topic Re: progress possible in 13 months? in Rebuilding Your Credit

progress possible in 13 months?

Anonymous — Tue, 16 May 2017 15:47:47 GMT

Hi guys! I've been reading on the forum for a little bit now, but this is my first post and I'm hoping that you guys might be able to help me. I currently live in NJ and am looking to move to Florida early next July. In that time before I move, I was hoping to be able to raise my credit score to atleast 700.

The only thing is, is that my transunion score is currently 454, and my equifax is 464.

I was doing pretty well up until last month when I made a stupid mistake and my auto pay for my car loan somehow never charged my account (which I take full responsibility for not checking) and that hit my credit report with a 60 day late. I obviously immediately paid the past due amount, but when I talked to Ally, they wouldn't take off the late hit from my account. Not that I blame them. This dropped my scores almost 190 points as I was in the low 600s at the time.

My total utilization is at 27%, with $4,900 in balances on $18,800 in CLs from 5 different cards. I've got an Amex with a 2k limit, 2 Capital One cards ($2,750 and $6,750), a Chase with $5,500 and a Discover with $1,800.

My AAoA is 4 years 9 months, with my oldest card being one of my Capital One cards being 12 years 4 months that my dad had me on as an authorized user about 6 years ago and still reports on my credit report.

My student loans are in rehab until November, which also hit my credit report. In the contract I signed to rehab, they are only delinquent on my credit report until November and then they will be removed and put in good standing.

The only charge offs I have are from my freshman year of college when I was young and stupid with my money. They are from 2012.

I guess I'm just hoping to get some tips from you guys in ways that I might be able to raise my credit score? Do you think its possible to be able to raise it to atleast 700 by the time I move? One of the other reasons that I'm trying to raise it as well is because I want to try and get the Chase Sapphire Preffered before I move or any other high limit card in case of emergency since I'm moving cross country. I don't necessarily NEED it per se, but I feel like it would give me some slight peace of mind.

Thanks guys!!

Re: progress possible in 13 months?

seruby — Tue, 16 May 2017 16:43:37 GMT

700 might be difficult with the charge offs. I'm about 680 or so, and I'm sure it's because of 2 collections accounts. My utilization is typically 1-5%... 5% on a bad month. That being said, I got a Chase Sapphire Reserve card earlier this year, and I bought a house at the end of last year.

So don't get discouraged if you don't get to 700. You'll probably still be able to get the chase card and a house.

What are your individual card utilizations? I believe having multiple cards report a balance is worse than having one card report a balance, even if the utilization is the same (i.e. 5 cards reporting 1% utilization is worse than 4 cards reporting 0% and 1 card reporting 5%). If any of your cards are high utilization, pay them down.

Re: progress possible in 13 months?

Anonymous — Tue, 16 May 2017 16:49:53 GMT

The first year I'm there I'm going to rent just so I dont make a huge commitment before I really know the area, so I know I should be good for that. What was your score when you were approved for the card? My balance is split between the Amex and one of the Capital One cards. It just sucks because at the moment I can't even get a secured card if I applied, but atleast I have these cards reporting each month to my report. Is there anything I should do in particular to raise the score?

Re: progress possible in 13 months?

Anonymous — Tue, 16 May 2017 16:50:40 GMT

"In case of emergency" rule #1: have cash in savings to back up any payments on credit cards from emergencies.

If you have no savings now, don't consider moving, don't consider getting credit. Start saving today. As in, open a savings account today and start putting a few dollars a day into it.

This way, you will never be late on a payment again in your life and you'll be able to rebuild your credit scores more efficiently.

Re: progress possible in 13 months?

Anonymous — Tue, 16 May 2017 16:58:51 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
"In case of emergency" rule #1: have cash in savings to back up any payments on credit cards from emergencies.

If you have no savings now, don't consider moving, don't consider getting credit. Start saving today. As in, open a savings account today and start putting a few dollars a day into it.

This way, you will never be late on a payment again in your life and you'll be able to rebuild your credit scores more efficiently.

I do have savings! So far I have about 20k in the bank, I just feel like I need to have a few different back up cards just in case. I mean, I'm more worried about raising the score more than anythign else.

Re: progress possible in 13 months?

Anonymous — Tue, 16 May 2017 17:20:15 GMT

Great!

Take $2500 of that savings and get the Discover Secured card -- it gives you 1-2% cashback on all purchases and double bonus for the first year of charges.

Take $3000 of that savings and get the Capital One Secured card -- it has no rewards or cashback but will help you build positive history.

Re: progress possible in 13 months?

Anonymous — Tue, 16 May 2017 17:32:52 GMT

I have a positive history on the 5 cards that I have now, and I have both discover and capital one. Should I still take out the secured cards then? I guess I'm just confused as to where to go from here because most people with bad scores have no current positive cc history, but I do. The only current lates were on my car loan, and that was just a stupid mistake on my part that I'm paying for now. But all of my current cc's have a 100% payment history.

Re: progress possible in 13 months?

Anonymous — Tue, 16 May 2017 17:37:13 GMT

Oh if you have positive history then you don't need secured cards at all. Next step is to get your utilization under control which will boost your FICOs and help you get new tradelines.

What are your utilizations across all accounts? Not average utilization but each credit balance/limit of each account?

The 60D late payment will age off slowly but since it is a one-time issue after 1-2 years you'll start recovering from it.

Re: progress possible in 13 months?

Anonymous — Tue, 16 May 2017 17:42:01 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Oh if you have positive history then you don't need secured cards at all. Next step is to get your utilization under control which will boost your FICOs and help you get new tradelines.

What are your utilizations across all accounts? Not average utilization but each credit balance/limit of each account?

The 60D late payment will age off slowly but since it is a one-time issue after 1-2 years you'll start recovering from it.

Both my Amex and my higher Cap1 are at about 50% and the rest all have 0% utilization. The only reason I put it on those is because I had better interest rates on those 2. The Amex is 0% so I figured it would be easier to pay it off on those cards. My paychecks are good so I can have them paid down to about 10% no problem but I guess I'm just trying to figure out if there's anything I can do but wait it out at this point. How much do you think it'll raise in a year?

Re: progress possible in 13 months?

MrsCHX — Tue, 16 May 2017 19:11:07 GMT

Utilization isn't holding OP back.

If you have $20,000 you need to work on cleaning up your credit and try to get the COs paid/removed. You need to keep trying to GW on the late payment. The student loan derogs being removed will help, but you will not see the bump you expect with those other negative items.

Re: progress possible in 13 months?

Aduke1122 — Tue, 16 May 2017 19:47:55 GMT

Hey Op just wanted to let you know just be careful and watch out for potential AA with your credit cards , your lenders are constantly Soft Pulling your reports and any major changes in them such a sudden BIG score drops ( 60 day late ) new collections or anything that is negative they can and will close your accounts or balance chase you which is almost worst than closing it out , say you have a balance on one card and they decide to AA you , if they just balance chase you they will cut your limit down anytime you make a good size payment so making your Utilization stay high , just wanted to give you a fair warning that this can and does happen all the time , anything that the bank feels is a risk to them even if it doesn't seem that big to you they can AA you

Re: progress possible in 13 months?

Aduke1122 — Tue, 16 May 2017 19:50:59 GMT

And yes I totally agree with MrsChx if you have any extra money it needs to be going to paying off any debts and trying to get negative stuff removed from your reports . I would also recommend heading over to the Student loan section of this forum and reading up on the diff situations that can happen after you rehab as far as how your reports will look

Re: progress possible in 13 months?

rmduhon — Tue, 16 May 2017 22:37:08 GMT

Where are the scores from? You only mention EQ and TU scores. Does that mean they are from Credit Karma?

Re: progress possible in 13 months?

JoeDiver74 — Tue, 16 May 2017 23:28:49 GMT

I went from a FICO of 520 to 766 in about 8 months. It's possible.

Re: progress possible in 13 months?

Anonymous — Tue, 16 May 2017 23:49:07 GMT

@JoeDiver74 wrote:
I went from a FICO of 520 to 766 in about 8 months. It's possible.

Yeah, my scores are from CK and I got a copy of my experian for free through their website. How did you do it?

Re: progress possible in 13 months?

medicgrrl — Tue, 16 May 2017 23:51:14 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@JoeDiver74 wrote:
I went from a FICO of 520 to 766 in about 8 months. It's possible.
Yeah, my scores are from CK and I got a copy of my experian for free through their website. How did you do it?

You need to pull your FICO scores

Re: progress possible in 13 months?

rmduhon — Tue, 16 May 2017 23:52:19 GMT

Unless you plan on a car loan or mortgage get your Fico 08 scores from creditchecktotal.com using the 7 day trial for $1. If you want a car loan or mortgage get your scores from here since MyFico provides those scores.

Re: progress possible in 13 months?

Anonymous — Wed, 17 May 2017 00:18:46 GMT

@rmduhon wrote:
Unless you plan on a car loan or mortgage get your Fico 08 scores from creditchecktotal.com using the 7 day trial for $1. If you want a car loan or mortgage get your scores from here since MyFico provides those scores.

Thanks for the tip! I just signed up and my FICO 8 scores are : EX 488 TU 486 EQ 478. Also, I found that on my EX a collection agency was claiming my old citi account in collections, but on my TU account it says that its open under Citi still as of May 2017? Can I dispute that? Same thing with an old Progressive charge for $200 and Verizon. I know my next step is to pay the baddies, (EQ 5 TU 3 Ex 4) but how do I go about this now? Whats the best plan of action?

Re: progress possible in 13 months?

Aduke1122 — Wed, 17 May 2017 04:55:44 GMT

Just bc it's listed as open doesn't mean you have a right to dispute it , it would only be closed if you have paid it and settled the debt .

Re: progress possible in 13 months?

cjane1 — Wed, 17 May 2017 19:12:14 GMT

Scores on CK are not correct, the benefit of CK is to check your reportings... There is hope for your credit score to go up, I have a student loan and repo and my scores stared at 560 and are now 680. I still have 3 collections that I need to pay off and my score should go up more.