From what I've gathered here on the forums, 800 is a pretty tough nut to crack without a mortage and lots of age on your accounts.
@Anonymous wrote:
1 baddie cap 1, 1 baddie credit one Bank, 1 baddie Gecrb. 1 baddie tax due to drop off in August
With the combination of all those baddies, and the boatload of inquiries, that is what is keeping the scores in low 600's.
It will be substantially longer than 1 year and 1 month before 800. A year is completely unrealistic. The INQ impact will fade in a year, yes, but all those baddies will need to age off first, and no new ones taking their place to see real score improvements.
You should settle in for a planned long time working with your cards. Research what cards might provide some rewards, but wait a year or two years before apping for those. The wall of apps is going to be in your way for the best cards for 6 months to a year. Use the cards regularly. As noted, the utilization 1% to 2% is really pointless for the next year until you are prepparing to app again. With $500 and $1k limits, don't worry about how much of them you charge, because you can't keep them at $5 and $20 balances. Just be sure whatever you charge, you PIF before the payment due date.
It's going to be several years before you will be looking at 800. There's nothing negative about that, it just takes time to build better credit.
