My Very First 800 FICO!! \ (•◡•) /

[Anonymous]

---

@thornback wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@thornback wrote:

The combination of everything you've listed is the cause.  By how much did your scores decrease?

Updated scores as of yesterday are: EX - 688, EQ - 690 and TU - 680. Previous scores are in my siggy.

Interesting,  those aren't very large drops at all in the grand scheme of things - with the exception of Equifax.   You may have only been penalized for utilization, possibly also for the update of the collection.  May not have been penalized by the drop in age of accounts at all.  It's possible that you did gain a few points from having the charge-offs removed but the gain was overshadowed by the loss of points due to increased util and the collection update... we won't know till your util drops (assuming the collection isn't updated again between now and then) and we see where your scores land -- and even then, if the collection is removed around that same time decreased util reports, we won't be able to decipher between the change due to removing the collection and decreasing util.  It gets really murky when multiple changes are happening at once. 

OMG! So much information. Thank you so much and I apologize for the delayed response. I was at work and I was trying to type in between calls and it just got so busy. I'm finally home though, lol.

My collection reports on or around the 7th of every month. My first card reports on the 9th and my second card reports on the 20th. Since the collection is falling off in April, March 7th would be the next and final day that it updates before it is removed. I also want to add that Experian is the only credit report that my charge-off account hasn't been removed from. Hopefully they'll remove it soon as we're halfway through the month now. I have a couple extra payments set up to pay the balances down some more but not enough to pay them in full completely. Ideally, I'd like my Capital 1 QS to be at $250 by April so that will put me a little under the 8.9% utilization threshold and my Capital 1 QS1 to be at $550 which will put me at about 18% utilization. Total utilization across all accounts is 20%.

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Maybe, I don't remember. Is it AAoA or AYoA?? What's the difference...lol. 

---

AAoA:  Average Age of Accounts

AoYA: Age of Youngest Account

AoOA: Age of Oldest Account

AAoA is calculated by adding up the individual ages of all your accounts (in months) and dividing that by the total number of accounts.   There are thresholds for AAoA that when crossed (above/below) affect your scores -- we, unfortunately, don't have them all pinned down exactly tho... 1 year, 2 years, seemingly 3 years, and 5 years seem to be significant. 

AoYA is important -- once it reaches a year you get a score boost.   AoYA is hard to keep over a year though... because everytime you add a new account, it drops back down to zero (this, in conjunction with the associated inquiry, is why many lose points when adding a new account). 

AoOA is a score card segementation factor.  It determines the scorecard on which your profile sits.   The higher the better.

Do AAoA or AoYA have a big factor in credit scores? My average age is 2 years and 10 months (according to CK) with my oldest at 5 1/2 years and my youngest at 1 year and 3 months. I'm guessing since my youngest account is over 1 year, I automatically have the score boost..is that correct?

---

@Anonymous wrote:

How long did it take for your scores to rebound? Right now, with the charge-off being removed all my accounts are in good standing. 

My scores started rebounding slowly as my new accounts aged to 1 year.   My case is not a great example tho.  Prior to that last charge-off being removed, I had added 7 new accounts... lol.   I didn't expect removal of that last derog because I had been trying to get it removed for 2 years with no success.  I made a last ditch effort not expecting to be successful at all...    Of course, after I added a bunch of new accounts, I was informed of the great news that the charge-off would be deleted (this was Feb. 2019).   My 'dirty' report scores weren't affected at all really by the addition of so many new accounts (there is, apparently, no AoYA penalty for new accounts on dirty reports).  As soon as my reports were clean - I was hit hard with the new account penalty and the reductions in AoORA (age of oldest revolving account) and AAoA.     My scores are also much more sensitive to utilization than they were when I was on a dirty scorecard.    There is also the factor of transitioning from a dirty scorecard to a clean scorecard -- referred to as Segmentation/Scorecard Reassignment/Rebucketing  (it's deep, there are many posts you can read on it if you use the search tool with those terms - it'll make your head spin).    So.. my biggest gain came this month, exactly a year later - when my youngest revolver hit 1 year and my AAoA hit the 3 year mark. 

What do you think is going to happen to my report once the collection falls off? Should I put my focus more towards paying down my balances? I'm not going to lie, I'm very tempted to apply for another card once the collection falls off, but I won't do it and I'll focus on something else if you tell me that it's not a good idea. I trust your opinion.

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

Would you consider it to be a good idea for me to ask DH to put me as an AU on antoher one of his credit cards to help or is it not needed in this case?

---

If it's a significantly older account with a consistently low balance in relation to its credit limit -- sure, it will help.  But it's not necessary.  You really just need time to allow your primary accounts to age.    My AU helped tremendously when I first started my rebuild because the only revolver I had was the charge-off which was a little less than 4 years old at the time  (though I had a bunch of student loans that were about 5 years old).   I had to add new revolving accounts to establish a good payment history.  So adding an AU that was, at the time, 7 years old gave me ~20 point boost.   Now, my AU is worth maybe 5 points as an age factor (I know this because my AU only appears on EX & EQ --  and my TU score is no longer far behind).   It's up to you - it's not necessary, but could be helpful in the short term - scorewise. 

Yeah, his account isn't that old, so I'll skip this for now. I am already an AU on another one of his cards for age.

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

LOL!!!! This is the collection from Midland that was attached to the Best Buy charge-off. It's going to fall off in April. 

---

Haha... OK I remember this one now...   *sigh*--what a thorn it is!   Thankfully, it will be gone very soon.  Hang in there!

I'm hanging! So, what do you think I should do right now? Or is there not really anything to be done other than wait?

---

---

[thornback]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

I'm hanging! So, what do you think I should do right now? Or is there not really anything to be done other than wait?

---

Really all you can do is just wait it out.   See where your scores are in April once your reports are clean and go from there.   

I know we discussed this but my memory is bad -- why did  you decide against requesting an Early Exclusion for the collection? 

[Anonymous]

---

@thornback wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

I'm hanging! So, what do you think I should do right now? Or is there not really anything to be done other than wait?

---

Really all you can do is just wait it out.   See where your scores are in April once your reports are clean and go from there.   

I know we discussed this but my memory is bad -- why did  you decide against requesting an Early Exclusion for the collection? 

---

That's alright! My memory is horrible too. I decided to not pursue the EE because I wanted the extra time to pay off my outstanding balances on my 2 Cap 1 cards. Did you see the other info I posted above? I'll go back and bold them in case you missed it. But yeah, that's all it was just to give myself a few more weeks to pay because I get paid weekly and I'm sure if I work hard enough I can pay some balances down.

[thornback]

I certainly did not see all these responses... lol.    

---

@Anonymous wrote:

 Experian is the only credit report that my charge-off account hasn't been removed from. Hopefully they'll remove it soon as we're halfway through the month now.

OMG Call them.  How do you have the patience to not be on the phone requesting removal?!

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I have a couple extra payments set up to pay the balances down some more but not enough to pay them in full completely. Ideally, I'd like my Capital 1 QS to be at $250 by April so that will put me a little under the 8.9% utilization threshold and my Capital 1 QS1 to be at $550 which will put me at about 18% utilization. Total utilization across all accounts is 20%.

---

Finances > FICO.  Do not strain yourself financially just to eek out some extra FICO points.   If you can handle the extra payments without hurting your pockets, fine -- but you can also just let the balances ride out for a bit.  Just wanted to say that... 

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

Do AAoA or AoYA have a big factor in credit scores? My average age is 2 years and 10 months (according to CK) with my oldest at 5 1/2 years and my youngest at 1 year and 3 months. I'm guessing since my youngest account is over 1 year, I automatically have the score boost..is that correct?

Do not use CK to calculate AAoA -- it does not include your closed accounts.  FICO factors in Open and Closed accounts to determine AAoA. 

Yes, your AoYA being >1 year has already given you that boost.   Both AAoA and AoYA are factors that are weighed in FICO scoring.  We do not have solid data on all AAoA thresholds that may exist.    

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/AAoA-thresholds-UPDATE-5-2-19/td-p/5581608  ← If you want to make your head hurt. 

---

@Anonymous wrote:

What do you think is going to happen to my report once the collection falls off? Should I put my focus more towards paying down my balances? I'm not going to lie, I'm very tempted to apply for another card once the collection falls off, but I won't do it and I'll focus on something else if you tell me that it's not a good idea. I trust your opinion.

---

I honestly have no idea what will happen when your collection falls off.  I'd like to tell you that you'll definately see a large score increase - but I can't -- it depends on how FICO measures your overall report in comparison to others that are on the same, clean scorecard (this is why I told you to search for posts on scorecards). 

Yes, pay down your balances.   If you want to app for a new card - then do so.   You can get more than one if you want.  Have a spree.  Just know that after you app (for either 1 or a few) you need to sit tight and let the new accounts age so your scores recover.    There's no point in having a great, clean credit profile if you don't put it to use... so enjoy it.

---

[thornback]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

---

That's alright! My memory is horrible too. I decided to not pursue the EE because I wanted the extra time to pay off my outstanding balances on my 2 Cap 1 cards. Did you see the other info I posted above? I'll go back and bold them in case you missed it. But yeah, that's all it was just to give myself a few more weeks to pay because I get paid weekly and I'm sure if I work hard enough I can pay some balances down.

---

But wait-- I thought the reason you didn't go directly to Midland to pay in exchange for deletion was because you wanted to focus on paying the outstanding balances first.    But the account is due to fall of your reports in April regardless because it will reach its 7 year mark, correct?   If that's correct - then you can still request an Early Exclusion from the bureaus whether it was paid or not. 

[Anonymous]

---

@thornback wrote:

I certainly did not see all these responses... lol.    

I apologize, this was my fault. I had a hard time figuring out how I was going to format my reply.

---

@Anonymous wrote:

 Experian is the only credit report that my charge-off account hasn't been removed from. Hopefully they'll remove it soon as we're halfway through the month now.

OMG Call them.  How do you have the patience to not be on the phone requesting removal?!

I know, I'm horrible. I did just try calling now and I don't know how to get to a live person. I even tried pressing 0 and it just kept saying sorry please chose one of the following options. Then repeated them. I did a dispute online as Other and requested that they remove the tradeline. I hope they respond soon.

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I have a couple extra payments set up to pay the balances down some more but not enough to pay them in full completely. Ideally, I'd like my Capital 1 QS to be at $250 by April so that will put me a little under the 8.9% utilization threshold and my Capital 1 QS1 to be at $550 which will put me at about 18% utilization. Total utilization across all accounts is 20%.

---

Finances > FICO.  Do not strain yourself financially just to eek out some extra FICO points.   If you can handle the extra payments without hurting your pockets, fine -- but you can also just let the balances ride out for a bit.  Just wanted to say that... 

I appreciate you saying this.

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

Do AAoA or AoYA have a big factor in credit scores? My average age is 2 years and 10 months (according to CK) with my oldest at 5 1/2 years and my youngest at 1 year and 3 months. I'm guessing since my youngest account is over 1 year, I automatically have the score boost..is that correct?

Do not use CK to calculate AAoA -- it does not include your closed accounts.  FICO factors in Open and Closed accounts to determine AAoA. 

Yes, your AoYA being >1 year has already given you that boost.   Both AAoA and AoYA are factors that are weighed in FICO scoring.  We do not have solid data on all AAoA thresholds that may exist.    

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/AAoA-thresholds-UPDATE-5-2-19/td-p/5581608  ← If you want to make your head hurt. 

Oops! My bad. Does this include charge-off's or collections? Or just open/closed accounts?

---

@Anonymous wrote:

What do you think is going to happen to my report once the collection falls off? Should I put my focus more towards paying down my balances? I'm not going to lie, I'm very tempted to apply for another card once the collection falls off, but I won't do it and I'll focus on something else if you tell me that it's not a good idea. I trust your opinion.

---

I honestly have no idea what will happen when your collection falls off.  I'd like to tell you that you'll definately see a large score increase - but I can't -- it depends on how FICO measures your overall report in comparison to others that are on the same, clean scorecard (this is why I told you to search for posts on scorecards). 

I understand.

Yes, pay down your balances.   If you want to app for a new card - then do so.   You can get more than one if you want.  Have a spree.  Just know that after you app (for either 1 or a few) you need to sit tight and let the new accounts age so your scores recover.    There's no point in having a great, clean credit profile if you don't put it to use... so enjoy it.

I'll work on paying my balances first. I appreciate what you said above about not stressing myself out for extra points. I'll absolutely do what I can to pay them down without struggling financially. I really want to get a Discover and Amex BCE card and then I'll be happy with my 4 card line up. I'll wait to see what my scores are come April and then I might come back and ask for more advice about apping (if that's okay with you). I see you as my mentor. You've helped me so much already.

---

---

[Anonymous]

---

@thornback wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

---

That's alright! My memory is horrible too. I decided to not pursue the EE because I wanted the extra time to pay off my outstanding balances on my 2 Cap 1 cards. Did you see the other info I posted above? I'll go back and bold them in case you missed it. But yeah, that's all it was just to give myself a few more weeks to pay because I get paid weekly and I'm sure if I work hard enough I can pay some balances down.

---

But wait-- I thought the reason you didn't go directly to Midland to pay in exchange for deletion was because you wanted to focus on paying the outstanding balances first.    But the account is due to fall of your reports in April regardless because it will reach its 7 year mark, correct?   If that's correct - then you can still request an Early Exclusion from the bureaus whether it was paid or not. 

---

Yes. TU has it listed to come off on 4/2020 and EQ says "Date of First Delinquency May 01, 2013" so I'm guessing it's going to fall off somewhere around there???? I can't find where it's listed on EX...

[thornback]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

---

Yes. TU has it listed to come off on 4/2020 and EQ says "Date of First Delinquency May 01, 2013" so I'm guessing it's going to fall off somewhere around there???? I can't find where it's listed on EX...

---

Yes.  Equifax will be May 2020.   They'll only grant an Early Exclusion 1 month in advance. 

BUT -  TU -- go to Credit Karma and open a dispute for that account and request it be removed using the "too old to be reported" reason code.   They will remove 6 months early and you are well within that window.     They are the easiest to deal with - such disputes are usually resolved with account deletion within 24-48 hours.    Go now.  I won't speak to you again til you tell me you've submitted the dispute 

[thornback]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Oops! My bad. Does this include charge-off's or collections? Or just open/closed accounts?

---

---

---

Closed accounts include charge-offs and they are factored into your AAoA. 

Collections are not accounts of the consumer, and are never included in your AAoA calculation.

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

I might come back and ask for more advice about apping (if that's okay with you). I see you as my mentor. You've helped me so much already.

---

Of course!  Anytime -- I told you before - you can even send me a private message if you need to.  Don't hesitate.

[Anonymous]

Congratulations!!