Hello again,
I have been working on improving my credit for the last year and have gotten to the point where I'm not sure what to do next. I've used the FICO simulators which offer the best suggestion of continuing to make on-time payments for the next 24 months and guesses that I this will improve my score by about 10 points! I seriously hope that over the next 2 years I can increase my scores more than that. I recently came across these forums and thought to see if anyone here had any suggestions on possible next steps I should take to help improve my credit scores. Sorry if this gets kind of long, I'm not sure what info is relevant.
Here's my current overview:
Currently my scores are TU 633 and EQ 659. TU is from myfico and EQ is from their scorewatch.
I have one unsecured CC from Orchard Bank with a limit of $320. I had 2 late payments consecutively but they were over 3 years. I was able to get the late payment fees removed but they still reported the lates. The account is 4 years old.
I just got apprvd the a few days ago for a Cap1 with a limit of $500. It's the card with the annual fee of $39. My EQ score reflects the inquiry but doesn't show the account yet and was the same before I applied for this. My TU score is from prior to me applying for this.
This is the breakdown from myfico in the understanding your credit section. It's basically the same for TU and EQ.
These are the negative:
I have a public record and a serious delinquency on your credit report. I have 17 accounts that were 60 days late or worse. Almost all of these were student loans of which I consolidated 3 years ago and are now closed but still refelecting negatively. The public record is a paid tax lien that occured 1 year and 11 months ago. At the time I was collecting unemployment and state/city taxes weren't being taken. Come tax time I wasn't able to pay them.
I have multiple accounts showing missed payments or derogatory descriptions. These are the 17 accts mentioned above that wont come off my record for another 4 years.
There is no recent activity on my revolving accounts. I'm not sure how/why this comes up as a factor. I recently started carrying a very minimal balance (less than 15%) which shows up on my file. This is the same for TU and EQ. The only thing that I can think of is my revolving credit to installment loan ration is affecting it.
I have a recent public record on your credit report. This comes up as a factor twice.
These are the positive:
I have an established credit history. The oldest acct is 18.5 years and my avg. is 7 years. Thanks to all of those student loans.
My last late payment happened over 3 years ago. Also, I don't have any collection accounts on record.
I currently have 2 inquiries on EQ including the recent Cap1 app and 1 from when I applied for the same cc a year and a half ago.
My TU has 1, which was unuathorized from a CA which I'm trying to figure out how to remove and possibly the new one from Cap1 though it didn't show from when I was denied last year.
I'm pretty sure that the amount my old late payments are affecting my credit isn't going to change drastically until they fall off, at which the avg age of my accounts is going to decrease as well.
What else can I do to improve my scores other than just wait for the negatives to go away?
@snowangel wrote:Hello again,
I have been working on improving my credit for the last year and have gotten to the point where I'm not sure what to do next. I've used the FICO simulators which offer the best suggestion of continuing to make on-time payments for the next 24 months and guesses that I this will improve my score by about 10 points! I seriously hope that over the next 2 years I can increase my scores more than that. I recently came across these forums and thought to see if anyone here had any suggestions on possible next steps I should take to help improve my credit scores. Sorry if this gets kind of long, I'm not sure what info is relevant.
Here's my current overview:
Currently my scores are TU 633 and EQ 659. TU is from myfico and EQ is from their scorewatch.
I have one unsecured CC from Orchard Bank with a limit of $320. I had 2 late payments consecutively but they were over 3 years. I was able to get the late payment fees removed but they still reported the lates. The account is 4 years old. GW until your fingers bruise to get the lates removed.
I just got apprvd the a few days ago for a Cap1 with a limit of $500. It's the card with the annual fee of $39. My EQ score reflects the inquiry but doesn't show the account yet and was the same before I applied for this. My TU score is from prior to me applying for this. Only let a tiny bit of this report, like 2-5%. Remember, the day the statement cuts is what will report. So if you have a monthly fee or whatever, that will report to the credit bureaus.
This is the breakdown from myfico in the understanding your credit section. It's basically the same for TU and EQ.
These are the negative:
I have a public record and a serious delinquency on your credit report. I have 17 accounts that were 60 days late or worse. Almost all of these were student loans of which I consolidated 3 years ago and are now closed but still refelecting negatively. The public record is a paid tax lien that occured 1 year and 11 months ago. At the time I was collecting unemployment and state/city taxes weren't being taken. Come tax time I wasn't able to pay them.If this is federal they are now removing liens from credit reports after the debt is paid. If federal, Call IRS.
I have multiple accounts showing missed payments or derogatory descriptions. These are the 17 accts mentioned above that wont come off my record for another 4 years. Goodwills are risky because the whole TL could be deleted and there goes your AAOA. Spend some time over in studentloan ville here at myfico and see what they say. Who are your loans w/?? Or who were they with?
There is no recent activity on my revolving accounts. I'm not sure how/why this comes up as a factor. I recently started carrying a very minimal balance (less than 15%) which shows up on my file. This is the same for TU and EQ. The only thing that I can think of is my revolving credit to installment loan ration is affecting it.I don't know what you mean by revolving credit to installment loan ratio. How many REVOLVING accounts? Just two, right? the one that had lates and the new capone you just got? Hopefully capone will help this issue.
I have a recent public record on your credit report. This comes up as a factor twice.
These are the positive:
I have an established credit history. The oldest acct is 18.5 years and my avg. is 7 years. Thanks to all of those student loans.
My last late payment happened over 3 years ago. Also, I don't have any collection accounts on record.
I currently have 2 inquiries on EQ including the recent Cap1 app and 1 from when I applied for the same cc a year and a half ago.
My TU has 1, which was unuathorized from a CA which I'm trying to figure out how to remove and possibly the new one from Cap1 though it didn't show from when I was denied last year.Inquiries really don't hurt that much. I think the fact that you needed a new revolving will override your inquiry from new cap one. wait & see.
I'm pretty sure that the amount my old late payments are affecting my credit isn't going to change drastically until they fall off, at which the avg age of my accounts is going to decrease as well.
What else can I do to improve my scores other than just wait for the negatives to go away?
I hope that the advice I gave you was safe enough that by following it you won't hurt anything. Good Luck. PS: If you don't like my advice, please dont follow it because I'd hate to be responsible for screwing up someone's credit score.
Hopefully others will come along soon with more to go on.
Thanks for the adv. I've been reading more and more on these forums and feel a bit more hopeful.
I will take your adv to GW OrchardBnk and keep my fngers crossed that they'll be kind.
The tax judgement (not lien as i origianlly noted) is from New York State. I've read somewhere on this forum that there might be some hope for this since in NYC you can motion to vacate a paid judgement. I'm trying to figure out how to start that process, seems a bit complicated. I can't find the form. If anyone knows anything about doing this, please, please, please advise. I will be forever grateful.
My loans were with Sallie Mae. It looks like they were sent to USA funds. They were then consolidated. It's sucks because I'm taking a hit for each indiv loan twice, so instead of having 8 neg accts from SLs, I have 16. The worst part about it, when I consolidated, I was forced into paying the collection costs of 30K. Talk about getting an education.
The comment regarding the revolving account is an issue I can't figure out. Even though I have Orch Bank card and my report shows a balance of $15 and has for the last few months I'm stil getting the message that says one of the things hurting my credit is that I have no revolving credit activity. I don't understand?? Granted i'm only using $15 out of $320, I'm still using something and it's being reflected on my reports. Hopefully with the new Cap One might help this out.