topic Re: Words of Wisdom in Rebuilding Your Credit

Words of Wisdom

shannonharvey — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 12:52:45 GMT

Hey All,

I’m relatively new here and thought I would send a message out to introduce myself and at the same time ask for some opinions on how I can improve my score. Currently, I have about 30 subprime credit cards 3 of which are not in that category…..

I mostly practice the AZEO method and am in the 3 to 4 percent utilization bracket. My scores are 604, 631, and 649…..I’d like to move well into the 650’s and above (hopefully into the 7’s) but I’m not seeing much movement…..

I have a couple of negatives that I expect to fall off in the next year or so, I have a car loan that I’ve never missed a payment on, a 6k personal loan that will be paid off in 3 years, no real estate or major purchases planned and I’m incredibly careful as to how I use my credit.

Can any of you offer up any advice on how I can improve my score?..... I would like to buy a home and want to get the best rates that I can…and if I can do better than where I am I think that would be great.

Re: Words of Wisdom

JoeRockhead — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 14:03:12 GMT

What kind of negatives are they, how old, and how many exactly? What's your DTI? Aside from the negative items being reported, if you're carrying too much unpaid debt (loans, plus credit card debt) and/or have a higher DTI ratio this could be suppressing your scores.

Re: Words of Wisdom

BallBounces — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 15:19:17 GMT

@JoeRockhead wrote:
What kind of negatives are they, how old, and how many exactly? What's your DTI? Aside from the negative items being reported, if you're carrying too much unpaid debt (loans, plus credit card debt) and/or have a higher DTI ratio this could be suppressing your scores.

In addition to what Joe said, I would also start by asking what scores specifically you are referring to.

To be very helpful, we need to know specifics on tradelines, limits and balances.

You are in the right place,

Re: Words of Wisdom

shannonharvey — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 17:05:31 GMT

I may have written a little too soon as just a few moments ago I logged back in and saw that my Equifax jumped 111 points to 715 , and in logging into my Experian shows a score of 715 as well (I’m pleased). As far as my negatives go, I have a 30 day late on my Experian report from 2021, the same on my Equifax….the major holdout appears to be with my Transunion with an old collection showing there which I’m currently trying to get removed. As far as my tradelines go, I have about 40K in limits and am using very little of it. I pay whatever I use off within 30 days of charging it.

Re: Words of Wisdom

shannonharvey — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 17:26:34 GMT

I just refreshed my 3 bureau reports and see that my transunion score jumped 19 points as well to 650. if I can get the collection removed I would hope I could see some gains there as well

Re: Words of Wisdom

JoeRockhead — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 17:48:40 GMT

Good news on the increased scores... I wasn't talking about your utilization. I was talking about unpaid debt which accounts for 30% of your score. While credit card debt is also factored in this category, what I was asking was what your Debt to income (DTI) ratio was being you have several loans (installment debt).

Re: Words of Wisdom

shannonharvey — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 17:57:27 GMT

okay I understand. In reviewing my reports it appears as though I have about 10k in negative balances reporting, which I think it slotted to age off in about a year. In terms of my DTI I don't know how to determine that but I have less than 1K in credit card debt, a 6K loan, and a car payment and nothing current is in the arrears.

Re: Words of Wisdom

KatzNDawgs — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 22:09:32 GMT

For DTI, what is the total minimum monthly payments of rent/mortgage, any loans, and CCs divided by monthly income?

Re: Words of Wisdom

IcyCool7227 — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 09:33:47 GMT

You will want to close most of those subprime cards as your score is high enough for them to have served their purpose unless there's some exclusive rewards, like I get with my Mercury Rewards Visa for 5% gas and grocery. Why do you have so many cards?

Re: Words of Wisdom

shannonharvey — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 09:45:47 GMT

My DTI appears to be around 55 percent, a little high but I don't spend more than I can afford. As far as the subprime cards and why I have so many....my goal was and still is to build my credit and improve my score and I'm concerned that if i start closing cards my score will plummet.

Re: Words of Wisdom

JoeRockhead — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 13:52:35 GMT

@shannonharvey wrote:
okay I understand. In reviewing my reports it appears as though I have about 10k in negative balances reporting, which I think it slotted to age off in about a year. In terms of my DTI I don't know how to determine that but I have less than 1K in credit card debt, a 6K loan, and a car payment and nothing current is in the arrears.

Your credit card utilization is excellent. Aside from the adverse information lingering on reports, the age of your file could be a factor, and you could possibly be being held back by the aggregate balances on your loans (the $6k loan and the auto loan/lease). Which is also factored in the "amounts owed" portion of your credit scores in regards to installment utilization. How much would require more information such as each open installment loan/lease you have, the original loan amounts, and the current remaining balance on each.

Nothing can be done to improve the actual age of your profile other than allowing more time to pass. But, the other thing no one has asked is if any of your credit cards are younger than 12 months? If so, a nice score increase is usually experienced when your youngest account reaches 1 year old.