need help understanding why my score is still in the tank

[Anonymous]

My current credit score is 646.  Doesn't ever seem to rise but always lowers. Here is my background:

my husband and I had 5 credit card charge offs that are all 5 to 6 years old.  They will all drop off by January 2016.  Our last late payment of any kind or amount was 2 years ago.  We have no auto loans.  We have one mortgage and 4 credit cards.  Our current cc utilization is 76%. 

I thought by this point with on time payments and charge offs being so old that our credit would be higher.  Any ideas or advice?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

My current credit score is 646.  Doesn't ever seem to rise but always lowers. Here is my background:

my husband and I had 5 credit card charge offs that are all 5 to 6 years old.  They will all drop off by January 2016.  Our last late payment of any kind or amount was 2 years ago.  We have no auto loans.  We have one mortgage and 4 credit cards.  Our current cc utilization is 76%. 

I thought by this point with on time payments and charge offs being so old that our credit would be higher.  Any ideas or advice?

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Your utilization is killing your score.  You need to get it below 30% and hopefully below 10% and you will see your scores go up.  And without knowing more about your last lat payment(s) it's hard to say what if any effect they are having on your score but without a doubt it does have some.

[Anonymous]

If you get your UTIL down you will reap the benefits in your score. You should  even see some movement upwards if you bring your UTIL down by 25%.

[Lemmus]

...you left out why your current score is bothering you ...its evident that your utilization is a major factor while your aged debts should be a minor factor ...if you're not intending to apply for new credit in the next 6 months and your lifestyle requires the high utilization, then ignore the score and live your life

...if otoh you do intend to apply for new prime debt in the near future you should move over to the credit repair forum and learn how to get your scores up quickly with the least pain ...hth

[Anonymous]

Update:  my cc util went down by only 1% but it raised my fico by 5 points.  Not much but it's something.  I'm going to work very hard to lower my util  in the next few months.

[EW800]

I agree as far as Util really doing the number on your scores. My wife and I were in that 70% range during some very ugly times. By getting our Util way down (now less 1%), coupled with over two years of perfect pay histories, we saw some very significant score improvements (see below). If you are in the 76% range, I suspect that if you at least get under 30%, you will be VERY pleased with the results! Best wishes!

[EW800]

Just one more comment to add to what I wrote above... When my wife and I went through the ugly times and ended up with an insane amount of credit card debt, we made complete lifestyle changes. We basically cut out everything, trying to save every dime we could. We basically bought nothing, unless it was needed to survive. You could almost say we just ate rice and beans for about 18 months. By doing this, and then sending everything we saved to the credit card monsters, we were able to drop our debt quite a bit. We did have to "settle" on one CC, but the rest we sent every possible dine to. I know every situation is different, but if you can, tighten your belts big time and you will see the rewards. It is SO worth it. I cannot properly express how good it feels to be out of credit card debt. Again, best wishes.

[Anonymous]

If you continue to bring down your util, your score will increase. If you continue to work at keeping your util low, eventually when your charge offs fall off in 2016 your score will increase dramatically! 

Continue to pay your bills ontime and continue to bring down your util, and you will start to see your FICOs change!

[Anonymous]

While utilization is playing a major role in your score at this point... Its definitely not the Major thing holding your score back. With that many chargeoffs on your reports and latest newer than that your derogs are the major player in holding your score down. Paying your utilization down to 1% won't even come close to the boost you would get by having no derogatory info on your file.

[Anonymous]

Any ideas on what kind of point increase to expect as each charge off falls off my credit report?