How to boost my credit score?

[Anonymous]

Hey everyone I wanted to know if there's a fast way to boost my credit score.

So far this is my scores as of 7/4/2014:

Latest FICO Scores
Experian
FICO® SCORE686

Past FICO Scores powered by Experian data
689
Report Date: 06/15/2014
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Equifax
FICO® SCORE696

Past FICO Scores powered by Equifax data
663
Report Date: 06/15/2014
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TransUnion
FICO® SCORE712

Past FICO Scores powered by TransUnion data
673
Report Date: 06/15/2014

This is from creditkarma:
672 +38pt Credit Rating: Fair Updated Jul 4, 2014 Next update available on Jul 11, 2014.

Every month my credit score jumps 20+ points up or down, recently it went down so i'm trying to make it go sky high as soon as possible.

I do have some balance on my credit cards and heres a list of my current credit cards+balance:
Discover $357 balance. - Credit Line: $6,000
Chase Freedom $142 balance. - Credit Line: $2,200
Wells Fargo Secured Card $0 balance. - [New Card, Doesn't show up on my credit scores yet] Secured Credit Line: $2000
Capital One -$75 balance. - [I actually overpaid my balance and it shows -$75] Credit Line: $500

I also have an auto loan and am making big payments of $1000 every month or two times a month to pay it down fast, the last report shows my balance is $16,000 and now it's $14,000 so would that boost my score too because im paying way over the $337 agreed monthly payments?

Please let me know what I can do to boost my scores to go more then 720+ on my credit scores.

Also I indeed can pay every credit card off if i want but recently i found out i should have balances and stay under 30% utilization while paying the cards off.

[Vegasr]

What is your AAoA?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hey everyone I wanted to know if there's a fast way to boost my credit score.

So far this is my scores as of 7/4/2014:

Latest FICO Scores
Experian
FICO® SCORE686

Past FICO Scores powered by Experian data
689
Report Date: 06/15/2014
-----------
Equifax
FICO® SCORE696

Past FICO Scores powered by Equifax data
663
Report Date: 06/15/2014
-----------
TransUnion
FICO® SCORE712

Past FICO Scores powered by TransUnion data
673
Report Date: 06/15/2014

This is from creditkarma:
672 +38pt Credit Rating: Fair Updated Jul 4, 2014 Next update available on Jul 11, 2014.

Every month my credit score jumps 20+ points up or down, recently it went down so i'm trying to make it go sky high as soon as possible.

I do have some balance on my credit cards and heres a list of my current credit cards+balance:
Discover $357 balance. - Credit Line: $6,000
Chase Freedom $142 balance. - Credit Line: $2,200
Wells Fargo Secured Card $0 balance. - [New Card, Doesn't show up on my credit scores yet] Secured Credit Line: $2000
Capital One -$75 balance. - [I actually overpaid my balance and it shows -$75] Credit Line: $500

I also have an auto loan and am making big payments of $1000 every month or two times a month to pay it down fast, the last report shows my balance is $16,000 and now it's $14,000 so would that boost my score too because im paying way over the $337 agreed monthly payments?

Please let me know what I can do to boost my scores to go more then 720+ on my credit scores.

Also I indeed can pay every credit card off if i want but recently i found out i should have balances and stay under 30% utilization while paying the cards off.

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Welcome to the forums!

1.  I'd try to optimize your utilization, by letting only one of your CCs report a small balance.

2.  Do you have any derogatories?  If so, of what type and age are they?

3.  An open installment loan typically helps your scores, so I would not be in a rush to pay it off.  The downside of any type of loan is a higher DTI, so you have to make tradeoffs here.

[Anonymous]

I had to lookup what AAoA was and it is 1 year for longest credit line opened on my credit.

[Anonymous]

Reply:

1. So i should only use each of my credit cards for one transaction like per month? or how should i go about that? My discover card is my main card and i started with $1k line of credit and now they jumped me up to $6k.

2. All accounts are in good standing. never missed a payment and i absolutely will try to never miss a payment.

3. So far my auto loan with Ally is paid for until Febuary of 2015.

How else can i optimize my credit? do you think opening that secured credit card with $2,000 was a good idea?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Reply:

1. So i should only use each of my credit cards for one transaction like per month? or how should i go about that? My discover card is my main card and i started with $1k line of credit and now they jumped me up to $6k.

2. All accounts are in good standing. never missed a payment and i absolutely will try to never miss a payment.

3. So far my auto loan with Ally is paid for until Febuary of 2015.

How else can i optimize my credit? do you think opening that secured credit card with $2,000 was a good idea?

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You can use your CCs as you wish, but you should be aware that there's typically a monthly reporting date to the credit bureaus, within a few days of the statement date, and the balance on the statement is typically what is reported.

If the overall or individual CC balances are high relative to the limits, then that hurts your scores.  This is true even if you PIF and never pay any interest.

For example, someone who lets $975 report on a $1000 CC, and then pays in full, is likely to take a score hit.

You can control this issue by making payments just before the statement date.

Another utilization issue is the proportion of cards with reported balances, and a typical recommendation is to let only one CC report a balance, with that balance at 1-9% of the CC's limit.

Other than utilization, the other thing that comes to mind, if there are no derogatories, is a short credit history, and that can be remedied by sitting back for a while and faithfully maintaining the accounts you have, and keeping utilization optimized.

[Anonymous]

thanks for the reply!

so as for keeping a balance only on one cc should i not use the other cards at all? and only stick with 1 card for all purchases? or buy a  small item (probably under $100) with each card every two months or so?

[takeshi74]

Carefully read user5387's post again.  Yes, you can control utilization  by limiting spend but user5387's post provides an alternative.

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hey everyone I wanted to know if there's a fast way to boost my credit score.

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First of all, there are no quick fixes.  Second, if you want to improve your score then start with the items with the biggest impact:

http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/whatsinyourscore.aspx

Payment History includes derogs so if you have any derogs hit the Rebuilding subforum and see if you can address them first.  Suggestions have already been made for the next biggest item, utilzation (Amounts Owed).

Everything else just takes time and repsonsible usage to build.

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@Anonymous wrote:

I also have an auto loan and am making big payments of $1000 every month or two times a month to pay it down fast, the last report shows my balance is $16,000 and now it's $14,000 so would that boost my score too because im paying way over the $337 agreed monthly payments?

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Your payment relative to the agreed payment amount is irrelevant for scoring purposes.  IIRC the proportion of the loan balance to the loan amount plays a role but I am not really familiar with what sort of impact that has.  Keep in mind that paying off an installment can actually cause your scores to drop.

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@Anonymous wrote:

Also I indeed can pay every credit card off if i want but recently i found out i should have balances

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You never need to carry a balance for scoring purposes.  For optimal scoring you only want one balance to report.  Your balances typically report on statement date (mentioned above) so paying after the statement date and before the due date will allow a balance to report without carrying and subjecting yourself to interest.