Pulled 3 bureau FICO report on March 13. Equifax 618 (score 8) / 659 (mortgage). TransUnion 592 (score 8) / 634 (mortgage). Experian 590 (score 8) / 685 (mortgage).
Trying to boost credit score for a mortage. Current rental lease is up late June, so have about 3 months to take actions with best impacts. Problem is I've been actively trying to boost credit score for a year -- making payments on active accounts on time and paying thousands in past due debts -- and my scores have only moved up about 10 points.
A big problem has been a charged off debt from Chase bank for $2,100 -- still unpaid. When I pulled my credit reports last year, it seemed that the Chase debt was affecting credit utilization, but it doesn't seem to be now? If the Chase debt is aging and not as big of a factor, does paying it off truly help the scores?
FICO score ingredients say the following:
Payment history: Fair (all)
Debt amount: Very Good (all)
Length of credit history: Exceptional (EQ) / Very good (TU & EX)
New Credit: Exceptional (EQ) / Very good (TU & EX)
Negative impacts:
60+ days late / derogatory: 2 accounts (EQ & TU) / 3 accounts (EX)
Collections: 1 (all) - an AT&T bill that I paid to collection agency a year ago.
Few accounts in good standing: 1 (all)
Missed payment / derogatory: 3 accounts (all)
No recent activity from a non-mortgage loan (all)
Edited to add: I have an unsecured Wells Fargo credit card with $1400 limit. I have a $90 monthly bill that goes to it and I pay in full evey month. I have no other credit cards or loans.
It seems from the report, my biggest problem is payment history? It's been extremely frustrating to pay so much money and make payments on time and not see significant improvements in my scores for more than a year. What are the biggest steps I can take to get the biggest postive impact on my score, given the factors listed above?
Thanks in advance!
