Rebuild data points and what to look forward to?

[Anonymous]

This is my first post and I have searched and read and now want to get some advice on my credit scores and their potential. 

My fico 8 scores right now are Ex:581 TU:578 and EQ:553. My AaoA is 6yrs 3mo. I have about 20 inqs from when i was car shopping that 15-17 of them will either age or fall off by March of next year. I have a Capital one card ($300) that was closed (and not charged off thankfully) but is over the limit and 2 months ago reported missed payments. I have a Total Visa that has never been late but utilization is almost maxed out. The statement closes on the 27th for the Total and the 6th for Capital One so I plan to pay them both down to 0% tomorrow. When i did the simulation on MF it says that will raise all of my scores 30pts. I also will be paying and they will be deleting my LAST collection on my report in the next week and they report at the beginning of the month. The only other baddies i have is a First Premier charge off for $415 and a charge off from TimePayment corp, not sure of the exact amount.  I do also have a Self Lender that opened in April and i have 2 more payments on my Fingerhut before it graduates that i will actually be paying tomorrow. I have a car loan that opened in March as well. I applied and was approved for the Discover secured just waiting for the bank verification. 

Ive heard that removing your last collection could result in a score jump is that true? Also, once i pay off the balance of the closed Capital One is it possible to have them delete the account to remove the late payments? Is there anything else I should be doing to improve my report?

[Anonymous]

Attempting to get all derogs removed should be an important part of your strategy.  It may take a long time.  Investigate something called the Goodwill Letter Saturation Technique.  Personally I feel that the GWST is best employed after you have made strong steps of your own toward demonstrating a desire to pay off all CC debt.   You can and should still have one card reporting a small positive balance, but I would not begin employing the GWST until after most of your debt is paid off and you have shown an ability to use your cards and never be late.

As I say, the other thing you are working on is paying off all CC debt.

You have so much changing (and so much now bad) on your report that making (rational) guesses as to how much improvement you will get in the next three months is very difficult to do.  The good news is that you don't need to guess, because guessing will not help you make decisions.  Your decisions will be the same regardless: pay off all debt and attempt to get all derogs removed.

Pulling your FICO 8 scores once every three months will be a much better monitoring choice than attempting solicit guesses here.  That costs a buck at Credit Check Total.  You can also get a free monthly FICO 8 and full Experian credit report at creditscore.com.

[Anonymous]

PS.  The answer to your question about your potential is simple.  An 800 score is easily within your grasp when all debt is paid off and all derogs removed.

[Anonymous]

OP, bad but good news here.  Bad is that it sounds like your utilization is maxed out.  I believe you have 2 revolvers on your CR, one which is open and one closed, both are maxed.  The good news is it sounds like your limits are very low ($300 on the closed one, you didn't mention it on your other) so your debt is relatively low.  Do you have the means of paying that off now?  If not, how soon?  It wouldn't be out of the question to see your FICO 8 scores increase to the tune of 80-100 points in taking maxed-out aggregate utilization down to an ideal place, which by the way would be leaving a tiny balance on your open revolver to report.  A tiny balance could be something around $10, just to quantify that.

This would be the quickest means of improving your scores.  Tackling negative items would definitely come next.  Your AAoA is solid and if you don't apply for credit in about a year will be as high as it needs to be for maximum FICO points relative to that piece.

[Anonymous]

Im sorry i thought i had put that info in the original post. Im paying the Capital One and the Total credit card off tomorrow. My open Revolver is $300 as well. Ill be paying the Capital one to a zero balance and the Total to $25 balance, all right before statement closes and they report next month. Ill also be paying my last collection and it will be deleted as well for the next reporting period. So basically i have negative utilization that will be down to 8% tomorrow i have 1 collection that will be deleted next week. And then i have two charge offs that are the last negatives which ill take care of in the next two months.

[Anonymous]

If I understand correctly you are asking if you will get a big score boost from paying off your last collection? But you also state you will still have other dreogs on your report.
The big score boost comes when you move from a dirty report (derogatory marks) to a clean report. (Nothing derogatory) doesn't matter if the derog is a charge off, collection or whatever.
You may see a small increase from having one less derog when you pay off your last collection, but the biggest bump comes from moving to a clean report. ☺

[AndySoCal]

I think you should get a small increase in your score from paying the credit cards down not sure how much. Keep in mind First Premier is a revolving credit card with a balance and is a part of your credit utilization. You need to address the First Premier and time share at some point in time.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. So ill take care of those three things this month and then PIF the First premier so that it reports Paid instead of negative and get the TimePayment paid next month. 

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to update everyone! So my starting scores are in my siggy but my current scores (the TU hasnt updated with the Capital One pay off, idk why its taking so long) are below after just a little over a month. I ended up settling the First premier with the 3rd party collection agency so that updated to paid. I gained 50-53 points for paying off my Capital One acct and bringing my utilization to 3% on my Total card. I disputed the Time Payment and that was removed within a week. I got a secured Discover card and that boosted my score about 14 points. I also filed a BBB complaint on the collection that i had because when I called almost every day for an entire week I was told that they are unable to see my account only my name and the original creditor. In turn, they removed the collection from all three CRAs. I went from a poor rating to almost "good" rating in a little under 2 weeks! Now i have no negs (except the paid charge off until 2022 and some late payments from SLs that were supposed to be in forbearance). Now ill be gardening and letting my credit report age. 

[CreditGame12]

Awesome! Congrats on the quick turnaround!