Help figuring my Credit out.

[Db366]

So here is the deal.  

Current scores are as follows.. 

EX 681

EQ 713

TU 686

My EX is reporting one collection for $75 PIF and Closed 4/13.  (It has been deleted from all other creditors) The only bad things I have are 8 inq's in the past (due to being in the process of building a house) 6 from mortgage Co, 2 from credit cards.  The other is 4 30 day late payments from 2004/2005.  They are not consecutive and the account was PIF in 2008.  

These are decent scores but I am not sure what to do.  I have been trying to use Credit Karmas simulator and I am not seeing a way to up my score to the 700's.  I have 3 credit cards. 

First Premier - PIF as of Yesterday, Limit - 300

CapOne - Balance of $35 but will PIF Monday Limit - 300

Credit One - $175 also will be PIF Monday Limit - 500

I also have a installment loan I took out solely to increase my credit.  I went though my credit union deposited $450 and look a loan out against it.  I have paid on it for 8 months now and I want to pay it off this month.  I am in the process of buying a house and will be closing in 3 weeks.  I won't be able to easily get to the credit union to pay this loan so I'd rather get rid of it.  

Will paying off that installment loan hurt or help my credit?  I plan on having a small app spree right after close so that I can shred some of those sub prime cards, should I worry about taking a hit for closing those accounts?  With the credit simulator the only thing that seemed to help my credit is my mortgage reporting.  It actually said that when I pay all my cards down to 0 my score would go down 3 points.. Go figure.. 

What else can I do to help boost my credit up to a 700.  I plan on apping for a Amex Blue Preferred and it seems with my current score I am right on the edge of the line for approval, I'd like to do anything I can to get above that line.

[StartingOver10]

Installment loans are a very small percentage of your FICO scoring.

Do you have an auto loan? If so, then closing the installment loan with the CU is a non issue and won't affect your score at all.

If you don't have a vehicle loan it may or may not affect your score, if it does, it would be a nominal amount.

You are much more likely to get a good bump paying off your revolving to zero except for one card reporting less than 9% at the time the statement cuts. Since you have a FPB card, you don't have to worry about leaving any balance as they charge a monthly fee anyway as far as I know.

When I pay my cards off, my score goes up tremendously. Having any reported balance on more than one card will bring down your score too. So you need to overpay your Credit One card so that only one card will report an actual balance since it too has a monthly fee.

[rd2rebuilding]

Agree that you should see a bump with decreasing your utilizationo to 1-9% (currently your utilzation is 19%). Also, if those lates are from 04/05, they should have fallen off by now as they remain on your CR for 7 years. Why was the collection deleted from EQ and TU??? Was it due to CRTP being up or did you do a PFD? If the former, I would dispute it as being obsolete. If you negotiated a PFD I would try to contact the CA to see if they can delete if from EX. 

[Db366]

Yea, I was wondering the same thing about the old loan with the lates.  It is only on my EX report.  Same with the collection.  I called the CA, RJM they said just dispute it which I have done.  I thought of disputing the old Loan would that make it fall off?  I sent them a GW letter last week asking them to take it off.  The installment loan I have now is with the same CU.  

As of today all my cards are paid off.  Well I submitted the payments, I have to wait 4-5 days for them to go through because I refuse to pay extra for the priority processing.. 

I don't understand why my EQ is so much higher than my EX and TU, I just want to get these in the 700's for now.

[Shogun]

     Lowering your util should give you a good boost.  As far as disputing the TL, is there a reason?  Is it reporting incorrectly?  I'd give the GW some time to work, plus, I'd shoot off another one to them every few weeks.

[rd2rebuilding]

reporting a "0" balance could hurt your score... you should let a very small balance report for optimal scoring. @ Shogun: He should dispute those late payments as they are more than 7 years old.. they fell through the cracks I guess. 

[Shogun]

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@rd2rebuilding wrote:

@reporting a "0" balance could hurt your score... you should let a very small balance report for optimal scoring. @ Shogun: He should dispute those late payments as they are more than 7 years old.. they fell through the cracks I guess. 

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Just caught that.     And yes.  

[Db366]

When I called RJM they told me to dispute it and it will fall off.  It seems to me that EX is just off their game with my report.  EQ has taken everything off.  

Having a 0 balance really might hurt my credit?  Maybe I'll go charge $10 to one card then.. 

[guiness56]

Yes, FICO does not like to see all CC reporting a 0 balance.  They like you to make use of it but wisely.