How long will it take for my FICO score to show improvement after all consumer debt has been paid

[Anonymous]

Yesterday April 22, 2018, I verified that all my consumer debt was paid off. My credit profile is clean in every way except for "excessive debt load", as a result my score has dropped to a low of 650. What would be a reasonable time frame to see improvement?

[Anonymous]

It will improve the instant your reports reflect the new (very low) balances.  I would get access to a free tool that allows you to frequently pull your credit reports.  Credit Karma is a good choice for that, though you should ignore their scores.

Are all of your credit cards at a zero balance?  That is not ideal for your score.  You should have one card reporting a small positive balance, with the rest reporting zero.

And as part of your strategy of paying off all debt, did that involve paying off loans?  That too can hurt your score.  We can suggest a better strategy for loans if you are interested.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your quick response. I will give credit Karma a try. A few of my credit cards will have small balances, not a problem. Accomplishing my first goal of eliminating all debt, my next goal is to be able to get the best interest rate on an auto loan in the very near future.  The purchase will be delayed until the score rises enough. It will be interesting to see how long this takes.

[Anonymous]

Not sure you want to recommend CK for people paying down their debt this week. ROFL

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Not sure you want to recommend CK for people paying down their debt this week. ROFL

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???

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for your quick response. I will give credit Karma a try. A few of my credit cards will have small balances, not a problem. Accomplishing my first goal of eliminating all debt, my next goal is to be able to get the best interest rate on an auto loan in the very near future.  The purchase will be delayed until the score rises enough. It will be interesting to see how long this takes.

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As part of your plan to eliminate all debt, did you pay off any loans?

Do you have any open loans now?

[Anonymous]

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@AnonymousYesterday April 22, 2018, I verified that all my consumer debt was paid off. My credit profile is clean in every way except for "excessive debt load", as a result my score has dropped to a low of 650. What would be a reasonable time frame to see improvement?

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While it's somewhat implied here by you saying that your profile is "clean in every way" [except for your utilization] can you verify for sure that you have absolutely no negative items on your credit report?  Often when someone has a lot of excessive debt it results in a late payment or payments along the way, for example.  What type of debt are we talking here, BTW?  Is it all credit card debt, or is there also installment loan debt?

You mentioned a 650 credit score.  Is that a FICO score?  What is the source of that score?

CGID is exactly correct suggesting that changes made to debt amounts are reflected quickly in your credit scores as soon as your lender(s) report your updated balances.  Since this happens monthly, it means at most you'd have to wait 30 days to see the full impact of all of your accounts being updated.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
Not sure you want to recommend CK for people paying down their debt this week. ROFL

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???

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There has been quite a few threads reporting CK scores dropping like flies after paying off significant debt.

[Anonymous]

The 650 credit score was provided by a company called CreditCheck provided by Experian. It was free through my bank. I have no installment debt and all debt paid off was credit card debt. TransUnion lists my Fico 8 score at 680. All score 8 ingredients (Payment History, Length of Credit History, Credit Mix, and Amount of New Credit) were listed as exceptional, except Amount of Debt was listed as Fair. I do not have a mortgage so that is a negative. Thanks for the heads up. I guess in 30 days my score should begin to change, hopefully in the right direction.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
Not sure you want to recommend CK for people paying down their debt this week. ROFL

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???

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There has been quite a few threads reporting CK scores dropping like flies after paying off significant debt.

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Hey Oldman!  Didn't know that, but I tried to be very clear that the OP should ignore Karma's scores.  Karma's advantage to our OP is as a tool for frequently pulling reports, which is what the OP needed to do.  (Needed to see each card's most recently reported balance.)