Best strategy to boost my score

[Anonymous]

Hi creditguy!

You are correct -
My goal is to buy a car in April .

I checked my report, one card is showing a $12 balance!

I have an open mortgage but not any other loans.

[Anonymous]

If you can get Portfolio to PFD that collection asap, your scores could be 100-110 points higher when that chargeoff falls off in February.

[Anonymous]

Portfolio falls off in April ...

[Anonymous]

Don't sweat it then.  Just patiently garden til then and you'll be in the 700s (if not mid-700s).

[Anonymous]

You think so? Even with all my late pays?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
You think so? Even with all my late pays?

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Nothing is guaranteed in credit scoring but based on the following assumption information I would sign my name to that bet...

1. No reported chargeoffs, BKs, tax liens or other public records
2. No reported 90D-150D lates
3. Most recent 60D late is 36+ monts ago

700 scores, maybe mid-700s.  A 60D late after 3 years hurts you for about 30 points on average.  25 points after 4 years.

[Anonymous]

The SS Loan Technique will not help you since you have an open loan already (a mortgage).

You don't mention which card is showing the balance.  If it is the AU card, that could be a problem.  Ideally when implementing AZEO (All Zero Except One) the one card showing the balance should be a card in your name.

Contributor Thomas Thumb along with others have reported that when their sole card is an AU card they get penalized as if all their cards are at $0.  AU cards work in an unpredictable way from person to person, so YMMV.