• Tested — CapitalOne also has a free service “CreditWise” to give a score, based on TransUnion dta.
• Tested — CreditKarma has free credit scores using TransUnion and Equifax data. Recommended by a Capital One officer.
• Tested — discovery.com has a free FICO credit score, based on Experian data

If a mortgage, student loan or auto loan falls off your report, your score could drop since you’re losing a line of credit that’s given you a lot of credit history.

–FICO^® Scores are used by over 90 percent of top U.S. lenders (but perhaps not as the only scoring type). You should be aware that there are other credit score types offered in the marketplace. Some of these are classified as educational scores, and are not actually used by lenders to make credit decisions. While these scores are based on an individual’s credit bureau data, the underlying math used to generate the scores is different between the scoring types, often resulting in a different score value.

• 35% based on missed payment
• 30% based on revolving utilization
• 15% based on length of credit
• 10% based on hard inquiries
• 10% based on how many trade lines you have been managing responsibly.
• Upshot: lenders like jugglers, managing a large number of debts continuously without missing a payment. Keeping things simple by using few cards doesn’t demonstrate multitasking.

In another algorithm

• 40% based on missed payment
• 23% based on credit utilization
• 21% based on credit age
• 11% based on total balances

Another tip: Once a while, try to build a big outstanding before closing date, and pay it off after closing date, to reduce our risk.

— A citicards supervisor (Richard) explained to me that my application was rejected due to low active trades or limited reporting, or low usage of existing trade line.
— John Aviles of Citibank White Plains said it’s more effective to increase my credit limit on my existing credit card, rather than getting more credit cards.
Too many unsuccessful inquiries (including request for credit limit increase) hurts credit score. Therefore, it pays to “counter” the rejection and turn the inquiry into an approval.
— Estefany of Bofa White Plains said we don’t need a lot of credit cards. What if I keep many cards but use only 2? She said that’s fine, better than applying then terminating many cards. She said length of ownership(?) of a ccard helps score.

–Kenneth O Lemus of BofA said by default, mtg lenders look for 3 credit cards, each with at least 12M of history. If you don’t have, then one card with 5Y history may do. I said I will try to get 3. He said yes.

Ideally, make some small ($10) monthly payments consistently.

I said that too many cards may impact credit score. He didn’t disagree.

Typical credit score required for mortgage? 650