How quickly can scores rise when you're just maintaing the status quo?

[jamie123]

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@LuckyBird wrote:

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hmm...I do have one baddie...a paid State tax lien from 5 years ago.  I wonder if that'll hold me up for a while?

Other than that, I'm in good shape with mix of cedit, number of tradelines, etc.  Guess I'll just have to ride it out

and see what the scores do...

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Paid state tax liens can stay on your reports for 7 YEARS AFTER THEY ARE PAID! Not 7 years from the report date, but 7 years from the payment date.

I have 1 unpaid State tax lien on each of my reports. I am currently working with an accountant to pay them and hopefully have them removed. The liens on 2 of my reports are from Jan. 2008 and are more than 7 years old. The lien on one of my reports is from 2010 and is more than 5 years old. All my scores are within a couple of points of each other.

The State I used to live in has an entire industry setup with attorneys collecting unpaid State tax liens. If they even just think you owe them money they file a lien that will stay active on your credit report for 40 years!

I think that it is safe to say that a tax lien is worth anywhere from 60 to 80 points if the rest of your report is clean and you have a bit of AAoA.

[disdreamin]

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@jamie123 wrote:

The average person(if there is such a thing) that is able to achieve a perfect 850 score has a report that looks like this:

1. 5 to 8 credit cards with the average age of 10 years with the youngest card being at least 2 years old.

2. One closed auto loan that had always been paid on time.

3. One open auto loan that has been paid on time for at least 2 years.

4. One mortgage that has been paid on time for at least 10 years.

5. One home equity line of credit that has a $0 balance.

Piece of cake!

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To provide a little personal perspective on the above description: I didn't have 850's across the board, but I was a total of 5 points away between the three bureaus when I checked right before app-ing for an auto loan last December. I did have six open credit card accounts with an AAoA of 9-10 years, I think, but only had two closed auto loans and one paid student loan showing under installment loans, nothing current. I do have a mortgage, but the payment history only showed about 19 months at that point due to a refi with the same bank which reset the origination date of the mortgage loan (it is an 8 year mortgage, so I was already nearly 20% into it which probably helped the score despite the relatively short history). No home equity loan. So obviously there is some room for deviation from the average scenario depending on the particluars of your situation.

[jamie123]

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@disdreamin wrote:

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@jamie123 wrote:

The average person(if there is such a thing) that is able to achieve a perfect 850 score has a report that looks like this:

1. 5 to 8 credit cards with the average age of 10 years with the youngest card being at least 2 years old.

2. One closed auto loan that had always been paid on time.

3. One open auto loan that has been paid on time for at least 2 years.

4. One mortgage that has been paid on time for at least 10 years.

5. One home equity line of credit that has a $0 balance.

Piece of cake!

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To provide a little personal perspective on the above description: I didn't have 850's across the board, but I was a total of 5 points away between the three bureaus when I checked right before app-ing for an auto loan last December. I did have six open credit card accounts with an AAoA of 9-10 years, I think, but only had two closed auto loans and one paid student loan showing under installment loans, nothing current. I do have a mortgage, but the payment history only showed about 19 months at that point due to a refi with the same bank which reset the origination date of the mortgage loan (it is an 8 year mortgage, so I was already nearly 20% into it which probably helped the score despite the relatively short history). No home equity loan. So obviously there is some room for deviation from the average scenario depending on the particluars of your situation.

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Wow! You have great scores!

How much did your scores drop when you added that auto loan if I might ask?

[LuckyBird]

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@jamie123 wrote:

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@LuckyBird wrote:

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hmm...I do have one baddie...a paid State tax lien from 5 years ago.  I wonder if that'll hold me up for a while?

Other than that, I'm in good shape with mix of cedit, number of tradelines, etc.  Guess I'll just have to ride it out

and see what the scores do...

---

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Paid state tax liens can stay on your reports for 7 YEARS AFTER THEY ARE PAID! Not 7 years from the report date, but 7 years from the payment date.

I have 1 unpaid State tax lien on each of my reports. I am currently working with an accountant to pay them and hopefully have them removed. The liens on 2 of my reports are from Jan. 2008 and are more than 7 years old. The lien on one of my reports is from 2010 and is more than 5 years old. All my scores are within a couple of points of each other.

The State I used to live in has an entire industry setup with attorneys collecting unpaid State tax liens. If they even just think you owe them money they file a lien that will stay active on your credit report for 40 years!

I think that it is safe to say that a tax lien is worth anywhere from 60 to 80 points if the rest of your report is clean and you have a bit of AAoA.

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Ours was filed in June 2010 and we paid it in September 2010.  It really NEVER should've been filed, as we were pretty sure there was an error and that the amount in question had been paid 2 years prior.  My husband was actively working with someone from the State Dept of Revenue and in the process of getting documentation together on it, when out of the blue we were served with the lien.  The first communication we even received on it was in May 2010, and he got in touch with them immediately.  Of course he was like, "What the heck, I've been in constant communication with you about this...why'd you file a lien?" But of course once it's done they won't retract it.  It stinks.

[jamie123]

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@LuckyBird wrote:

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Ours was filed in June 2010 and we paid it in September 2010.  It really NEVER should've been filed, as we were pretty sure there was an error and that the amount in question had been paid 2 years prior.  My husband was actively working with someone from the State Dept of Revenue and in the process of getting documentation together on it, when out of the blue we were served with the lien.  The first communication we even received on it was in May 2010, and he got in touch with them immediately.  Of course he was like, "What the heck, I've been in constant communication with you about this...why'd you file a lien?" But of course once it's done they won't retract it.  It stinks.

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I know exactly how you feel. I wasn't served with any papers at all. I checked my credit report in 2012 when I first found MyFICO and that's how I found out about my liens. I did some research and found that they are really shady about properly notifying people about liens. They really don't want you to find out about it in a timely fashion because they specifically changed State laws allowing you a very small window to fight the lien in court. Once the window closes you are screwed and their Army of attorneys working on commission start to descend.

They said they tried to serve me at my old address that was listed on the so called delinquent tax return. Well duh! I had moved and had filed two more tax returns since then listing my new address! See what I mean by being shady? They do that to a lot of people knowing that people move and won't receive the notifications.

[disdreamin]

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@jamie123 wrote:

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@disdreamin wrote:

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@jamie123 wrote:

The average person(if there is such a thing) that is able to achieve a perfect 850 score has a report that looks like this:

1. 5 to 8 credit cards with the average age of 10 years with the youngest card being at least 2 years old.

2. One closed auto loan that had always been paid on time.

3. One open auto loan that has been paid on time for at least 2 years.

4. One mortgage that has been paid on time for at least 10 years.

5. One home equity line of credit that has a $0 balance.

Piece of cake!

---

To provide a little personal perspective on the above description: I didn't have 850's across the board, but I was a total of 5 points away between the three bureaus when I checked right before app-ing for an auto loan last December. I did have six open credit card accounts with an AAoA of 9-10 years, I think, but only had two closed auto loans and one paid student loan showing under installment loans, nothing current. I do have a mortgage, but the payment history only showed about 19 months at that point due to a refi with the same bank which reset the origination date of the mortgage loan (it is an 8 year mortgage, so I was already nearly 20% into it which probably helped the score despite the relatively short history). No home equity loan. So obviously there is some room for deviation from the average scenario depending on the particluars of your situation.

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Wow! You have great scores!

How much did your scores drop when you added that auto loan if I might ask?

Sorry to go off topic, but scores were down anywhere from 11, 25 and 14 points depending on the bureau. That's with the new auto loan, one new credit line, a few inquiries on TU and at least a couple on EX.  They're all slowly rebounding and most have been back into the 840's but bounce down into the 830's sometimes as new lines report. I just applied for two new CCs and it will be interesting to see what it does when those new lines report as well. 

[jamie123]

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@disdreamin wrote:

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Sorry to go off topic, but scores were down anywhere from 11, 25 and 14 points depending on the bureau. That's with the new auto loan, one new credit line, a few inquiries on TU and at least a couple on EX.  They're all slowly rebounding and most have been back into the 840's but bounce down into the 830's sometimes as new lines report. I just applied for two new CCs and it will be interesting to see what it does when those new lines report as well. 

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That's great to hear! I don't see many people on these forums with great scores like yours that report what happens when they add new credit. Your scores didn't decline very much when compared to an average person that adds new credit. It's good knowing that if I ever get into the stratosphere of credit scores like you that I could stay there!

[FocusedAndDetermined]

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@LuckyBird wrote:

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@jamie123 wrote:

Well...It depends what you have on your report. As you move up in scores it becomes more important to have a mix of credit or you lose gaining points to move to the next level. There seems to be a MAJOR roadblock at around 720 to 730 if you have any type of baddie on your reports.

Some people on these forums have been able to start from scratch with a clean history and get to an 800 score in 4 years but they have no baddies and made perfect moves each time they apped for credit.

To do this you need:

1. At least 3 credit cards but 5 to 8 would be better for you in the long run.

2. At least 1 open installment loan. (Shared secured, student loan or auto loan works.)

3. Let time happen. As your accounts age and you maintain perfect payments you will gain points for AAoA. This means at some point you must stop applying for new credit and let the credit you do have age. You are nicked points for each account that is less than 2 years old.

At around 4 years AAoA you will hit 800.

The average person(if there is such a thing) that is able to achieve a perfect 850 score has a report that looks like this:

1. 5 to 8 credit cards with the average age of 10 years with the youngest card being at least 2 years old.

2. One closed auto loan that had always been paid on time.

3. One open auto loan that has been paid on time for at least 2 years.

4. One mortgage that has been paid on time for at least 10 years.

5. One home equity line of credit that has a $0 balance.

Piece of cake!

---

hmm...I do have one baddie...a paid State tax lien from 5 years ago.  I wonder if that'll hold me up for a while?

Other than that, I'm in good shape with mix of cedit, number of tradelines, etc.  Guess I'll just have to ride it out

and see what the scores do...

---

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@LuckyBird wrote:

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@jamie123 wrote:

Well...It depends what you have on your report. As you move up in scores it becomes more important to have a mix of credit or you lose gaining points to move to the next level. There seems to be a MAJOR roadblock at around 720 to 730 if you have any type of baddie on your reports.

Some people on these forums have been able to start from scratch with a clean history and get to an 800 score in 4 years but they have no baddies and made perfect moves each time they apped for credit.

To do this you need:

1. At least 3 credit cards but 5 to 8 would be better for you in the long run.

2. At least 1 open installment loan. (Shared secured, student loan or auto loan works.)

3. Let time happen. As your accounts age and you maintain perfect payments you will gain points for AAoA. This means at some point you must stop applying for new credit and let the credit you do have age. You are nicked points for each account that is less than 2 years old.

At around 4 years AAoA you will hit 800.

The average person(if there is such a thing) that is able to achieve a perfect 850 score has a report that looks like this:

1. 5 to 8 credit cards with the average age of 10 years with the youngest card being at least 2 years old.

2. One closed auto loan that had always been paid on time.

3. One open auto loan that has been paid on time for at least 2 years.

4. One mortgage that has been paid on time for at least 10 years.

5. One home equity line of credit that has a $0 balance.

Piece of cake!

---

hmm...I do have one baddie...a paid State tax lien from 5 years ago.  I wonder if that'll hold me up for a while?

Other than that, I'm in good shape with mix of cedit, number of tradelines, etc.  Guess I'll just have to ride it out

and see what the scores do...

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Perhaps not.  If you have kept a perfect payment record since, you should be able to achieve scores above 750.  2 yrs ago EX was at 765 with a BK7 from 07 on my reports.  It's down considerably now, but that's from inquiries/new accts and paying off all student loans.  Current EQ 755 and TU 748 (i think).

Be patient - you will get there!

[vanillabean]

If I remember correctly, various FICO 04 discussions once mentioned moving up at 3, 5 and 8 years given a clean record. I would imagine that an AAoA of 5 years could easily put you in the FICO 08 800s.

[LuckyBird]

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@Anonymous-own-fico wrote:

If I remember correctly, various FICO 04 discussions once mentioned moving up at 3, 5 and 8 years given a clean record. I would imagine that an AAoA of 5 years could easily put you in the FICO 08 800s.

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Holy cow - that would be awesome!