Originally posted by ready2puke
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Also, what helps more is your oldest account, paying on time, available credit versus credit used, and never missing a payment. Revolving a charge account (and carrying balances), does help a score a bit... but the FICO scoring system doesn't add points, it subtracts them.
Having different types of credit (revolving, T&E, installment (car), real estate) and handling it well, goes a lot further than simply revolving some debt.
Carrying certain types of debt, bodes poorly for a score. For example, just one installment account (other than a for a car/house) will hurt you. Having more than two hurts significantly (it may be only 40 points... and no one knows the real way FICO scores... but it is significant). For example... don't have 2 cars and 2 CitiFinancial accounts. On the top reasons why your score is low... "Too many installment accounts." will be listed first or second. (FYI, I'm talking about the mortgage FICO scoring model.)
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