So, I'm new here but here goes. 3 years ago my score was 520. It's 679 now.
year 1:
I started with self loans- paid on time every month to a zero balance. I then got a self secured. Paid on time every month and they increased to 1k and sent back my security. Got citi secured. Paid down. Made mistake of closing.
year 2:
cap 1. They gave me 400. They've only increased to 7
credit one. 500. Raised to 600
bluesky. 500. Raised to 1000
car loan 15,000
year 3:
care credit. 300. Raised to 3000
avant. 300. Raised to 600
year 3.5:
amex blue. 2000
discover. 1000
paid off car loan, just got a loan on Porsche for 59,000
i have all cards still (except Citi). Once I got the better cards(Amex and discover) I use these and pay off almost in full every month. The others have balances between 18-100.
I'm high income but can't break 700. Also, balances never seem accurately reported Thoughts?
12/22 : 
@Suzette2 wrote:So, I'm new here but here goes. 3 years ago my score was 520. It's 679 now.
year 1:
I started with self loans- paid on time every month to a zero balance. I then got a self secured. Paid on time every month and they increased to 1k and sent back my security. Got citi secured. Paid down. Made mistake of closing.
year 2:cap 1. They gave me 400. They've only increased to 7
credit one. 500. Raised to 600
bluesky. 500. Raised to 1000
car loan 15,000
year 3:
care credit. 300. Raised to 3000
avant. 300. Raised to 600
year 3.5:
amex blue. 2000
discover. 1000
paid off car loan, just got a loan on Porsche for 59,000
i have all cards still (except Citi). Once I got the better cards(Amex and discover) I use these and pay off almost in full every month. The others have balances between 18-100.
I'm high income but can't break 700. Also, balances never seem accurately reported Thoughts?
Welcome to the forum. There are a ton of really smart and experienced people in this forum. I am very confident that we will all find a solution to your question.
What I might contribute to this situation is to ask a very basic question (I am a VERY basic guy): have you pulled your three credit reports lately?
If not, please consider going to annualcreditreport.com and getting all three (Experian, Equifax, Transunion) and then searching each and looking for any Late Payments or Collections or Charge-Offs (there might be other "baddies" but these are the three main "baddies" that we find....a judgement or a bankruptcy or a lien or an eviction would also be considered "baddies", LOL).
Then ensure that whatever you might find (if anything) is on all three reports.
Have you pulled all three Credit Reports lately? Due to COVID-19, the US Government has allowed us to pull a weekly credit report (vs. the "typical" annual) through December, 2022.
No worries here! We will all help you find that answer (to cracking the 700 score barrier and then beyond).
Starting Score: Exp 627
@Suzette2 wrote:So, I'm new here but here goes. 3 years ago my score was 520. It's 679 now.
year 1:
I started with self loans- paid on time every month to a zero balance. I then got a self secured. Paid on time every month and they increased to 1k and sent back my security. Got citi secured. Paid down. Made mistake of closing.
year 2:**cap 1. They gave me 400. They've only increased to 7
**credit one. 500. Raised to 600
**bluesky. 500. Raised to 1000
**car loan 15,000
year 3:
**care credit. 300. Raised to 3000
**avant. 300. Raised to 600
year 3.5:
**amex blue. 2000
**discover. 1000
paid off car loan, just got a loan on Porsche for 59,000
i have all cards still (except Citi). Once I got the better cards(Amex and discover) I use these and pay off almost in full every month. The others have balances between 18-100.
I'm high income but can't break 700. Also, balances never seem accurately reported Thoughts?
Quick question - what is the utilization of each of these "accounts"?
The reason that I ask is that your FICO scores consist of five "incredients". Two of these so-called ingredients - payment history and utilization - consist of 65% of your FICO score (35% and 30%, respectively). So, if you have a missed payment or a collection or a high utilization on one (or more) of your cards you *could* be suffering a big hit.
One reads all over the place to "keep utilization under 30%". And that is not incorrect. What is "more" correct (please afford me some lattitude here) is to keep utilization under 10% (we can debate the semantics here....likely under 8.9% - for most - if we want to be technically correct).
So, the "payment history" question (about pulling your credit reports) spoke to the 35% part and now with this I am speaking to the 30% part.
Make sense?
Hey guys- thanks for the prompt reply.
utilization is 25-30 percent and I've never missed a payment on any card/loan/car loan.
maybe I should keep the ones I use most now at a lower utilization? (Discover, cap1 and Amex)
I do have one charge off that is 4 years old- had medical and lost job issues 7 plus years ago and that's the only thing left on my credit.
Oh yea- care credit, credit one, avant-, self and blue sky are at 10 percent
@Suzette2 wrote:Hey guys- thanks for the prompt reply.
utilization is 25-30 percent and I've never missed a payment on any card/loan/car loan.
maybe I should keep the ones I use most now at a lower utilization? (Discover, cap1 and Amex)
I do have one charge off that is 4 years old- had medical and lost job issues 7 plus years ago and that's the only thing left on my credit.
Now we are getting somewhere. A charge-off is going to hit and hit hard. And it will hit hard for most of its existence. The hit does, however, lessen over time.
Might I ask what the DofD is? DofD is "Date of first Delinquency".....it is one of the items listed for each account.
Also, for each of the three Credit Reports, what is the "Status Updated" reflect?
To be clear, "Status Updated" is specifically found on the Experian Report, while "Date Updated" is found on the Transunion Report and "Date Reported" is found on the Equifax Report.
Also, is the Charge Off paid (either in-full or partially)? Does the balance due report a $0? Hopefully, if these two questions are Yes and Yes, then the Status Updated/Date Updated/Date Reported data is the day/month in which the final payment was made (specifcally, the day/month on which the payment that brought the balance to $0 was made) is not still updating.
I had a charge-off with Merrick and had one heck of a time with it (look in the 'Credit Rebuilding' forum for that if you fancy some great reading.....SARCASM, Sheldon!). The blessing with that situation is that I learned a WHOLE LOT about how that side of things works (which is sometimes how it is "supposed" to work....but sometimes not so much).
Awesome. No- none of my open cards have any delinquency. This matter is 4.5 years old. I prob have to wait for pt to slide off, right?
Updated 3 years ago. When I started really working on straightening things out. Ugh.
@HowDoesThisAllWork wrote:
@Suzette2 wrote:Hey guys- thanks for the prompt reply.
utilization is 25-30 percent and I've never missed a payment on any card/loan/car loan.
maybe I should keep the ones I use most now at a lower utilization? (Discover, cap1 and Amex)
I do have one charge off that is 4 years old- had medical and lost job issues 7 plus years ago and that's the only thing left on my credit.
Now we are getting somewhere. A charge-off is going to hit and hit hard. And it will hit hard for most of its existence. The hit does, however, lessen over time.
Might I ask what the DofD is? DofD is "Date of first Delinquency".....it is one of the items listed for each account.
Also, for each of the three Credit Reports, what is the "Status Updated" reflect?
To be clear, "Status Updated" is specifically found on the Experian Report, while "Date Updated" is found on the Transunion Report and "Date Reported" is found on the Equifax Report.
Also, is the Charge Off paid (either in-full or partially)? Does the balance due report a $0? Hopefully, if these two questions are Yes and Yes, then the Status Updated/Date Updated/Date Reported data is the day/month in which the final payment was made (specifcally, the day/month on which the payment that brought the balance to $0 was made) is not still updating.
I had a charge-off with Merrick and had one heck of a time with it (look in the 'Credit Rebuilding' forum for that if you fancy some great reading.....SARCASM, Sheldon!). The blessing with that situation is that I learned a WHOLE LOT about how that side of things works (which is sometimes how it is "supposed" to work....but sometimes not so much).
Yea- updated 3.5 years ago- when I started really straightening things out
@Suzette2 wrote:Awesome. No- none of my open cards have any delinquency. This matter is 4.5 years old. I prob have to wait for pt to slide off, right?
Yes, ma'am!
And you will have to wait seven years (plus some six months) from the DofD for this to fall off on it's own.
A charge-off is actually an accounting term for the creditors. Typcially, for credit cards, the creditor will attempt to collect on an account for six months (so, you will have the first "late" show up....and it is denoted with a "30-day" mark). Mind you, those six months have to be successive months (so, you would see a 30-day, then a 60-day, then a 90-day, then a 120-day, then another 120-day, and finally another 120-day.....then you see the "CO"). You will not reach "CO" status if you have a singular 30-day or even a 30-day followed by a 60-day.
You can still use this time (read: until the CO falls off) to put yourself in a great position for "Day X" (with Day X being the day after your CO falls off).
Got it. Does it stay on 7 years after payoff automatically? Or, do they stop reporting? 🙏🙏