How long do I wait until my FICO score go up....?

Months.

Count on at least 6.

It might creep up as the creditors adjust their filing with the bureau but they can take up to 6 months to do so, if I remember correctly.

And just paying off your cards doesn't guarantee that your score will go up.

If you closed your accounts as well, that means not only did you get rid of debt but you also got rid of potential credit.

It doesn't take 6 months for activity to reflect on your credit report. If you paid off your cards it should be the next month after they were paid. And it should help your score.

But at the same time they look at your revolving debt ratio, which is your owed balances vs. your combined credit limits. It doesn't look good to have 8 credit cards for the reason you mentioned, but it does help your score to have some available credit.

No but it can take that long for adverse data to be removed/corrected.

Your payment history is just as important as your balance amounts in figuring your fico.

30% amount
35% payment history
10% new credit
10% type of credit
15% length of your credit history


Bad payment history accounts for more than balance. Pay them off, great. But that doesn't guarantee your fico will go up significantly. Especially if you close all your accounts on top of that.

I spent about a year trying to clean up my credit report. Creditors are a bitch to work with. Even if you have up to date paid accounts, they sometimes will still remain under delinquint and that hurts your score.

Jeremiah, why don't you ask how many points are needed in order
to get a loan for a car, and then look at your credit history i.e. points
and go from there. Car dealers can tell you your actual points within
a couple of minutes (that is, if you don't know already).

Depending where you're applying for an auto loan, the requirements
might be quite different.

Actually, I'm going to a credit union (Wescom) which I have an account there. I had no trouble borrowing for an auto loan about 8 years ago and I even filed for bankruptcy 10 years ago.

But when I applied for another auto loan about 4 years ago, I was denied.