Credit Score Back Up

By | September 4, 2017

At the end of June, I checked my credit score and noticed that my credit score went down. Well, a lot has changed since suffering my recent setbacks. I checked my score today with credit karma and realize that my credit score is back up again. Why?

Credit Card Utilization

The main reason why my credit score went back up is because of my credit card utilization rate. In June, I was using 100% of the credit available on one of my credit cards. This was not helpful to credit health and my score suffered as a result. My TransUnion score declined by 34 points and Equifax went down 27 points.

Well, I’ve now paid down my credit cards to $0 as reflected in my post about how I invested $15,000. So, with my credit utilization ratio back in my favor, my credit score went back up.

My TransUnion score is 805 and my Equifax score is 809.

Purpose For High Credit Score

Maintaining a high credit score is important for a number of reasons, but I will highlight two of them that applies to my situation.

The first is the potential need to buy a car. Now, I won’t need a car for another year. Moreover, because I hate debt, I plan on purchasing my next car with cash. However, we all know that life happens when you make plans. So, just in case I’m in a situation where I would need to take out a small car loan to purchase my car of choice, having a good credit score will allow me to get the best interest rate.

The second is that I want to buy another house to continue my investment in real estate. I am definitely not in a situation to pay cash for a house. So, I will be taking out another mortgage. I want to ensure I get the very best interest rate I can get. The current interest rate on my home is 3.5%. Not bad, but it could probably have been lower. Also, I won’t have to worry about the banks wondering about whether to give me the loan in the first place. They will be able to see that I am a very credit worthy customer.

Conclusion

There you have it. I didn’t want to make this a long post. But, thanks to the fact that my financial house is in order, my credit score went back up. I just have to maintain it and possibly get it to the point where it can be higher.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments below.

15 thoughts on “Credit Score Back Up

  1. Dan

    Awesome job! I hope to be above 800 soon as well. Pretty challenging with the amount of mortgage debt I have, :).

    Passive Income Dude

    Reply
    1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

      Hey PID, I was worried that my mortgage debt would have made my score worse, but it really held up. Good luck on getting to the 800 club.

      Reply
  2. singledadmoney

    Mine went down by about 40 points recently. I had 2 older, zero balance credit cards that haven’t been used in years, so I closed them. It looks like older, in good standing accounts have more affect on your score than the potential amount of the debt they could incur. So, if you’re looking to maintain your score, keep the older accounts open.
    singledadmoney recently posted…Housing Expenses – Why I RentMy Profile

    Reply
    1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

      Good point Brian. I have a couple of old accounts, and I don’t intend on closing those accounts, even if I choose to cut up the credit cards. Sorry to hear about your 40-point decline. Hopefully, it will come back up soon.

      Reply
  3. Dividend Daze

    You got this! Would be cool to have another house or another source of income with the real estate game. Same as a few others said, just need to stay consistent with payments. The score will go up in time. Interest rates are pretty low now, so probably not a bad time to get into real estate. Good luck.
    Dividend Daze recently posted…Dividend Update – August 2017My Profile

    Reply
    1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

      Thanks Daze. As much as how I like dividends, I also love the idea of owning an empire of rental properties. But even just two or three would be fine with me, especially if they are completely paid off.

      Reply
  4. Investment Hunting

    Creditors get nervous when most of your available credit is used up, which leads to a score drop. For top scores in this area, all credit cards need to be under 30% utilization. However, your score is so high not sure if it matters. Anything over 720 will get your preferred loans. Nice work.
    Investment Hunting recently posted…August Dividend and Options IncomeMy Profile

    Reply
    1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

      Thanks IH. Even if I get the same rates as someone who holds a 720, it’s nice to have a little cushion, in case I ever need it.

      Reply
  5. Mr. ATM

    Hi DP,

    Glad you are on top of your credit scores. 30+ point drop is pretty drastic but I’m glad you were able to bring it back up. I have constantly kept my credit scores (all three) over 800 for a few years now. But one thing that seems to be working against my credit score is that I don’t have a mortgage and the credit service says I don’t have enough loan accounts which may be hurting my credit score, though my scores are hovering around 820-825.

    I hate debt and paid off my mortgage few years ago, never had a car loan, always paid off credit cards in full every month. I haven’t bought a car in close to ten years.

    I hate the process of buying cars, especially because all dealers seem to want me to fill out a financing application even though I tell them that I’m paying cash and won’t be needing financing. I guess they want my Social which I hate to give to them and they do run a credit check as I can see it show up on my credit monitoring.

    Oh well, I guess none of that matters anymore thanks to Equifax. I guess I should go and buy myself a new car.

    Take care and stay out of bad debt.
    Mr. ATM
    Mr. ATM recently posted…How I am Protecting My Credit ReportMy Profile

    Reply
    1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

      Hey Mr. ATM. Thanks for commenting. you have some very good habits when it comes to handling debt, money and credit. It really sucks about the equifax thing but hopefully, nobody ever tries to use my info fraudulently, but all I can do is prepare against it.

      Reply
  6. Dividend Diplomats

    Love the comeback story here. Glad to see that your score is above 800 again and you did what you had to do to make the necessary improvements. Very, very nice!

    Bert

    Reply
    1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

      Thanks Bert. It sucks hearing about the equifax breach so now I’m trying to figure out the best way to protect both my identity and my score.

      Reply
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