Pushing into 800's

[Anonymous]

Current FICO 8 is 755. Wanting to push into the 800's. Have been doing research on these forums, which have been a great source of info. However, I'm unsure of a few things related to my revolving account situation.

Two revolving cards reporting, one is open, one is closed. Open account created in 2003 & current limit is $12K. Keeping this as reporting a low amount ~$100 month to month. Closed account created in 2000 & current limit is $2800 with $0 balance. However, credit grantor Capital One closed the account March 2018 due to inactivity. Until recently joining these forums, I had no idea an account could be closed due to this. Unfortunate and wishing I had occassionally charged a small balance to keep it from closing. I'm thinking there is no hope in attempting to resurrect this account and even if successful, does it not begin the account history anew, as if it were a new account?

To maximize scores, it seems the popular advise is to have three revolving cards, with one reporting a low balance. How much is it hurting me having only one open account? Any major scoring benefit to be had in opening additional accounts? Upon analyzing adding a new account, I'm figuring a temporary hit for the HP. What about a hit for AoYA, is this temporary or affects score indefinitely? Looking at potential long term hits, won't opening a new account forever tank my current AAoA score?

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Current FICO 8 is 755. Wanting to push into the 800's. Have been doing research on these forums, which have been a great source of info. However, I'm unsure of a few things related to my revolving account situation.

Two revolving cards reporting, one is open, one is closed. Open account created in 2003 & current limit is $12K. Keeping this as reporting a low amount ~$100 month to month. Closed account created in 2000 & current limit is $2800 with $0 balance. However, credit grantor Capital One closed the account March 2018 due to inactivity. Until recently joining these forums, I had no idea an account could be closed due to this. Unfortunate and wishing I had occassionally charged a small balance to keep it from closing. I'm thinking there is no hope in attempting to resurrect this account

yes there is no hope of resurrecting it

and even if successful, does it not begin the account history anew, as if it were a new account?

To maximize scores, it seems the popular advise is to have three revolving cards, with one reporting a low balance.

yes, to maximize your scores it is better to have 2 or 3 cards

How much is it hurting me having only one open account?

no one can answer how much, but probably not a huge amount

Any major scoring benefit to be had in opening additional accounts?

there is some scoring benefit, but no on can say if it will be major or not

Upon analyzing adding a new account, I'm figuring a temporary hit for the HP.

correct

What about a hit for AoYA,

correct. also there is a hit for lowering your average age of accounts

is this temporary or affects score indefinitely?

the age of youngest account and inquiry hits will fade to zero over time. but the average age of accounts will be lower and stay lower

Looking at potential long term hits, won't opening a new account forever tank my current AAoA score?

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no it will not forever "tank" your current AAoA score. it will lower your average age of accounts, but time heals all wounds, especially that one. at some point you will be in optimum territory. even if you open a new account today you'll still be in good shape in terms of AAoA. right now you're at 16.5 years. add a new account and you'll be at 11 years, which many feel is good enough to get you an 850

[Anonymous]

Hello SouthJamaica,

Thank you for those answers!

[Anonymous]

You can achieve an 800 score with just 1 revolver.  I did and rolled with that score and one revolver for the better part of a decade.  Age of accounts factors are usually the constraint to score growth if you've already got 2/3 of the FICO pie in check between Payment History and Amounts Owed.  The number of revolvers you have is extremely insignificant when it comes to scoring; I define anything under 10 points as being insignificant, but that's me.

[Anonymous]

Do you have any installment accounts? If not, you definitely should get one reporting (see SSL trick). Credit mix is 10% of your FICO score, so you could see up to a 50 point spike once it reports and the balance is paid down to 9%. 

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[Anonymous]

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Do you have any installment accounts? If not, you definitely should get one reporting (see SSL trick). Credit mix is 10% of your FICO score, so you could see up to a 50 point spike once it reports and the balance is paid down to 9%. 

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While I agree that a SSL could help the OP if he has no open installment loans, it wouldn't yield him near a 50 point spike.  Maximum credit mix points are achieved from the presence of a revolver and an installment loan.  He's already got the revolver, meaning he's already realizing a good portion of credit mix points.  The SSL would take care of the rest, usually around 25-30 points.  Around a 50 point gain could be had if someone had no open revolver and no open installment loan and then scooped up/reported both (open). 

[Anonymous]

Hello Octopus & BrutalBodyShots,

Yes I currently have two installment loans: mortgage + auto.

At this time, I believe what may be holding me back most, is a single 30-day late mortgage payment around 6 years ago. Thanks to this forum, I've just contacted that company and they will remove it by next week. However, I believe I'll still need to file disputes with the credit bureau's to then have it removed from my actual reports?

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello Octopus & BrutalBodyShots,

Yes I currently have two installment loans: mortgage + auto.

At this time, I believe what may be holding me back most, is a single 30-day late mortgage payment around 6 years ago. Thanks to this forum, I've just contacted that company and they will remove it by next week. However, I believe I'll still need to file disputes with the credit bureau's to then have it removed from my actual reports?

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No, once the creditor removes it, it's removed. But you can send a verification letter if you want to hasten the process. I would just sit tight, though.

[Anonymous]

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At this time, I believe what may be holding me back most, is a single 30-day late mortgage payment around 6 years ago. Thanks to this forum, I've just contacted that company and they will remove it by next week. However, I believe I'll still need to file disputes with the credit bureau's to then have it removed from my actual reports?

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That's great news!  Is that the only negative item you have on your credit reports?  I'm not sure what sort of scoring impact a lone 30 day late from 6 years ago would still be carrying today, so if you can stop back in and let us know what type of score improvement you saw that would be very informative to many of us.