Does opening new credit accounts ever raise fico immediately

[normajean]

Very curious about this. I had someone tell a client that is in the process of credit repair to raise her fico to open two new accounts. They said to open a secured credit card and then to open another revolving with her husband and father. He said he used to work for experian.

Any thoughts. I thought it hurt to open new accounts.

[Ahntara]

It depends on what else is in her file. Credit scores are based on ALL the informaiton contained in your report. And the scoring software is a closely guarded secret, so the only real way to know would be for her to pull her credit, open the new accounts, then re-pull to see if her score was higher or lower.

In general: Scoring programs penalize for an inquiry associated with a new account. The new account (having no history) causes deductions for simply being "new". This continues for about 5 years. After 6 mos, the deductions begin to taper off and points are added in for history. But these are not the only factors. Scoring programs also calculate in categories like "account type". Consumers have seen the greatest increases, not from revolving accounts, but installment loans (where none were showing beforehand, most notably with mortgage loans. Mortgage loans indicate stability).

If your friend has absolutely no credit, seems like any credit would be better. But, from my experience, this strategy works best when the consumer has at least 6-9 mos (minimum) to allow for aging.

[normajean]

Thank you for the information. What happened is the credit repair agency told her that her score would go up if she did certain things. Her score actually went down 50 points and now they are telling her to open two new secured credit accounts to raise score instantly. I have never heard of opening revolving accounts to raise scores instantly.

[CreditDiva]

Thank you for the information. What happened is the credit repair agency told her that her score would go up if she did certain things. Her score actually went down 50 points and now they are telling her to open two new secured credit accounts to raise score instantly. I have never heard of opening revolving accounts to raise scores instantly.

Perhaps she means opening secured installment loans?

[normajean]

No, they said to open a secured credit card and another credit card with her husband and father included on it. I always thought the low secured credit cards were a sign of a bad payment history.

Thanks for the time taken to this. It really puzzles me. I am waiting to see what happens. He says he used to work for a credit bureau. I have my doubts.