Totally agree on the utilization point—30% is often cited as the magic number, but I've seen firsthand how even that can trip people up. Had a client once who was hovering around 28-30% utilization, and no matter what else he did, his score just wouldn't budge. We finally got him to drop it below 10%, and boom, his score jumped noticeably within a couple months. It really does seem like the lower you can keep it, the better.
And yeah, medical errors are a sneaky little headache. Had another client who discovered an unpaid medical bill on her report from years ago—something she'd never even received notice about. Took a bit of back-and-forth with the credit bureaus and the medical provider, but once we got it cleared up, her score improved significantly. Always worth pulling those reports regularly and combing through them carefully... you'd be surprised what slips through.
One more tip I'd add from experience: don't underestimate the power of simply asking your credit card companies for a credit limit increase. If you're responsible with your payments, many will happily bump your limit up, which instantly improves your utilization ratio without paying down a dime. Just make sure you don't see that shiny new limit as an invitation to spend more (tempting, I know...).
Bottom line, credit scores are a finicky beast, and sometimes small tweaks can make a huge difference.
