FICO has not improved in a year now

[Epic]

It has stayed at 674 (FICO, not FAKO) Any other steps I can take to improve it? Going for the magical 700+ club.

Since my BK7 in May 2011:
- Two different CU credit cards; $4.5K and $17K Visa
- Cap One secured; $3K
- Cap One unsecured; $500
- One store card; $1500
--> All paid monthly, never late, never carried a balance and rarely use them, all reporting
- New car loan via CU; $35K @ 1.49% for 36 months (yes, I have CASH to pay it off but at this low rate I'm keeping it in savings)
- Never late on mortgage (had prior to BK)
- Five hard pulls in last 12 months

By my standards, I feel I am doing everything right.

Should I open another CC? Start keeping balances on cards? Request CL increases?

[justbroke]

Your problem isn't utilization, it's the bankruptcy and probably other items still on your credit report. Remember the old stuff is still there and is probably what is pulling your score down. Your poor payment history on your mortgage, as you list, is one of those factors. Your score is in the right area (very high 600s to very low 700s), but a lot depends on what is actually on your report. A credit score looks at everything on your credit report. Even though late payments have less affect after 2 years, there still is an affect. While a very recent late payment could hit you with a 100 point drop, the fact that you were late 2 years ago (and how many days you were late), will still impact you today, but maybe only by 20 points. High FICO achievers, according to Fair Isaac, have NO late pays on their reports. They also only have 1-2 inquiries on their report. They also have 2 or fewer installment (car) loans on their report. Their installment loan balances are less than 50%. (All this information is paraphrased from the MyFICO web site.)

The new installment loan and recent credit inquiries are dragging you down by at least 20 points by my estimate. The late pays from pre-bankruptcy are also pulling you down. If you don't apply for new credit and let the new installment loan age to 1 year, you should easily be in the lower 700s.

[bcss]

You are exactly where I'm at 674, Equifax, 8-2-13. Bk discharged end of Oct. 2011. My report has 11 negative flags, 1 credit card I got Feb 2012. 12% utilization. No inquires, no installment loans. I'm working on cleaning it up the best I can. Like Justbroke said, I think we just have to wait it out. Part of me doesn't care, not going back to that lifestyle again. Best of luck...

[msm859]

It has stayed at 674 (FICO, not FAKO) Any other steps I can take to improve it? Going for the magical 700+ club.

Since my BK7 in May 2011:
- Two different CU credit cards; $4.5K and $17K Visa
- Cap One secured; $3K
- Cap One unsecured; $500
- One store card; $1500
--> All paid monthly, never late, never carried a balance and rarely use them, all reporting
- New car loan via CU; $35K @ 1.49% for 36 months (yes, I have CASH to pay it off but at this low rate I'm keeping it in savings)
- Never late on mortgage (had prior to BK)
- Five hard pulls in last 12 months

By my standards, I feel I am doing everything right.

Should I open another CC? Start keeping balances on cards? Request CL increases?

No, do not open another CC that will lover your AA - average age of your credit history. You don't say how long you have had the cards listed open - that is an important component of your scores. Raising limits on existing cards may help, using them may also help - you need a positive payment history. Current thinking is to "carry" zero balances i.e pay in full each month all credit cards Except 1. On the 1 make sure your utilization is between 1 - 9 % of your total credit limits. Other than that you just need time.

[ccmisery]

I had some closed credit cards with balances that were included in my bankruptcy, they totally disappeared off of my credit reports after discharge, not even showing. If I knew this prior, I would have closed all my accounts a year ago. I am not sure if I'm a just lucky, but it's a few less negative accounts to have to wait a number of years before they are removed.

Also I noticed one card that I had since the early 90's was bought by another bank, and it wiped out my 20+ year credit history, say's I opened it in 2012, which is not the case. Tried to dispute it but was to no avail.

[Pjmax]

I think you lucked out with your closed BK accounts dropping off. Mine were all closed 3-4 years before I filed. They are all still there.

[Fallonedward]

What is the name of the Free Credit Report you are allowed to get once per year?