help, please

[Anonymous]

Hi all!

New to MyFICO and this form. I have been trying for YEARS to build my credit on my own with no luck. I read and read different forum posts, articles, suggestions and it all just swirls around in my head confusing me more.  So, I am looking for suggestions and advise from hopefully people that have been in the trenches and help me understand what I need to do.

Here are my facts

Creditkarma said my scores dropped today from 609/620 to 598/599. MyFICO has as of today 597, 585, 582, respectively

Just paid off my car last month, so no car payment now and of course the account is closed but in good standing.

Capital One $500 ($1500 credit limit) (no late payments)

1st store card $920 ($980 credit limit) (no late payments)

2nd store card was $500 credit limit, (no late payments) paid it off last month and as of today my credit limit was dropped to $160

AE $4500 ($4500 limit) (no late payments)

Credit union credit card $485 ($500 limit) (2 late payments in 2011, but none since)

Fingerhut $1000 ($2300 credit limit) (no late payments)

Community Bank CC $17 ($250 credit limit) (1 late payment)

QVC $1500, was late and finally was able pay off card, account closed

$20,000 in student loans, in good standing and currently in school

Collection account for medical bills $339

All of my accounts are less than 5 years old, which I know isn't optimal.

My goal is to get my score up above 700, I would love 740, I want to buy a house, sooner rather than later and I don't want to have to pay outrageous interest rates. My plan was/is now that my car is paid off, to start paying off all my credit card balances. What frustrating is that I wasn't expecting my limit to go down on one of the cards, I was banking on that to show I was decreasing my utilization. I plan eventually on using my AE card to pay my bills each month, which total $1500 and I read that if you find out the closing date and the due date, and pay between those two, it shows that you are utlizing your card, but you have no interest charges. Which shows lenders you are responsible. 

I know that the late payments, closed accounts, and collection accounts are not good. I forgot to mention, I intend to pay the collection account soon. And the length of open accounts are not the best. But, honestly, my late payments, closed accounts and collection account, hasn't done much, I have never been above a 640 credit score even before the bad stuff, according to creditkarma and that was only for 1 day and then it immediately went back down.

What am I doing wrong? What should I be doing that I don't know about? Will my credit limit ever go back up on the one card? Help, Help, Help! Credit SOS!

Thank ya'll for any and all help.

A

[Anonymous]

@crazycreditlady I can tell you from personal experience I am in a similar boat. However, what I figured out is that if you keep your cards below 10% of your limit, your core jumps at least 20 points the first month (mine did 50) and the about 5-10 the following months.

[Anonymous]

Hello. Welcome to the Forum!
The first thing you should address is your card utilization. If you multiply the balance by the limit you will have your utilization percentage. Work on that first. There are suggested points of utilization that (hopefully another member will share with you) you should maintain.
Google the hippa process for your unpaid medical collections.
Goodwill your late payments.
Continue to make on time payments . Hope this helps. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Your utilization is wrecking your score; simple as that. I'll tell you first hand that even though those lates ding your score, they are hardly the culprit dragging your score as low as it is. I am working on cleaning up my wifes' credit from before we had met. She has multiple 30, 60, 90, 120 day lates on different accounts, an AAoA of just over 1 year, 2 collections, and her FICO 8 scores are in the mid 600 range. Get your utilization down, and you will see your score go up. Good luck!