Need help reaching the 700+ goal

[Smooth_J]

After having my FICO score play yo-yo over the last few months due to opening new accounts, and closing others I am seeking assistance on what is required to finally get my scores to 700+. Everytime I think I am in "range", I loose a point, or mutiple points. It has a been a interesting and tough journey so far, however I would like to be in the 700+ range for a new car purchase for either late this year, or early next year. Also a 30D (one of two) will be removed in the next 30-days as it has been GW'd. My last installment, which is my refi'd mortgage, has not reported just yet. 

Thank you to everyone in the forum in providing their feedback as it has helped me greatly.  

Inquiries Count:

EQ: 7
TU: 9
EXP: 12

FICO 8 Auto Score from 6/25 3B pull:

EQ: 647 

TU: 637

FICO 8 Auto Score from 7/9 (today) pull:

EX: 617

Base FICO scores from myFICO 3B monitoring from 7/9 (today):

EQ: 680 

TU: 681

EX: 670

Overall Revolving Utilization: ~48%

Bank Name (Date opened)...Current Balance...Credit Limit...Current Utilization

Bank1 (04/2005)##....$7,393.91...$13,500.00...54%
Bank2 (10/2016)....$6,003.78...$9,000.00...66%
Bank3 (10/2009)....$0.00...$2,700.00...0%
Bank4 (10/2009)....$0.00...$1,000.00...0%
Bank5 (2/18)....$0.00...$14,500.00...0%
Bank6 (3/18)....$655.17...$3,500.00...18%
Bank7 (3/2018)....$0.00 -- -- (Charge Card)
Bank8 (5/18)....$16.00...$500.00...3%

Bank9 (12/2007)....$9,208.42...$12,700.00...73% - Closed but still reporting utilization
Bank10 (9/2008)....$2,701.00 $3,900.00...69% - Closed but still reporting utilization
Bank11 (1/15)....$7,800.31 $9,100.00...86% - Closed but still reporting utilization
Bank12 (1/14)....$2,478.58 $5,500.00...45% - Closed but still reporting utilization

##Baddies: 1x 30D - 09/2016

Installment:

Car 1 (5/2016)**: 7,311
Car 2 (1/2017): 10,356
Home (5/2018): 314236 (has not reported yet)

**Baddies: 1x 30D - 11/2016 (was just GW'd - yay!!)

[arkane]

Your util, both individual and overall, is too high and way past optimal. One of your closed cards is at 86% which is very close to "maxed out" and is going to hit your scores hard. Then you have 4 more cards past 50% util which is also not optimal. Do you stilll owe the balance on the closed cards, and is that why they're still reporting a util? That and you have 8/12 cards (or 66% of your cards) reporting a balance, which would also ding your score some.

As far as the 30D lates go, once that one 30D gets GW'd and the other 30D passes the 2 year mark in 2 months, it should only hurt you for maybe 20-30 points. My impression is your scores are being dragged down heavily by your util, so paying down your cards would be the quickest way to get your scores over 700.

[Smooth_J]

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@arkane wrote:

Your util, both individual and overall, is too high and way past optimal. One of your closed cards is at 86% which is very close to "maxed out" and is going to hit your scores hard. Then you have 4 more cards past 50% util which is also not optimal. Do you stilll owe the balance on the closed cards, and is that why they're still reporting a util? That and you have 8/12 cards (or 66% of your cards) reporting a balance, which would also ding your score some.

As far as the 30D lates go, once that one 30D gets GW'd and the other 30D passes the 2 year mark in 2 months, it should only hurt you for maybe 20-30 points. My impression is your scores are being dragged down heavily by your util, so paying down your cards would be the quickest way to get your scores over 700.

Thank you for your response and input. Yes, I do owe balances on all those closed accounts, which I regret closing now to be honest, but it was part of the program that I started a several years ago.

Also, in regards to the rest, I am paying quite a bit off per month at the moment, so I hope to see forward momentum and score increases (*crossing-fingers*) in next several months as I will be gardening too. I know that one remaining 30D will hold me back for a number of years to come, and I tried to GW but to no availably thus far. 

[arkane]

How much do you have to pay off cards each month? Start by paying Bank8 and Bank6 down to 0, then move on to whichever has the highest util and pay it down to 48.9%. Rinse and repeat until every card that has a balance is kept at below 48.9% util.

[Anonymous]

If the OP has a balance on a closed card, his utilization on that card is viewed as 100%.  That is definitely impacting his scores in a bad way, as is utilization in general due to quite a bit of revolving debt. 

I'd estimate that the OP is leaving 50-70 points on the table due to utilization.  Fixing half the problem would easily put him above 700 scores (FICO 08) and completely fixing his utilization would probably land his scores in the 740-750 range.

[Smooth_J]

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@Anonymous wrote:

If the OP has a balance on a closed card, his utilization on that card is viewed as 100%.  That is definitely impacting his scores in a bad way, as is utilization in general due to quite a bit of revolving debt. 

I'd estimate that the OP is leaving 50-70 points on the table due to utilization.  Fixing half the problem would easily put him above 700 scores (FICO 08) and completely fixing his utilization would probably land his scores in the 740-750 range.

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I am torn by this statement at the moment due to the fact that I have seen it go both ways. When viewing my myFICO 3B report, it reports total revolving credit utilization the way it should. When I login and take a look at Experian CreditWorks, I also see the same Revolving Utilization under "What's Impacting Your FICO Score 8". However I also see a box that states "82% Credit Usage", which would make sense if you remove the closed accounts out of the picture.

So I believe in my case, it is being counted. The only sure way to find out is to pay off one the accounts, and see what happens to my overall utilization.

[Anonymous]

Make sure you don't confuse the FICO algorithm, which is what matters [with respect to FICO scoring] with front-end fluff software from a CMS; CMS fluff software is pretty and all, but many times doesn't reflect what's going on with FICO scoring.

Closed accounts with balances adversely impact your FICO scores.  You lose the limits from those accounts into your overall limits, but the balances still are factored into your overall balances.  In short, all they do is harm your utilization in a magnified way.

Just doing some quick math, it looks like you have around $36k in revolving debt.  That's significant, which I'm sure is something you already know.  While I didn't check the math, I'm assuming your upper 40's percentage in aggregate utilization is correct.  That being said, you're above two aggregate utilization thresholds (8.9%, 28.9%) which IMO is easily hitting you for 35-40 points right there.  Add to that the fact that your highest individual utilization account (a maxed out 100% one) is no doubt knocking you for another 15 points or so, you really are looking at your scores being depressed by 50+ points simply due to the utilization issue here.   

[arkane]

Do closed accounts count towards #cards w/ balances? Either way it's at least 50% (4/8) so that's probably another 5-10 point ding right there.

[Smooth_J]

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@arkane wrote:

How much do you have to pay off cards each month? Start by paying Bank8 and Bank6 down to 0, then move on to whichever has the highest util and pay it down to 48.9%. Rinse and repeat until every card that has a balance is kept at below 48.9% util.

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Those two are already set to be paid off by this month, or early next. At the moment, if you exclude interest from the mix, I am paying ~$1500 towards these balances every month. With Bank1 taking the most and has an estimated time of payoff by 6/2019. I am paying down the higher cards for 1) to save some money on interest, and 2) to make room for when I do pay off the closed accounts that it should not affect my overall utilization that heavily. All the cards are being paid more than required except for Bank11, which is at a fixed payoff agreement from the bank. 

Now to bring down my balances to 48.9%, I will obviously need to change my plan a bit. I already had a plan in place to pay down both Bank9 and Bank11 to 68.9% over the next few months. So once I take care of that, I will move my "Goal" to 48.9% which would require ~8200 to get those cards down to that level and bring my overal utilization to ~37%.

On another note, I see lots of OT in the future. However if thats whats needed to get out of this debt, then so be it.

[Anonymous]

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@arkaneDo closed accounts count towards #cards w/ balances? Either way it's at least 50% (4/8) so that's probably another 5-10 point ding right there.

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Yes they do.  It's easier to consider when you think of number of accounts with balances.  It's an account (even though closed) and it has a [non-zero] balance, so it's viewed as an account with a balance.