Nearing 700 Club - Need Boost!

[Anonymous]

The 700 Club is in sight!!!

Just checked my scores for the first time since January and saw a nice boost.

Had gotten a couple of baddies deleted back in November with GW's (Thank you MyFICO friends!!!).

So now my situation is this...I haven't had a late payment on my cc since July '09, but prior to that, had a bunch. No baddies currently, but have 5 inquiries.

Is it just a matter of time at this point? I am hoping to get my score over 700 by the summer - June/July.

Is that feasible?

Also, is there anything else I can do besides paying my cc on time every month of course, to increase my score?

I only have 1 cc and a mortgage, so I don't have a lot of open accounts.

Would opening another card - i.e. a store card - help, or should I just stay the course with prompt payments and hope that the next few months of doing that give me a boost?

Thanks, as usual for all of your help!!!

[JoeBJay20]

As many people will tell you, FICO scoring is difficult to predict, so there is no way of guaranteeing that your scores will rise to 700 by the summer, especially without knowing everything that's in your report.  I assume that your utilization is already below 10%.  If you only have one card, then you should probably gain some points by adding a second card.  Whether it will be enough to push you over 700 is largely difficult to predict.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the response!

My utilization is currently at about 15%. I had a major car repair and a large veterinary bill pop up unexpectedly that I had to put on my card. My credit limit is $12,000 and my current balance is @$2,000.

I am hesitant to open another card - I feel like I am doing well only having the 1 card. I know opening another card might help, but could it hurt?

As far as the inquiries go, they are from April, August, November, and December of 2009. I was attempting to refinance my mortgage (which I was able to do through the help I got here on the forums - yay!) but they are "hard" inquiries...

How long and how much would they affect my score? I haven't applied for new credit or done a hard inquiry since December 09, so I am hoping they will fade with time and maybe give me a little bump as well.

[JoeBJay20]

Inquiries are also difficult to predict in terms of how many points you lose or if you lose any points at all.  Getting a second card will help with your utilization, as well as improve your mix of credit.  In addition, a second card will give you some protection in case your first issuer decides to slash your limits.  You may have various reasons for not wanting a second card, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, it is possible that you could gain enough points to get over 700 just by getting your utilzation to 9% or lower as well. 

[Anonymous]

I think I will focus on getting my utilization down-  I can definitely have the $2000 paid off by July at the latest - barring any unforseen emergencies.

But I think I would rather do that than open another card at this point.

The inquiries were a concern because there were so many in such a short period of time. I wasn't sure if that would have a negative effect or how long the inquiries stay on the report.

[JoeBJay20]

Again, I completely understand if you don't desire to get a second card.  Inquiries are reported for 2 years but are factored into your score for 1 year.  The timing of inquiries is only really a concern during a manual review, such as getting a mortgage.  Since those inquiries were for the purpose of getting a mortgage, then it shouldn't be of much concern.