Okay, I admit it, I’m confused and annoyed with credit reports. Mainly annoyed at being “stuck” at a Credit Karma credit rating of 788 for the year I’ve been following it. My score takes a transient dip to 763 or 765 or so a month after an app-o-rama but it always recovers quickly to … 788. Wondering why I can’t get higher than that.

I’ve been using credit cards for about 30 years, make an income in excess of $100K, never missed a payment, mortgage holder for almost 30 years, refinanced (paid off) several times, current mortgage payment is small part of income. The main “hit” on my credit rating is large numbers of accounts, about 150 total, 50 in the past 4 years and the accompanying credit inquiries. Opened and closed 18 accounts last year. Currently deployed overseas with the military, with virtually no credit card spending. Went from about 15 open accounts and over $180K available credit 6 months ago to 5 open accounts with $40K available 2 months ago in preparation for deployment.

Credit Report Card Overall Grade: A
Credit Card Utilization 0% Grade: C
Percent of Payments Made On-Time 100% Grade: A
Age of Credit History 8 Yrs 7 Mos Grade: A
Total Accounts 68 Grade: A
Credit Inquiries 4 Grade: C
Derogatory Marks 0 Grade: A

My number of credit inquiries has varied from 2 to 5 over the past 2-3 years and does NOT seem to affect my overall score. Average age of accounts vary from 4 years to 9 years with no apparent effect. Interesting that now my utilization is at 0%, which seems to be hurting me. However, my utilization is always low, nears 10% only occasionally, perhaps once a year, and is about 2-4% the rest of the time. I pay all credit card bills immediately and completely. It’s very unlikely that I’ll have any applications for the next 6 months so hopefully the number of inquiries will get lower.

I realize it’s just a number, and an “unofficial” one at that, but I’m curious why I can’t get over 800. Is there something I can do to get there? Thanks.