New and need some help

[Anonymous]

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@Rudy1927 wrote:
BTW I’m in Connecticut. Also there was one charge off that was paid. (Guaranteed a car for my kid). Other than that a lot of 30 days. I had a mortgage and always paid last day of the month. (To bad there were a lot of months with 31 days). I really wasn’t watching what I was doing. Bank won’t budge so there is like 10 lates of 30 and the one car all around 4-5 years ago. Pay everything on time and still between the 695-710 scores

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It sounds like you are a lot more aware, now, which is great.  Just remember moving forward that you somehow got into a rhythm of paying very late every month.  You weren't paying 1-2 days late, but somewhere between 29-31 days late.  That probably meant you were being charged a late fee as well -- every month.

So it's a good idea for any credit card or loan to research a number of things:

        (1) When is the bill typically printed?  (For a CC it's called the statement.)

        (2) How many days after that do I have to make my payment before I am "late"?  This date is called the due date for the bill or statement.  It is often 25 days or so after the bill/statement is printed, but it could be 10, 15, 27, etc.

        (3) What fees will I pay if I am late?

        (4) When will the creditor report me as 30 Days late?  Typically this is (as you'd guess) exactly 30 days after the due date.  Note that some creditors will expect that a check or electronic payment will have to fully clear by Day 29 in order to prevent a Day 30 report, and thus paying it on Day 29 may well not be enough to protect you.

[Anonymous]

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@Rudy1927 wrote:
I have 3 scores around 700. No late payments last 4 years but some stuff which happened 5 years ago. Do I have to wait 2-3 more years for things to drop off? For the last year score has remained flat. Just a mtg and 1 car loan with 3 credit cards which are paid in full monthly. Help? And Thanks

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Derogs fall off your reports either 7 years or 7.5 years after the date they occurred. 

An initial response of NO when you request that the creditor delete your derogs prematurely (e.g. at year 5) is common.  Do a search for something called the Goodwill Letter Saturation Technique if you'd like pursue early removal.

Your real goal here is to raise your scores.  It's very possible that your scores are taking a penalty, possibly a very stiff one, from your CC balances.  You are under the impression that paying the cards in full monthly affects your score.  It doesn't.  FICO has no way of telling whether you PIF.  What matters is what balances are reported each month. 

I encourage you to get access to a simple free tool like Credit Karma so that you can pull your reports frequently and see what your CC balances are on the reports.  You want most of your cards to report $0 with exactly one credit card (not a charge card) to report a small positive balance (e.g. $20).

Get your cards reporting with these very small balances, wait a few more days, and then pull your three FICO 8 scores using the $1 trial offer at Credit Check Total.  That will tell you how high you can get your scores without removing derogs.