Help to Imrove FICO Score

[Anonymous]

I have been repairing my credit for the past two years and have finally made tremendous progress.  The first year I took care of all baddies, and then applied for the Capital One Secured Credit Card.  I paid on time for the entire year and was just approved January 2012 for an unsecured credit card.  Unfortunately, I became a bit too excited and started applying for stuff and now I have 8 inquiries.  Here is a break down:

Secured Capital One $400 credit limit

Unsecured Capital One $500 credit limit

Macy's (they do not give credit limits..it's wierd)

Last month I pulled my Equifax Score and it was 669 and Experian was 698.  Then today I requested the 3in1 and my scores dropped a lot.  Now I'm at 613 Equifax, 613 Experian and 573 Transunion. I also saw a Verizon Collection account for $172 that I quickly paid off so I'll be checking next week to ensure it's removed. (They remove the debt completed off the report once you pay it off).

So...My question is what can I do to imprpove my credit score?  My goal is to get to 700.  I'm paying on time, trying not use too much of the balance on my credit cards...of course I'm not applying for any new credit because of the inquires (I've done enough damage with that over the last monh)...how long do you think it will take to see an increase in my FICO scores?  Also, please educate me on how much I should use on each card so I can not have too high of a balance that it will hurt my scores... 

Thanks for your help!

[RobertEG]

My advice:

Follow up on the collection.

"Removal of debt" is a common promise made to secure payment of a collection.  In fact, it is a "promise" to do only what they are required.

Removal of debt can mean, in their promise, only to report the remaining debt under collection as $0.  Something they are required to do if payment is considered to satisfy the debt.  It does not remove the collection, or the FICO impact of the derog.  The only way to delete the FICO impact is for them to completely delete the collection.

That impact is, and will remain unless deleted, significant, and is probably having a  greater impact than maximization of revolving % util.  Work on GW requests once its paid.

Low credit limit cards require a lot of work, but can be as effective as higher CL cards if you focus on their % util.  They are not cards to be used unless really needed, as relatively small purchases have a significant impact on % util.  Manage their % util and they will be an asset.