Does this affect my score??

[Anonymous]

Wow, I just have so many questions tonight.  My question for this post has been eating @ me since I have been trying to get my credit score into the mid 600s on EQ.  I have paid all of my credit card debt which totalled 111% util,  that has been paid down to 2% when all balances report.  I have already recieved a 45 point jump for two of my cards that reported.  The next two balances are scheduled to report next month one that totals 108% util and the other is 136% and both will report 0 balances.  So I am hoping to get a pretty decent score boost for that.  I have also, since then paid off a loan balance, that lasted about 15 months, and the 0 balance should report next month.  My question is, will that 0 balance affect my score positively, negatively or will it have no affect at all? 

[llecs]

If this is your only loan, you might see an increase or a decrease. I paid off my last and saw a loss on TU and a gain on EQ in the single digits. YMMV based on your bucket. If you have other loans, I can't imagine any score change.

[Anonymous]

Thanks

I guess I want really look for any score change on the account of the loan being paid off because I do have other loans, 2 to be exact,an open auto loan and student loan.  I guess I wll have to be perfectly happy with the score gain that I get from the cc balances and wait another 2 years for the remaining negatives on my reports to fall off to see another score change  Thanks llecs.

[llecs]

If you happen to pull your FICO score(s) immediately before and after this loan reports $0 and if oyu see a change, be sure to let us know!

[Anonymous]

I sure will.  Doesn't scorewatch send alerts when balances increase or decrease?  If something good comes out of this loan reporting a 0 bal it will be great, if not I will still be happy.  This loan actually kept me from going to court, thanks to the advice, I got from all of my fico pals here at myfico, its really not supposed to be on my credit report, I thought I was done borrowing.  One Sunday morning I was served a summons from an CA for an old HSBC acct, and I remembered some advice that I read in the myfico community earlier that year.  The advice was, if you were served a summons call the agency or the law firm handling the debt to try and resolve it before it goes to court.  I got a debt that was almost 4500 to settle for 1200 and that is where the loan came from.  So if anything good comes out of it I will rejoice, but I think that I have gotten my blessing, because there was no judgment involved and the CA never reported the debt and that was two years ago. In two years all of my negatives on my report will vanish, like they were never there.

Thanks again llecs.

[llecs]

SW won't alert you to a balance decrease, but would alert you to a status change if/when the OC updates as such. When I paid off my loan, it actually took a month for the auto lender to update with a status of "closed". Make sure your current FICO score matches the target score.

[Anonymous]

thanks llecs,

But why does my target score needs to be the same as my current score?  I thought that your target score should be the score that you are trying to reach.  I'll change it.

[RobertEG]

tiger, you understand the game, and are doing the right things!

Here is my advice, for what it is worth.

Paying down installment credit wont show any major gain, so expect little if anything from the loan payoff in your next FICO scoring.

If you get all revolving accounts under 10% util, then I would not put a whole lot more emphasis there.

That was your instant FICO gratification, but you may have to refocus a bit more to the long term.

It appears that you have some major past payment derogs on your CR that are keeping you down in the low to mid 600's.

In my true opinion, unless I was planning to apply for significant new credit within the next year, I would first concentrate on the more significant long range impacts of those derogs on your score. 

If, for example, and this is just a hypothetical  example, if you were to negotiate a PFD with a CA that you could only pay now by increasing your % util on one of your now sacred less-than-10% revolving accounts to cover it, I would let my % util rise and get rid of the collection.   Major derogs last for 7 - 71/2 years, while % util FICO impacts can be addressed in a month or two before applying for credit. 

[llecs]

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@Anonymous wrote:

thanks llecs,

But why does my target score needs to be the same as my current score?  I thought that your target score should be the score that you are trying to reach.  I'll change it.

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If you set your target score to match your current score, you'll then get alerted to any score change, up or down. If you set it for 720, for example, then you won't get any score alerts until 720.

[Anonymous]

Great advise Robert, my wife and I are actually looking to get a 2nd car, but we are waiting for the other 2 balances to report so we can get better interest rates, but I never thought of using the cards I just paid off to try pfds.  I actually have to medical, and one from an old phone bill, that may add up to 350.00,  I think that I will try that, but the wife and I are badly in need of a 2nd car, like yesterday, and if I could just get my scores to 650 for the time being that would be great.  I am going to try for a pfd on those 3 collection accts which are the only collections that I have and I will let you know how it turns out.  Does anyone have any example of HIPPA letters to send to the CA when I try for this?  Wow I am exited!!!!

Thanks Robert,