Good observation on convenience store robbery. Where will you be in 2.5 years if you do it now? I had to laugh because it seems so true. A bad credit score is a little bit like a jail, although absent the obvious rules that allow you to get out.
I’ve been monitoring my Equifax FICO through credit watch because I intend to refinance a property. I was slammed by a divorce and subsequent bad finances for the last 5 years or so. This included many payments that were 120 days late on a mortgage leading to, but just skirting foreclosure last year.
I came into some money recently from an inheritance, which allowed me to pay off revolving accounts. In June of last year, I had a total of about $16k outstanding (utilization about 90%) on revolving accounts and an EQ FICO score of 627. I paid off these accounts 4 months later in October when the inheritance came in and, without any other changes, my score went up to 681, a 54 point improvement due only to that payoff.
Since then I’ve learned a little bit about how EQ treats revolving accounts. FICO hates revolving accounts. However, they like to see 3 active accounts, 2 of them with zero balance, and one with a small balance, under $100 but not $0.
So from my experience, your best chance for a better score is to get rid of the revolving credit. Although youare at different utilization level than I was, I can see significant score changes, maybe as much as 38 on the payoff. Yours of the 24th says that you have utilization at 28% of about $5k available, somewhere south of $1,400 if your math is correct. This would have seemed like a million bucks to me a few months ago. But if you have the ability to pay this off it may help immensely. Say you have a vehicle of some value and can get a loan through a friendly institution and use it to pay off revolving accounts, this would re-balance the debt into a installment category, which FICO likes much better. (The hard pull of credit score will ding your credit by a few points, so don’t let them draw it until they agree that you can have the loan at your current score level) . Or maybe you could beg and borrow from friends or family, or sell something --- or consider the convenience store thing. ( After all, you have about a 50% chance of not being caught if you are careful.)
The other thing I did was challenge one issue on my report. When a mortgage account was transferred from one institution to another, it was left in a 30-day late status, seemingly forever, which showed up on my summary, when all other accounts were paid as agreed. I had to challenge Equifax twice to correct it. The successful challenge was good for another 21 point increase in my score.
Your challenge is probably a little different but you should make the insistent case with all three bureaus that the account is “paid as agreed”. Anything less than this harms you.
I used the following language in my second challenge to Equifax:
“At this time I am seeking to refinance my property and it is important for me to have a credit score that accurately reflects my current status. Even small changes as may result from your more accurate reporting can have great consequences in the amount of interest charged over the life of this new loan.”
This carried the undertone of defamation of character, which is often the basis for legal challenges of errant credit scores.
Good luck….
