The Master Credit Score Mad Scientist Thread

[fusioncredit]

Bob,

 

have you done an experiment with helping someone transform from bad credit to good credit in 6 months or less?

[BobWang]

Bob,

 

have you done an experiment with helping someone transform from bad credit to good credit in 6 months or less?

No, I only know one person with marginal credit, and she's too embarrassed about it to let me help.

[BobWang]

I DID add her as an AmEx AU, back in the day.

[BobWang]

2012-02-25 TransRisk 699, Auto 865, VantageScore 762 (Grade C)

 

2012-03-01 Citi $4,000 limit reports $0.00 balance (Opened 2/17, Statement closes 3/21)

2012-03-01 4 accounts, AAOA 3 years

2012-03-01 BofA AU AmEx paid down to $0.00 from $5.00

2012-03-01 TransRisk 699, Auto 865, VantageScore 763 (Grade C)

[cookiemommy]

Opinions please I've been letting everything report zero but want to let one show a balance. I need to decide by March 6 how much.

 

What is optimal? One dollar versus seven percent versus nine percent?

[BobWang]

$2, Citi will report $1 as $0.00

[Jux]

Bob,

 

have you done an experiment with helping someone transform from bad credit to good credit in 6 months or less?

No, I only know one person with marginal credit, and she's too embarrassed about it to let me help.

 

Shame, I'd kill to have someone local like you to mentor me through the process. I understand though ... took me almost a year to stop being embarrassed and to take action.

[Link2k]

Bob I am trying to help someone out with building credit. Currently they have no file. I've added them as an AU on one of my cards unfortunately that won't give them much history, all positive but still thin. What is the best option for a first card for someone who has no file?

 

Even with your AU account your test subject only got a $500 limit for the first card. Is Navy a good option for a first solo card or would there be another good option?

[BobWang]

I would do it in this order

1) Apply for Walmart in-store, they'll ask for DL and credit card

2) If approved, you'll get a register receipt you can use to charge to the account.

3) Charge a couple of bucks immediately, since Walmart reports within a few days.

4) Use Credit Karma, or some other monitoring service to see when Wally shows up.

5) Once Wally shows up, THEN go to NFCU and apply.

6) That way you will not be a FIRST timer for NFCU.

7) Even though my experimental subject only got $500 from NFCU, it was unsecured.

[Link2k]

Thanks BW will let the AU report and follow your plan of attack

[BobWang]

2012-01-03 1 Student Loan $3,500 bal = 1 acct AAOA 0.5 years

2012-01-03 TransRisk 653, Auto 773, VantageScore 588 (F)

2012-01-03 CS Experian National Equivalency Score (NES) 669

 

2012-01-27 AU on 12 year-old BofA AmEx $5k limit = 2 accts AAOA 6 years

2012-01-27 TransRisk 653, Auto 818, VantageScore 588 (F)

2012-01-27 myFICO TU98 747

 

2012-02-06 CS Experian National Equivalency Score (NES) 725

 

2010-02-10 Navy Federal cashRewards Visa $0.5k TU, no score given

2010-02-10 Walmart Store Card $1.2k GECRB 497 (300-620)

 

2012-02-15 Walmart Store Card $1.2k limit = 3 accts AAOA 4 years

2012-02-15 TransRisk 660, Auto 818, VantageScore 712 ©

 

2012-02-17 Citi Forward Visa $4k Experian 660 (250-900)

 

2012-02-17 Discover Student More denied Experian 660 (250-900)

2012-02-17 Discover Denial Reason #1: Number of Inquiries in the last 6 Months (2 inquiries) (5 total)

2012-02-17 Discover Denial Reason #2: Unsatisfactory Bank Revolving Trade (Walmart, AU BofA)

2012-02-17 Discover Denial Reason #3: High Utilization on Opened Accounts ($3.5k Student Loan)

 

Experian Inquiries:

2011-01-12 University Housing

2011-06-12 Sears

2011-07-01 University Housing

2011-08-11 Auto Loan Quote (Paying cash, Salesman pulled hard)

2012-02-17 Citi

 

2012-02-17 Walmart Store Card received

2012-02-17 NFCU Approval Letter, TU hard pull, no score

 

2012-02-19 Walmart TransUnion FICO 679 (No recent account activity, AU account not factored in)

 

2012-02-21 NFCU cashRewards Visa received

2012-02-21 AutoPay Statement Balance set up for NFCU

2012-02-21 Citi Approval Letter Experian 660 (250-900)

2012-02-21 $20 charged at Walmart on store card & NFCU Visa

2012-02-21 Mint.com can't download GECRB accounts

 

2012-02-23 Citi Forward Visa received, first charge $650.00 for 10,000 TY bonus

 

2012-02-24 Citi Forward AutoPay set up for PIF

2012-02-24 Walmart payment in-store of $5

 

2012-02-25 No Citi, Chase or Walmart payments via NFCU CheckFree

2012-02-25 Walmart online payment of $6

2012-02-25 TransRisk 699, Auto 865, VantageScore 762 ©

 

2012-03-06 CS Experian National Equivalency Score (NES) 761

[BobWang]

2012-01-03 CS Experian National Equivalency Score (NES) 669

 

2012-02-06 CS Experian National Equivalency Score (NES) 725

 

2012-03-06 CS Experian National Equivalency Score (NES) 761

[GoCardinals]

Two more months to 840!!!

[BobWang]

[BobWang]

2012-02-19 Walmart TransUnion FICO 08 679

 

2012-03-10 Walmart TransUnion FICO 08 686

[BobWang]

2012-01-03 TransRisk 653, Auto 773, VantageScore 588 (F)

2012-01-10 TransRisk 653, Auto 773, VantageScore 588 (F)

2012-01-17 TransRisk 653, Auto 773, VantageScore 588 (F)

2012-01-27 TransRisk 653, Auto 818, VantageScore 588 (F) (12 yr-old AU account reports)

2012-02-06 TransRisk 653, Auto 818, VantageScore 589 (F)

2012-02-15 TransRisk 660, Auto 818, VantageScore 712 [C] (1st CC, Walmart $1.2k store card reports)

2012-02-25 TransRisk 699, Auto 865, VantageScore 762 [C] (2nd CC, Citi $4k reports

2012-03-01 TransRisk 699, Auto 865, VantageScore 763 [C]

2012-03-17 TransRisk 699, Auto 865, VantageScore 753 [C] (3rd CC, NFCU $0.5k reports)

[CIO]

You have quite a project going. This should be interesting.

 

Incidentally my potential fight club entry crashed in flames upon the 3rd-5th retries.

[BobWang]

You have quite a project going. This should be interesting.

 

Incidentally my potential fight club entry crashed in flames upon the 3rd-5th retries.

Should we still give it a number, maybe in lower case Roman numerals?

[CIO]

You have quite a project going. This should be interesting.

 

Incidentally my potential fight club entry crashed in flames upon the 3rd-5th retries.

Should we still give it a number, maybe in lower case Roman numerals?

 

It would just be a painful reminder of the abject B* failure I felt.

[colorado_guy]

I would do it in this order

1) Apply for Walmart in-store, they'll ask for DL and credit card

2) If approved, you'll get a register receipt you can use to charge to the account.

3) Charge a couple of bucks immediately, since Walmart reports within a few days.

4) Use Credit Karma, or some other monitoring service to see when Wally shows up.

5) Once Wally shows up, THEN go to NFCU and apply.

6) That way you will not be a FIRST timer for NFCU.

7) Even though my experimental subject only got $500 from NFCU, it was unsecured.

1. Apply with NFCU for a different product. They may approve a good line. If they pulled TU for a CC they will most likely pull a different bureau (EQ) for NavCheck

 

 

2. Visit some local CUs. You will be surprised how many of their credit analysts cannot read the AU coding ("A" for primary account, "B" for joint and "C" for AU) on the mortgage-style reports they pull and go with just the scores and income for determining the CL

Edited March 18, 2012 by colorado_guy

[wittingsun]

Wow, this has got to be one of the most interesting and educational threads I have read on CB's thus far. I am really interested to see how this experiment goes.

[patz2009]

It's interesting to see how this is turning out Unfortunately, I don't have anyone I can leech off of like this

 

My father's credit is shot and in repair mode (and by repair mode, I mean he's waiting for about 6 baddies to fall off his report in about a year). My mother refuses to use credit cards at all, only the occasional auto loan and her current mortgage. It's a bit weird when I'm one of the youngest in the household, yet am also on the path to getting much better than them.

 

 

[cashnocredit]

It's interesting to see how this is turning out Unfortunately, I don't have anyone I can leech off of like this

 

My father's credit is shot and in repair mode (and by repair mode, I mean he's waiting for about 6 baddies to fall off his report in about a year). My mother refuses to use credit cards at all, only the occasional auto loan and her current mortgage. It's a bit weird when I'm one of the youngest in the household, yet am also on the path to getting much better than them.

Kids often see the mistakes of parents and avoid them ... and make new and different mistakes!

[patz2009]

It's interesting to see how this is turning out Unfortunately, I don't have anyone I can leech off of like this

 

My father's credit is shot and in repair mode (and by repair mode, I mean he's waiting for about 6 baddies to fall off his report in about a year). My mother refuses to use credit cards at all, only the occasional auto loan and her current mortgage. It's a bit weird when I'm one of the youngest in the household, yet am also on the path to getting much better than them.

Kids often see the mistakes of parents and avoid them ... and make new and different mistakes!

Probably. But at least I have CB to help me out through whatever mistakes I might discover

[CIO]

Hey Bob,

 

A little data point for future reference regarding how high a revolving credit limit must be before FICO stops including it in revolving credit utilization:

 

We've heard that FICO stops including a credit card's balance in utilization when it reaches a certain credit limit. Usually, $35k-$40k limit is mentioned. I decided to try an experiment with EQ and FICO 04 regarding this, since I can pull the report easily. Over about 6 weeks time, I used one Visa card with a $40k CL and another Visa card with a $50k CL, and let a balance report for each one uniquely, then pulled an EQ score power report.

 

At $40k credit limit, the balance AND credit limit are both included in revolving utilization.

 

At $50K credit limit, neither the balance OR credit limit are included in revolving utilization.

 

 

Both will show in your report summary as part of revolving utilization and their credit limits will be included, but when you check under the FICO report section "Understanding Your Score", you'll find that the $50k CL balance is ignored in utilization, while the $40k CL balance is included.

 

Sooo....somewhere between a $40,001 and $50,000 credit limit, the change takes place. As I said, this is for EQ's FICO 04 version...no idea about EX or TU, or the FICO 08 version of any of them. I tried this experiment about a year ago with a $50k card, and misinterpreted that the balance reported and affected FICO, because I only looked at the summary section. Cheers!