I thought using your cards were a bonus!!!

[Anonymous]

I keep reading about only using 1/3 of your credit cards and having a balance being reported or else you are penalized for it!!! I thought as long as you were using your cards and keeping the utilization under 30% you were doing well. I filed my BK in April 0f 2018 discharged July 07 2018 with starting scores at EXP-552, EQ-600, and TU- 554. Scores now are EXP-652, EQ-657, and TU-641.

I have a secured 5/3 bank card for $1000

I have a secured Navy Federal card for $1500

I have a Capital One card for $2800

I have a Capital One Quicksilver card for $3000

I have a Discover IT card for $1800

I have a Victoria Secret card for $600

I have an Express card for $500

All cards are under 30% utilization but I can't seem to get my scores over 670 to be out of fair and into good.

I have a house that I owe $69,000 that I reaffirmed, my car is paid off, I have student loans totaling $65000 and a loan for $7000. What else do I need to do???

[Anonymous]

I would suggest keeping your utilization under 8.9% for maximum benefit. I'm sure others will chime in as well.  

[Remedios]

Hi and welcome to the forums @Anonymous 

Your BK is too fresh. Scores will recover somewhat over time, but for right now, it is what it is. 

It's only been 18 months. As long as BK remains on your CR, you should not expect huge jumps you saw at first. 

Things are going to move at much slower pace, but that's how we pay the piper to be debt free. 

[Anonymous]

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@Remedios wrote:

Hi and welcome to the forums @Anonymous 

Your BK is too fresh. Scores will recover somewhat over time, but for right now, it is what it is. 

It's only been 18 months. As long as BK remains on your CR, you should not expect huge jumps you saw at first. 

Things are going to move at much slower pace, but that's how we pay the piper to be debt free. 

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This. 

And I'll also echo the same as another commenter - get your utilization down to the 8% range and you'll eek out a few more points. 30% is the top of where you want utilization to be, but it's far from optimal. 

If you want to take it a step further, search out the methods (and benefits) of AZEO. The skinny of it is all cards except for one reports a $0 balance with the remaining one card reporting a balance of 8.9% or under. 

[fishbjc]

BK is way too new.  You're never going to reach those high scores until that's far behind you.  

8.9% is your goal.

Yep, it's difficult to wait, but that's how it is.

[Anonymous]

They won't close your cards if they keep reporting $0 balance?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

They won't close your cards if they keep reporting $0 balance?

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I think it depends on the lender. 

[OmarGB9]

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@Anonymous wrote:

They won't close your cards if they keep reporting $0 balance?

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Not if you're still using them. AZEO means using all your cards as much as you want, but paying all down to zero balance before statement cut except for one of them, which you should have report 8.9% or less of its total limit. That'll maximize scores.

But with a fresh BK reporting, the boost will be minimal.

[hpotterfan77]

You can use the cards...just make sure that they show a 0 balance when it comes time for the lender to report them to the credit bureau.  You need to pay attention to when that is so you know when you need to have it report zero.

[Anonymous]

I will pay off all my credit cards except for 1 which I will drop to 7% and keep it that way from now on. Pay them off every month down to zero except the one. Hopefully this will get my scores up from fair to good. I'm only 8 points away from a good credit score with Experian.