FICO Score Tracking #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 | #7 | #8

I know I don’t! At the very least, not in the near future.

Like many of us, I’m taking advantage of some 0% balance transfer offers, as of right now I have about $14,280 in cash via three different credit cards, stored in ING Direct and HSBC online savings account, earning 3.4% and 3.75% respectively.

The $4,300 balance on the Citi Dividend has finally showed up on the credit report (as have other balances), so the scores took a nice deep dive in August, as reflected by the September score.

 

  • Number of accounts opened: 7
  • Inquiries: 3
  • Total revolving balances: $16,000
  • Total available credit: $50,000

Want another example that shows high utilization kills your score? There it is. You should note that Providian doesn’t provide the specific date for when the scores are computed.

Here’s a low down of my total credit card accounts opened and their current balances so you can get a better idea of how the scores fit in. To get more details on what happened during those other time frame, please refer to Part #1 of FICO Score Tracking.

Credit Card Name Since Credit Limit Current Balance 10/06
American Express Blue 05/05 $10,000 $1500 (0% for 1 month)
Amex Blue for Student 11/03 $14,100 $74 (paid in full)
Citi Dividend MasterCard 07/05 $9,600 $4,300 (0% for 10 months)
Bank of America VISA 07/03 $7,800 $7,680 (0% for 2 months)
Chase MasterCard 03/04 $3,000 $180 (paid in full)
Chase VISA Card 05/05 $2,500 $2,300 (0% for 10 months)
Providian PayPal VISA 05/03 $3,000 $0 (never used)
Authorize User Cards
Credit Union VISA 1992 $13,000 under $200
Capital One VISA 1998 $20,000 $0 (hardly used)

 

Note: Amex Blue with $1500 has been recently paid off.

Update: Thanks to a mention by Jonathan at MyMoneyBlog, I realized that Citi lets you do another neat thing on their online account. You can request balance transfer online (which isn’t anything new) but you also have the option for them to send you the balance transfer in the form of a check, so you can deposit it any banking account you have.

I decided to take out another $5,300 in balance transfer since the rates are still 0% and no fees. I wanted to take a screenshot of the option to pick a check, but I forgot to and I can’t go back to that page now. Oh well, here’s one showing where you can check the status and request a balance transfer.