Too Much Credit Too Soon Hurting My Score

[TooMuchTooSoon]

I've recently begun cleaning up my CRs.  It seems Equifax is the most difficult to understand.  I wanted to bring my score up so I got an Orchard Bank MC ($400) secured CC.  It worked immediately.  I was then offered a FingerHut account ($400 limit), approved for a Capitol One MC ($300 limit) and a First Premier MC ($300 limit) all in the last six months.  My EquiFax score was up to 610 and now dropped to 567.  Did I do too much too soon?  What would the quickest way be to bring up my CS?  I do have one delinquent acct of $305 that will fall of my CRs in March 2012, and I have a medical unpaid of $1,857 that will be there for a long time; although I just sent a certified letter offering a PFD on that one.  My Experian FAKO will go from 656 to 776 if the PFD works.  My concern though is EquiFax, which has the same two accts but also has the most credit inquiries and new accts which I believe is what knocked it down from 610.  Would getting my total available credit over $2000 on my card help (ie increase the amount on my secured acct to say $600 or $800 limit).  It would not be new credit but increased credit availability.  I do keep my balances low.

Looking for quick ways to get these scores to the absolute best in the shortest time.  I do have 1 or 2 accts that are giving me some length of history.

Current FAKOs

Experian 656

EquiFax 567

TransUnion 686 (Does not have the medical unpaid listed above).

Thanks in advance.

[TooMuchTooSoon]

As an update just pulled my TRUE FICO for EquiFax at 638 and TU at 655.

[llecs]

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@TooMuchTooSoon wrote:

Did I do too much too soon?  What would the quickest way be to bring up my CS?  

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There's two trains of thought...add enough CCs to get a solid mix when starting at 0 or add one at a time spread out every 6-12-24 months or so. I did the former just as you did and I regretted it. I was stuck with not-so-good CCs w/ AFs and low limits to boot. Probably the best way to recover is to stop applying for a year or two. Let it mellow out and use that time to focus on repair. Over the next year you'll see some bumps in points as the damage of new accounts age out and you might see additional gains around the one year mark.

And at least you know your two FICO scores. Don't rely on your FAKO scores as you can see, especially with EQ. But if you are using a CMS through Equifax, use the report data as a guide to see what's changing on your reports. Just ignore the scores and advice.

[Anonymous]

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@llecs wrote:

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@TooMuchTooSoon wrote:

Did I do too much too soon?  What would the quickest way be to bring up my CS?  

---

There's two trains of thought...add enough CCs to get a solid mix when starting at 0 or add one at a time spread out every 6-12-24 months or so. I did the former just as you did and I regretted it. I was stuck with not-so-good CCs w/ AFs and low limits to boot. Probably the best way to recover is to stop applying for a year or two. Let it mellow out and use that time to focus on repair. Over the next year you'll see some bumps in points as the damage of new accounts age out and you might see additional gains around the one year mark.

And at least you know your two FICO scores. Don't rely on your FAKO scores as you can see, especially with EQ. But if you are using a CMS through Equifax, use the report data as a guide to see what's changing on your reports. Just ignore the scores and advice.

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+1 Great response IIecs.

[quest208]

keep your utilization in check (if you're not doing so already)