FICO Scores - Do past balances/usage affect score?

[phoenyx]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MI

Are FICO scores only affected by current balances and usage percentages, or also by past ones? Meaning, if I know I will be applying for a mortgage in 1 year, do I just need to make sure I have my balances and usage percentages low in time to be posted to my credit report before the lender pulls credit -- or should I keep my balances and usage percentages low all year?

(I know that balances reported on statements aren't what is reported, but it's what balances you have on the day they report everyone.)

ALL else equal (no difference in credit limit, late payments, etc), would FICO scores be the same given the following histories on one account:

Jan 10 $100, Dec 09 $2350, Nov 09 $2400, Oct 09 $2200, Sep 09 $2150 . . .

Jan 10 $100, Dec 09 $300, Nov 09 $250, Oct 09 $400, Sep 09 $250 . . .

Any linking to an authoritative source would be appreciated.

Thanks!What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[Antigone*]

Here is where you can get all your questions answered about your FICO and how it is calculated.

Just another piece of advice ~ before posting a question such as this one, it might be prudent to try Google first.

How Your FICO Credit Score is Calculated - myFICO.com

 

[phoenyx]

Here is where you can get all your questions answered about your FICO and how it is calculated.

Just another piece of advice ~ before posting a question such as this one, it might be prudent to try Google first.

How Your FICO Credit Score is Calculated - myFICO.com

Thank you for your reply, but I have previously searched on Google for my answer, including the link you provided, and can't find an answer for my question.

At least in my opinion, their explanation is ambiguous as far as my question goes.

They state 35% of your score is based on "Payment History". They state that is based on "Account payment information" which I read has to do with whether you are on time or not, but it could also include how much you paid each time.

They also state 30% of your score is based on "Amounts Owed". They state that is based on the amount you owe to the amount of credit you have. It doesn't state whether they calculate it based on the most current information, or over all the months reported.

 

[Antigone*]

Let me just give you a general answer. When it comes to carrying balances on credit cards: You want to keep your available balances on all your cards to at least 67% of the balances. So if you have a $1000 limit on a card, keep your available credit at $667 or better.

Pay all your bills on time

A variety in facilities is also helpful. A few credit cards, a student loan, a car loan ~ all being paid as agreed.

You do these three things and have no negative trades, then you should have a healthy FICO score. You can check your credit report for free once a year ~ although it does not give you a FICO score.

I have enrolled in a credit monitoring service. One of the benefits, aside from the credit watch is being able to pull my quarterly scores.

hope that helps, ana

 

[efflandt]

If you look at one or more of your credit reports, the long term past history of your various accounts is just whether you "paid as agreed" (or how long delinquent), and no long term history of monthly balances and payments. The only numbers shown are credit limit and/or maximum balance, and current balance and last payment from whenever the creditor last posted that.

So when your history shows up for January with $100 balances and last payments of $2250 and $200, that looks pretty decent, or even if that drops off and you had maximum balances of $2650 or more total and paid that down to almost nothing currently.

Of course you should not go on a spending spree to make it look like you paid down a lot of debt. Just buying what you "need" and can pay off every month on time still shows as paid as agreed, and you need to save up for down payment and closing costs. Banks are real nice to you when you accumulate a wad of cash in your account to season just before a home purchase (lenders want to see that you had that cash long enough to know it is not borrowed).

There are other factors to your score like length of history and types of loans you have had (like car loan where you had to make regular payments over a period of time).