I suppose the better I manage (and keep paying like I have been without ever missing a payment) the better until that magic fall off date. Do you think I should keep utilization lower, get more credit- or just manage what I have? Any hope yo reach 700 before fall off ?
@HowDoesThisAllWork wrote:
@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).
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?
My advice:
1. All accounts should report zero balance each month except Amex and Discover.
2. Amex and Discover should report small statement balance, and then be paid off in full (not almost in full).
3. If any of these have an annual or monthly fee, start gradually closing them: Credit One, Blue Sky, Avant.
@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.
Absolutely. Your revolving utilization should be 6% or less.
How do you feel about cap1? Increases have been paltry. But I read here about them starting w 100. Keep a zero on it as well?
@Suzette2 wrote:How do you feel about cap1? Increases have been paltry. But I read here about them starting w 100. Keep a zero on it as well?
Your Capital One card is almost undoubtedly "bucketed", which means that CLI's will be few and far between. But you should keep the card open, use it, and just be sure to pay it off before the statement cut, so that it reports a zero balance.
Down the road, if you want a significantly higher credit limit from Capital One, you will probably need to get a second card from them. But since I have no respect for Capital One I can't recommend that.
In any event there's no harm in keeping the card unless it has an annual fee. If it does have an annual fee, at some point you may want to close it.... but not now, and not in the near future.
Makes total sense. Utilization has been 25 percent. Just got on here and see it should ne much lower. Also, I need to pay more attention to the day it gets reported. It was recommended I have zero balances on the 'loser' cards. Already done. I'll use Amex, discover and to a lesser degree cap 1- but keep them at 7 percent. And keep paying off through the month.
I did just pay a car off and get another one so I'm headed in the right direction. I think it will help with these tips.
do you guys think I should get more/better cards or let the dust settle?
I also do not have a mortgage- house paid for
@HowDoesThisAllWork wrote:
@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?
@Suzette2 wrote:Makes total sense. Utilization has been 25 percent. Just got on here and see it should ne much lower. Also, I need to pay more attention to the day it gets reported. It was recommended I have zero balances on the 'loser' cards. Already done. I'll use Amex, discover and to a lesser degree cap 1- but keep them at 7 percent. And keep paying off through the month.
I did just pay a car off and get another one so I'm headed in the right direction. I think it will help with these tips.
do you guys think I should get more/better cards or let the dust settle?
I also do not have a mortgage- house paid for
@HowDoesThisAllWork wrote:
@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?
I don't think you should have all 3 (Amex, Discover, Capital One) reporting small balances. At most 2. Preferably just 1.
As to more and better cards, you should hold off and "let the dust settle".
@Suzette2 wrote:Got it. Does it stay on 7 years after payoff automatically? Or, do they stop reporting? 🙏🙏
Good afternoon! Sorry for the delaye reply.
A Charge Off will continue to update until the outstanding balance (whether you pay all in full or you pay a settlement) shows $0. Once that magical $0 "balance outstanding" is met, the creditor MUST stop updating (this is SUPER important). Now, that does not mean that the creditor will stop reporting. Or that the CRA will stop.
SIDEBAR: I had a charge off with Merrick and, via looking at my credit reports and investigating things, determined that two of the CRAs will still showing data with respect to "last updated" while one was not. I looked into that (here in these forums) and wrote some letters to Merrick. Not sure where the issue was, but with Equifax the data showing with respect to "last updated" continued to be updated. Merrick swore up and down that they had modified this and Equifax (which, and this is my opinion based on my experiences with Equifax) is likely the one CRA with which I want ZERO interaction. SIDEBAR OVER!
Why is that "last updated" data so important? Because that ages the delinquency. In other words, that tells all the creditors in the world how long ago this "issue" was. The more recent the issue, the bigger the hit to your credit score. The longer ago the issue, the more this hit lessens.
I am not sure if this answers the qeustion that you asked, however. I included the above just in case you were asking about "hit to score".
If you are asking about how long this "baddie" will stay on your Credit Reports, then the answer is that this "baddie" shows on your credit score for some seven years + a potenital for six months AFTER the Date of First Delinqency [that "DoFD" that I initially mentioned". So, you will have this "Negative Account | Adverse Account" on your Credit Report for some seven+ years (again, the DoFD is the determining factor here)].
I specifically stated "seven years + a potential of six months" above because there is something called an Early Exclusion. Each of the three CRAs will allow you to request that an account be removed early. How early and what - if any - parameters there might be varies for each of the CRAs.
That might be something for you to investigate (both the concept of "Early Exclusion" - also know as "EE" in this forum - as well as the application).
Starting Score: Exp 627
@Suzette2The reason we say keep your statement balance as low as possible each month (no less than 8.99%) is interest paid if you dont PIF before the due date and carry it to the next month. Lower the balance. Less interest. Lower monthly payment. Paying interest is money you'll never see again. Drive down I95 and throw $1 out the window each mile. You going to stop and run back to get it? If you do. I'll be coming for ya. 
Or. You got a cashback card and pay interest. Well there goes your profit for using the card to pay interest. Use the cards all you want. Reap the rewards. Pay them all down except one if you can as @SouthJamaica posted. Then pay in full. Banks lose money from interest. But they make $ from you swiping. In turn. The interest paid is in your wallet. Not theirs.
There will come a time one day we have to carry balances for a major purchase or emergency. Use your lowest APR card.
