@Anonymous wrote:I opened an auto loan for a vehicle purchase last year but paid it off a month ago. The expected score drop showed up today (39) points and now I'm trying to figure out how to get my score back >800.
I am never > 3-4% utilization on my credit cards and pay them in full monthly. No late payments or deragatory remarks on credit report, but I do have 11 inquiries with 2 from the auto loan and 5 from AMEX (long story but took a few attempts to get in their good graces again and approved for a Gold card). I don't plan on opening any new credit cards (may close one) as I have the combo I plan to use going forward.
Any advice on how to get back to "exceptional" credit score without an installment or mortgage loan? I swear I was >800 in 2015 or 2016 before I started opening up Citi cards for AA bonuses. Will letting old closed accounts and inquiries fall off over time get me back there or is it difficult with revolving accounts as your only source of credit?
While there is difficulty it is not impossible. Over time you can get to 850 without any open installment loans.
There is a shortcut to getting those points back, taking out a share secured loan and paying it down to 9% of the loan amount -- but in your excellent position, I would advise against it. I expect you to be back over 800 in a matter of months.
Your score will raise with time. Your new accounts probably brought your AAoA down, and your high level of inquiries looks bad. It's pretty much guaranteed to slowly rise with time.
The only reason I would intentionally go into debt with a new installment loan to raise my score is if I was about to get a mortgate. I think if you garden for 6 months you'll see it trickle upwards.
@Anonymous wrote:I opened an auto loan for a vehicle purchase last year but paid it off a month ago. The expected score drop showed up today (39) points and now I'm trying to figure out how to get my score back >800.
I am never > 3-4% utilization on my credit cards and pay them in full monthly. No late payments or deragatory remarks on credit report, but I do have 11 inquiries with 2 from the auto loan and 5 from AMEX (long story but took a few attempts to get in their good graces again and approved for a Gold card). I don't plan on opening any new credit cards (may close one) as I have the combo I plan to use going forward.
Any advice on how to get back to "exceptional" credit score without an installment or mortgage loan? I swear I was >800 in 2015 or 2016 before I started opening up Citi cards for AA bonuses. Will letting old closed accounts and inquiries fall off over time get me back there or is it difficult with revolving accounts as your only source of credit?
Yes you can get back over 800, you can even get to 850, without an installment loan.
BTW, check your mortgage scores; you might find that they're still at 800, because they don't react like FICO 8's react to the absence of open loans.
@PNWRambler wrote:Your score will raise with time. Your new accounts probably brought your AAoA down, and your high level of inquiries looks bad. It's pretty much guaranteed to slowly rise with time.
The only reason I would intentionally go into debt with a new installment loan to raise my score is if I was about to get a mortgate. I think if you garden for 6 months you'll see it trickle upwards.
That wouldn't be a good reason, because it wouldn't raise your mortgage scores; more likely, it would lower them.
@SouthJamaica wrote:That wouldn't be a good reason, because it wouldn't raise your mortgage scores; more likely, it would lower them.
Mortgage scores are more sensitive to new accounts, inquiries, and to more than one negligible non-zero balance.
[Example: my current EX FICO 8 is 793; the (mortgage) FICO 2 is 763. I don't expect that mortgage score to be close to optimal until a year from now, when 12 months will have elapsed from the most recent INQ -- assuming that I also go from 2% util to just over 0%.]
Easy. We wake up everyday one day older. Same as credit. Age. 
Inq's will fall. And when the newer accounts pass 1 yr. 760+ is just as good as 800.
@expatCanuck wrote:Mortgage scores are more sensitive to new accounts, inquiries, and to more than one negligible non-zero balance.
[Example: my current EX FICO 8 is 793; the (mortgage) FICO 2 is 763. I don't expect that mortgage score to be close to optimal until a year from now, when 12 months will have elapsed from the most recent INQ -- assuming that I also go from 2% util to just over 0%.]
IMHO the mortgage scores wouldn't care about that. They would care about how many accounts have a non-zero balance, but a difference in overall utilization between 0 and 2% would probably have no effect.