well here's my story....
5 months ago we (my fiance) and i decided we wanted to purchase a lot with the intention of building a house in 2-3 years (once she is done with her RN degree approx 1.5 years)... i started a plan on what i needed to do before... spoke with lender 700 median would give me 0% down, 10 year, with low rate... ok... i like those terms... price of lot 35,000.... had approx 10000 in savings.... took 2000 out and paid across my 3 cc's to lower uti... got uti (overall) to 45.39% which i know is not in the ideal range but this is what i felt comfortable paying down with the cost of the loan (1000-1200 in closing + 350 appraisal), and 1000 deposit would leave me with approx 5000 in savings...(approx 6 months of bills) in case of an emergency... anyway i pulled my scores after the pay down hit my reports and EQ 699 and TU 706.... i was assuming EX would be similiar since i cant pull it myself anymore...thanks EX... so we're good to go... paid my deposit to hold the lot...
well up comes the time to start the loan...lender calls says shes ready... blah blah blah...ok we schedule appt.... week before appt i pull scores...(im curious)... and WTH??? they go down... EQ 673 and TU 691... ok... im screwed... well i figure out why after going over the reports closely... two of my cards lowered my limits 
my uti NOW is up to 70% (overall) ive postponed the loan for now...i guess trying to sort my options...
so now im not sure what to do...
i've already paid my deposit so if i dont do the loan i loose it...
if i do the loan with my current scores it changes the terms to 15% down with a slightly higher rate... (which i could still pull off, but i really dont want to bc i like my savings security blanket in place... also if i pay more on the cc's im not sure it would help to raise it enough and i would loose my savings anyway)
im not sure what can be done to raise my score now... any ideas...
i did in the past have a couple of baddies...
i had a credit card 5 years ago that had 3 - 60 day lates and 1 - 30 day late...
date of last late was over 5 years ago
and i had one collection...which was paid in full...(did not know about pfd back then)
this will fall off december of 2012
could having either one of these goodwill'd get me back to 700?
my auto loan (installment through cap one) will turn one year old next month (always current)
would this give me any type of point increase? (i think i read that it could)
or should i try to see if my cc's would increase my limits back (im assuming i would aquire an inquiry which im thinking may hurt more than help with the higher limits added back...if they would even give the limits back) i still dont understand why they were lowered... i have not had a late payment since my divorce over 5 years ago... in fact i normally pay early... there is nothing new that is negative on my report... only the older things which were there when these cards were opened....???
if the actual report tradelines would make this easier to decipher i can post them... thanks...
Starting Score: EQ 623 (1/28/10) TU 666 (1/28/10)
Hi jordy,
Welcome!
I'll just respond to this one tidbit, and you'll hear lots of good responses from other folks.
@jordy wrote:
or should i try to see if my cc's would increase my limits back (im assuming i would aquire an inquiry which im thinking may hurt more than help with the higher limits added back...if they would even give the limits back) i still dont understand why they were lowered... i have not had a late payment since my divorce over 5 years ago... in fact i normally pay early... there is nothing new that is negative on my report... only the older things which were there when these cards were opened....??? A few things could have happened, they could have changed their guidelines so your old baddies may be looked at differently now than they were before; they could have been spooked by your utilization. If you have carried a high balance with them for awhile, it is not at all unusual for creditors to do some balance chasing (when you pay down balances, they decrease your CL's); and then again they could have seen your high utilization on an account review soft pull and decided to cut CL's in response to utilization on their - or your other - accounts. I would definitely look at paying down if you possibly can. Remember FICO looks at individual utilization, overall utilization, and number of accounts reporting a balance.
if the actual report tradelines would make this easier to decipher i can post them... thanks... Yep - actually that helps a lot! Good practice is to list account, CL, balance, and if you can add APR and date open.
A few things could have happened, they could have changed their guidelines so your old baddies may be looked at differently now than they were before; they could have been spooked by your utilization. If you have carried a high balance with them for awhile, it is not at all unusual for creditors to do some balance chasing (when you pay down balances, they decrease your CL's); and then again they could have seen your high utilization on an account review soft pull and decided to cut CL's in response to utilization on their - or your other - accounts. I would definitely look at paying down if you possibly can. Remember FICO looks at individual utilization, overall utilization, and number of accounts reporting a balance.
im thinking the last part may be what happened... for a long time i stayed well under 15% on all 3 cards... over the last year or so i was carrying around about 60-70% on my Lowes card...(we were remodeling our house and the intrest free financing was a big help).... and on my kay card the balance was a 1-5% for the longest time and i bought my fiance's engagement ring which brought the limit to around 80%... i did so for the 2 years intrest free financing by using the card...(what i dont understand is there have never been a late on this card...why offer you a credit line with the company and offer financing that would suggest you to make a purchase then when you do and never make a late drop your limit if you put a big chunk of money down at one time.... i think they were hoping more that i would let it go past two years and they would get intrest... since it wont there dropping limits due to it...ugh)
Yep - actually that helps a lot! Good practice is to list account, CL, balance, and if you can add APR and date open. 
i'll post the tradelines shortly...sorry for the inconvience... lol...
I would also recommend doing a free 10 day trial of Scorewatch. If you cancel before the 10 days, there's no charge. You will see your credit report, your Equifax FICO score, and a simulator that helps you know how different actions will impact your score. It also shows "What's Helping Your FICO score" and "What's Hurting Your FICO Score." Great help when you're trying to build FICO's. If you like, of course, you can keep the subscription open and receive updates on Equifax FICO score changes as you move forward.
i actually get a free usage of equifax reporting through work.... something happened a couple years ago where someone stole a bunch of laptops from our offices and tried using the info to open accounts on some employees credit.... our company went to bat for us and we were allowed unlimited use of their lawyers for free and they bought 5 year scriptions for us through equifax... i used theirs for everyday report pulling just to look at whats on the reports...
i always pull my scores through myfico though... i never use the scores from equifax... (on a side note... i do have something that sends alerts if something changes on my report)
thanks for the info though... i would definetly subscribe to it if i didnt get a similiar item for free 
Here are the items requested earlier from my most recent TU report pulled from myfico
- You have a collection on your credit report.
- Number of collections on your credit report1 Collection
Virtually no FICO High Achievers have a collection listed on their credit report.The presence of a collection is a powerful predictor of future payment risk. If this is valid, paying off the collection will not remove it from your credit report. The fact that it occurred is still predictive of future payment risk and will be considered by your FICO score. However, as this item ages and falls off of your credit report, its impact on your score will gradually decrease. Most collections stay on your report for no more than seven years.
Ratio of your revolving balances to your credit limits70%
You've made heavy use of your available revolving credit.For FICO High Achievers , this ratio is 7%, on average.Your FICO score evaluates your revolving credit balances in relation to your credit limits on those accounts. In your case, this ratio of balances to credit limits is too high.
Keep this in mind: This credit usage ratio is one of the most important factors to your FICO score, so you should work on paying down your balances. Your FICO score looks at your total ratio of revolving debt, and also your ratio of revolving debt on your individual credit accounts. Therefore, consolidating or moving your debt from one account to another will usually not help your FICO score since the same total amount is owed.
Your oldest account was opened8 Years, 6 Months agoAverage age of your accounts5 years
You have a short credit history.FICO High Achievers opened their oldest account 19 years ago, on average.Most FICO High Achievers have an average age of accounts between 6 and 12 years.Your FICO score measures the age of your oldest account and the average age of your accounts. In your case, either your oldest account was opened recently or the average age of your accounts is relatively low. People that do not frequently open new accounts and have longer credit histories generally pose less risk to lenders. Therefore, as your credit history lengthens and you pay your bills on time, this factor should have less of a negative impact on your score.
What’s helping your FICO® score
The positive factors listed here reflect areas of your credit behavior that are helping your FICO® score. You should continue the good practices listed here. These factors are listed in order of their impact to your score – the first has the greatest positive impact and the last has the least.
Number of your accounts that were ever 60 days late or worse:1 account
There is no evidence of a serious delinquency (60 days past due or greater) or derogatory description on your credit report.Only about 1% of FICO High Achievers have a 60 days late payment or worse listed on their credit report.The fact that you have no serious delinquencies or derogatory descriptions on your credit report is a good thing. The presence of delinquencies and derogatory descriptions are powerful predictors of future payment risk - people with previous late payments are much more likely to pay late in the future.
Your most recent late payment happened4 Years, 8 Months ago
You've recently been paying your bills on time.Most FICO High Achievers , about 93%, have no missed payments at all. But of those who do have a missed payment, it happened nearly 4 years ago, on average.While you have missed payments in the past, you have recently been paying your bills on time, which has helped your FICO score. Staying current with your bills will continue to help your score.
Your most recent collection occured5 Years, 8 Months ago
The collection on your credit report happened a long time ago.Virtually no FICO High Achievers have a collection listed on their credit report.While there is evidence of a collection on your credit report, it happened a long time ago. Collections stay on your record for no more than seven years, but the more recent they are, the greater their impact on your score. As the item gets older, it has less of a negative impact on your score - as in your case.
How Lenders See You
| Gemb/Lowes Brc | 11/2007 | $3,617 | Paid or paying as agreed | No | |
 Capital One Auto Finance | XXXXXXXXXXXXX1001 | 8/2010 | $28,506 | Paid or paying as agreed | No |
 Capital One Bank Usa Na | 12/2009 | $1,244 | Paid or paying as agreed | No | |
| Kay Jewelers | 11/2008 | $3,911 | Paid or paying as agreed | No | |
| Bank Of America | 7/2004 | $0 | Paid or paying as agreed |  | |
 Nelnet | 2/2003 | $0 | Paid or paying as agreed | No | |
 Finance One Of Houma | 10/2004 | $0 | Paid or paying as agreed | No | |
| Friedmans Jewelers | XXXXXXXXXX0020 | 10/2003 | $0 | Paid or paying as agreed | No |
| Nelnet | 3/2003 | $0 | Paid or paying as agreed | No |
had to do 2 messages due to 20,000 charater limit...sorry...
Bank Of America Jul, 2010
Status as ofDate openedDate of last activityDate closedLoan typeCredit limitLargest past balanceAccount TypeAccount holderIndustry
| Jul, 2010 |
| Jul, 2004 |
| Jan, 2010 |
| Dec, 2006 |
| Credit Card |
| $1,500 |
| $1,914 |
| Revolving Account |
| Individual Account |
| Banks |
Descriptions
- Account closed by consumer
Contact InformationPo Box 17054
Wilmington, DE 19850
(800) 421-2100
Wilmington, DE 19850
(800) 421-2100
Balance Current Status
Seven year payment history30 days late60 days late90+ days late
Recent payment history7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 62008 2009 2010
Worst Delinquency
| $0 | Paid or paying as agreed |
| 2 times (Mar 2007, Nov 2006) |
| 4 times (Feb 2007, Jan 2007, Dec 2006, Mar 2006) |
| 0 times |
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 60 days past due |
| The Worst Delinquency reports the worst missed payment status that has been documented on this account. Your FICO® score evaluates how recently that missed payment occurred and in general, the more recent, the more impact it has on your score. However, the fact that it occurred is still predictive of future payment risk and could be considered by your FICO® score. |
Collections
A collection is reported on your credit report when a business turns over an unpaid account to a collection agency. One collection can hurt your FICO® score and several collections can severely hurt your FICO® score.
Collection on debt to: 11 Comcast Of Houma
The collection agency "Credit Mgmt" was hired to collect a debt of $435 originally owed to "11 Comcast Of Houma" on account number "XXXXXXXX".
Collection agencyOriginal balanceCurrent balanceDate assignedOriginal lenderAccount numberAccount holderAccount descriptions
| Credit Mgmt |
| $435 |
| $0 |
| Dec 08, 2005 |
| 11 Comcast Of Houma |
| XXXXXXXX |
| Individual |
| Paid collection |
also the 3 open cc's that i have now are
Lowes 14.99%
Cap One CC 12.99%
Kay 18.99%
new LOWER limits are updated on all 3 on this report....
i think that was all the requested information... lol... i may of missed something... if so please let me know and i'll gladly post it...