Advice needed on best way to raise FICO score

[Jughead]

I would like any advice on how to raise my score.   Here is my credit data:

Dec 2013 FICO     600

Dec 2014 FICO     640

Cap One Card     $650 balance      $3,750 limit

Cap One Card     $550 balance      $4,000 limit

Student loan        $590 balance  (been paying 20 years on this one I hate to say)

No lates in the last year and have kept utilization around 20%.   Had three increases in credit line from Cap One for both cards (from each card limit of $500 to current level)

The bad:

Short Sale on House with BofA (credit report says Settled for Less that Amount Owed)      March 2007 

One account in collection with Portfolio Recovery (was GE Paypal my wife bought something with) opened Dec 2012 current balance  $616

I tried Lexington Law this year and they knocked about 5 minor things off my credit report (e.g. some thirty day lates from 2 or 3 years ago).

Other than paying on time and keeping utilizatiion below 15% what can anyone recommend I can do to get to 720 by end of 2015 (if possible)?   Would it make sense to open another credit card or installment loan of some sort?  I dont need the funds but would like to get my FICO up.  Also, I rent and do not have a mortgage but am happy with that. 

Thank you in advance for any advice.

[Anonymous]

If the short sale was reported 3/2007 it should have fallen off or be falling off imminently. That should be your first priority. Get paper reports and see when it's scheduled to fall off. 

You could also gain points by paying down your revolving balnces. Since you have 100% of your cards showing a balance you're getting hit from that as well. For max potential score I'd pay one down to zero and leave the other with a small balance. I's also consider getting another Revolver. It may drop your score for 3-6 months but the payoff in the end will be higher because you could have less than 50% of cards showing a balance. 

Is the paypal credit a Revolving debt?

[HiLine]

I second what EricDET said. Also get an installment loan if you can.

[Jughead]

Eric,

Thank you for taking time to answer my questions, your advice is very helpful.

1) I made a mistake on the short sale sale.  I bought the house in March 2007 and had the short sale March 2010 so it would still be on for a few more years.

2) The paypal account that went to collection was a revolver.   It is with portfolio recovery and is sitting there unpaid at $616.  I have left it alone not sure if I should pay it off.

I will heed your advice and pay down on credit card to near zero and maintain a low utilization.  I will also obtain an installment loan.   I don't need a car loan so I thought maybe a small $1k or $2k credit union loan where I could put the loan proceeds into a bank account and pay off each month.  

[Jughead]

HiLine, thank you for taking time to help me.   Good advice which I will follow.

[Anonymous]

Is the paypal account listed by both paypal as a charge off and portfolio recovery as a collection on your reports? 

[Jughead]

It is listed as a Collection Account with Portfolio as the holder of the account.    The original creditor was GE Capital Bank (issuer of Paypal credit).