I've reached a point where my scores don't move.
I've got a few very old public record negatives that will be off one day but there's nothing further I can do to accelerate that.
I pay everything way ahead of time.
I have my utilization down below 1%
I've put together plenty of available credit.
I took out a secured savings loan and paid it down to 10% so I'd have an instalment loan in the mix.
It's abundantly clear that not applying for anything in the next 12 months will greatly help my score, because I need to age the accounts I have, and I need to get the inquiries eliminated. But not doing stuff is no fun at all.
Is there anything I can do?
Or am I just stuck with not doing?
@Anonymous wrote:Hey SJ! :-)
Can you remind the folks reading your thread whether your Share Secure loan is your only installment loan? My memory is that this is only one you have. If you had other I-loans (car, student, etc.) you might have some more balance reduction you could do.
Your memory is correct; it's the only one I have.
As far as your CCs, do you have exactly one card reporting a positive balance? The received wisdom (as you know) is that one card is best, but you could look at the bright side and view this as an opportunity for science. While you are waiting, you could keep your total utilization the same (under 1%) and and change the number of cards that report. Make them go from 1 reporting to 6 then 4 then 3 and try to home in on the place where it doesn't matter (for your particular profile). Then report back to the fort with your findings.
At present I have 3 out of 15 reporting. I'm pretty much stuck with that because I can't control the more active accounts to the nth degree, because often the bank won't accept a payment from me because there's no balance, and then I get hit with some interest or something.
But yeah, nothing to do but watch and wait. You already have plenty of cards, your per-card U is low, your total U is low, your installment debt ratio is positive but < 10%, you have confirmed that nothing but time can fix your remaining derogs, etc.
While you do watch and wait, here are three things that you can indeed do:
Calculate your exact AAoA right now and identify when it will cross over into a new integer value.
Caculate your age of oldest account and identify when it will cross over into a new integer value.
Identify when each of your current inquiries will cross over into post 366 days.
This gives you something to do now and then gives you concrete points in time to watch for. Any of those events might be associated with a score boost.
Those are just mind games
I do them all the time but they don't affect my scores
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
While you do watch and wait, here are three things that you can indeed do:
Calculate your exact AAoA right now and identify when it will cross over into a new integer value.
Caculate your age of oldest account and identify when it will cross over into a new integer value.
Identify when each of your current inquiries will cross over into post 366 days.
This gives you something to do now and then gives you concrete points in time to watch for. Any of those events might be associated with a score boost.
Those are just mind games
Well, figuring out when your AAoA will next become an integer (for example) is a mental exercise. And it is certain that the mere act of figuring that out will not in itself cause your score to change. So you are 100% right there.
But AAoA is a scoring factor, and at some point it will cause your score to change. Furthermore, when your AAoA does cause your score to change, it will certainly be at an integer breakpoint. AAoA doesn't cause a change at EVERY integer (especially once your integer values get higher) but at low integers (0, 1, 2, 3) it's quite possible that you could see a change at every integer.
Same thing for your inquiries. You won't see an improvement for every inquiry that crosses Day 366, but if you have say 7-8 inquiries you might see a change for every two.
Anyway, caclulating your AAoA was just something that you could do if (as you said) you were feeling frustrated by having to do absolutely nothing. It's something simple you can do while you wait. Sounds like you have already done those three things, so if you have done them once then they don't have to be done again while you are waiting. The AAoA (for example) will just steadily go up. Since you know them, they'll give you an idea of when significant changes might happen.
And of course you know that the biggest dates to wait n is the dates your negatives will fall off.
Yeah, unfortunately, at some point, the only real thing you can do is sit back and let time heal the old credit wounds.
If you can get 6 months without any new accounts, you will probably do well. You've got plenty of credit already and I know it feels good to be 'approved', but new accounts really hold scores down.
We all want a magic reset button. Maybe I'll get one for Christmas Best thing you can do though is not worry about your credit for the next 6 months. Monitor it, yes. Treat it with care, yes. Worry about it, NO. Obsess about it, definitely NOT. I had to do this myself. A year ago, I was all over everything trying to get my credit scores up. Finally, I had to come to the realization that a bit of time was needed, not more apps, not more credit cards. 8 months later, voila, my credit went from the subterranian basement to the bottom floor. All it really took was letting my new accounts cross the 6 month threshold. A year is better.
Time.... more time.....
Dan
@redbeard wrote:Yeah, unfortunately, at some point, the only real thing you can do is sit back and let time heal the old credit wounds.
If you can get 6 months without any new accounts, you will probably do well. You've got plenty of credit already and I know it feels good to be 'approved', but new accounts really hold scores down.
We all want a magic reset button. Maybe I'll get one for Christmas
Time.... more time.....
Dan
Yeah, today I lost 4 points on my Equifax score for having added my $500 Eddie Bauer card a few weeks ago
@newhis wrote:Are you AU in some cards? If you remove any of them from your reports will help your AAoA?
No I'm nobody's AU
@Aahz wrote:Have you maximized your Soft Pull CLI opportunities? May not directly help your scores, but is doing something, and you'll generate an "account updated" alert from MyFICO. Also, if you have any cards you haven't used in the last three months, take it out for a spin and you should get a "recently active" report.
Oh yeah Maximized to the point they're tired of hearing from me