Need advice! So discouraged and frustrated!!

[talktohoov]

I have been working on rebuilding my credit and have really dedicated doing so the last few months.  2008-2010 was brutal for me and my business and really played havoc on my credit profile.  Almost lost our home but was able to get caught up in 2009 and havent been late since.  Had a some late payments on my student loans but have been current since 2010.  Had an Amex card get charged off in 12/13 with a balance of $2,000 and havent made any payments towards it but it stopped reporting in 12/13.  I have missed a couple of cc payments on my Cap1 and Credit1 card just recently by complete mishap in Oct 14 for a total of $50 that really dropped my scores (roughly 60-75 pts)  I have never missed a car payment.  After my mishap in Oct 2014 my scores were ( Ex. 595, EQ. 570, TU 569)  Total balances at that time on my two cards were Cap1 maxed out at 500 and Credit1 maxed out at 1275.  In Nov I made a payment of $250 towards Cap1 and a payment of $145 to Credit1.  After the reporting periods for each card in Nov I had significant jumps in my scores ( Ex jumped 29 pts, EQ jumped 49 pts and TU jumped 50 pts.)  In December I just paid the minimum payments due to Christmas but still had a score alert change of 13 pts for EQ.  In Jan I paid my Cap1 card down to $95 about 20% utilazation and paid about $500 on my Credit1 card which brought it to about 45% utilization.  I had a few jumps but not as large as in Nov. (Ex. jumped 21pts, EQ jumped 14pts and TU jumped 17pts) In Feb I paid off my Cap1 card and paid my Credit1 card down below 8% utilization.  I was hoping to have another jump due to getting my cards to that "magic" formula of one card at zero and the other under 10%.  So my scores today reflect my alerts for the Feb payments and I had only slight changes to my scores!!! I didnt get a scores increase whatsoever for paying off my Cap1 card and my scores jumped a little for dropping the balance on my Credit1 card (Ex. jumped 11pts, EQ jumped only 4pts and TU only jumped 5pts.)  My new and current scores are Ex 669, EQ 649 and TU 636.  We sold our home and close on April 22 and was really hoping to get my mid score up to 660 to lower our pmi cost.  I am at a loss as it appears I have only time now to increase my scores since my cc utilization has been lowered.  I have no badies that can be removed or good faith documented.  Is there anything else that could help my scores?

[Anonymous]

 Is there anything else that could help my scores?

In the short term, no. In the long term just keep doing what you're doing. Make your payments on time, keep your utilization low. You could probably also help your score by adding another card to the mix, but this may not give you a quick bump. Chin up, though, you have already made fantastic progress in growing your scores. You're getting close to the range where some better cards will become available.

[happypill]

Just a tip, you'll get more responses and useful advice if you format your entry a little better.  With no spacing or paragraphs, it's just tough to read.

[takeshi74]

PLEASE use paragraphs.  It's very difficult to read posts like that and a lot of people aren't going to bother and won't attempt to help.

Utilization is certainly a significant risk factor and can have a significant impact on your scores but if you have recent derogs then optmizing your utilization isn't going to help all that much.  You need to address those derogs.  Hit the Rebuilding subofurm and see what you can do about them.

[tonyjones]

Derogs from certain lenders are impossible to pay for delete, last year I've came to the realization that I'll just have to wait for them to fall off.

There is nothing you can do about the pesky baddies. The only thing you can do is get some more revolving and then let them age, AAoA and Payment History will increase and eventually those derogs will fall off.