bambamcredit Posted April 9, 2009 Report Share Posted April 9, 2009 I am wondering which will have the greater effect on my credit.1.Opening a new credit card account to lower my overall balance with a 0 % balance transfer. 2. Or will the negative effect of opening a NEW account to lower overall CC balance be more than the positive effect of lowering my overall CC balances? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted April 10, 2009 Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 Effect on what? Your FICO "sucker score". More cards with lower "utilization" usually increases the sucker score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bambamcredit Posted April 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 Fico Score... Sucker score? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted April 13, 2009 Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 In my opinion, the FICO score that us consumers are allowed to see is closest to the FICO Bank Card score. I call that the "sucker score", because it is used by the CC companies to predict who they will make money from...by charging interest and occasional overlimit and late fees. That's why "utilization" is part of that calculation...they want people who USE credit cards. The word on the street is that utilization in the 9-15% range will get you the best interest rates on CCs...but utilization as high as 50-75% will still get you more CCs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bambamcredit Posted April 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 I see... Makes sense. In our case We have 3 cards all in good standing with 40% balances. I figure about 6 -9 months to get them back down to the 10% range allowing for some bumps along the way; sooner without any. I was just curious if getting another card and doing a balance transfer and spreading the debt among more cards would be worth doing. That extra card could help me get the utilization down close to 10% in a month or two... Or does the effect of having a new account (under a year in age) nullify the benefit of lowering the utilization percentage?... My goal is not to get another CC but to try get a jump in credit scores sooner... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALVA Posted April 14, 2009 Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 What are you planning to do with the better score? Mortgage? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bambamcredit Posted April 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 What are you planning to do with the better score? Mortgage?Yes,.. and I'm finishing grad school and want my credit and credit scores to look as good as possible by June/July for prospective employers... We would like to start shopping this summer. I am not obsessed with the fico score, but realize it needs to be as high as possible to get the mortgage. Employers, in some cases, look at credit scores when doing background checks as well... Otherwise, I would be happy just taking the time to pay down the cards over the next year… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted April 14, 2009 Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 The credit report that employers see may not even have a score on it (it costs extra). They're more interested in judgements and any criminal notations. Having 100's of thousands of dollars in unsecured credit might get their attention, but other than that, they're really not that interested in scoring.And...the FICO score your mortgage underwriter (NOT your mortgage broker) will see is different than anything you have access to. Length of credit history and a record of steady payments mean more to them than "utilization"...although, again, lots of unsecured credit will get their attention.IMO, you'll be just fine if you pay your current cards down as much as you can...maybe 120% of the minimum payment each month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msdolly Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 sucker score! that's funny but it's true! my new word for the day is "sucker score"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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