I know it's a marathon and not a sprint but here's what I did...

[Anonymous]

i opened 14 new credit accounts since mid-May! Seems like a lot but I thought it was the best remedy to enhance my score. I thought I should approach my credit challenge as a puzzle to keep me engaged and motivated (naturally competitive person).

I figured payment history is a huge chunk of your credit score. There is absolutely nothing I can do about past missed dates ... A lot of which came from missed payments on my student loans (somewhere in the range of 20+ lates in the 90-120 day range, when you add together all the separate loan files with each creditor).

Now, I'm handling credit pretty responsibly but those lates along with a few deragatory remarks have really crushed my score.  But I'm not one to feel sorry for myself... So I decided the easiest way to increase my overall on time payment % was through opening new credit and trade lines .... A LOT of them.

I know credit age is important but it's outweighed by the payment history. 

Last November I opened a First Progress secured card for $500. Then in March I opened a Cap 1 with $300 limit (increased to $400 just in May). Everything was fine and dandy but when I pulled my report at a credit union in May I was disappointed with how low my score was (it takes soooooooo long to improve).  This was like watching paint dry. So I left the credit union and set out a game plan to raise my score.

opened in May 2015

1) first premier CL $300 unsecured 

2)  open sky $250 secured

3) another First Progress card $300 secure

4) primor $200 secured

5) credit one $400 unsecured 

6) total visa $300 unsecured 

7) first access $300 secured 

8) unity $250 secured 

9) capital one $200 secured 

10) fingerhut fresh start acct (it's an installment loan/acct at this time) 

opened in June 2015

11) Kay credit $750

12) Jared credit $750

13) express $250

14) Victoria secret $350 (hahaha I'm an "angel" hahahahah sidebar I'm a dude ) 

I was comfortable with this very aggressive strategy. First of all I don't shop... I hate malls ... I think clothes are stupid haha I work from home and wear sweatpants 90% of the time.  I have cash, so to temptation to leave balances isn't there. I actually got in the habit of paying each creditor multiple times a month  especially capital one, since it's the only non-crappy lender on that list. Literally send them $2 a day... Because I think it's funny (I'm looney I suppose) . Currently there's a big bagel sitting on my current balance for them. For all the crap-cards (first premier 36% apr ! And other outrageous figures) that I essentially had to pay for through "app fees" and balances that came with the card, my plan is to pay just over the min until the annual fees they came with are completely paid and to NEVER ever use them. Yes, I know the fees are outrageous but honestly I was so sick of my credit scored holding back my life that I bit the bullet and manned-up so to speak. Jared/Kay I will buy I watch for my gf, which I can pay in cash but I'll finance with the 0 apr financing for first 6 months, just to get some good payments reported. Finger Hut, I bought some towels for $50 and now I have a $22 balance leftover, min payments are $2... And I will pay that minimum monthly until there is a zero balance. Absolutely no new purchases. Express and visa... I'll do very similar things while jamming LuV button. 

When I receive statements I've paid min payment immediately (no excuses) then make payments throughout the month as my heart desires. I'm not carrying huge balances, I think my overall utilization is 15%. At this time I'm not worried about utilization until I get ready to apply for a home loan. My main goal is to pick up positive payment history.  

I used to have TU monthly reporting (and their wacky scoring) and according to them my score improved with just the first 4 cards being added to my file. According to them it improved by 50+ points but I'm skeptical since I joined MyFico today. 

So yeah, this is my rebuilding journey. If you have any input it would be much appreciated. Was I too aggressive in my plan? I guess time will tell.  But honestly I don't "need" at this very moment.... Banks love to give money to those that don't need it, isn't that the whole point of this credit game? Is to show that you don't need credit. 

current  My Fico scores: 

EQ 573

TU 587

EX 639 <--- that's a shocker to me, disputes have worked well at this bureau for me, I got things deleted on here and not the others.

[Creditwiser]

Well, people a lot more knowledgeable than I will chiome in but from what I see, you need to chill out on the apps, spend as much free time on here as you can learning what strategys will work for someone in your situation. You have so many toy limit accounts and the INQ's and hit to you AAoA its no wonder you're not seeing a score boost.  You would be so much better off with 3 decent cards and maybe a CU credit builder installment loan.

I would shed some of the junk predator cards , wait a few months and hit Cap1 for a Plat or QS1 card through their credit steps. In the interim, read , read and read some more. Welcome to the forum.

[CH-7-Mission-Accomplished]

Wow.

There is nothing in FICO about percentage of on time payments.  If that were true, everyone would open a zillion accounts to game the system.  It's not true.

Secondly, most of the cards you opened are secured or predatory subprime or junk store cards.  Nearly all of these will need to be replaced so you can get out of high fees and get your deposits back.

You could have done two secured cards, a credit builder installment, then gotten two unsecured Cap 1 cards, waited six months and gotten a Barclay's card.  Maybe open a Walmart for free FICO and a Lowes for their 25K limits.  Heck, J. Crew is easy to get up to a 10K limit in a year.

Lenders look at your average credit limits and you are now squarely in toy hard hell.

Please don't do anything for six months except read.  Don't close anything (except the fee sucking subprime cards), and do not open anything.  In fact don't open anything for at least 12 months.

You need to chill.  Seriously.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the input. 
I was comfortable opening new accounts, because prior to me opening these new accts TU rated my AAofA was rated as "very good".  Since I had 7 small student loans that have almost 9+ yrs of credit history AAofA was not holding my score back. It was the payment history according to CK, and TU. 

I did my best to avoid inquiries. The store cards I used the SCT, which I read here and I think thats an awesome tool. A few of the secured cards did not do inquiries as well. 

I dont intend to open any new lines of credit, I think this will suffice until I purchase a home.  But heres what I've read in terms of priorities in scoring

Payment History > AAoA > # Inq 

Payment History being the Lion-share of your credit score. As long as you pay on time you win that game, which is what I was doing prior to opening new lines.  How do you improve that percentage even faster? ... By opening new trade lines and paying them on time. Seems like a simple averaging equation. 

[CH-7-Mission-Accomplished]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the input. 
I was comfortable opening new accounts, because prior to me opening these new accts TU rated my AAofA was rated as "very good".  Since I had 7 small student loans that have almost 9+ yrs of credit history AAofA was not holding my score back. It was the payment history according to CK, and TU. 

I did my best to avoid inquiries. The store cards I used the SCT, which I read here and I think thats an awesome tool. A few of the secured cards did not do inquiries as well. 

I dont intend to open any new lines of credit, I think this will suffice until I purchase a home.  But heres what I've read in terms of priorities in scoring

Payment History > AAoA > # Inq 

Payment History being the Lion-share of your credit score. As long as you pay on time you win that game, which is what I was doing prior to opening new lines.  How do you improve that percentage even faster? ... By opening new trade lines and paying them on time. Seems like a simple averaging equation. YYes,

Yes, opening more accounts to have more on time payments would increase your percentage of on-time payments, but this is not a FICO component.  If it were, you can rest assured that everyone on myFICO would have 50-plus accounts.  You could easily overcome a few 30, 60, 90 late payments, that plunge your score by 100 points or more, by simply opening up lots of accounts and paying on time.

Don't get me wrong, paying on time is the most important thing you can do.  But you cannot improve your FICO score by increasing your percentage of ontime payments by opening more acocunts and thus having more payments.  Simply 100% incxorrect.  

[tiger_uppercut]

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@Anonymous wrote:

 dont intend to open any new lines of credit, I think this will suffice until I purchase a home.  But heres what I've read in terms of priorities in scoring

Payment History > AAoA > # Inq 

Payment History being the Lion-share of your credit score. As long as you pay on time you win that game, which is what I was doing prior to opening new lines.  How do you improve that percentage even faster? ... By opening new trade lines and paying them on time. Seems like a simple averaging equation. 

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It's not. You said you know it's a marathon, not a sprint, but you still "sprinted" to opening a crapload of junk/bottom feeder accounts you'll never use. Try not to make that mistake again.

For now, what's done is done, just make sure you don't miss any payments on the accounts you've opened.

[Anonymous]

You're right what's done is done. But check the bottom of this page.... "How many accounts show no late payment"

http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/credit-payment-history.aspx

It also factors "how many [lates] there are" ... presumably compared to many on time payments you have. I think on-time payments is key and so far my efforts along with disputing have increased my score. 

I think you are right though. I could have definitely waited to get some better cards, and I'm not very patient. I just rather take matters into my own hand and waiting to hopefully get those better cards isnt my style. Leaving anything up to chance isn't my style. But I do know once I got my first secured card paid on time I was rewarded with a Cap 1 card. Lets see what I get come aug-sept. 

[Anonymous]

Also I was able to gain 7 of those accounts without hard inquiries. I think the inquiry hits are a small price to pay for the big picture. 

[Anonymous]

I pulled this from MyFiCO as well

Payment History Tips

Contributing 35% to a FICO Score calculation, this category has the greatest effect on improving your scores, but past problems like missed or late payments are not easily fixed.

• Pay your bills on time.
  Delinquent payments, even if only a few days late, and collections can have a major negative impact on your FICO Scores.
• If you have missed payments, get current and stay current.
  The longer you pay your bills on time after being late, the more your FICO Scores should increase. Older credit problems count for less, so poor credit performance won't haunt you forever. The impact of past credit problems on your FICO Scores fades as time passes and as recent good payment patterns show up on your credit report. And good FICO Scores weigh any credit problems against the positive information that says you're managing your credit well.

I think those last two sentences are pretty telling about averaging out the good history with the bad. Just reading between the lines a bit. Either way pay everything on time and you win with time. I was just trying to really swing the pendelum in my favor. Credit cards are great but I'm more concerned about getting approved for a home loan in about 6-12 months. Im using credit to create assets (a house) not debt (more cards). This tactic is just a means to an end. I think adding these lines will really bolster my score once the dust settles. 

How else was I going to add 60+ additional good payments on my credit profile in such a short period? This was my strategy, which undoubtedly has it's weaknesses (inquiries and AAoA) but will get me to what Im trying to capture, which is a high enough score to purchase a home. 

[CH-7-Mission-Accomplished]

I seriously hope you succeed at getting that new home.  Just for the benefit of others who will likely read this thread, you went about it in completely the wrong way, and you are still mistaken about FICO scores and percentages of on-time payments being the factor.  It's not.  It's how many late payments, how late were they (30, 60 ... 120 ...) and how long ago were they.  Major lates like 90 days plus will hammer your scores for the full seven years.  A few 30 day lates will mostly lose their damage after two years.  

I just cannot in good conscience let a misunderstanding cause other new members to make the same mistakes you have.  You have simply gone about it all wrong.  That said, pay on time, don't carry balances and don't open any new credit and after 12 months you should be okay.  During that 12 months, try to get credit line increases on all the unsecured cards (store cards).  You want your credit limits higher so when you get real credit cards they will give you a 5K limit and not a 1K limit.  It matters.