cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Raising FICO 4 with only one InCharge Account revolving?

tag
Anonymous
Not applicable

Raising FICO 4 with only one InCharge Account revolving?

I have been lurking these forums for a few months now and I would appreciate any insight as to a better way to go about trying to raise my FICO 4.  My goal is a 640.

 

FICO 5: 602, FICO 4: 631, FICO 2: 663

 

Accounts reporting: 32 total, most are closed but a mix of old mortgages, credit cards, auto loans, and student loans. 

Open accounts reporting

1. 1 apartment rental is being reported and in good standing.

2. 1 open auto loan is reporting with a balance of $23,744. Opened in 12/19 and no late payments.

3. 5 student loans are reporting with a total balance of $6432.98, broken down:

$378.45
$866.21
$1,474.85
$1,575.82
$2,137.65

4. 7 open credit cards:

A few months ago, I was able to pay off all of my open credit cards except one and they are all reporting a 0 balance. Those cards are:

-Care Credit (Synchrony) ($2500 limit)

-Apple Card (Gs Bank) ($4000 limit)

-Big Lots (Comenity) ($750 limit)

-Chase (Jpmcb) ($3900 limit)

- Torrid (Store Card) ($650 limit)

-Maurices (Store Card) ($300 limit)

-The last credit card I have is a BestBuy credit card (Citi bank) that I enrolled with InCharge Debt Solutions years ago. I thought the terms of that agreement were that the line of credit would close...and when I go to the website, it does show that the account has 0.00 available despite it having a credit limit of $2500 and a balance of only $1009.37. My theory is that when I pay this off, the account will automatically report as closed, which makes me concerned since that will take away an open account and lower my total available credit. 

myFICO is currently showing a 7% utilization

 

In addition to these accounts, I have 6 items showing up in collections data, but all of them have now been paid and are showing a 0 balance.

 

Public Records: 0 items

 

Inquiries: 8 - very annoyed here because my FICO 4 was at 637 and a lender ran it twice in two months (Dec 20 & Jan 21) and it went down to 631 where it has stayed. 

 

Other: Of the 32 accounts, 8 are marked negative with a combined total of 20+ late payments, but they are all older than 2 years. 

 

My biggest questions are what (if anything) should I try to pay down or am I stuck in a waiting cycle? 

 

Message 1 of 13
12 REPLIES 12
nwa479
Regular Contributor

Re: Raising FICO 4 with only one InCharge Account revolving?

@Anonymous At 631 your very close to the MMS of 640 so there might be a couple things you can try.

 

1) While you have 7 percent overall utilization, the Best Buy card has about 40 percent.  You could pay this down to 28 percent or less and possibly gain a few points.  Is this account reporting on your credit report with 2500 available?  Need to see if that card is showing as 40 percent.  

 

2) If you could pay off the Best Buy card then leave one major bank card reporting a small balance you could potentially pick up some points using the AZEO method. All Zero Except One.  There's a score penalty for all cards reporting zero. The one open card should be a Visa/MC not a store card, and preferably not Chase because they will report any time you pay the balance to zero.  Is the Apple a Visa/MC?  If so you could use that. 

3) Fico 4 is also very sensitive to inquiries and new accounts, as you've seen with the two recent inquiries.  
4) How old are the collections?  Any within the last two years? 

Im working on the same issue, trying to raise my MMS further to qualify for a construction loan.  

There's a lot of great information on this forum for how to improve your scores.  You may gain enough points to hit 640 just with the utilization and AZEO, but I'd try to get past that maybe to 650 because new inquiries for a mortgage can also drop your score a little.  


 


Active cards

Goal Cards (Gardening until April 24)

My Fico Scores

Banks and Credit Unions:
Message 2 of 13
SouthJamaica
Mega Contributor

Re: Raising FICO 4 with only one InCharge Account revolving?


@Anonymous wrote:

I have been lurking these forums for a few months now and I would appreciate any insight as to a better way to go about trying to raise my FICO 4.  My goal is a 640.

 

FICO 5: 602, FICO 4: 631, FICO 2: 663

 

Accounts reporting: 32 total, most are closed but a mix of old mortgages, credit cards, auto loans, and student loans. 

Open accounts reporting

1. 1 apartment rental is being reported and in good standing.

2. 1 open auto loan is reporting with a balance of $23,744. Opened in 12/19 and no late payments.

3. 5 student loans are reporting with a total balance of $6432.98, broken down:

$378.45
$866.21
$1,474.85
$1,575.82
$2,137.65

4. 7 open credit cards:

A few months ago, I was able to pay off all of my open credit cards except one and they are all reporting a 0 balance. Those cards are:

-Care Credit (Synchrony) ($2500 limit)

-Apple Card (Gs Bank) ($4000 limit)

-Big Lots (Comenity) ($750 limit)

-Chase (Jpmcb) ($3900 limit)

- Torrid (Store Card) ($650 limit)

-Maurices (Store Card) ($300 limit)

-The last credit card I have is a BestBuy credit card (Citi bank) that I enrolled with InCharge Debt Solutions years ago. I thought the terms of that agreement were that the line of credit would close...and when I go to the website, it does show that the account has 0.00 available despite it having a credit limit of $2500 and a balance of only $1009.37. My theory is that when I pay this off, the account will automatically report as closed, which makes me concerned since that will take away an open account and lower my total available credit. 

myFICO is currently showing a 7% utilization

 

In addition to these accounts, I have 6 items showing up in collections data, but all of them have now been paid and are showing a 0 balance.

 

Public Records: 0 items

 

Inquiries: 8 - very annoyed here because my FICO 4 was at 637 and a lender ran it twice in two months (Dec 20 & Jan 21) and it went down to 631 where it has stayed. 

 

Other: Of the 32 accounts, 8 are marked negative with a combined total of 20+ late payments, but they are all older than 2 years. 

 

My biggest questions are what (if anything) should I try to pay down or am I stuck in a waiting cycle? 

 


I think you will pick up points in your mortgage scores by paying off the 2 smallest student loan balances and the Incharge account, and making sure that one and only one of your revolvers report a small balance each month.


Total revolving limits 741200 (620700 reporting) FICO 8: EQ 701 TU 704 EX 685

Message 3 of 13
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Raising FICO 4 with only one InCharge Account revolving?

1. Yes - it appears open on my credit report. I can pay it down to get it below 28% utilization this month.

2. None of them are Visa or MC, except for the best buy card and it actually has a visa logo on it, through Citi. 

3. Have definitely learned my lesson on how sensitive the FICO 4 is to having credit inquiries. Tough lesson.

4. The collections are from 2018-2020, so some of them are more recent, unfortunately. I am assuming only time will correct that since they are paid.

 

I think my biggest concern is that when I pay Bestbuy down to $0, that account will close and it was opened in 2014 so it's going to hurt my credit length. It might be worth calling them to see if they would remove me from the program and allow me to keep the account open if I pay in full but I am not sure if that's even a thing.

Message 4 of 13
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Raising FICO 4 with only one InCharge Account revolving?

I was wondering about those two student loans but I was nervous to get rid of them since they are some of my oldest open accounts. The one for $380 was open 11 years ago, for example. I am really nervous about doing anything that would make my score lower at this point and I am not sure how to tell how badly of a reaction that would have.

Message 5 of 13
SouthJamaica
Mega Contributor

Re: Raising FICO 4 with only one InCharge Account revolving?


@Anonymous wrote:

I was wondering about those two student loans but I was nervous to get rid of them since they are some of my oldest open accounts. The one for $380 was open 11 years ago, for example. I am really nervous about doing anything that would make my score lower at this point and I am not sure how to tell how badly of a reaction that would have.


It would have no adverse effect on your mortgage scores.  It will help by reducing the number of accounts with balances. It would have no effect on the age of accounts, because they will stay on your credit reports, most likely for a very long time.


Total revolving limits 741200 (620700 reporting) FICO 8: EQ 701 TU 704 EX 685

Message 6 of 13
nwa479
Regular Contributor

Re: Raising FICO 4 with only one InCharge Account revolving?

@Anonymous I would definitely see if you could exit the program and manage the Best Buy card, which then frees up the $2500 available credit and prevents this from being closed.   You could also leave a small balance on the card until you have another MC/Visa to use.  Once you get below 9% utilization you would gain a few more points.   

 

Another option, depending on your scores, would be to open another MC/Visa such as Capital One or Discover.  Discover's secured cards usually will graduate to unsecured later.  I have two Capital One cards and have had them for 5 years with no issues.  I get 1.5% cash back.  

 

Closing the Best Buy would not affect your age of accounts or oldest account.  For any positive credit profile, a close card will remain on your credit for 10 years.  For any negative, it will be 7 years. But if this is your oldest MC/Visa then it would be great if you could just keep it open.  What's your next oldest card?   After the Best Buy falls off, assuming you did close it, the next one would become your oldest card.  

 

 

 


Active cards

Goal Cards (Gardening until April 24)

My Fico Scores

Banks and Credit Unions:
Message 7 of 13
nwa479
Regular Contributor

Re: Raising FICO 4 with only one InCharge Account revolving?

@Anonymous Also on the paid collections you may still have a shot at getting them removed with a goodwill letter.  I'm working on one now for a collection, using the 'saturation' method.  Just getting started, so we'll see how it goes.  There are also posts here that discuss how likely a particular collection agency is to remove a collection once paid.  Who are the collection accounts with?  

 


Active cards

Goal Cards (Gardening until April 24)

My Fico Scores

Banks and Credit Unions:
Message 8 of 13
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Raising FICO 4 with only one InCharge Account revolving?

This was helpful! I will prioritize those two student loans for sure. 

Message 9 of 13
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Raising FICO 4 with only one InCharge Account revolving?

Thank you for your help! My next-oldest card that is open was opened in 2017. My FICO Bankcard scores are 762/755/756, so I know I'd get a Visa or MC, but I am trying not to open any new accounts. My FICO 4 is my middle mortgage score and I am trying to raise that to a 640, but I also can't risk it falling below a 580 because then I'd be screwed as I do not plan to bring 10% as a downpayment. 

Message 10 of 13
Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site are from third party advertisers from whom FICO receives compensation.