My rollercoaster of scores! HELP

[Anonymous]

My scores feel like they are on a rollercoaster. I think the recent up and downs are from new tradelines and inquiries. I lowered a balance from $300 to $0 and my score rose 10 points, I don't understand the scoring sceheme, no rhyme or reason really..

So here's a glance at what my scores have been looking like:

I really should just sit back and pay all my bills on time and continue doing what I'm doing, with NO NEW APPLICATIONS!!!

Problem is, I want my scores to go up. I want to be in the 700's and it is very discouraging when you think you're doing good and your scores drop 10-15 points, then back up 5, then down 3, then up 10...I don't know what I am doing wrong. My tradelines are in my signature. Chase credit score monitor says I currently have 14 INQ on EXP, 11 in the last 3 months. Any recommendations and anyone see light at the end of the tunnel? See below..

[Anonymous]

What do your revolving balances look like?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

What do your revolving balances look like?

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Only balances I currently have are as follows:

CapOne: ($1.5K out of $2k)

CapOne ($0 out of $2k)

CapOne: ($99 out of $1.5k)

Amazon Store card: ($250 out of $600, 0% apr is why I haven't zeroed this account)

Chase Slate ($400 out of $500, 0% apr, purchased a laptop and taking advantage of 0%)

J.Crew: ($0 out of $450)

Express: ($0 out of $350)

Barclays Rewards: ($450 out of $1.5k)

My Lexus lease: $490 month

OverStock: ($0 out of $1.8K)

My overall utilization is still under >10%, but some cards are close to 80-90%, either because of low CL or me just taking advantage of the 0% APR, i.e. my Slate card.

[Anonymous]

I know recently I was dinged for cards being at 92% utilization, because once those balances reported is when I started to see my scores drop a little on each. For instance, I had a capital one balance of $323, which I paid off to $0, my score jumped 10 points just from that?!

[Anonymous]

I also have 3 accounts in collections, due to drop off 4/2016.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, you're getting dinged for multiple balances and cards near their limit.

You gotta start thinking ahead - figure out ways to get cards to report a low/no balance without actually "paying them off" per se. For instance - say you have a large utility bill you usually pay with cash, check, or direct debit from your bank account, well instead of doing that, use that cash to PIF one of those low limit/low balance cards a few days before its statement close date, then after the statement cuts, use that card to pay the utility bill, and repeat each month going forward - Viola, zero balance reporting, zero interest because its being PIF each month, and no money out of your pocket to pay off the initial balance you were carrying! Basically run ALL of your household expenses though your cards this way.

It takes discpline and careful planning, but its not terribly difficult to do and once you get all but one card reporting a balance (of less than 10% of its CL) you'll see a nice score boost.