How to improve on an existing good score

Anonymous · ‎09-09-2015

Hello,

I have been doing a lot of searching on the Internet on ways to improve on an already good FICO score. My current TransUnion score is 797. This score has not changed for quite sometime. I would like to know what steps I can make to improve it into the 800's.

Anonymous · ‎09-09-2015

Will need details of your credit profile. Do you have any installment loans? Car loans? Mortgage? How many credit cards do you have? What is your average age of accounts? What is your overall credit card utilization percentage?

Anonymous · ‎09-09-2015

I do not have any installment type loans, I do have a truck loan, but the last payment will be made this October 1st. My mortgage payment is under 100 thousand and I have been making an extra $600 dollar principal payment for about 10 years now, it has been coming down surely. All of my payments for anything is either auto pay thru my credit union or on one of my three credit cards which I have had for at least 15-20 years now. I pay off my cards monthly. The only time I do not is when I go on vacation and have a large amount on one. Then I usually get it paid off in about three months. I would usually balance transfer that to one of my other cards that offered a zero balance transfer so that interest would not accrue. I would say for the most part that my utization is about a 5-10 percent average.

Anonymous · ‎09-09-2015

Be aware that when your auto loan reports as paid off, your score will drop. Seems stupid but, unfortunately, that's the way Fico scoring works. The reason is that credit mix is part of the scoring model, and we are penalized for not having an open installment loan. You may want to take out a small low interest installment loan with a 48 month term or so. That won't immediately recoup the points that you lose when your auto loan closes, but eventually it will.

Anonymous · ‎09-10-2015

Hello WolfJ and Captool.

There seems something a bit strange about our OP's profile. It sounds like it should have a substantially higher score than it does. He has a mortgage that he has been making a substantial regular dent in, which is a major plus. He has an auto loan (for a truck) that he has almost paid off (another huge plus). He has three credit cards that are all at least 15 years old that he keeps at 5-10% utilization (a double big plus).

I am guessing that one of two things is the case.

(1) There may be something about his profile that he lacks the experience with credit scoring to tell us. I noticed for example that he said he had no installment loans, but we later discovered he had both an auto loan and a mortgage, which are both classic installment loans. So that makes me wonder if there isn't something else going on that he doesn't realize. Has he told us all his accounts? More likely, is it possible that there is some "derogatory" information on his profile: a late payment somewhere? Maybe a collection? A lien? Is it possible that his auto loan was with a "finance company"?

(2) He mentions that his score is a TU Score. No other CRA's are mentioned. It would be userful to hear where he is getting this score from. TU sells its own proprietary score which is not a FICO score. Perhaps that is why he isn't breaking 800? Has ge tried getting all three of his FICO 8 scores from the three CRA's, using something like myFICO or CCT?

Revelate · ‎09-10-2015

FICO strategize with your credit cards (one card reporting a small balance, rest at $0), other than that just wait.

I don't know that mortgages are counted as a standard installment loan, heard / read they are and that they're not... but it should be trivial to see when my own mortgage reports: if I drop 15-20 points, it'll be standard installment under FICO 8. If I don't, then it's something different. Hoping to get a full snapshot but some of my cards are reporting slowly unfortunately

Anonymous · ‎09-10-2015

Hi Revelate. I personally guess that FICO scores installment loans of the mortgage type differently from installment loans of the (say) auto or personal loan type. But that doesn't change the fact that all those loans are in fact installment loans. When our OP said he had no installment loans, and then a few sentences later said he had both a mortgage and an auto loan, it raised the possibility for me that he didn't really understand his accounts and reports very well, and that therefore there might be other stuff going on in his report that he didn't have a full handle on as well.

Anonymous · ‎09-10-2015

I have no liens, late payments or loans thru a finance company. Being retired recently I keep everything in front of me. All I have left is my mortgage payment thru BOA. All other bills are auto paid by the 5th of every month on a credit card or auto paid by my credit union from my account. I have no liens, late payments or loans financed thru a finance company. If you had really read my response to CAPTOOL you would have noticed that I answered all of his questions. He separated each one, did not include installment and car as the same. My TU score I get for free thru Capital One account. I just yesterday got my Experian score......it is a 762. There is nothing in my report that is a negative. I have one RECENT INQUIRY from whom I know not. It was not explained in my report. FOR THE LAST TIME there is NOTHING negative in my report.

Anonymous · ‎09-14-2015

OP, I don't have an open mortgage, car loan or any type of installment loan. My AAoA is similar to yours. However, my FICO scores are where you are trying to get to. Only thing I noticed, from information you have provided, that you have not mentioned having a retail card. It may be something that you may want to look into.

I am not aware of Capital One providing FICO scores to account holders. You may want to purchase 3B report with scores here at myFico. You did not mention where did you obtain the EX score.

You SHOULD look into the recent inq if you are certain it was not initiated by you. There has been too many data breaches with sensitive information stolen that can be used to obtain credit fraudulently.

If you don't like someone's response, you don't have to engage them; there is no need to get defensive or aggravated. Just my opinion.

Anonymous · ‎09-14-2015

@Anonymous wrote:
My TU score I get for free thru Capital One account. I just yesterday got my Experian score......it is a 762. There is nothing in my report that is a negative. I have one RECENT INQUIRY from whom I know not. It was not explained in my report. FOR THE LAST TIME there is NOTHING negative in my report.

No one has posted this yet... Might be a good idea to get actual FICO scores either from myFICO or creditchecktotal.com for making comparisons and asking for advice on how to get into the 800s.

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