How can I raise a 716 FICO score?

[fused]

I'm stumped, AEW. You have a fairly long credit history, little new credit, low util, no lates, no derogs and your score FICO score is 716. Hmmm...let me think. LOL!

Where did you get your FICO scores from, and which CRAs? EQ? TU? Etc?

BTW, installment util doesn't mean much in FICO scoring, its mostly about revolving util like CCs.

[Anonymous]

Here is what I have for scores as of today:

TU: 716

EQ: 712

EXP (PLUS): 723

My TU and EQ both say that my history isn't long enough, but then go on to say that high achievers have a history of at least 19 years and my history is 21 years and 11 mos....weird.

Also EQ and TU say I need more credit mix like a mortgage or installment loan.

[haulingthescoreup]

Even though you're paying your balances off before the due date, except when you let them carry once a quarter (you don't need to do this, by the way), are they reporting balances on your credit reports? Or do you pay them early, so that one or more report $0? I couldn't tell for sure from what you wrote.

If they're all reporting a balance, and even though you then immediately pay it off, you could be getting hurt for having all accounts, and all revolving accounts, reporting balances.

eta: and since you noted that the Experian score is a PLUS score, I assume that you got your EQ and TU scores here, and they are definitely FICO scores, as opposed to "credit scores", correct?

[haulingthescoreup]

Also, on the EQ and TU score reports, what are the negatives listed on screen 2, on the left, in order?

I don't pay much attention to the cute little graphs on screen one or the red flags on screen 4, but the negatives on screen 2 are what are dropping your score, with the most damaging one listed first.

Oh, and the positives on the right are pretty much just warm fuzzies. Nice, but pretty much meaningless. I think they're probably the negative factors that are least hurting, but double negatives make my head hurt.

[Anonymous]

To "haulingthescoreup",

No I have no balances showing up on my report for my 3 credit cards.

On credit reports yes I have EQ and TU credit reports.

The negatives are

1) No installement loans - I paid off my auto loan in 2006 and I have no other installment loans.

2) Not long enough credit history - which is odd because my history is then listed as 21 years, 11 mos.

[haulingthescoreup]

There is a definite ding for having all accounts showing $0. Don't know why, unless it's interpreted as an indication of being too scared to use cards. I lose 10 points or more on EQ for having all with $0, and I've seen posts of 15+ points lost.

What's your AAoA? This should display on your history ding. If the longest account is really old, but the average age isn't that high, there seems to be a ding.

[fused]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

To "haulingthescoreup",

No I have no balances showing up on my report for my 3 credit cards.

On credit reports yes I have EQ and TU credit reports.

The negatives are

1) No installement loans - I paid off my auto loan in 2006 and I have no other installment loans.

2) Not long enough credit history - which is odd because my history is then listed as 21 years, 11 mos.

---

Its likely your score has taken a hit for $0 balances on all of your CCs. I know, I know its irritating. Another question: What is your AAoA (average age of accounts) on your FICO report? 

[mew]

I think my question is related. ..

My TU score is 716 and lists the following as hurting my score:

• 1. Missed payments
• 2. High account balances
• 3. Recent missed payment

My EQ score is 745 and lists the following as hurting my score:

• 1. Bad payment history
• 2. Installment balances

This info is accurate (missed payments from Dec 2006 - Feb 2007) and high amount of student loans.  I was reading on some other threads that a citifinancial loan and wells fargo financial credit card are hurting me as well.

But what is confusing me is the additional explanation on the reports.

TU lists the following as hurting my score:

You recently missed a payment or had a derogatory indicator reported on your credit report.

Your most recent late payment happened

3 Years, 8 Months ago

EQ lists the same thing as helping my score:

You've recently been paying your bills on time.

 Your most recent late payment happened

3 Years, 8 Months ago

Does this make sense?  How can the same thing be bad on 1 FICO score and good on another FICO score?  I thought the bad payment history would be a negative factor lowering my score for 7 years...

[chasmith]

These are pretty good scores and the software is trying to itemize reasons, sometimes it's misleading or contradictory.

As time passes old derogatories have less impact.  You can try to make goodwill requests to remove the 30/60/90 past due entries but that risks deletion of the whole tradeline.

Otherwise you need to watch time pass.  I know it's frustrating but that's the best answer I know.

[llecs]

Hi mew, a different FICO formula is used to calculate a score between the three CRs and each FICO formula is different and uses different reason codes to explain what is good and what is bad. Moreover, and not to complicate things too much, you are assigned within one of many scoring buckets and are compared to others who have a like report. It just so happens that within TU, and within your bucket for your TU CR, most others within the bucket have a better payment history than you do. Conversely in EQ, it happens that more people within your bucket have a worse EQ report than you do, so the 3-4yr old late doesn't hurt as bad.

The lates will impact you for the full 7 yrs (generally speaking for 90 days or worse), and you might see an increase if you see it fall off at 7 yrs. In other words, don't read into it that the late is a positive on EQ. Read into it that the length of time between lates doesn't hurt as bad when compared to others for EQ.