On A Scale Of 1-10, How Good or Bad A Shape Am I In?

[Anonymous]

My score is 672.

I have about 12 credit cards with a total of about $11,000 limit on them.

My total balance with all 12 cards is about $6,000.

I'm not maxed-out on any card.  The closest is a $1,500 VISA with a $900 balance.

I don't know what my score was six months ago, but I'm sure it was a lot lower than what it is now.

Six months ago i was maxed-out on every card, right up to the limit.

For the past while I've been taking all the money I make and putting it into paying off the balances of my cards.  As you can calculate from above, I've cut my debt in half almost in the last six months.

I'd like to keep doing this, taking all my money and paying off my credit cards, because eventually I want to get a new car.

I'm hoping to get my score above 720 by January.

If I reduce all my balances down to zero by then, do you think I'll be able to hit 720 from where I am now?

I have one judgement in my file from 2001 for a old Discover card account with a $1,700 balance on it.  I paid that off in 2002 but it's still there.  I'm thinking of writing a goodwill letter to get it removed.

Hopefully that'll bump my score up too.

But overall, on a scale of 1-10, how good or bad a shape am I in?

I'm 28 years old, just started my career six months ago and I'll be making about $49,000 a year.

[Anonymous]

Your situation is decent now...I'd give you a 5...and your long-term prognosis is excellent. Keep paying those balances down...I suspect going from 50% to 5% utilization for you is probably worth at least 20 points right there.

The judgment probably isn't exerting that much of a drag on your credit score, as it's five years old. With 12 positive TLs pulling you up, you should rise into the 700s before long. 720 by January might be a little overoptimistic, but you'll get there sometime next year. And with only that one baddie--which is paid--your account looks better to a manual review than your FICO indicates.