topic What am I doing wrong? My scores aren't going up. in Understanding FICO® Scoring

What am I doing wrong? My scores aren't going up.

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 16:43:26 GMT

Hi,

Last month and the month before I made sure to do the AZEO method and my score only jumped up +1 points across the board. back in july when i had a pretty big jump, it was from my card reporting 31% utilization. How can i see bigger jumps in my score? Currently EQ: 609 TU: 607 Exp: 604

i was in the 630's back in Oct until i missed a Kohls payment. Honest mistake and just forgetfulness on my end. I tried getting that 30-day late removed, but they wouldn't and only agreed to remove all the other lates from 2016-2017 that i had. That one late payment dropped me down 30 points. How can i get back up??

current cards...

Capital One - $750 limit

NFCU - $700 limit

Kohls - $300 limit

Carters - $500 limit

installment loan $2341 balance

and just my car loan

Capital one secured $200

Here's some screenshots from back in July when i saw more than a +1 jump.

Re: What am I do wrong? My scores aren't going up.

SouthJamaica — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 16:37:32 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hi,

Last month and the month before I made sure to do the AZEO method and my score only jumped up +1 points across the board. back in july when i had a pretty big jump, it was from my card reporting 31% utilization. How can i see bigger jumps in my score? Currently EQ: 609 TU: 607 Exp: 604

i was in the 630's back in Oct until i missed a Kohls payment. Honest mistake and just forgetfulness on my end. I tried getting that 30-day late removed, but they wouldn't and only agreed to remove all the other lates from 2016-2017 that i had. That one late payment dropped me down 30 points. How can i get back up??

current cards...
Capital One - $750 limit
NFCU - $700 limit
Kohls - $300 limit
Carters - $500 limit

installment loan $2341 balance
and just my car loan
Capital one secured $200

Here's some screenshots from back in July when i saw more than a +1 jump.

1. Send verification letters to the credit bureaus to try to get any lates removed.

2. Try to make sure that none of your cards reports a balance > 28%, and that your overall revolving utilization stays at 8.9% or lower.

3. Try to have your aggregate loan balances at 9% or less.

4. Don't apply for any new credit, or any CLI's which would result in a hard pull.

Re: What am I doing wrong? My scores aren't going up.

Girlzilla88 — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 22:58:02 GMT

Also be sure the Card you are using for your AZEO method is a Bank Card have a balance on a bank card (if you weren't already) that will help but I do agree with the person above.

Re: What am I doing wrong? My scores aren't going up.

Remedios — Tue, 07 Jan 2020 01:15:03 GMT

If you dispute legitimate late, especially a recent one, it will come back verified, and your scores are going to tank some more.

Sometimes people have success disputing old collection accounts, where most of data is lost while it got sold from one collection agency to another.
That will not be the case with Cap One.
Your best bet is to continue with GW efforts

Another thing, they removed older lates for you. During a dispute, entire account goes through "audit". Those lates were adjusted but still exist within internal records.
I'd think twice before ever disputing this account, because you have a good chance of removed delinquencies coming back.

Of course, up to you with how you want to proceed.

Re: What am I doing wrong? My scores aren't going up.

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Jan 2020 09:48:39 GMT

The main thing that can help you now is time. Time since negative. You need to put at lesst a year between you and that late. As you can see from that 1 point increase AZEO is mostly wasted lots of effort for little gain (outside of mortgage scores). Your time would be better spent setting up a system so that no matter what you are not late on payments. Autopay. If for whatever reason you do not want to do autopay, then download any of the free task manager apps and set up reminders for all your due dates.

Re: What am I doing wrong? My scores aren't going up.

FireMedic1 — Wed, 08 Jan 2020 19:12:25 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hi,

Last month and the month before I made sure to do the AZEO method and my score only jumped up +1 points across the board. back in july when i had a pretty big jump, it was from my card reporting 31% utilization. How can i see bigger jumps in my score? Currently EQ: 609 TU: 607 Exp: 604

i was in the 630's back in Oct until i missed a Kohls payment. Honest mistake and just forgetfulness on my end. I tried getting that 30-day late removed, but they wouldn't and only agreed to remove all the other lates from 2016-2017 that i had. That one late payment dropped me down 30 points. How can i get back up??

current cards...
Capital One - $750 limit
NFCU - $700 limit
Kohls - $300 limit
Carters - $500 limit

installment loan $2341 balance
and just my car loan
Capital one secured $200

Here's some screenshots from back in July when i saw more than a +1 jump.

You posted what the 1 card had with 31% Util. You posted your credit limits. But what are the balances on each card? That 30 day late is kinda fresh from Oct. Takes a couple yrs for the ding to ease on 30 day lates.

Re: What am I doing wrong? My scores aren't going up.

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Jan 2020 21:14:20 GMT

You mention about only having one late payment, but then go on to say they would only remove the older lates? If this was only about one late payment, you might find willingness to work with them. But it seems like there's more to it.

Also AZEO isn't a one time thing, it needs several cycles to find its normal. And it's a good idea to set autopay for those accounts to eliminate the possible "late payment" issue.

As others have said, you likely will not see much improveemnt until those lates age off. And time is your best friend over there in the garden.

If you're worried about util, I suggest paying down said card to about $10 before statement cut. That way it will only report that $10 balance, while all others are zero.

Re: What am I doing wrong? My scores aren't going up.

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Jan 2020 23:22:31 GMT

@Janus: I’ve worked with Kohl’s and have sent goodwill letters and as I’ve stated they removed all other late payments except the most recent one. I spoke with someone in the Exec office and she tried to get it removed and couldn’t. The October 2019 was the first late payment I’ve had with them in over 2.5 years.

All my cards report $0 balance except one and I always keep a balance of 10% or less as I’ve that‘a whats been advised in the forums.

Seems I just need time and patience at this point.