What would you do? 672 TU Goal: 700 ALL

[Anonymous]

Starting Scores: EQ - 725, TU - 672, EX - 645

The Good: My utilitization is below 9%.

I have a Chase CC w/ a $500 limit.

I have a Kohl's Card w/a $1,000 limit.

The Bad: Past Payment History/ 1 collection

Collection is from 2006, paid in full in 2007 -- the original bill in that collection was $121.00

Utility Bill from 2009 -- couple lates (closed, zero balance)

Utility Bill from 2010 - three 60 lates (closed, zero balance)

Utility Bill from 2011 - three 90 lates (closed, zero balance)

2 student loans from 2010 - three 60 lates (currently open, paying as agreed)

Am trying to get my score to 700 so I can qualify for a mortgage.

This is what I have done: with TU, I have a dispute because they are reporting 2 of the utility accounts as 60 late or 90 late when those accounts are closed and zero balanced. I wrote the utility company a GW about the 2010/ 2011 lates. I am signed up for the automatic bill pay now and my most recent late was reported one year ago. I received a response that said they were willing to help, but that more information was needed. I'm a bit nervous to call them back. Also, my boyfriend has excellent credit (middle score 761) and has added me on his accounts as an AU.

Advice? Is it possible to raise TU to 700 in 3 monthes time?

[Booner72]

If you can continue to GW those lates then I think it is possible.  I also think you should only let one CC report a balance, the other(s) should be zero, and the one w/ the balance should have 1-9% of it's limit for optimal points.

You do realize your scores are high enough for a mortgage now, though, right?

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the response! I only carry a balance on one of the CCs. I rarely use the Kohls.

The lender I want to use requires a middle score of at least 700, plus it would be good to have at least a 700 for interest rate purposes...

[RobertEG]

I would dig a bit into the old collection.  When you say the collection is from 2006, do you mean the date of reporting of the collection?  The pertinent date is the DOFD on the OC account.  If the collection was reported in 2006, chances are that the DOFD is substantially earlier.  It may be coming up soon for CR exclusion.

That is the most significant major derog.  The monthly delinquencies, being multiple and relatively recent, are compounding the impact.  I would not expect scores to move into the 700 level until major derogs are taken care of.

Addition of the AU status should help your score, and could possibly give you a boost to the 700 mark.

However, credtiors may not give full credence to your inflated score if it is based in part on the credit history of another.  They may look past the raw, three-digit number.

[Anonymous]

Re: the old collection. My credit report has it appearing in 10/06.

This collection was because I didn't return a modem to time warner when I cancelled my service and moved apartments. My question is -- do I ask TW to stop reporting, or, am I supposed to contact the CA and ask it to stop reporting, or both?

Thanks.

[Repo-ed]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Re: the old collection. My credit report has it appearing in 10/06.

This collection was because I didn't return a modem to time warner when I cancelled my service and moved apartments. My question is -- do I ask TW to stop reporting, or, am I supposed to contact the CA and ask it to stop reporting, or both?

Thanks.

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Date of First Delinquency is 10/06?

[Anonymous]

I'm looking at a report (that I rec'd from my future lender). That report has 10/06 as the earliest date associated with the collection (it looks like I paid it in 1/07). This part of the report was provided by Experian.

In short, I'm not sure if 10/06 is the DOFD or not?

[Repo-ed]

We are looking for verbiage along the lines of "Date of First Delinquency" or "Date of major delinquency" or something along those lines somewhere in that TL.

[Anonymous]

No language like that is on the report. Additionally, in my credit monitoring report from FICO, it appears that the 10/17/06 is the earliest day associated with the account. I do not anticipate that this is going to fall off prior to my 3 month goal.

[Repo-ed]

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@Anonymous wrote:

No language like that is on the report. Additionally, in my credit monitoring report from FICO, it appears that the 10/17/06 is the earliest day associated with the account. I do not anticipate that this is going to fall off prior to my 3 month goal.

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WORST case is, it falls off completely by early 2014.  Worst case.