Raising credit score

[Anonymous]

Hello 

I'm trying to boost my score and build my credit back from a 2018 Ch7 BK discharge so I've paid down all my credit cards and essentially got to a 5% utilization  but my score is dropping and not going up 

i have a total of 11 accounts and all zero balance aside from 1 and 1 that hasn't reflected 

Just wondering if there is anything I should be doing 

Discover - CL 3000 Bal 950

Discover AU - CL 3650 Bal 0 

Uber - CL 250 Bal 0 

Capital One Quick silver - CL 2500 Bal 0 

Chevron - CL 800 Bal 0 

Woman within - CL 850 Bal 0 

Children's Place - CL 750 Bal 0 

Credit One - CL 1100 Bal 0 

Target - CL 500 Bal 0 

FCCU - CL 1000 Bal 0 

American Tires -CL 2400 Bal 0 (1100 not reflected) 

I also have a installment loan of $631

Payment of $96 a month 

Lastly a car loan of $18,000 but that got sold and will reflect $0 in April 

[SouthJamaica]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Hello 

I'm trying to boost my score and build my credit back from a 2018 Ch7 BK discharge so I've paid down all my credit cards and essentially got to a 5% utilization  but my score is dropping and not going up 

i have a total of 11 accounts and all zero balance aside from 1 and 1 that hasn't reflected 

Just wondering if there is anything I should be doing 

Discover - CL 3000 Bal 950

Discover AU - CL 3650 Bal 0 

Uber - CL 250 Bal 0 

Capital One Quick silver - CL 2500 Bal 0 

Chevron - CL 800 Bal 0 

Woman within - CL 850 Bal 0 

Children's Place - CL 750 Bal 0 

Credit One - CL 1100 Bal 0 

Target - CL 500 Bal 0 

FCCU - CL 1000 Bal 0 

American Tires -CL 2400 Bal 0 (1100 not reflected) 

I also have a installment loan of $631

Payment of $96 a month 

Lastly a car loan of $18,000 but that got sold and will reflect $0 in April 

---

Don't be alarmed. Your scores aren't dropping. You just got hit with the all zero penalty. Next time just make sure that at least 1 card reports a small balance before paying it off. (Bank card, not store card. Your own card, not AU card. I.e. in your case it should be your own Discover or the Cap One Quicksilver)

[USMC_Winger]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Hello 

I'm trying to boost my score and build my credit back from a 2018 Ch7 BK discharge so I've paid down all my credit cards and essentially got to a 5% utilization  but my score is dropping and not going up 

i have a total of 11 accounts and all zero balance aside from 1 and 1 that hasn't reflected 

Just wondering if there is anything I should be doing 

Discover - CL 3000 Bal 950

Discover AU - CL 3650 Bal 0 

Uber - CL 250 Bal 0 

Capital One Quick silver - CL 2500 Bal 0 

Chevron - CL 800 Bal 0 

Woman within - CL 850 Bal 0 

Children's Place - CL 750 Bal 0 

Credit One - CL 1100 Bal 0 

Target - CL 500 Bal 0 

FCCU - CL 1000 Bal 0 

American Tires -CL 2400 Bal 0 (1100 not reflected) 

I also have a installment loan of $631

Payment of $96 a month 

Lastly a car loan of $18,000 but that got sold and will reflect $0 in April 

---

Your total revolving debt utilization is below 6%, but your Discover card has a utilization of 31.7% ($950 / $3,000), which is penalizing your score.  When you get the balance down below 29% of the CL, you'll pick up some points.  Better yet, get the balance down to 9%, and you'll pick up even more points.

You say your American Tires balance is not reflected.  Does that mean it hasn't reported yet?  If so, that's going to hurt your score when it does, because that's 45.8% utilization ($1,100 / $2,400).  To increase your score when/if the American Tires balance reports, pay the balance down to the same utilization levels I mentioned for your Discover card.

You don't mention the balance on the $631 installment loan, but you'll get max points when you've nearly paid it off, as long as you don't have any other installment loans.  Get the balance down below 9% for the max points.  But once you've paid that loan off, realize that your score will drop, because you're no longer getting the "nearly paid off loan" boost, and you're no longer getting the points for ideal credit mix (revolving debt and installment debt).

[Anonymous]

---

@USMC_Winger wrote:

---

But once you've paid that loan off, realize that your score will drop, because you're no longer getting the "nearly paid off loan" boost, and you're no longer getting the points for ideal credit mix (revolving debt and installment debt).

---

Paying off a loan does not impact credit mix.  Both open and closed accounts are considered when looking at credit mix.  The score drop associated with paying off a loan comes from the Amounts Owed sector of the Fico pie... basically the bonus for having an almost-paid-off installment loan goes away.

[USMC_Winger]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Paying off a loan does not impact credit mix.  Both open and closed accounts are considered when looking at credit mix.  The score drop associated with paying off a loan comes from the Amounts Owed sector of the Fico pie... basically the bonus for having an almost-paid-off installment loan goes away.

---

True.  Thanks for the correction.  I forgot about the closed loans staying on the report for the future FICO score calculations.

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous good advice above. But to answer your question we really need to know more about your profile. What's your payment history look like? How about the length of accounts, new credit, and mix? all these contribute. 

[Anonymous]

I dont think OP got hit with an "all zero" penalty since technically 2 accounts have a balance, currently. Even when the one shows paid off, OP's Disco still has a balance.

I think once the Auto shows "paid", you will still have the installment loan. I am not sure what the original amount was for, but you could figure out what util that is at.

I think with your only AU account reporting $0, that you got hit with the "AU all zero" penalty.

If anything, once the auto loan reports paid and the american tires reports paid, you may see a score bump since there will be less acounts with a balance, and possibly lower installment and individual/aggregate revolving util (sorry, I didn't do the math). I am assumibg the American Tires is a revolving/credit account amd in that case, it being paid off will absolutely help you.

As the poster above said, if you can get the Disco under 30%, or even better, under 10%, that would be most optimal and then throw a couple bucks on the AU Disco and let it report. I think you will be see increases im the future from all these changes that you are waiting on.

Lastly, what scores are going down? Are they Fico Scores or Vantage scores (like from "free" sites like Crefit Karma)?

It looks like you are doing pretty good overall. Congrats on all the pay offs!

[joeyv1985]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I dont think OP got hit with an "all zero" penalty since technically 2 accounts have a balance, currently. Even when the one shows paid off, OP's Disco still has a balance.

I think once the Auto shows "paid", you will still have the installment loan. I am not sure what the original amount was for, but you could figure out what util that is at.

I think with your only AU account reporting $0, that you got hit with the "AU all zero" penalty.

If anything, once the auto loan reports paid and the american tires reports paid, you may see a score bump since there will be less acounts with a balance, and possibly lower installment and individual/aggregate revolving util (sorry, I didn't do the math). I am assumibg the American Tires is a revolving/credit account amd in that case, it being paid off will absolutely help you.

As the poster above said, if you can get the Disco under 30%, or even better, under 10%, that would be most optimal and then throw a couple bucks on the AU Disco and let it report. I think you will be see increases im the future from all these changes that you are waiting on.

Lastly, what scores are going down? Are they Fico Scores or Vantage scores (like from "free" sites like Crefit Karma)?

It looks like you are doing pretty good overall. Congrats on all the pay offs!

---

I agree with LaHossBoss. You're doing well. Just keep your nose to the grindstone and your scores should rise. I recently paid off a car loan in December and it finally reported. FICO 8's dropped 8-18 pts across the board. With only 1 payment left on the auto, installment loans boosted my score. Now that it's off my report, my mortgage loan is the only installment loan that reports and it shows that only 4% of the principal has been paid off(Mortgage is 22 months old). For the next 2 years or so, I'll just concentrate on paying down the principal of my mortgage. I'm using the AZEO method for my credit cards. No car loan means better cash flow IMHO. Nothing wrong with that. 

[Anonymous]

---

@joeyv1985 wrote:

---

---

I agree with LaHossBoss. You're doing well. Just keep your nose to the grindstone and your scores should rise. I recently paid off a car loan in December and it finally reported. FICO 8's dropped 8-18 pts across the board. With only 1 payment left on the auto, installment loans boosted my score. Now that it's off my report, my mortgage loan is the only installment loan that reports and it shows that only 4% of the principal has been paid off(Mortgage is 22 months old). For the next 2 years or so, I'll just concentrate on paying down the principal of my mortgage. I'm using the AZEO method for my credit cards. No car loan means better cash flow IMHO. Nothing wrong with that. 

---

What was your before/after aggregate installment loan utilization with/without that car loan?  Something doesn't sound right, as if you had an open mortgage still the closure of your auto loan shouldn't have dropped your F8 scores 8-18 points across the board... at least not due to the Amounts Owed sector of the Fico pie.  Perhaps the change to your loan:revolver ratio played a role, although I don't know that factor to be as impactful as the score gains you referenced.  How many revolvers do you have?

[joeyv1985]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@joeyv1985 wrote:

---

---

I agree with LaHossBoss. You're doing well. Just keep your nose to the grindstone and your scores should rise. I recently paid off a car loan in December and it finally reported. FICO 8's dropped 8-18 pts across the board. With only 1 payment left on the auto, installment loans boosted my score. Now that it's off my report, my mortgage loan is the only installment loan that reports and it shows that only 4% of the principal has been paid off(Mortgage is 22 months old). For the next 2 years or so, I'll just concentrate on paying down the principal of my mortgage. I'm using the AZEO method for my credit cards. No car loan means better cash flow IMHO. Nothing wrong with that. 

---

What was your before/after aggregate installment loan utilization with/without that car loan?  Something doesn't sound right, as if you had an open mortgage still the closure of your auto loan shouldn't have dropped your F8 scores 8-18 points across the board... at least not due to the Amounts Owed sector of the Fico pie.  Perhaps the change to your loan:revolver ratio played a role, although I don't know that factor to be as impactful as the score gains you referenced.  How many revolvers do you have?

---

It went from 83% to 96%. Here's a thread regarding that matter. 

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Open-ended-account-appears-to-cause-segmentation-on-8/m-p/6278664#M185288