Want to Reach 700, how close am I?

[Anonymous]

I know my main problem is utilization, but I am going back to get my masters degree, so it cost a lot to get computer/necessary software, tuition, fees, etc. I am just wondering how close I am to 700. Just a rundown:

FICOs:

EX: 643

EQ: 630

TU: 653

2 student loans I am actively paying on

1 personal loan, will be paid off next month

Credit Cards:

Chase Freedom: 6300/7000 Opened 2009

Chase Slate: 998/1000 Opened 2015 (Paying off in few weeks)

Bank of America 300/3000 Opened 2015

Citi:                   1995/2000

Kay Jewlers:      0/7400

LOC:                  500/500

4 inquiries on EX, 2 on TU, 1 on EQ

AAoA about 5 years

30 day late from March 2013 (and no, there is no way they are even thinking of removing it).

How close am I to 700?

[Grafton88]

As you know you have to get those balances down.  Your Chase Slate, Chase Freedom, and Citi are all looking like they are maxed out to the CRAs.  Getting those under 80% is a start.  Then there are several tiers before you get them under 9%.  You should see benefits when reaching those tiers.

How does that 30 days late show up on your report?  Are all agencies reporting it?

You have a low number of inquiries.  Your AAoA is good.  You have a good credit mix.

The balances are something you can work on.  I don't know what kind of penalty the 30 days late will have on your report.  I have a Public Record that is holding me back but my EX is 690 with a much shorter AAoA than yours.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

There is no specified time frame to reach 700. Poster above me mentioned some spot on things. Your utilization is killing you. WIth a good AAoA and only one baddie, that utilization percentage is whats really knocking you down. Clear that up, as in get to less than 10% but more than 0% and your scores will increase for sure. A part of the progress is time in and of itself. The older that one baddie becomes and the more time you spend at 9 or less % utilization will gradually make your scores go up significantly. 

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

How close am I to 700?

---

As it stands right now, I'm going to guess $6600. If you paid the Chase Freedom down to under 50% and all of the other cards down to zero, which would bring your total utilization under 20%, that might get you there. As I said, that's a guess.

The longer you wait, too, the less that 30-day late will weigh down your score (it doesn't just drop off all at once -- it slowly weighs less as time goes by). So you could also see it as $3000 and 2 years. But that's even more of a guess, though. It's really hard to estimate how much that 30-day late is holding you back.

But at least you know what your issue is -- utilization -- and what you need to do to improve it.  Good luck!

[Revelate]

---

@Grafton88 wrote:

As you know you have to get those balances down.  Your Chase Slate, Chase Freedom, and Citi are all looking like they are maxed out to the CRAs.  Getting those under 80% is a start.  Then there are several tiers before you get them under 9%.  You should see benefits when reaching those tiers.

How does that 30 days late show up on your report?  Are all agencies reporting it?

You have a low number of inquiries.  Your AAoA is good.  You have a good credit mix.

The balances are something you can work on.  I don't know what kind of penalty the 30 days late will have on your report.  I have a Public Record that is holding me back but my EX is 690 with a much shorter AAoA than yours.

Good luck.

---

Well I can toss in a data point there, I have an AAOA of 2 years, held down by a 30/60 day late from the past along with a tax lien, but on TU I have a 30 day late from six months ago and I'm just north of a 700 there on FICO 8.

Also my installment utilization absolutely sucks.

@OP: pay off those debts, add the LOC into the maxxed out category too, but frankly you're pretty much above 700 right now if you were to pay all that off or potentially even significantly down.  

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I know my main problem is utilization, but I am going back to get my masters degree, so it cost a lot to get computer/necessary software, tuition, fees, etc. I am just wondering how close I am to 700. Just a rundown:

FICOs:

EX: 643

EQ: 630

TU: 653

2 student loans I am actively paying on

1 personal loan, will be paid off next month

Credit Cards:

Chase Freedom: 6300/7000 Opened 2009

Chase Slate: 998/1000 Opened 2015 (Paying off in few weeks)

Bank of America 300/3000 Opened 2015

Citi:                   1995/2000

Kay Jewlers:      0/7400

LOC:                  500/500

4 inquiries on EX, 2 on TU, 1 on EQ

AAoA about 5 years

30 day late from March 2013 (and no, there is no way they are even thinking of removing it).

How close am I to 700?

---

Congrats on working on your master's degree.  I'm almost finished with mine.  I got my UTI down to 11%, but then I had to buy furniture and my UTI went up and my score went down.  You need to get your UTI down under 10%.  The late is suppressing  your score also.  I have some lates still reporting (39 straight months no lates), two charge offs reporting, and 1 paid collection still reporting, and realize that until my report is clean, I won't get to where I need but I can still work on lowering UTI and maintaining a good payment history.