Help! Can't seem to get over the 700 hump...Any suggestions?

[rsl1313]

Hi,  I read posts on here all the time about going from BK to 700 in 2 years but I must be doing something really wrong. I have  a Chap. 7 BK that was discharged 313. It was almost all federal tax debt. My car was included in BK, although I kept the car, made the payments religiously, paid it off early and still have it There were also a couple of credit cards included, pretty small balances...

I know that part of my problem is I didn't do anything for the first year. I finally applied foraCapOne secured MasterCard after a year. Now I have 4 credit card accounts, I always pay in full but leave a small balance on one. I also have a  small installment loan and a mortgage..Does anybody have any ideas about what I might be  not doing correctly? I do have 3 new accounts this year (mortgage and 2 credit cards). Will my credit score  start to increase as the BK ages or will I just have to wait until it falls off?

Thanks to everyone for the great posts!!!!

Chap. 7 BK discharged 3/2013

10/1 FICO EXP 686 TU 654 EQ 687

QS1 $7000/QS VentureOne $30000/Discover It $10000/Alaska Airlines Visa $3000

[Anonymous]

Waiting a year to rebuild means your AAoA will be a year younger than if you had started sooner.

What's your current AAoA and how many inquiries do you have less than 12 months old?

[DollyLama]

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@rsl1313 wrote:

Hi,  I read posts on here all the time about going from BK to 700 in 2 years but I must be doing something really wrong. I have  a Chap. 7 BK that was discharged 313. It was almost all federal tax debt. My car was included in BK, although I kept the car, made the payments religiously, paid it off early and still have it There were also a couple of credit cards included, pretty small balances...

I know that part of my problem is I didn't do anything for the first year. I finally applied foraCapOne secured MasterCard after a year. Now I have 4 credit card accounts, I always pay in full but leave a small balance on one. I also have a  small installment loan and a mortgage..Does anybody have any ideas about what I might be  not doing correctly? I do have 3 new accounts this year (mortgage and 2 credit cards). Will my credit score  start to increase as the BK ages or will I just have to wait until it falls off?

Thanks to everyone for the great posts!!!!

Chap. 7 BK discharged 3/2013

10/1 FICO EXP 686 TU 654 EQ 687

QS1 $7000/QS VentureOne $30000/Discover It $10000/Alaska Airlines Visa $3000

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Where are you getting your scores?

To clarify, when you state you always PIF and leave a small balance on one- are you PIF when statement is received or before so statement reflects $0 balance? And small balance being less than 8.9% of the total credit line of that one card you let report?

[rsl1313]

Hi Dolly Lama,

I get my credit scores from MyFico...

I pay in full on the due date, then don't charge again until the statement comes out....and yes always less than 9%..thanks for the reply!

[rsl1313]

Hi,

 I couldn't see on my 3b report where it says what my AAofA is. Also do I count each inquiry with each bureau? If so I had 7 in the last 12 months....

[Anonymous]

Not sure if 3B shows your AAoA -- you'd have to calculate it yourself.

Basically take every account on your credit report and calculate how many months its been open.  Add up all of those months together and divide by number of accounts to get an average age of accounts.

Typically there's a big FICO ding across the board when your AAoA is under 2 years, 1 year for sure.  

There's anecdotal evidence towards the theory that your AAoA is what puts you in specific "scorecards" or "buckets" and that each scorecard/bucket has a FICO maximum score possible.  So having an AAoA under 2 years means you wouldn't be able to have a FICO score over a certain number even if your profile was perfect.  

[Anonymous]

can you list everything that's on your credit profile? I just broke 702 on TU, ch7 d/c on 10/2010.

[DollyLama]

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@rsl1313 wrote:

Hi,

 I couldn't see on my 3b report where it says what my AAofA is. Also do I count each inquiry with each bureau? If so I had 7 in the last 12 months....

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Click view analysis under any of the reports- there will be factors and ingredients listed, expand the length of credit history (which will be marked for each bureau as either fair good, expectional, etc), it will tell you your age of oldest account and average age of credit with each bureau.

Expand New Credit below that one and it will give you the age of your newest acct with each bureau

[DollyLama]

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@rsl1313 wrote:

Hi Dolly Lama,

I get my credit scores from MyFico...

I pay in full on the due date, then don't charge again until the statement comes out....and yes always less than 9%..thanks for the reply!

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You need to PIF before the due date on the two cards you wish to have reporting 0 balance at statement cut. Give it at least 4-5 days to clear by due date. 

[rsl1313]

Hi,

 Thanks for writing...I always pay online and it gets posted within a day. I always check my statements too when they come out, so I think I've been doing the right thing...