Help me optimize my credit scores

[Anonymous]

Hello I am new here. I have been working on my credit for the past 3 months and I don’t seem to be making much headway.

Current scores FICO 8 scores/Mortgages Scores
Experian 578/654
Equifax 583/578
Transunion 600/577

Current items
2 Capital one auto finance loans
Capital one quicksilver 0/500
Capital One Platinum 2/850

Collections
Chase freedom 1981-paid off 5/2/19
ATT U-verse DSI paid off

Charge offs
Wells Fargo card $ 3881
Credit one $300 balance reporting $0.00
HSBC $ 451
T-Mobile convergent outsourcing $ 750
Trans world systems 342

Please help with tips on how to turn things around.

[Anonymous]

The biggest thing is to deal with those balances on your CO's.  They are reporting and keeping you scores down.  Once they are paid off they will age and your scores will start going up.  Also it looks like you need one more revolver for your fico mix, but deal with the neg's first. 

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much for your feedback @outlaw644

[KJinNC]

I am new at rebuilding my credit, so this should be taken as a second opinion, not expert advice. I think you have two issues to deal with, credit utilization is high across the board, and derogatory items on your report. I assume something has changed (lower expenses or higher income) to allow you to reduce debt when you've been increasing debt rapidly. The one card that shows positive but with 100% utilization, just make sure you keep it positive while working on other stuff. Whenever you reduce utilization on that card, it will help, but there is no need to do that soon as you have bigger problems to deal with first. Just don't let it go negative. With the other stuff, I think your three-pronged strategy should be paying stuff down, requesting goodwill deletions or pay for deletions, and in some cases maybe disputing stuff. I will mention, this board is operated by the company behind FICO scores and is not a place that is going to have a lot of discussion of credit repair companies (I am not even sure we are allowed to talk about them). I would look elsewhere for information about such companies. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your feedback, I actually have 2 capital one cards which are both current and I use and payoff each month.

I have been working extra shifts just to get extra money to pay off the debt.

[Anonymous]

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@KJinNC wrote:

I am new at rebuilding my credit, so this should be taken as a second opinion, not expert advice. I think you have two issues to deal with, credit utilization is high across the board, and derogatory items on your report. I assume something has changed (lower expenses or higher income) to allow you to reduce debt when you've been increasing debt rapidly. The one card that shows positive but with 100% utilization, just make sure you keep it positive while working on other stuff. Whenever you reduce utilization on that card, it will help, but there is no need to do that soon as you have bigger problems to deal with first. Just don't let it go negative. With the other stuff, I think your three-pronged strategy should be paying stuff down, requesting goodwill deletions or pay for deletions, and in some cases maybe disputing stuff. I will mention, this board is operated by the company behind FICO scores and is not a place that is going to have a lot of discussion of credit repair companies (I am not even sure we are allowed to talk about them). I would look elsewhere for information about such companies. Good luck!

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The highlighted section is innacurate.  If you keep a maxed out revolving account too long, you run the risk of receiving adverse action, and possibly will be balance chased.  Every profile is different, just as every creditor is different.  While working on negatives, you also need to be working on lowering this balance as soon as possible.

EDIT: Apologies, I thought the maxed out card was open.  So the poster that I was attempting to correct was not incorrect.  That's my fault!

[gdale6]

It appears the OP has current open cards under control with only $2 reporting and that is okay and good. I would proceed to work on your COs first with those updating monthly and if any of these are using a CA you would want to utilite and try the PFD with them. On the paid off CO(s) you would want to begin a GW campaign to see about getting them removed. Welcome to myFico

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/PFD-Q-amp-A-Examples-and-PFD-Success-Stories/...

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/PFD-Example-Letter/td-p/4519

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/GW-letter-Q-amp-A-Examples-and-GW-Success-Sto...

[KJinNC]

"The highlighted section is innacurate.  If you keep a maxed out revolving account too long, you run the risk of receiving adverse action, and possibly will be balance chased."

So you would suggest worrying about that, before worrying about unpaid charge-offs? The 100% utilization is definitely not good, but is that really the first thing he should work on? Would getting it down just a little, to say 90%, be enough for now? To me, the unpaid collections look more problematic, but I'm no expert.

[Anonymous]

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@KJinNC wrote:

"The highlighted section is innacurate.  If you keep a maxed out revolving account too long, you run the risk of receiving adverse action, and possibly will be balance chased."

So you would suggest worrying about that, before worrying about unpaid charge-offs? The 100% utilization is definitely not good, but is that really the first thing he should work on? Would getting it down just a little, to say 90%, be enough for now? To me, the unpaid collections look more problematic, but I'm no expert.

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Sorry, I edited my response to your post, I wasn't looking and assumed the maxed out card was open.  Any closed account with balance is bad, just as any charged off account is bad.  From my experience it has been much easier to start with the accounts in collections.  Again sorry, that's on me for not reading carefully.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the warm welcome and for including the links.