How do I climb from low 700s into 800?

[slayerbizkit]

Long story short, I've hit a point in my life now where I'm 100% debt free for the 2nd time in my life (did it about 6 years ago at 25 yrs old during my time in the military, went from 400 to 720ish). I rotate CC cards out every month, just for utilization [ and points ], and I pay off balances every month. It seems, no matter what I do, I simply get stuck around the 730 mark or lower, and I never climb. Did an experiment where I took out a personal loan and paid it off really fast, no dice, like maybe 2-3 point movement, don't even know if it was the loan that did it.

Feels like I've hit an invisible wall or plateau. Only have 7 hard inquiries within the past 2 years, 3 of them in the past 12 months. What moves do I need to make to start seeing my score climb again?

[Anonymous]

Easy to answer if you can give us the following data points:

1. List all your credit card individually along with current balances and limits on each
2. List all your OPEN installment loans including current balance and original balance
3. List the age of your oldest account on your credit report (open or closed but NOT an AU)
4. List your average age of accounts in months or years/months.

[slayerbizkit]

Alright, gonna post it parts (slow comp at work), have to do this in sections .

[Anonymous]

No worries, we're all patient.  We have to be when building better credit, lol.

[Anonymous]

Data Points  Current score 730

NFCU Bal $50.00  Credit Limit $15,000

Iberia  Bal $0.00    Credit Limit $ 7,500

VA Loan @ 3.25 30 Year fixed  Orig.$ 157,500  Owe $147,000  Owned 2 years

Hyundai Finance Car loan Paid $20,500 Aug 2016   Owe $14,400 as of Dec 2017

Oldest Account June 2004  

Average Age Approx 5 years.

Ch7 settled July 2012  (Hurricane ate house, Insurance company BK)Reinstated evrerything except house, Chase Card, & USAA second Mortgage.  No late or misses since April of 2012  

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Data Points  Current score 730

NFCU Bal $50.00  Credit Limit $15,000

Iberia  Bal $0.00    Credit Limit $ 7,500

@Anonymous Loan @ 3.25 30 Year fixed  Orig.$ 157,500  Owe $147,000  Owned 2 years

Hyundai Finance Car loan Paid $20,500 Aug 2016   Owe $14,400 as of Dec 2017

Oldest Account June 2004  

Average Age Approx 5 years.

Ch7 settled July 2012  (Hurricane ate house, Insurance company BK)Reinstated evrerything except house, Chase Card, & USAA second Mortgage.  No late or misses since April of 2012  

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Balances are fine, I bet you'll see a small bump when that mortgage gets below 88.9% left to pay.  Auto loan might be holding you back a sliver but probably nothing crazy.

The CH7 if reporting is hurting you.  Public records tend to hurt for as much as 90 points for the full 7 years reporting, and I think Ch7 reports for 10 years?  Either way, a public record typically caps people at 760 if everything else is PERFECT.

[slayerbizkit]

Phil, nice thread hijack dork   . Ok I'm home now on my main rig, Data Points

Credit Cards, all accounts Current (I would list all my closed accounts but they're all paid off and were closed years ago so idk ). 
AMEX Balance     $0       Credit Limit:                $1,200              May 2013
AMEX Balance     $85     Credit Limit:                $8,000              Sep 2015
BARCLAYS           $270   Credit Limit:                $10,000            Dec 2016
CAPITALONE        $0       Credit Limit:                $10,000           Sep 2015
CHASE CARD       $0        Credit Limit:                $14,100          Jan 2010
CHASE CARD       $0        Credit Limit                 $500                May 2016
CHASE CARD       $0        Credit Limit:                $2,100              Sep 2015
CITI                        $3        Credit Limit:                $9,000              Jan 2017
CITI                        $0        Credit Limit:                $10,100            Aug 2008
DISCOVER            $0        Credit Limit:                $10,500            Sep 2008
NFCU                    $0         Credit Limit:               $18,000            Nov 2013
PFCU                    $0          Credit Limit:              $12,000            Sep 2016
Store Card           $0          Credit Limit:             $2,500               Sep 2016
Store Card           $0          Credit Limit              $1,200               Oct 2015
USAA                    $21        Credit Limit              $11,500             Mar 2009
USAA                    $0          Credit Limit              $3,500               Mar 2017

Negative Info:

Collections ~$900from 2014 (They're not getting a penny from me. Tried to settle with cash IRL for 100%, OC said account out of their hands. I have enough hard evidence to trounce the collectors in court and come out with a profit, if they so choose to take it to there, CFPB violations through the roof. Bring it. ) 

Hmm, forgot about this until I typed it. Could be affecting me but my score has been climbing in spite of this so Idk how much damage this 1 3.5 year old negative is doing. Paying it off won't make it disappear until the 7 year mark so it is what it is. 

Hard Inquiries: 7  (4 in 2016, 3 this year 2017 )

Never had a mortgage, don't have any loans that aren't paid. Is lack of a mortgage a big deal?

[Anonymous]

Your CC usage is impressive as heck!

The lack of an installment loan hurts you -- I would do the Alliant SSL technique (it's in my 11 rules thread in my signature link) which may boost your scores as much as 30-35 points and it will literally cost you a few dollars TOTAL for 5 years of stellar perfect reporting.

The collection is killing your score overall, unfortunately.  It's as bad as a chargeoff usually, not as bad as a foreclosure or bankruptcy.  Probably will continue to ding your score for 60-70 points until it ages off.  So 850-60 = 790 might be your maximum score going forward until that goes away.

If you do the Alliant SSL, I bet you go to mid-700s right as soon as it reports.  Paying that collection will have zero effect on score unless they delete it.

Once you age those oldest accounts a little bit more, you'll be in range for 850 scores assuming that collection goes away, your utilization stays low and you have that Alliant SSL reporting always.

[slayerbizkit]

Thanks for the compliments . It took about 13 years to get to this point. I literally stopped paying all my bills when I was 18 when I lost my job, so building credit was kind of like climbing out of a dirt hole with toothpicks, but here we are. Alot has changed strategy-wise (No more Orchard Bank lol ? ). I'm gonna read up on the Alliant SSL. Was planning on buying a car, so I might use this purchase for this exact purpose. Thanks ABCD . 

[arkane]

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@slayerbizkit wrote:

Phil, nice thread hijack dork   .

**bleep** didn't even notice. Yeah that wasn't cool. :/

Negative Info:

Collections ~$900from 2014 (They're not getting a penny from me. Tried to settle with cash IRL for 100%, OC said account out of their hands. I have enough hard evidence to trounce the collectors in court and come out with a profit, if they so choose to take it to there, CFPB violations through the roof. Bring it. ) 

Hmm, forgot about this until I typed it. Could be affecting me but my score has been climbing in spite of this so Idk how much damage this 1 3.5 year old negative is doing. Paying it off won't make it disappear until the 7 year mark so it is what it is. 

Hard Inquiries: 7  (4 in 2016, 3 this year 2017 )

Never had a mortgage, don't have any loans that aren't paid. Is lack of a mortgage a big deal?

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Would it not make more sense to just take them to court and turn a profit, and potentially get that collections record removed as well? I'd like to think if there were CFPB violations out the wazoo, you should have some recourse.