Investment BS Thread - Stocks/Futures/Mutual Funds/Bonds/Commodities/Options/ETFs/401ks/Etc

I think this upcoming week we'll hear talk of more tariffs and itll be a way down week.

 

So I'm playing with my credit score and since my score hasn't changed in literally months (even though I use it and pay it off multiple times over a month), I've decided to let the balance accumulate until the end of the month before paying it off. The bad thing is that the credit score companies are dinging me for it (because the amount is now much higher than usual because I'm not paying it off 2-3 times a month) and then when I go back to paying it frequently so that my balance is only like $200, my score goes back to up to where it was. What gives? I don't know how to get my score to go up any more.

Basically before, when I paid the balance frequently, the balance amount would only be around $200 or so.
Now that I'm letting it accumulate until the end of the month, the balance is more like $1200.

So the credit companies think I'm running up my card even though the utilization is still only something like 9 or 10%. Not sure what to do I am afraid to keep doing this tactic for more than one month at a time. Last time I tried this, I just went back to paying it multiple times a month.

 

I tried that too, score went down because I was using a higher percentage of available credit. Now I pay it every few days to keep it down, score is back up.

I increased my score by increasing my available credit. I am under the impression that by doing that, I am now using a lower percentage of available credit, so score goes up. I can do it through Bank of America online every few months, so I just go in and ask for a credit line increase whenever I can. I only have 1 card, so I just keep pushing that one up, and credit score goes up as well.

 

I don't "carry a balance" per se, I always pay it off. It's just when they do a "balance check" on my card, it varies from month to month.

Pretty much the only thing dinging me are lack of multiple credit lines (which will change when I get a mortgage but at that point does anything else really matter?) and average age of credit.

 

Yeah, that's one thing I may need to try. I may ask for that (even though I don't even need the amount of credit I have now. Ugh)

 

Lol, well USAA made that easy. Got my credit limit increased by $7k. Took 30 seconds

 

I have pushed my 1 card up to $25k, it has helped my credit score a lot. I never charge more than a few hundred bucks at a time though. I will keep pushing it as high as the bank will allow though.

 

It's just annoying because I've been very consistent with my tactics and my score has not changed at all in months. Now that I'm changing it up a bit, they don't seem to like it at all and are dinging me 5 to 15 points when they see my balance is higher than "usual", even though I never carry over a balance

 

Odd, I pay mine off after I get billed once a month.
My score is around 827. Funny. It was 840 when I was still paying on the house mortgage. It went down when I got rid of all payments.

 

That's what I've been attempting to do but since my balance ends up being higher, they seem to frown upon this new behavior

 

Utilization percentage makes up a sizable portion of your credit score. Like 25% depending on the credit bureau. So if your statement balance is higher, your score will be lower. But it has no “memory”, aka it only looks at your most recent statement balance. So if your balance is high one month your score might drop, but it’ll go right back up the next month if your statement balance drops.

 

That's probably what is keeping your score down. What is your score? I have a mortgage, several cc's and a auto loan. I don't keep balances on cc's. Of course I am older than you as well. My score is 810+ based on credit karma

 

Building a super high score takes hundreds of on time payments on multiple cards and loans. You won’t get a high score from a single card that’s youve only had a few years. But really it’s not important unless you’re actively looking to take out a loan or open a new card that will require a credit check.

 

Yeah, it just sucks because I usually pay it off 3 times a month so the balance when they check it makes it look like I only use maybe 1% of my credit, instead of in reality where I use maybe 9% or so.

It's right around 760ish on average for the FICO Score 8

Yeah, I'm right on the threshold for the lowest mortgage rates, I will be closing in October on a house, so I want to try to bump it up a bit more. That being said, my "mortgage" FICO scores are like 30 pts higher than my FICO Score 8 model. Either way, I'd like to get closer to 800 for the Score 8 model. It's frustrating because if I remain consistent, my score just hovers around 760-770 and hasn't budged at all for months.

 

I'm hoping that adding a mortgage will help but at that point it won't matter.. I just want the lowest mortgage rates. I don't really need an additional credit card since the one is definitely enough to get me in trouble

 

Just thought of something. Bank of America used to do "hard" credit pulls for credit line increases. They changed it recently to "soft" pulls, so I can do it as often as they allow without being dinged for too many credit inquiries. You might want to check with USAA and make sure they aren't doing hard pulls for your increases, that would be counter intuitive (score goes up for credit line increase, down for too many inquiries).

 

yeah, just checked and supposedly it's a hard pull. Oh well, I've got 5 months for it to rebound.