When will I reach 700 club?

[aot2009]

I have a Fico score currently of 655

I have several student loans (11 accounts) holding my score I think low... Which will turn to positive accounts in Nov 2012

I'm curious when to expect the next increase to beyond 700 score? I've not been applying for any credit apps and don't plan on. I do have a bankruptcy showing Chap 7 which will fall off in March of 2012

Last late payment Student loan

4 Years, 6 Months ago

Ratio of your revolving balances to your credit limits
38%

Number of your accounts with a missed payment or a derogatory description
11 accounts

Average age of your accounts
5 years

Your applications for credit in the past year
4 inquiries

[MarineVietVet]

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@aot2009 wrote:

I have a Fico score currently of 655

I have several student loans (11 accounts) holding my score I think low... Which will turn to positive accounts in Nov 2012

I'm curious when to expect the next increase to beyond 700 score? I've not been applying for any credit apps and don't plan on. I do have a bankruptcy showing Chap 7 which will fall off in March of 2012

Last late payment Student loan

4 Years, 6 Months ago

Ratio of your revolving balances to your credit limits
38%

Number of your accounts with a missed payment or a derogatory description
11 accounts

Average age of your accounts
5 years

Your applications for credit in the past year
4 inquiries

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I see a couple if things that might help you.

Getting your overall utilization to <9% seems to work well for many people. Just lowering that I think would give you a few points; how many is hard to say.

You don't break down your individual revolving accounts by utilization but FICO also scores that along with overall utilization. It also looks at how many accounts are reporting a balance at any one time.

Everyone's situation is different and there is no one size fits all approach to this but what seems to work well for most people is to have only one of their cards report a small (<9% of it's credit limit) balance each month and then pay in full before the due date. You can use it as much as you want during the month but what's important is the reported balance because for most cards whatever is reported on the monthly statement is what is used to calculate utilization for the month.

You might have to play around with the percentages for a few months to see what works best for you. Some people say that 1-3% utilization helps the most. For others it might be 5-9%. As I said it's not one size fits all.

On any other cards always try and have them report a zero balance each month. That doesn't mean you can't use them just make sure that the desired zero balance on these accounts is achieved several days before their statements post.

Also inquiries are not scored after a year so you might pick up a few points when that one year mark comes around.

Even with those 11 negatives reporting I believe you have a good chance to get to 700. How soon? I won't hazard a guess but let us know how it goes.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 3/11 pulled by lender- 835, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

[aot2009]

It's one credit card using 2400 dollars of 4000 credit line care credit.
If I did get until down to even < 9 % your saying I should be closer to 700 that would be impressive

[MarineVietVet]

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@aot2009 wrote:
It's one credit card using 2400 dollars of 4000 credit line care credit.
If I did get until down to even < 9 % your saying I should be closer to 700 that would be impressive

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I believe you can as long as everything else remains the same or gets even better. Utilization is 30% of your total score and so controlling it can really make a difference.

Getting another CC (after doing a lot of research) might help you in the long run. Then you would have the ability to let only one of them report a balance each month. But that decision is yours alone to make. If you are thinking about another card at some point in the future you might post something in the Credit Cards board and see what kind of advice the CC gurus have for you.

BTW by using your numbers (2,400/4,000) I come up with a utilization of 60%.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 3/11 pulled by lender- 835, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

[aot2009]

I have quite a few cards only 1 has a balance but my total credit line is like 9K and from last report it was 2600
2600/ 9000 = 28% rough numbers at hand I could be off a bit

All other cards report 0 balance

[MarineVietVet]

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@aot2009 wrote:
I have quite a few cards only 1 has a balance but my total credit line is like 9K and from last report it was 2600
2600/ 9000 = 28% rough numbers at hand I could be off a bit

All other cards report 0 balance

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I misunderstood then. By your posts I was thinking that you only had one card.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 3/11 pulled by lender- 835, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

[RobertEG]

I would suspect from your broad summary that the main factor affecting your score at this point are the numerous old derogs.

If you have multiple major derogs (90+ lates, charge-offs, or collections), it is very difficult to rise into the 700+ plateau.

If you could list the derogs and delinquencies by type, severity, and date that are posted in your CR, maybe you can obtain some advice on how to pursue their deletion, which would have a significant FICO impact.

Additionally, the emphasis is also on preventing any further hemmoraging of your score.  Old derogs can mature into more serious derogs, and while you are plugging away at such things as improved % utiil, the derogs can further drag down your score and destroy all your efforts in your category of focus.

Which of your accounts, either open or closed, are now delinquent, and what is their level of delinquency?

FICO score improvement is based on more than one category of FICO scoring.

[aot2009]

The derogs are from student loans all 11 of them and they are paid and closed. It sucks that they marked all eleven as I didn't know that they were different accounts.
I've tried by sending 13 different letters to sallie Mae and tried a lot to the CRAs

[addicted_to_credit]

I'm not saying you should however I have read where some have had some some success with disputing but when they are valid you are just banking on the creditor taking too long to file an answer back to the CRA's

[aot2009]

That's true but it's also possible that they could delete these accounts and they are some of the oldest one's I have so it could cause harm with it being a year away from turning to 11 good accounts.