report that the oldest account was 29years 4months. The AU that is on my FICO report was opened 2/1984 which would be 31years 5months. Thought this interesting. Don't know if it has always been this way or if it is a new development or perhaps something wrong with the calculation of my credit report only. Kind of irritates me somewhat. I mean, if a AU isn't going to count toward your AAoA, what is the point other than having a good trade line on your report? As matter of fact, the AU card isn't counting toward my utilization either. Basically, it is there on the credit report, but seems invisible when FICO's calculates. I will try and determine if Experian and TransUnion FICO calculations are also treating it this way when I get around to pulling them. Will paste what I am seeing for Equifax You have an established credit history.Your oldest account was opened 29 Years, 4 Months agoAverage age of your accounts7 yearsFICO High Achievers opened their oldest account 25 years ago, on average.Most FICO High Achievers have an average age of accounts of 11 years or more. Ratio of your revolving balances to your credit limits1%For FICO High Achievers, the average ratio is less than 6%.Company Date opened Balance StatusSyncb/Belk AU 2/1984 $855 Pays account as agreed (This is the AU) Macy's/Dsnb 3/1986 $1 Pays account as agreed ( FICO says this is my oldest account 29yrs 4mths)Usaa Savings Bank 1/2015 $41 Pays account as agreedAmalgamated Bank 8/2014 $0 Pays account as agreedBarclays Bank 6/2015 $0 Pays account as agreedAmalgamated Bank 8/2014 $0 Pays account as agreedIberia Bank 5/2003 $0 Pays account as agreedFmc-Omaha 11/2003 $0 Pays account as agreed AAoA calulator with all accounts 10.63 yearsAAoA calulator without the Belk AU 7.75 years The Belk AU card is not counting toward my utilization either, as you can see FICO says 1%. If it counted the AU it would be 5 or 6%. Didn't know if this should be on this forum, or maybe Understanding FICO scoring forum. Any one have any input??

Momof5 wrote:
TRC_WA wrote:
slimshady66 wrote:
I am under the opinion, legally, it is suppose to count. And if it is counting or making a difference, how is it doing that without effecting AAoA or Utilization?Good question. My question is why AU's carry any weight at all in FICO scoring. If my FICO score is supposed to be an indication of how I pay my debts... how would being added to Mom's 30 year old CC and inheriting her payment history be any indication at all of how I would pay my debts? I was in like 4th grade 30 years ago. The whole thing is just baffling to me. I'm all for AU accounts... I have added my Dad to my Sallie Mae MC because he has a limited history and I wanted him to have a CC he can use on a daily basis... but IMHO the FICO score shouldn't be affected at all by someone else's account.I believe that this stems from the old housewives, married women don't get credit days. The wife was an AU on DH's account, but was the one that actually managed the finances for the family. This helped bring women into the credit world.Basically this, millions of stay-at-home spouses who didn't bother with credit effectively lost their credit scores when FICO 8 was introduced. It was rolled back in favor of an anti-abuse algorithm to determine whether the AU counts or doesn't. All or nothing now. Presumably the lenders don't want AU's to count still (or they wouldn't have pushed FICO to do that in the first place), it wouldn't surprise me if further tweaks happen. FWIW I would strongly recommend everyone to have tradelines in their own name, regardless of AU's on the report. While mortgages are leaving the mandate of having to have your own tradelines behind, it's simply better to have your own history period to fall back on. OP: you can't really trust any third party (including MF's) interpretation for an AAOA calculation. I would be stunned and amazed if the abuse calculation was given to the front-end developers in FICO Consumer who wrote the simulator.

Discover IT CLI+My first FICO score!

I tend to write too much - so...TL;DR: $3,000.00 CLI via the luv button for Discover - no HP needed! Also got first FICO score from Discover of 733! There are a few questions at the bottom of the thread, so please take a look if you are so inclined! As my sig says, I started my credit journey from a blank file in February of this year - I am 21 and decided that it was time to start building credit. I was approved for a Discover IT card with a limit of $1250.00 (other cards that I got at the same time are in the sig). The concept of credit was completely new to me, so I haven't really put a whole lot on any of the cards that I received since February. I have kept an eagle eye on util+bal reporting per advice from this forum, though. I've been testing out the luv buttons on CapitalOne and Discover sporadically for the past few months - Discover always wanted an HP, so I would back out, and I didn't really take the time to actually look at CapitalOne's (I'm in the Credit Steps thing, though, so I didn't think they would approve a CLI until that is completed next month or so). I wasn't expecting to get a FICO score from Discover until September or October, so imagine my surprise when I saw that it had me with a 733 from July 20th! After that, I just decided to try the luv button on Discover again - I was approved instantly for a $3,000.00 CLI, no HP needed! That totally floored me! I've been scared to put things on the Discover card, so I wasn't really sure that they would pay any attention to my file - apparently they liked what they saw enough. This forum has been a great help (even though I've never really posted anything) - without the many posts of advice here, I doubt I would have even had the courage to apply for any credit card, so thank you all! I do have a few questions: 1) From what I gather, Capital One's CLI given at the end of the Credit Steps program is somewhat of a random chance - has anyone tried hitting the luv button before or just after getting an increase from that program to see if an additional CLI can occur? 2) I do check pre-qual websites every so often - for the past few weeks, I have been getting pre-quals online for Chase Freedom and Slate from Chase.com's pre-qual page. I wasn't expecting to see anything until about October or so for those types of things - I do bank with Chase, so it could be that they're using additional criteria, but do you think that I should apply for Freedom now and risk rejection or a small SL? I've heard that Chase's pre-quals are usually sound. I had been planning on waiting until closer to the end of the year to apply, though. I was turned down for Freedom in February for no credit history, so I'm hesitant to try again so soon - OTOH, I know Chase just likes to see good payment history, and then you're golden with them...I guess I am just wondering if 4 or 5 months is really enough for them. In the long run, I'd like to get Freedom and Sapphire Preferred together, as they are both wonderful cards. 3) I am having trouble formulating what to do next. I don't want to apply for cards just for giggles. OTOH, I'd like to get as much established as possible ASAP so that all of my accounts can age together (barring future decisions). I don't really spend a whole lot - it's mind-boggling to me to even have access to thousands of dollars that you don't technically have to repay right away, so I guess I am just having trouble trying to figure out which cards interest me and how to get ahold of them. How did everyone else start out in credit, really? I wonder if I should just wait for awhile... For anyone who has read this whole thing - thank you!!!

Congratulations on the CLI!
1.) I've had my Cap1 card since December 2012. After the credit steps increase of $250 I had a $500 CL. I got one additional CLI of $2k which brought it to $2,500. They have denied every request since then for a CLI, even the EO will not give me one. They had no problems giving me a $3k QS or $7.5k Venture though. 2.) From what I've read on here, Chase pre-quals are one of the better ones, but I have no experience as mine were cold apps. A low limit with Chase isn't the end of the world though, I got my Freedom in February of last year with a $500 limit as my third credit card, and less than a year and a half later it's my highest card with a $10k limit. You already have a rotating 5% card, but there's nothing wrong with wanting both! 3.) No one can tell you exactly where to go from here, it depends on how you tend to use your cards. Some of the cards I went for that remain my go-to cards would be Synchrony Amazon.com card for 5% off of everything on Amazon, or 0% 6, 12, 24 mo. financing on purchases of $150+ all the time, and frequent CLI. Another was Barclays Ring card because it has a flat low 8% APR for a low-interest card. Kohls for 30% coupons. Citi DoubleCash for a 2% cash back card. Discover/Freedom for my 5% rotating categories. Most of my other cards never get used! I started out with Cap1, and then ended up financing a laptop with the Barclay Apple Financing Card, and from there have been apping for the cards I want and closing the ones that no longer fit my needs or combining credit limits. In the end I'll end up with prime cards I like that can age. I was actually able to get approved for a loan on a brand new car without a co-signer just from the history on my credit cards. Good luck with your credit journey!

Need advice helping raising my Fico score (571)

Hi guys, Long time lurker, first time poster. Long story short, I had a chapter 7 bankruptcy discharged September 2014. At that time, my Fico score rose 9 points to 584. Since that time, my Fico score dropped to 544, and has seen a very mild increase up to today’s date at 574. I don’t have any of my own credit cards, although I am an authorized user on all of my fiancés Credit Cards. Between her and I we have two installment (auto) loans. She has the following Credit Cards, with the credit limits in the first column, with our typical balances in the next column (first 5 cards are paid off in full each month by due date, the last 4 cards have running balances on them that are targeted to be paid off at various points in the next year) : American Express Blue Cash Everday: $2000 $200 10.0% Target Visa Credit Card: $6500 $600 9.2% Wal-Mart Mastercard: $6000 $400 6.7% Toys R Us Mastercard: $8000 $200 2.5% Kohl's Credit Card: $1500 $100 6.7% Kay Jewelers Credit Card: $7650 $700 9.2% will be paid off on 10/1/15Best Buy Credit Card: $3000 $2900 96.7% will be paid off on 2/10/16Citi Diamond Preferred Card: $8800 $7800 88.6% will be paid off on 6/3/15Capital One Card: $7000 $3300 48.5% will be paid off on 9/30/16 My question is: Do I need to add credit cards for just me, instead of being an authorized user on her cards? All of the cards I am added as an authorized user for are added to my credit report, and I thought with having multiple balances reporting each month that my score would change, but it really hasn’t at all. Does my bankruptcy really keep my score weighed down so much? Today I applied for a Capital One Quicksilver1 Unsecured card and was approved with a $1000 limit and I will start using that monthly. Should I apply for additional cards just under my name? I know that keeping most if not all cards below a 10% utilization rate is key, and we are trying to get there and hopefully won’t have any outstanding balances in one years time. However, I am curious as to what tips and advice I can get at helping raise my score. I figured that my score would be higher than it currently is, but clearly I am not doing the right things in raising it. Our plan is to purchase a new home next fall (she currently owns our current home just under her name), but by the time we are married next summer, it would be nice to have both of our incomes considered for a new house loan, and I certainly won’t help out that situation with my garbage credit rating. Thanks guys.

NormanFH wrote:
sanders_tj wrote:
I was approved for $1000 limits on both the Quicksliver One card and the Platinum. Those both should be sent to me in the next week or two. We will be starting to move the charges we currently use on the Target credit card (groceries), the Toys R Us card (dinner, activites, etc.) and the Wal-Mart Card (fuel) over to the AmEx card in order to take advantage of the cash back so there won’t be much of a balance (if any at all) on any of those 3 cards. I figured instead of paying some of our utility type bills such as cell phone, cable, internet, gas, electric, etc. I would put those on my Quicksilver One card and pay them off each month, just as I would normally do with the cash in our checking account. I don’t know what I will use the Platinum card for, but I’ll find a use for them. As for the first reply I received, yes, some of the balances are high on a few cards. Those aren’t charges of us just racking up debt for fun. Life happened (child custody case with my ex, vet bills, etc.). As I already stated, we have a payment schedule set up to pay off those high balances within the next year. Normally, we don’t carry that high of debt on our cards. And best of all, we don’t miss payments. EDIT: Is there no effect to my credit report (or is the effect not as substantial?) if I am an authorized user as opposed to the sole card owner?Remove yourself from the AU status on the four cards that have the high balances. No sense in letting those balances hurt both of your scores.PIF before the statement closing date ALL cards except for one. Allow that one card to report a balance of under 10%. That strategy will always put you in maximum FICO score territory. Request CLI's on both Cap One cards after the third statement. Don't wait for the credit steps. You will still get a credit steps auto increase at the sixth month+1

Need advice helping raising my Fico score (574)

Hi guys, Long time lurker, first time poster. Long story short, I had a chapter 7 bankruptcy discharged September 2014. At that time, my Fico score rose 9 points to 584. Since that time, my Fico score dropped to 544, and has seen a very mild increase up to today’s date at 574. I don’t have any of my own credit cards, although I am an authorized user on all of my fiancés Credit Cards. Between her and I we have two installment (auto) loans. She has the following Credit Cards, with the credit limits in the first column, with our typical balances in the next column (first 5 cards are paid off in full each month by due date, the last 4 cards have running balances on them that are targeted to be paid off at various points in the next year) : American Express Blue Cash Everday: $2000 $200 10.0% Target Visa Credit Card: $6500 $600 9.2% Wal-Mart Mastercard: $6000 $400 6.7% Toys R Us Mastercard: $8000 $200 2.5% Kohl's Credit Card: $1500 $100 6.7% Kay Jewelers Credit Card: $7650 $700 9.2% will be paid off on 10/1/15Best Buy Credit Card: $3000 $2900 96.7% will be paid off on 2/10/16Citi Diamond Preferred Card: $8800 $7800 88.6% will be paid off on 6/3/15Capital One Card: $7000 $3300 48.5% will be paid off on 9/30/16 My question is: Do I need to add credit cards for just me, instead of being an authorized user on her cards? All of the cards I am added as an authorized user for are added to my credit report, and I thought with having multiple balances reporting each month that my score would change, but it really hasn’t at all. Does my bankruptcy really keep my score weighed down so much? Today I applied for a Capital One Quicksilver1 Unsecured card and was approved with a $1000 limit and I will start using that monthly. Should I apply for additional cards just under my name? I know that keeping most if not all cards below a 10% utilization rate is key, and we are trying to get there and hopefully won’t have any outstanding balances in one years time. However, I am curious as to what tips and advice I can get at helping raise my score. I figured that my score would be higher than it currently is, but clearly I am not doing the right things in raising it. Our plan is to purchase a new home next fall (she currently owns our current home just under her name), but by the time we are married next summer, it would be nice to have both of our incomes considered for a new house loan, and I certainly won’t help out that situation with my garbage credit rating. Thanks guys.

I was approved for $1000 limits on both the Quicksliver One card and the Platinum. Those both should be sent to me in the next week or two. We will be starting to move the charges we currently use on the Target credit card (groceries), the Toys R Us card (dinner, activites, etc.) and the Wal-Mart Card (fuel) over to the AmEx card in order to take advantage of the cash back so there won’t be much of a balance (if any at all) on any of those 3 cards. I figured instead of paying some of our utility type bills such as cell phone, cable, internet, gas, electric, etc. I would put those on my Quicksilver One card and pay them off each month, just as I would normally do with the cash in our checking account. I don’t know what I will use the Platinum card for, but I’ll find a use for them. As for the first reply I received, yes, some of the balances are high on a few cards. Those aren’t charges of us just racking up debt for fun. Life happened (child custody case with my ex, vet bills, etc.). As I already stated, we have a payment schedule set up to pay off those high balances within the next year. Normally, we don’t carry that high of debt on our cards. And best of all, we don’t miss payments. EDIT: Is there no effect to my credit report (or is the effect not as substantial?) if I am an authorized user as opposed to the sole card owner?

Why does my FICO score keep on dropping???

I check my FICO score that comes with my Discover card. I don't understand what's going on. My FICO score keeps dropping. About 6-7 months ago my score was a 832. I've had this score for a while. The following month it dropped down to a 789. Basically 43 points. The only thing I could think of was that I had used my Discover card quite a bit that month (3,000 out of the $6000 limit). But as I always do every month, I paid everything off in one shot. After a couple of months, it went back up to a 801. This is nowhere close to the 832 I originally had. I check this month and lo and behold, it's dropped back down to 786. The only thing that I could of think of out of the ordinary was getting a pre-approval for a loan. Just a pre-approval. Would this cause it drop back down this much? I don't understand why my FICO score keeps dropping. Would these 2 things cause it to drop down this much? I pay my credit cards off in full every single month. I don't have any other mortgage or loan.

GiJoe81 wrote:
Thanks for the post. I don't have any debt. Literally 0. I have a BOA Visa card which has a credit limit of $17,000. Of that, I have a zero balance. My Discover card has a limit of $6,000. Back 6-7 months ago, I had charged $3,000 of the $6,000 limit on the Discover card. I paid everything off in one shot before the due date. This is the month that my credit score dropped from a 832 down to a 789. For the past 6-7 months I've never charged more than $1,000 on my BOA card and never more than $200-300 on my Discover card. As mentioned, everything is always paid off in full before the due date. Haven't had any type of revolving debt for the past year. I ran my credit report about 2 months ago (when I did a pre-approval) and under the "Key factors that adversely affected your credit score" it states the following: Equifax: TIME SINCE MOST RECENT ACCOUNT OPENING IS TOO SHORT. TOO MANY CONSUMER FINANCE COMPANY ACCOUNTS. TOO MANY ACCOUNTS WITH BALANCES. Transunion: TIME SINCE MOST RECENT ACCOUNT OPENING IS TOO SHORT. INSUFFICIENT LENGTH OF REVOLVING CREDIT HISTORY. LACK OF RECENT INSTALLMENT LOAN INFORMATION. INSUFFICIENT LENGTH OF CREDIT HISTORY. What kind of worries me is that it's saying I have too many customer finance company accounts and that the time since most recent account opening is too short. I don't believe this to be true. I only have a Discover card, BOA visa card, HSBC online savings account, and my checking account. I don't get what's going on First off...You have fantastic credit scores! The problem is that you don't have enough credit cards. You need a MINIMUM of 3 credit cards to be able to achieve the highest scores. Credit cards are the foundation of rock solid high credit scores in the future. Not many people can keep a mortgage open for 20 years but it is relatively easy for most people to keep a credit card open for 20 years. FICO has a number of calculations that are credit card specific and if you don't have at least 3 credit cards there is absolutely no way to "earn" all the points that you are entitled to. A case in point: FICO wants you to use your credit cards and you get points for having one card report a balance that is less that 10% of its credit line. BUT...FICO also doesn't want you to use too much credit so if you have 50% or more of your cards report a balance you get nicked points. By having only 2 credit cards you can't win that battle. I suggest that you app for 2 new credit cards each year until you end up with 5 to 8 quality cards that you can keep open for the rest of your life. Your scores are so high that you will qualify for ANY credit card that you desire. I would suggest that you apply for an AMEX Blue Cash Everyday and a CitiBank Double Cash Back card right now. A year from now pick up 2 more cards. Your scores are fluctuating wildly because of the uneven use of your 2 cards. If you use 1 card you are using 50% of your available cards and that is much too high by FICO standards. Having more credit cards will level your scores out and keep them from jumping around so much.

Our Forums' FICO High Achievers: Who has at least one FICO Score of 760 or above?

I've noticed that some Forum members have improved their scores, and now have at least one FICO score of 760 or above. Others, have had 760+ scores longer. This is not a contest or competition to see who has the highest FICO scores. Rather, I'd like to see which Forum members are FICO High Achievers. Who has at least one FICO Score of 760 or above?
Message Edited by psychic on 04-02-2008 02:59 AM

Good thread Psy, I have been close monitoring this forum in hoping to one day reach 800. From my previous posts, my fico scores been from mid 650's to now 750-760 on TU,EX, and EQ. These changes reflect from only a month that I started to monitor my scores. Since 650's, a month ago, I have since removed 1 late payment, got my util to down to 14% with activities showing on 9 out of 16 c.c.'s, and finished my payment on a leased car. I took a 10 point loss on TU, 6 point loss on EX and 4 point loss on EQ for using a zero balance c.c. few weeks back. Just wondering tho, if I got my util to 1-3%, what kind of increase I could see on my scores...I did the simulator but the point increase doesn't seem to be accurate since it doesn't take in to consideration that I will have most of my c.c. reporting a zero balance except for 1 or 2 accounts so I can maximize my points. I still have a c.c. from BofA that I opened up last September that shows as new account but I'm hoping that it will be removed from the negative factor to boost me up in few more points... I just want to be safely over 760's to maximize my interest when I'm ready to buy my first house. But 800+ would be just dandy.

Have you had high cc usage for a planned expense that lowered your FICO scores?

In a week or so I am initiating some home improvements and repairs. I know the charges to my cc will be way over the ideal limit until I pay it(them) down, but I now have zero interest on several cards so now is the time to do it. Has someone done this and seen their credit scores sink to the bottom of the barrel? I am thinking I should just not look at scores while I am doing these necessary things and just continue paying down the balances until my credit scores recover. How badly did your credit take a hit if you have done this? Was it worth it to you? (I only just got these scores in the last weeks due to utilization and new accounts.) Oh, and what is considered 100% usage? How close to the limit can I go? Thank you for any responses. In my wallet: Venture 15k; Barclay Ring 12.5k; Discover 10k; CareCredit 7.7k; Amazon Store Card 5k. QS 5k; Band of A Travel Rewards 3.5k; Bank of A Travel Rewards 3.5k; Bank of A Platinum Visa 2k; Barclay Apple Rewards 2k. Total Credit: 66,200. 7/2-FICO: EQ - 788; TU - 777; EX - 690; Utilization: 12%; GOAL: 780 across the board then 800 across the board. Inquiries: EQ: 5 TU: 7; EX 3; Chapter 13 seven years May, 2015. Reset my garden date to 6/27. Gardening until further notice.

Musiclover wrote:
Have you had high cc usage for a planned expense that lowered your FICO scores?I don't recall but I have been up to 76% recently. However, the balance was immediately paid off. I don't recall if reported or not. The impact didn't really matter since it was going to be paid off immediately. Musiclover wrote:
Oh, and what is considered 100% usage?
Utilization is balance/limit. If the balance equals the limit it's 100%. Musiclover wrote:
How close to the limit can I go?Depending on the card you may be able to exceed the limit. However, such cards would require that you immediately pay any balance exceeding the limit. For scoring purposes it is recommended to not exceed 30%. However, short term high utilization generally isn't an issue. It's prolonged high utilization that can get you into trouble. Be aware that there is a double hit from having high utilization on a card and having itmaxed out (generally >90%). Musiclover wrote:
I know the charges to my cc will be way over the ideal limit until I pay it(them) down,How long will that take? What utilization would you be at initially? How long would it take to get it down to 50%? Under 30%?

FICO Score change

I recently learned of a drop in my FICO score from 820 to 808. I cannot think of any reason for this except I cancelled my AMEX Gold Card after 52 years because of the annual $55 renewal fee and lack of need. About the same date I received notice from Skype that my annual fee for subscriptions for two telephone numbers for use with their service had failed to be paid. I had no outstanding charges for service usage and simply wanted to let the telephone numbers expire. I think Skype had tried to charge the subcription renewal against my AMEX card just after cancellation. I am now getting daily reminders from Skype by email that my subscriptions have expired but offering extended dates for renewal. I am also notified that I will not be able to purchase other services or products until the subscriptions are paid. Would these circumstances warrant a 12 point drop in my credit score?

houndear wrote:
I recently learned of a drop in my FICO score from 820 to 808. I cannot think of any reason for this except I cancelled my AMEX Gold Card after 52 years because of the annual $55 renewal fee and lack of need. I am now getting daily reminders from Skype by email that my subscriptions have expired but offering extended dates for renewal. I am also notified that I will not be able to purchase other services or products until the subscriptions are paid. Would these circumstances warrant a 12 point drop in my credit score?Not enough info here to establish root cause. I would suggest getting a copy of a CRA credit report and score. Check for new inquiries. None of what you said should allow for a hard inquiry but who knows. Look for any new reason codes associated with your score as they can point you toward cause for a score change. Check to see that Skype has not reported a late payment associated with their attempt to charge your AMEX. Also, look to make sure your AMEX was not closed with a non zero balance. Closing a high CL credit card will drop your combined credit line which results in an increase in aggregate credit utilization %. If utilization crosses a threshold, say 10%, this can drop score. However, if your AMEX is a charge card then it does not have a CL and should not factor into your combined CL. P.S. The 52 year age of your card will still count toward your AAoA for as long as it is listed on your credit report (closed accounts drop off 10 years after date of closure).

Want to signup to monitor fico scores for mortgage

Had my current mortgage broker pull my scores in April i range from 593-603, I have since been working on credit got two collections deleted and didnt have any creditcards ..I have secured card thats been reporting 2 months now of course i dont want another hard pull so i want to signup and monitor my scores here,but are they giving me myfico8 scores? I know my lender uses Fico classis 04 for trans..ver2 for EXP..and fico v5 for Equa so my question is will i be able to monitor these particular scores with a monthly signup these are the only scores i really care about right nowThanks

The only way to see your mortgage scores is to buy the 3B report. I did it three times before apping for mortgage! But before my lender did it I kept him in the loop with everything I was doing to get my credit to where it needed. I had four baddies taken off which included a super old paid tax lien. I also opened up credit cards beginning last December. Keep reading the forums to help you guide you how to maximize your scoring with the new trade lines.

Difference of bench scores with same hardware. Why?

Hello guys!
I've made a benchmark test of my msi gtx 770 in 3dmark 11, and it has showed 144000 score(248000 gpu score and 58000 cpu score).
I saw benchmark test's scores on 3dmark.com and I saw higher than my scores(300000+gpu score) with same hardware(GTX770 + i5 4670K)
Why there are such a big difference in scores with same hardware and how I can increase performance of my hardware?
Sorry for my bad english, I belive you understand me.
My PC:
motherboard:Msi Z87-G45 gaming,
CPU:i5 4670K
GPU:MSI GTX770 gaming 2gb
SSD: A-DATA SP900
2x 4gb ram

your scores of 250000-260000 are typical OC values and people who have 300000+ will either have it at a stupid clock rate or have it water-cooled on the GPU to allow for much higher boosts off it as it will be much cooler......
alot of people who get massive results will have manually clocked the card to probably maximum speed and pushed the Voltage to the Maximum too (that's what they do to get impressive results but that's not sustainable as the GPU will give up if ran like that for more then a few test runs as it will start to burn out the silicon and be very unstable)

FICO scores used for mortgage - and where to obtain them

So would I just do the FICO Standard Purchase and select Equifax and Experian and that would show me the EQ Beacon 5.0 and Experian V2SM scores that mortgage lenders pull? Just curious as the ones I get through banks listed in my sig are drastically different from the one a lender pulled - they said mine is 740 but wouldn't give me more information or show me the print out.

The FICO scores used for mortgages Equifax Beacon® 5.0Experian®/Fair Isaac Risk Model V2SMTransUnion FICO® Risk Score, Classic 04These are sometimes listed on the tri-merge mortgage report as follows: Equifax/FICO classic V5 FACTAExperian/Fair Isaac (Ver. 2)Transunion/FICO Classic (04)Note: they have been commonly referred to on the myFICO forums and elsewhere as: EQ 04EX 98TU 04 Availablility Equifax: myFICO Equifax FICO Standard purchase, or FICO 3 Report View purchase. Equifax Score Power purchase. DCU provides this score monthly to it's membershipExperian: myFICO Experian FICO Standard purchase, or FICO 3 Report View purchase. PSECU provides this score monthly to it's membership.Transunion: myFICO Transunion FICO Standard purchase, or FICO 3 Report View purchase. Updated 3/10/15 - addition of Transunion (yay!) and some clarifications

FICO scores with 1 vs 2 cards out of 9 with balance

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