Hello,
Great thread.
I started house hunting and care a lot about my FICO score in the next 3 months. Just at threshold of getting best rates, a few points may count.
Unfortunately I need to move end of the month and need to rent temporarily.
This will cost a fresh address and possibly a utility hard pull. I will try to avoid the latter by talking to utility--thanks to this thread for idea.
Questions:
-I am looking at renting in a very decent complex with maybe 400 units. Will get to walk to work. I do know there are foreclosures in there though, facility was finished 2005 and inevitably some folks did not make the downturn. Should I be concerned about the same street address having foreclosures? The specific unit does not. I had something similar way back in college days, there was a comment at the bottom of my report that said "parties at same address delinquent" or something to that effect. Besides a note would it lower my nursed up FICO?

-Does anyone have info on concrete FICO hit (or lack of it) from address change from having a scorewatch service like myFICO's? How about the utility pull? It would be no-issue in an ideal world, has little to do with real credit.

Thanks!!

Forgive me for reposting this here, but I tried the newbie thread and didn't find any help. Trying to avoid starting a new thread.

What's the typical credit score for a college student, and what would be considered good/excellent for that demographic (all factors considered)?

Also, I've read that having a mix of credit (cards, loans, etc.) helps with your score. Should I go ahead and take on student loans for the sake of credit building, or would any gains be mitigated by my short history?

[If it's important, CK score as of yesterday is 731. No idea how CK deals with Fico08. Oldest account dates back to... late 2006, I believe. Not an AU of other credit accounts -- would that help?]

it would be a shame if this one were archived...

I've just finished reading this entire thread and found it one of the best ones on FW. Unless I missed it somehow, I do not believe the question was discussed of how the FICO utilization aspect gets impacted when an account is closed with a balance remaining. Closest came DH's comment that in some cases even closed accounts helped utilization, but YMMV. But that comment pertained to zero-balance closed accounts, not ones with residual balances.

I recently ran across this article on bankrate.com. Here's what I found interesting in it:

If you shutter an account with a zero balance, that credit limit won't get factored into the utilization calculation. Closing accounts should have less impact if you have other high-limit accounts that are open and in good standing.
...
If you have a balance on the account when it's closed, the score will include the limit and balance on the closed account in the utilization calculation. As you pay down the balance your score might improve until the balance gets to zero. "In terms of the impact to your score, you could actually lower your score once the paid-off, closed account hits zero," says Fair Isaac's Paperno. That's because once it's paid off, the credit limit no longer gets factored into the utilization ratio.

Does anyone have evidence to support or contradict the non-zero balance case?

DaveHanson said:That's a great question Pondus. It's especially timely in light of the number of FWFers considering a closure under the Chase BLP program due to minpay jacking.

The bankrate.com account is quite plausible IF the credit reports the limit and balance the same as they did prior to the cut. I haven't seen recent corroboration on this either way.

I have heard reports from sources associated with Chase that most BLP clients WOULD have their other accounts closed. But according the thread just linked, not everyone is experiencing that.

If any one has data points or other information on Pondus's question, please add it to the thread. TIA.

Actually, based on a screen shot posted by a member (CapEx) in another thread: HERE it shows a Chase CC (under the BLP) that still reports BOTH the credit limit and balance on the CLOSED CC. I suspect that there is no definitive answer to this question, because I think each CC company can choose how they report it. If a CC issuer chooses to report the balance and $0 limit on a closed CC (which I have also seen), then yes, you are going to take a hit in FICO because of utilization. However, if you are lucky enough to get an issuer to continue to report the limit (like Chase did for CapEx), then you are unlikely (in the short term) to take any additional hit to your FICO due to the CC being closed. Hope that helps.

SuperG03

Taken from the OP original article:III. RULES FOR KEEPING CREDIT SCORES HIGH
<SNIP>
G. Avoid frequently changing your "official residence".
That's a toughie. I have my own credit cards plus I am an AUTHORIZED USER on two cards for two different relatives each with their own home. I make expendatures for them at their bidding. We got tired of settling up every so often, so we went the cc auth user route.

I had a service pull all three credit bureau reports last week. My "Official residence" has been the same for 30+ years. I use a PO Box for my mail for security reasons. It has not changed for over a decade.
The credit reports list the addresses for the owners of the authorized user accounts as my address in rotation depending on which credit card company reported what card last. My official mailing address is listed as a former address. My house aka "official residence" is not listed on any of the pulled credit reports. I would bet my credit bureau listed address changes at least 4-5 times a month due to the system reports "updating" based the rotation of the reporting companies.
==============
Also since FICO 8 went down in flames, about half my total credit limits is from the Auth user accounts. I'm not sure how that helps or hurts. Depending on who you beleive, there is a range of about 100 points in the credit scores between the companies. That's based on the three pulls.

Personally, I don't care except if a thinking PERSON looks at that information, they could reason I'm a vagrant which is not the case.

Comments? Suggestions?

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