progress possible in 13 months?

[Anonymous]

Hi guys! I've been reading on the forum for a little bit now, but this is my first post and I'm hoping that you guys might be able to help me. I currently live in NJ and am looking to move to Florida early next July. In that time before I move, I was hoping to be able to raise my credit score to atleast 700.

The only thing is, is that my transunion score is currently 454, and my equifax is 464.

I was doing pretty well up until last month when I made a stupid mistake and my auto pay for my car loan somehow never charged my account (which I take full responsibility for not checking) and that hit my credit report with a 60 day late. I obviously immediately paid the past due amount, but when I talked to Ally, they wouldn't take off the late hit from my account. Not that I blame them. This dropped my scores almost 190 points as I was in the low 600s at the time.

My total utilization is at 27%, with $4,900 in balances on $18,800 in CLs from 5 different cards. I've got an Amex with a 2k limit, 2 Capital One cards ($2,750 and $6,750), a Chase with $5,500 and a Discover with $1,800.

My AAoA is 4 years 9 months, with my oldest card being one of my Capital One cards being 12 years 4 months that my dad had me on as an authorized user about 6 years ago and still reports on my credit report.

My student loans are in rehab until November, which also hit my credit report. In the contract I signed to rehab, they are only delinquent on my credit report until November and then they will be removed and put in good standing.

The only charge offs I have are from my freshman year of college when I was young and stupid with my money. They are from 2012.

I guess I'm just hoping to get some tips from you guys in ways that I might be able to raise my credit score? Do you think its possible to be able to raise it to atleast 700 by the time I move? One of the other reasons that I'm trying to raise it as well is because I want to try and get the Chase Sapphire Preffered before I move or any other high limit card in case of emergency since I'm moving cross country. I don't necessarily NEED it per se, but I feel like it would give me some slight peace of mind.

Thanks guys!!

[seruby]

700 might be difficult with the charge offs.   I'm about 680 or so, and I'm sure it's because of 2 collections accounts.    My utilization is typically 1-5%... 5% on a bad month. That being said, I got a Chase Sapphire Reserve card earlier this year, and I bought a house at the end of last year.

So don't get discouraged if you don't get to 700.  You'll probably still be able to get the chase card and a house.

What are your individual card utilizations?  I believe having multiple cards report a balance is worse than having one card report a balance, even if the utilization is the same (i.e.  5 cards reporting 1% utilization is worse than 4 cards reporting 0% and 1 card reporting 5%).   If any of your cards are high utilization, pay them down.

[Anonymous]

The first year I'm there I'm going to rent just so I dont make a huge commitment before I really know the area, so I know I should be good for that. What was your score when you were approved for the card? My balance is split between the Amex and one of the Capital One cards. It just sucks because at the moment I can't even get a secured card if I applied, but atleast I have these cards reporting each month to my report. Is there anything I should do in particular to raise the score?

[Anonymous]

"In case of emergency" rule #1: have cash in savings to back up any payments on credit cards from emergencies.

If you have no savings now, don't consider moving, don't consider getting credit.  Start saving today.  As in, open a savings account today and start putting a few dollars a day into it.

This way, you will never be late on a payment again in your life and you'll be able to rebuild your credit scores more efficiently.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

"In case of emergency" rule #1: have cash in savings to back up any payments on credit cards from emergencies.

If you have no savings now, don't consider moving, don't consider getting credit.  Start saving today.  As in, open a savings account today and start putting a few dollars a day into it.

This way, you will never be late on a payment again in your life and you'll be able to rebuild your credit scores more efficiently.

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I do have savings! So far I have about 20k in the bank, I just feel like I need to have a few different back up cards just in case. I mean, I'm more worried about raising the score more than anythign else.

[Anonymous]

Great!

Take $2500 of that savings and get the Discover Secured card -- it gives you 1-2% cashback on all purchases and double bonus for the first year of charges.

Take $3000 of that savings and get the Capital One Secured card -- it has no rewards or cashback but will help you build positive history.

[Anonymous]

I have a positive history on the 5 cards that I have now, and I have both discover and capital one. Should I still take out the secured cards then? I guess I'm just confused as to where to go from here because most people with bad scores have no current positive cc history, but I do. The only current lates were on my car loan, and that was just a stupid mistake on my part that I'm paying for now. But all of my current cc's have a 100% payment history.

[Anonymous]

Oh if you have positive history then you don't need secured cards at all.  Next step is to get your utilization under control which will boost your FICOs and help you get new tradelines.

What are your utilizations across all accounts?  Not average utilization but each credit balance/limit of each account?

The 60D late payment will age off slowly but since it is a one-time issue after 1-2 years you'll start recovering from it.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Oh if you have positive history then you don't need secured cards at all.  Next step is to get your utilization under control which will boost your FICOs and help you get new tradelines.

What are your utilizations across all accounts?  Not average utilization but each credit balance/limit of each account?

The 60D late payment will age off slowly but since it is a one-time issue after 1-2 years you'll start recovering from it.

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Both my Amex and my higher Cap1 are at about 50% and the rest all have 0% utilization. The only reason I put it on those is because I had better interest rates on those 2. The Amex is 0% so I figured it would be easier to pay it off on those cards. My paychecks are good so I can have them paid down to about 10% no problem but I guess I'm just trying to figure out  if there's anything I can do but wait it out at this point. How much do you think it'll raise in a year?

[MrsCHX]

Utilization isn't holding OP back. 

If you have $20,000 you need to work on cleaning up your credit and try to get the COs paid/removed. You need to keep trying to GW on the late payment. The student loan derogs being removed will help, but you will not see the bump you expect with those other negative items.