@OCCA wrote:Hi,
I've been working on my credit for a little over a year. Here's what I have:
Bank
Opened
Limit
Status
Balance
High Credit
Comments
BofA
2/13
$500
current
$175
$531
All
PIF each mo
CapitalOne
3/14
$800
1x30 10/14
$46
$439
All
Sm balance each mo
Discover (AU only)
3/87
$13,600
1x30 9/11
0
$12,600
TU & EQ
Inactive since 4/13
Collection
3/10
$260
open
$260
N/A
EQ
State Tax Lien
5/09
$4,238
Released 2/12
0
N/A
All
Judgment
3/11
$4,983
open
0
N/A
TU & EQ
PIF in 5/13 pend Satisfaction
It doesn't look great but it looks better than when I started!
My scores were good enough last Summer for me to qualify for an FHA mortgage. I know the 30-day late iwith CapitalOne n October really hurt me. I paid BofA twice and didn't figure it out until the next month when it was too late. I understand this impacting my scores. I don't understand the stuff below--
Nov--Got an old, paid collection removed. My scores dropped 4-8 pts depending on the bureau.Soemthing else changed causing the drop not the removal of the CA
March--CapitalOne gave me a spontaneous $500 credit limit increase and BofA converted my card to unsecured. My score dropped 11-29 pts. The only "bad" thing that happened was that I let both card show a $0 balance. Your open revolvers at 0 causes a Fico score drop a soon as you let one report a small balance of no more than 9% of its CL the points are returned.
April--I showed a balance on one of my cards ($22) and all three scores dropped another 8-14 pts due to increased usage. The messages you get are not always the reason again something else in the background has changed it can be nearly impossible to find.
May--I was able to get all three bureaus to delete four paid tax liens and my scores dropped again.
June--Scores dropped again due to increased usage. My usage was higher in May and June due to business travel expenses but both cards were paid-off each month so I never carried a balance. Ya as you increase utilization that reports to the CRA your scores will take a hit. You only want 1 card reporting a small balance of the percentage I indicated above and the rest at 0.
I'm supposed to get the Judgement Satisfaction here soon and I'm scared about how my scores will react! (only sort of kidding?) There should be no effect on way or another when it updates to satisfied its the fact that the judgment occurred in the first place that Fico cares about, see about getting it vacated after it updates to paid some states allow this, it would require a motion to vacate on grounds its been paid to be filed in the court that granted it.
For July i should only end up showing a small balance on the CapitalOne card so I'm hoping my scores will increase. However, since I'm in the low 600's, I know I will still be a long way off from the 640 average needed to qualify for an FHA mortgage which is my goal. FHA only requires a 580 score AFAIK unless there are other creditor requirements in your area that raise it. Might check this out in the mortgage forum.
Does anyone have any advice for what i can do to get my scores back up? On the tax lien see if you can get it withdrawn you would contact the entity that placed it to see. Get that collection taken care of especially if its updating monthly, attempt the PFD, if you cant come to a deal then settle it to stop the updates and switch to goodwill letter writing campaign asking for its removal.
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
