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Building Credit For A New Arrival

Building Credit For A New Arrival

Old Jul 30th 2020, 4:55 pm
  #16  
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Default Re: Building Credit For A New Arrival

Originally Posted by civilservant
And I still never said it was inconsistant.
I never said you said it was inconsistent.

You said it 'doesn't tell you anything' and it was 'crap', assuming for the moment 'standard crap' is a subset of 'crap'.

Originally Posted by civilservant
Forget this link, it's all standard crap that doesn't tell you anything.
Yah, re-reading it doesn't change the wording I am afraid.

I also get the feeling you don't know what Tort is. To be clear, my nose isn't out of joint, quite the contrary. I just find it amusing you are so argumentative but perhaps you are truly a civil servant.

Now what I think you meant was -> Here is another link that can provide more elaboration... But you said the words not me !

Anyway, you seem like the type of person who could go on all day until you have the last word and I have better things to do !

Last edited by LegalEagleTX; Jul 30th 2020 at 6:26 pm.
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Old Jul 30th 2020, 4:56 pm
  #17  
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Default Re: Building Credit For A New Arrival

Originally Posted by LegalEagleTX
Anyway, I get the feeling you could go on all day and I have better things to do !


Then for the love of god.... please go do them
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Old Jul 30th 2020, 4:59 pm
  #18  
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Default Re: Building Credit For A New Arrival

My only advise to add it is to understand that different “lenders” can use a different one of the 3 agencies depending which state you are in. It is important to try and spread your applications across products that use different agencies as the combined scores used by mortgage lenders etc uses that vs single agency scores. I managed mine very carefully on arrival. In the 18 months after arriving on an L1a and switching to a Green Card I was able to buy a property in NYC. Now after 10 years here the only criteria I can’t improve on is the average age of accounts. As far as the agencies are concerned I might as well have been born in 2010, but I am always in the low to mid 800 range these days and should be able to get it higher when my average age moves from below 5 years to the 7-8 range... but the low rates / refi savings are not helping with that... I also had HSBC Premier so they have me the checking and unsecured credit card day 1 in the US. The issue with HSBC is the cash back / miles are no where near as valuable as CSR and Citi 2% cash back card. A slightly cheaper installment loan to local at vs a car is to finance a new cell phone. Not sure if that still works now, I did it with AT&T back in the day. Not sure if apple reports on their finance.
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Old Jul 30th 2020, 5:02 pm
  #19  
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Default Re: Building Credit For A New Arrival

Originally Posted by civilservant
You need 3 revolving trade lines (note I did not say credit cards, a checking line of credit will work too as long as it reports) and a single installment loan for maximum FICO scoring.

Anything below that you're leaving points on the table.

Let between 1-9% balance of a single card report too, this generates the most usage points and eliminates the 'all at zero/not using revolving credit' penalty.
This tallies with what we were told when applying for a mortgage pretty soon after we arrived.
3/4 lines of credit and not all credit cards. We had a lease on one of the cars which helped. We didn't do it but others bought a bit of furniture with 0% for 12 months to get another line.
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Old Jul 30th 2020, 5:02 pm
  #20  
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Default Re: Building Credit For A New Arrival

The reality is, anyway, that anything above 760 (and usually 720) is going to get you best rates anyway, so above that is basically just bragging rights.

Auto tier 1s start at 720 and sometimes 690 depending on the lender.

Mortgage interest rates are usually tier 1 at 760 (although this is not FICO 8, it's 2,4 & 5)

Credit Cards are usually 740 for the lowest interest rate.

As always though, note that it's not just the score that defines your profile. DTI is highly important in applications too. You can have an 800 score, no credit card debt, is still be denied because you're house poor or because you've opened a couple of new accounts in the last 6 months.

Last edited by civilservant; Jul 30th 2020 at 5:05 pm.
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Old Jul 30th 2020, 5:14 pm
  #21  
 
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Default Re: Building Credit For A New Arrival

Originally Posted by civilservant
.... As always though, note that it's not just the score that defines your profile. DTI is highly important in applications too. You can have an 800 score, no credit card debt, is still be denied because you're house poor or because you've opened a couple of new accounts in the last 6 months.
Is that the same as "low usage"? I guess not, but it's similar - if you end up with a high credit score but very little debt - so no loans and no credit cards, you can end up being denied a loan because you aren't demonstrating the ability to manage debt.
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Old Jul 30th 2020, 5:17 pm
  #22  
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Default Re: Building Credit For A New Arrival

If you have no loans or credit cards on your report at all then you won't have a credit score at all.

You can certainly have no active accounts and it still generate a score, just because closed accounts stay on for a minimum of 7 years and their history will give a score.

If you just mean having the cards but never using them, then yes there are no usage penalties, but it's not that high. Maybe 20 points, profile dependent.

An adverse action letter has to state reasons based on your credit score, so ir would never say 'ability to manage debt' It would say something like 'insufficient recent installment loan history'

Last edited by civilservant; Jul 30th 2020 at 5:20 pm.
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