Going Bonkers Due to No Score Movement in Months!

[Anonymous]

Hi All: 

I am going nuts with this credit score game. About four years ago I buckled down and tried to rebuild my credit. I've gone from a 550 to a 721 but I seem to have stalled. I sometimes drop ten points then it goes back up but I never seem to clear 721. Last month I paid nearly 6k in credit card debt and moved a whopping two points back to where I was before I dropped after increasing a debt by like 52 dollars. **bleep** you gas tank! At any rate, here are the things that I know are showing negative on my report but I am not entirely sure what to do about any of them: 

NelNet: 

I have fourteen accounts because apparently I was in school forever. From May 2013 to March 2014 they have me listed on each account between five and 8 120 day lates. I've written letters and even hired someone to remove them and Nelnet will not budge. About three years ago, I consolidated the loans and they are covered by FedLoan and I have not missed any payments. The amount owed is 89k. Yeah. FML. 

Moving on... 

Credit Union: 

I have a 30 day late from 2012. This card was also closed by the bank as they said I was assuming too much debt. (Ironically, I was assuming the debt by paying for school on credit cards to get away from NelNet. lol) At any rate, they closed the account but I still owed 4800 on it. I have been paying on it since then only because someone told me that if I just payed it off the credit limit would no longer help my score. I owe about 800 dollars on it now. Its 12% APR and if its actually helping me I don't mind the APR but if its not helping I'd rather get rid of it. I am not sure how to tell if it is helping or hurting, however. 

Capital One: 

I have a 30 day late from March 2013... apparently 2013 was a real doosey of a year. I still have this card and they have increased my limit quite a bit over the last few years. 

Chase: 

I have two 30 day lates from May and Aug of 2011. I still have this card as well and they doubled my limit (although doubling peanuts only gets you almonds) last month.

Paypal: 

3 thirty day lates, May 11, May 12 and Jan 13. I have a new Paypal account with a significant increase (talking walnuts here) and have never missed a payment on it. 

Commenity Bank

60 day late June 2012.... thats what happens when you loose your password login and totally forget about the bill. 

At any rate in the last four years  I have managed to buy a simple hourse using my VA loan. I've been paying down about 20k in debt but I still owe the following: 

House: 118,000.00 mortgage was for 125k this is 3.8 fixed interest

Home Depot: 3200.00 limit is 7200.00 this is 0 percent interest

Lowes: 400.00 limit is 2600.00 ... this is 0 percent interest

Barclay: 4600.00 limit is 5300.00... this is 0 percent interest

Credit Union: 800 card is closed by credit unition 12% APR limit was 5000.00

Credit Union: 635 open line of credit. 15 % interest. limit is 1,000.00

Amex: 128.00 I pay this off each month now after having paid off 3200.00 and not seeing any movement in my credit score.  

Discover: 520.00 I plan on paying this off on the first of August. Limit is 3600.00 

Fed Loan: Bal 89k payment is 567.00 per month and interest is 6.5%. I'm three years into a ten year repayment plan that supposedly excuses remainder amount after ten years or 120 payments. 

Any help or insight would be very much appreciated. I know I am basically playing a waiting game on NelNet but is there anything I might be able to do to make my score go up at all? My car is starting to act up and I will likely be needing to buy another one soon. Not looking at anything fancy but would like to get my score high enough that I can at least bargin for a cool air freshner or free carwash. Maybe a palatable APR. But really, I just want to have good credit. I feel like such a POS with a jacked up score and the debt often makes me feel like there is no hope in my life. I guess I am just looking for some sort of movement after buckeling down for four years. Sometimes I feel like... why am I busting my butt 60hours a week and paying every spare penny I have to debt if the score isn't moving. Its maddening! I had no idea how much a low credit score screws with your everyday life and your personal welbeing. Lesson Learned. 

Thanks in advance!

Glock34girl

[Anonymous]

Your scores are stalling out because you're in a dirty bucket due to having multiple negative accounts (accounts with negative information).  Many people in your situation will find they can't get past a 730-740 type score, so you're getting close to that.  On a dirty file, to get a 730-740 score you'd need to have low overall utilization, low inquiries, AAoA of at least a few years and a file with some decent thickness IMO.  To offer some perspective, on my dirty file with an AAoA of 7 years, over 20 accounts, 1 inquiry, 1% utilization and just 1 dirty account my score plateaued at 764.  It's been at 764 since October of last year, so nearing 10 months now.  Based on my profile data there and your profile data yielding you that 721 or so score, you can sort of figure out what is making up that ~40 point difference.  Having multiple negative accounts though is definitely holding you back and certainly not an easy thing to overcome.

[Anonymous]

Yeah I kinda knew it was just a waiting game but I'm wondering if there are other things I can do to fix the situation. For example it says I have 42 accounts listed and that this is a negative score indicator. Is it better for me to go through and ask for things to be removed on accounts older than 7 years? I have six or seven of them that are older than seven years, already closed and basically just taking up space. Are those helping me? What about the current card that I mentioned was closed by creditor but I still owe 800. Is that helping me to keep paying monthly or should I just pay it off and be done with it? How likely are creditors to remove a late based on GW if you have current accounts in good standing with them? Is this even possible? I know it's a waiting game until 2021 with the student loans so I'm trying to figure out if there is any other way to raise the score. The simulator shows even paying down all my CC debt in six months only moving to a 752. This is the same score I would get if I payed 500'each month over two years.

[Anonymous]

Also, I have zero inquires for three years and oldest account is 16 years old.

[CreditInspired]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Home Depot: 3200.00 limit is 7200.00 this is 0 percent interest

Lowes: 400.00 limit is 2600.00 ... this is 0 percent interest

Barclay: 4600.00 limit is 5300.00... this is 0 percent interest

Credit Union: 800 card is closed by credit unition 12% APR limit was 5000.00

Credit Union: 635 open line of credit. 15 % interest. limit is 1,000.00

Amex: 128.00 I pay this off each month now after having paid off 3200.00 and not seeing any movement in my credit score.  

Discover: 520.00 I plan on paying this off on the first of August. Limit is 3600.00 

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IMHO, in addition to lates on your CRs, there are other problems I think may be causing your scores to remain stationary:

1. All your CCs are reporting a balance. Try to have only 1 CC reporting a balance.

2. You have high utilization on all but 2 CCs. Work on trying to reduce those to <29%, then <9%.

3. Pay off the $800 on closed account because it is reporting as maxed out if closed.

I think doing these 3 things would increase the score some points.

GL.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Yeah I kinda knew it was just a waiting game but I'm wondering if there are other things I can do to fix the situation. For example it says I have 42 accounts listed and that this is a negative score indicator. Is it better for me to go through and ask for things to be removed on accounts older than 7 years? I have six or seven of them that are older than seven years, already closed and basically just taking up space. Are those helping me? What about the current card that I mentioned was closed by creditor but I still owe 800. Is that helping me to keep paying monthly or should I just pay it off and be done with it? How likely are creditors to remove a late based on GW if you have current accounts in good standing with them? Is this even possible? I know it's a waiting game until 2021 with the student loans so I'm trying to figure out if there is any other way to raise the score. The simulator shows even paying down all my CC debt in six months only moving to a 752. This is the same score I would get if I payed 500'each month over two years.

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CreditInspired makes some great points above and you are certainly leaving points on the table (maybe 15-25) based on the data he provided.

Where are you seeing these "score indicators?"  42 accounts listed is a positive thing, not a negative thing, as it adds to your file thickness and credit history.  Now, if you have 42 credit cards all with balances THAT could be a negative thing, but that's not what you have going on here.  Don't listen to simulators, they are garbage.  Paying down your CC debt to 1%-8% overall would definitely bump your score up though, but getting past 750-760 is going to be impossible while you're in a dirty bucket.  The only way out of a dirty bucket is to eliminate all of your negative items.  That's what GW is for.  Definitely hit up the rebuilding forum and do some reason there, as GW letters are what you'll want to start firing off ASAP.  People report mixed results, but some results are better than no results.  Usually as your negatives start to come off, it actually gets easier with gained experience and a cleaner report is easier to request GW on (as it's getting cleaned up).

[NRB525]

Thanks for listing out all the details of your situation. It shows that you have a clear view to what is going on with your file.

Honestly, the 720 score is not bad at all. Given the challenges you went through, you've done well to max out your available score.

The CC debts you have are mostly on 0% APR rates. That has value in reduced interest cost. I'd keep them where they are, and just work on paying them down while the low APR is in effect. You do want to watch whether any accounts have "deferred interest". If you let any of the principal remain a day after the low APR expires, sometimes you can get all the "deferred interest" that was temporarily reduced, all due at the end of the period. Furniture stores are an example where this happens a lot.

That student loan deal, where you get a huge balance forgiven when you complete the 120 payments? I don't have to tell you that is going to be a big win when that finishes. Keep up with those monthly payments, because the value of those is a lot more than the $567 per month you are paying. That payment has good leverage.

If you are interested in a car loan, check with a local credit union for rates. You will at least get a clear view to the options you have.

While the other posters suggest paying all your cards down, and I understand in a perfect world that would be nice, sometimes finances do not allow it. Even if you pay all your cards down except one, you will have the baddies holding your score down for now. So I would not sweat the possible 10 point improvement, and just work on keeping the accounts paying on time, working toward reducing debt.

As to the really old accounts on your file? They really happened. That history is not necessarily bad, and it will work it's way off your report eventually. Again, you aren't going to get a big point pop in FICO score by getting rid of some good-history account that is 9 years old.

The closed CU Credit Card account is neither hurting nor helping your Utilization score. I have one low APR Closed account I am still working on, had two up until about a year ago, and the "credit limits" on those closed accounts were not a factor in the FICO scoring. FICO does track the payments, but they are off your regular utilization calculation. Because the rate is 12%, I would pay that one off first to get rid of that APR cost.

Discover: Have you checked on line to see whether you can get a SP CLI with that Discover card? Discover has regular balance transfer offers, of two kinds, and at some point in the future you may want to take advantage of that. The SP CLI on Discover cards is an easy thing to do to make more credit available. 

Good luck! Seems you are on the right path, it just takes time to get through all this.