Okay...I've been monitoring my FICO/credit for the past few years. After a big cleanup in 1999 (by negotiating and paying things off....including many that did not improve my scores at all). Scores still are not as high as I think they should be. One paid recovery still on there....but when I paid it off, they updated dates...so now the clock is ticking on drop off for that. I've had it verified, etc. Two other lates on credit cards...but more than a few years ago. Had three different mortgages (paying on open third now)..all with no lates. Each for a larger house. Been at job for 6+ years. Six figure income. Zipcode is in the 5th most expensive in America (according to Forbes magazine). TU & EQ FICO from myFICO are in the mid 600 range...but Experican FICO is 585!? Three things hitting me....lots of inquiries....from home hunting time...and from student loan shopping. C/L ratio is bad...since prior problems with credit...kept number and size of cards low....so my ratio is 95%+. Also...although never late, a number of cards "High Limit" is higher than my credit limit. So...I can't do much about the inquiries than wait for them to drop off. But...Christmas bonus time is coming...so...I can pay off ALL my revolving debt. But what is the optimal percentage to leave on them for maximum benefit? Also, how long will this paydown take to reflect on the score? Finally, how badly does having the "over limit" amounts on the cards I do have? Most are by small amounts...usually resulting from some fee or automated charge when I was close to the limit. Once I pay down the balances and the score improves some, would it help a LOT to have the credit limit MUCH higher than the high limit? Finally...I probably don't have the right "mix" of credit...I do have the mortgages on there...and some credit cards....but I do not have any "installment" credit...no furniture, cars, etc. that are current. Did have one car loan on their that Transunion is still carrying...but paid off in 1991. Would it greatly help to get some sort of installment loan on there? Sorry for the long post. aiki
I found that by paying down credit cards our from 90% to 2% my score went up about 90 points in under a month. There is also a simulator on the myfico.com searches which shows this and was pretty accurate for me. Most CC companies seemed to report when sending out a statement and with EQ & EX this was more or less instant - TU seemed to take a week or two - some companies, including Providian and HFC were very slow and sometimes reported a month or two behind - pay them online, then dispute the balance as paid in full, this got me an update after a few days - be care though if this is one of your better lines as there is always a chance they won't respond and the account will be deleted! Hope this helps... Neil
