Hey everyone, I recently got the Chase Slate card to do a balance transfer for a large medical bill, since they offer 15 months of 0.0% APR for balance transfers made within the first 30 days. They offer a "free credit score" (like many cards do now), but what I find most interesting is their credit dashboard that takes Experian's information and gives you a guideline on how your score is affected by different things. I thought non-Slate users might like to see this info.
NOTE: this is not an "increase your score X points by doing Y" guide, but a more general "good/okay/bad" breakdown.
- PAYMENT HISTORY
- "Good" - 100% of (minimum) payments made on-time
- "Okay" - 96% - 99% of (minimum) payments made on-time
- "Bad" - < 96% of (minimum) payments made on-time
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Take-away: just one missed payment affects your score, and more than that will sink it quickly. Always AT LEAST pay the minimum.
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CREDIT UTILIZATION
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"Good" - using 25% or less of available credit
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"Okay" - using between 25% and 75% of available credit
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"Bad" - using 75% or more of available credit
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Take-away: shoot for under 25% utilization of available credit.
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LENGTH OF CREDIT (average of account age for all credit and loans)
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"Good" - 6+ years AVERAGE age of all accounts
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"Okay" - 4-6 years AVERAGE age of all accounts
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"Bad" - less than 4 years AVERAGE age of all accounts
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Take-away: If your average is less than 4 years, consider holding off on new credit cards or loans and using what you already have, if possible.
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CREDIT INQUIRIES ("hard checks" on your credit, does not include credit scores that credit cards give you for free)
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"Good" - 0-1 inquires in the last 2 years
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"Okay" - 2-4 inquires in the last 2 years
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"Bad" - 5+ inquiries in the last 2 years
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Take-away: multiple hard checks indicates you either need a LOT of credit or have a chance of being denied credit, both of which are red flags to credit companies. Use free scores from credit cards or your legally-provided free annual credit report rather than looking for hard inquiries.
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OPEN ACCOUNTS
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"Good" - 3+ open accounts
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"Okay" - 2 open accounts
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"Bad" - 0-1 open accounts
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Take-away: might seem counter-intuitive but it actually makes sense. Managing multiple accounts with on-time payments indicates you are a trust-worthy borrower. The main point here is that paying off an account in full (e.g. finishing a car loan) may actually make your score dip.
Hopefully that's helpful!
Submitted June 13, 2017 at 12:55PM by GaryBettmanSucks http://ift.tt/2reexe5
