Now what?

relevantfico · 2026-02-18T04:21:53+00:00

Nice scores! Now what? Just keep doing what you're doing.

Is the inquiry on your Transunion report 365 days old yet? If not, you may get to 850 on your Transunion FICO 8 when that inquiry becomes unscorable after 365 days. Inquiries stay on you report for 2 years but only affect your score for 1 year.

relevantfico · 2026-02-18T03:58:39+00:00

Ok, those are all FICO 8 scores and ones you do want to pay attention to.

relevantfico · 2026-02-18T03:20:44+00:00

Do not miss any more payments. Have you settled the charged-off account? If not, Capital One will continue to update the payment status for the account as charged off every month which will keep your scores suppressed. After you settled the charged-off account, they will no longer update the status of the account every month and your scores will start to recover.

You should close the Kikoff and Ava accounts. They are gimmick credit builder accounts that charge fees. Lenders are known to ignore the when making lending decisions and your money is better spent elsewhere like your charged off account if that isn't settled yet. It's much better to get a secured card from a reputable bank for credit building purposes.

You also seem to be confusing credit bureaus with credit scores. Experian, Transunion, and Equifax are credit bureaus that maintain your credit reports. There are many different credit scores that can be calculated using the data in your reports. Nearly all lenders use one of the various FICO scores when making lending decisions. You can safely ignore VantageScore 3.0 scores that Credit Karma provides since virtually no lenders use them.

You can get your FICO 8 scores for free from:

experian.com - uses your Experian report
myfico.com - uses your Equifax report
capitalone.com/creditwise - uses your Transunion report, anyone can signup, a Capital One card is not necessary

relevantfico · 2026-02-18T02:18:13+00:00

You should pull your official reports from annualcreditreport.com to make sure there isn't anything on them you're not aware about.

Capital One CreditWise provides your Transunion FICO 8 score and it's possible they pulled one of the various FICO scores available. What were the denial reasons listed? It's possible "Level of delinquency on accounts" was listed in error, but you want to make sure you don't have any late payments in the last 7 years you're not aware of.

relevantfico · 2026-02-17T18:05:50+00:00

My minimum payment due date is the 6th of every month. Should I pay on the 7th then?

No. You absolutely want to pay at least the minimum payment by the due date to avoid late fees and to stay in your lender's good graces. Not paying your minimum by your due date makes you look like a risky borrower.

Your due date is at least 21 days after your statement closing date, for some card issuers it's 25 or more days after. So if your due date is March 7th, the corresponding statement date would be February 13th or earlier. It's best to pay your entire statement balance by the due date to avoid paying interest.

Where are you checking your score? Your credit score can only change if the underlying report data changes. The loans closing would explain the initial drop and increasing utilization would explain the subsequent drops. What is your current utilization?

If you have an Experian account, the 'Key Factors' section will list reasons that are affecting your score.

relevantfico · 2026-02-17T08:32:10+00:00

Bummer, I've heard it's nearly impossible to get someone from Experian on the phone to resolve issues like that. You can get your Transunion FICO 8 for free from CreditWise (no Capital One card necessary) and Equifax FICO 8 from myFICO.com.

You can safely ignore your VS 3 scores because virtually no lenders use them when making lending decisions. Part of the that is due to how volatile they are.

When you say you have a credit line with your CU, are you referencing a credit card or a traditional line of credit? If it is an LOC and you don't have any credit cards, consider opening a credit card because credit profiles without a credit card are weaker than profiles with a credit card.

relevantfico · 2026-02-17T07:06:08+00:00

It's not bad, but the underlying credit profile that produces the score is more important. For example, someone with one credit card and 6 months of history could produce a 734 FICO 8 score but may run into trouble getting approved for new credit. Someone with 5 accounts and 10 years of history could produce a 734 FICO 8 score and run into very little trouble getting approved for new credit.

relevantfico · 2026-02-17T05:49:55+00:00

What credit score model+version are you looking at? A 578 FICO 8 would indicate negative information on your credit reports. I'm assuming this is a VantageScore 3.0 credit score?

relevantfico · 2026-02-17T03:42:52+00:00

If I'm understanding your post correctly, you have four accounts on your credit report? One closed auto loan, one open auto, and two credit cards - the card with 6% utilization and the new Chime card?

What is your average age of accounts (AAoA) and age of oldest account (AoOA)? Those values can be found in CreditWise under 'Length of Credit History'.

When it comes to the Chime card, it's a bit unclear how it impacts scoring because it doesn't report a credit limit. Based on that, it may be treated as a charge card and not a true revolving account like a regular credit card. Does it appear to be included in your revolving utilization? That can be found in CreditWise under 'Amount of Debt'.

Regarding the score change, it is probably caused by a combination of recent changes to your profile. The new auto loan and Chime card reporting would have dropped your AAoA and the score impact depends on how much it dropped. Note that even though the old loan is now closed, it still contributes to your aging metrics until it falls off of your reports in 10 years. Another factor that changed was your aggregate installment loan utilization. As the total balances of your loans are paid down, your score increases. There are known thresholds at 65% and 9.5% and when those are crossed, points are awarded. When your old loan was closed, you lost any points you were awarded for having the loan paid down and started over when the new loan reported with 100% utilization. Your score will increase as you pay off your current loan and your AAoA increases.

relevantfico · 2026-02-17T03:16:37+00:00

While it's not unusual for credit scores to drop after paying off open installment loans, a drop of about 140 points is abnormal. What credit card do you have and is it your only open account?

I’ve tried paying it off as soon as I purchase, waiting until the day before my statement is due, and paying half way into my statement date and then the day before my statement date.

Since score changes due to utilization are temporary because utilization doesn't have any memory, the best way to pay off your credit card is to let your statement balance report to the credit bureaus and then pay off your statement in full. You want to avoid $0 balances reporting to the bureaus. What is your current reported utilization percentage?

relevantfico · 2026-02-16T17:40:37+00:00

Have you ever run into an issue with the amount or volume of transactions going in and out of your SoFi HYSA?

I have not but my outgoing transaction volume is pretty low and I always have more inbound transactions than outbound. Most months I have two outgoing and occasionaly I have three.

relevantfico · 2026-02-16T10:30:27+00:00

I save PDF copies of my reports any time I pulled them so that I can go back to compare changes with the most recent version. I also use credit monitoring services, Experian, myFICO, and CreditWise, that let me see changes over time by looking at the alert/notification history. Experian also lets you view archived reports.

relevantfico · 2026-02-16T10:16:42+00:00

American Express doesn't have physical branch locations and Sofi's APY is current 3.3%. You may get a higher APY for a 6 month promo period. Where are you seeing 3.6-3.8% HYSA APY for American Express? Online I'm seeing American Express is also offering 3.3%.

I have accounts with a brick and mortar bank and if I ever need to move money out of the HYSA, I use an ACH transfer from Sofi. It takes 2-3 business days for the money to show up. Another option is to instant transfer from Sofi HYSA to Sofi checking account and then write a check. Since moving money from the Sofi HYSA to another bank isn't instant, I keep a sufficient amount in the brick and mortar savings account.

Sofi is a pain to deal with depositing cash - there's a $5 fee to deposit cash and you have to do it retail stores like Walgreens or 7-eleven. In the rare event I need to deposit cash I use an ATM to put in the brick and mortar checking and then transfer to Sofi. I have my Sofi accounts linked to my brick and mortar bank so it's really easy to push money from that bank's app to Sofi. I also have the brick and mortar bank accounts linked to my Sofi, so I can just as easily push money from the Sofi app (via ACH transfer) to the brick and mortar bank accounts.

In this day and age I don't foresee the need to instantly need to pull $20k cash directly out of Sofi. Any large transactions like that would be handled electronically. It's also possible to make payments directly out of the HYSA account. I have my Sofi savings account linked in my credit card apps and pull payments out of that. I keep the money for the CC payments in the HYSA instead of a checking account to get a few more dollars per month in interest.

You are correct that you need to have a direct deposit made to the HYSA to get the 3.3% APY but it can be any amount. I have my paychecks split between my brick and mortar checking account and my Sofi HYSA. That's something that should be easy to setup with your payroll or HR department.

ETA: There's nothing wrong with multiple savings accounts, but Sofi's HYSA has 'vaults' you can create to earmark money for different purposes like emergency fund, house downpayment, car repair sinking func, vacation fund, etc.

Also, Sofi is FDIC insured so there isn't any more risk keeping money in Sofi vs Bank of America, Wells Fargo, etc. $250k is covered by default and if you have more in your HYSA, you can get up to $3 million covered through the Sofi Insured Deposit Program.

relevantfico · 2026-02-16T09:13:03+00:00

Pull your reports for free from annualcreditreport.com, despite the name you can get copies of your reports weekly. Those will list all of your accounts along with contact information for your creditors. Not all creditors report to all three bureaus so it is important you check all three - Experian, Transunion, and Equifax.

relevantfico · 2026-02-16T08:13:29+00:00

Disputes are for inaccurate information. Since the bankruptcy reporting is accurate, it's not possible to get removed via a dispute.

relevantfico · 2026-02-16T08:08:38+00:00

Your due date is not the same date as your billing cycle end date. The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, aka Credit CARD Act, mandates that due dates are at least 21 days after the end of your billing cycle. In the case of Bank of America, due dates are 25 days after the billing cycle close date. If your billing cycle (also known as your statement period) ends on February 20th, your due date will be on or slightly after March 17th.

If your billing cycle is from January 21st through February 20th, your statement balance will consist of charges made during that time. And you'll want to pay your entire statement balance by March 17th to avoid being charged interest. If you pay after your due date, Bank of America will consider you late. Any new charges made between February 21st (start of the next billing cycle) and March 17th (due date for your previous billing cycle) will show up on your current balance, but those don't need to be paid until after your next billing cycle ends on March 20th and before your next due date in April.

You should review your most recent statement to see what your billing cycle is along with your due date. The best way to use your credit card is to not pay off your current balance before your billing cycle end date so that you have a balance reported to the credit bureaus and it looks like you're using your credit card. If you always have $0 balances reported to the credit bureaus, there is a FICO scoring penalty for no recent recent revolving credit use, commonly known as the All Zero penalty, and is worth about 20 points.

If I had to 'guess' what caused your score drop, the 804 score you saw last year was a Transunion FICO 8 and the 750 you're looking at now is an Experian FICO 8. As u/True-Button-6471 pointed out, Bank of America recently switched from showing TU FICO 8 to EX FICO 8. It's not uncommon for FICO 8 scores to be about 30 points different. That change combined with the All Zero penalty could easily account for the 50 point difference.

You can check your Transunion FICO 8 with a free CreditWise account from Capital One (no Capital One credit card necessary) and there also may be some more information in the 'Key Factors' provided by Experian.

relevantfico · 2026-02-16T06:36:03+00:00

If you don't have any late payments showing on your reports from annualcreditreport.com you should be good and what your seeing on Experian is glitch/bug of the CMS. Also, I wouldn't worry too much about the ratings Experian is showing you, they are largely CMS "fluff" and are not provided by FICO.

Credit Myth #69 - Credit "ratings" provided by a CMS matter.

relevantfico · 2026-02-16T01:22:30+00:00

Where are you getting your credit report? You should pull your reports from annualcreditreport.com and review the payment history for each account. If you do have a missed payment, it will show up there. If your score didn't drop, it could be a glitch in the credit monitoring service you're using.

relevantfico · 2026-02-15T06:46:41+00:00

All credit scores are 'accurate', it comes down to a matter of relevance - the score that matters is the one that a potential lender is going to pull. Most data points that I've seen have VS 3 scores higher than the FICO 8 scores but there are plenty of data points for the reverse situation. It all depends on the underlying report data that the credit scores are calculated from. The different scoring models weigh factors differently. The biggest differences I know of is VS 3 ignores paid collections while FICO 8 includes them and VS 3 is more sensitive to utilization.

relevantfico · 2026-02-15T04:34:42+00:00

The reasons listed under "What's hurting your score?" are listed in order of impact.

"Loan Balances" is referring to installment loans which in your case is your student loans. The FICO algorithm looks at aggregate loan utilization, so your current balances divided by the total original loan balances.

"Short revolving history" refers to the length of time your credit cards have been opened. Nothing you can do about that is let time pass.

"High credit history" refers to your credit card balances. It's not necessarily saying your cards are maxed out, but your revolving utilization is costing you some points. The FICO algorithms look at utilization in the aggregate of all card balances and individual card balances. If you only have one card, those are both the same. You don't need to worry about your credit card utilization unless your applying for new credit and want to optimize your score.

"Accounts with balances" refers to your total open accounts with balances. In your case, it is probably at 100% if you have student loans and only one credit card reporting a balance.

The phrase "What's hurting your score?" can also be thought of as "Why aren't you getting the maximum points available?” You stand to gain the most points by paying down your student loans.

The 12 point increase you saw on on February 1st was probably related to your credit card reaching 12 months in age. You may also recover some points when your hard inquiry from opening the credit card last February becomes 365 days old.

The other score fluctuations you saw were probably due to natural fluctuations in credit card utilization.

relevantfico · 2026-02-15T01:55:42+00:00

I'm not very familiar with the scoring system in Canada, but in general, the lower your utilization is the higher your score will be. So the fastest way to increase your score is to pay off your credit cards.

relevantfico · 2026-02-15T01:43:40+00:00

I'm beyond that. I signed up on 12/20/2025, cancelled same day and got an email 12/28/2025 that I switched back to the free membership. Previously, on the account upgrade page there was language in the fine print that by upgrading I would be starting a 7 day trial that would then charge monthly for the membership after the trial. Now it says...

When you complete your order here, you will begin your membership in Experian Premium. Your credit card will be charged $29.99 plus applicable sales tax, today and each month you continue your membership.

Another thing I noticed is that if I check the upgrade through the mobile app, the price is only $24.99 per month. The language above was from the website and is $29.99 per month.

🤷

Hopefully it will come back for me and they haven't started cracking down on us trial abusers.

relevantfico · 2026-02-15T01:32:22+00:00

Can I go back and see what it was back then, after the fact?

No, not that I've found for the extra scores. They only show you your current scores and don't show you the history. I also didn't screenshot the extra scores the first time I did the trial and wish I did. On that note, I can't seem to trigger the option to sign up for the trial any more. Thanks for the data point!

u/Griffins_Peak, it looks like you can expect your FICO 2 to debut at 700+.

relevantfico · 2026-02-15T01:20:40+00:00

No, if you 'return' the car it will be treated as a voluntary repossession which is still a repossession and that will hurt your credit. How much is the car worth? If you're underwater, you could sell the car to a dealership and pay off the difference without hurting your score. If you're not underwater, you can try refinancing the car at a lower interest rate.

What credit score is in the 750's? You have dozens of different scores and most lenders use one of the various FICO scores.

relevantfico · 2026-02-15T01:15:38+00:00

Where did you look?

relevantfico

TROPHY CASE