Improving your Credit and Credit Score
- Thread starter DoingDamage
- Start date
keep paying your bills on time and it will go up eventually, paying off installment loans like car payments usually give a bump
Increase your available credit(raise limits on your cards), increase credit accounts(open new cards or get loans, though I would try to get them to raise the limits on my existing cards before opening new ones), pay on time, and wait. Length of credit history is a huge factor. 5 or 6 years of on-time payments is a lot better than 2 years of on-time payments.
Time is the one thing you can't do anything about right now. And if you had collections, forget about getting a dramatic score increase until they are paid off and have come off your report.
thx for the post... i dont have any collections, my avg. age of accounts is 16 years. No lates since 08. I just never really had any credit built up before. You hit it on the head with the first thing you posted. My avail. credit is somewhat low. I was considering opening another line of credit. Only have 1 inquiry on my report, but only one major credit card (the limit was increased by $500 after my first 5 on time payments).
Time is the one thing you can't do anything about right now. And if you had collections, forget about getting a dramatic score increase until they are paid off and have come off your report.[/QUOTE]
Keep that utilization low. Pay everything on time. If you have old derogatory remarks, try and dispute them. Creditors only keep but so many records on file for a certain period of time, and if they can't verify something (etc. a late payment) Bureau's have to remove it.
Keep in mind that opening a new line of credit will decrease your credits age, which in effect will lower your score also
Keep that utilization low. Pay everything on time. If you have old derogatory remarks, try and dispute them. Creditors only keep but so many records on file for a certain period of time, and if they can't verify something (etc. a late payment) Bureau's have to remove it.
Keep in mind that opening a new line of credit will decrease your credits age, which in effect will lower your score also
Keep that utilization low. Pay everything on time. If you have old derogatory remarks, try and dispute them. Creditors only keep but so many records on file for a certain period of time, and if they can't verify something (etc. a late payment) Bureau's have to remove it.
Keep in mind that opening a new line of credit will decrease your credits age, which in effect will lower your score also[/QUOTE]
yeah i was reading up on that also. i know the hard pull will drop me a few points at first also. i know this because i had a lot of inquiries ( i monitor my credit through capital one every month) soon as the inquiries fell off my score went up 20pts). Some knowledgeable dudes in this thread.
@kdogg3270 how long does it take for inquiries to go away?
Use your credit cards for almost every purchase but make sure you pay it off every week or biweekly. Make sure that no one sues you. Judgments can affect your credit too.
bump
Hmm the every week or biweekly is a new one to me. Typically I pay my cards off about 1 week before they are due.
Fico doesn't count the available credit, they count the utilization. If you under 10 percent then you getting close to the maximum points. You need at least 3 cards but only let one report a small balance once. I have 3 cards and I let one report a 2 dollar balance when the statement cuts monthly.
Once you hit the 700's, paying your bills on time and letting positive accounts age will gradually give you a bump in scores, just be patient.
Once you hit the 700's, paying your bills on time and letting positive accounts age will gradually give you a bump in scores, just be patient.
Get you 2 more major credit cards, and once they hit 2 years you will get a good bump in scores.
Since you in the 700's look at chase freedom, discover it and amex blue cash, they give good limits and are great on cash back
So far as you pay it in full before due date , you'll be fine. I just like to pay more often, so that it does not look overwhelming.
i appreciate the advice. i was just researching my options for a 2nd card.
man its a nigga around here selling this info for hundreds and you just gave it to us for free MAJOR PROPS TO YOU!!
Bank of America 123 cash rewards is a good card also. I got that, chase freedom and the cap one quicksilver, my next card will be the amex blue cash preferred 6% cash back at grocery stores.
I didn't know this, good info. How far off are the scores from credit karma, from one's actual score? I'm assuming the c.k. scores are estimates.....
I'm also looking to get to the elusive 800 mark. I have 2 active cards with high limits and a mortgage. I was suggested that I need to add 1 card and a load of some sort. What does the hive say?
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Paying this way can also help cut the interest you pay, even if you're only paying the minimum balance. For example, if your min payment is $50 every month, it's better to pay $25 every two weeks than the $50 lump payment before the due date.
Those are called FAKO scores, and they're usually not far off, but they're irrelevant since major lenders only pull the FICO score
It just depends on the persons file of how far off the scores are, ck uses some scoring method call vantage score which is not used by the bank, some people's can be close to fico and some can be wide off.
When you apply for credit ficos are used industry wide and there are many different versions of ficos(mortgage based, auto enhanced, bankcard enhanced). If you are thinking of applying for credit pull your scores from myfico to get all your scores or just get the monthly monitoring.
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Where do you live and what are your scores (Equifax, Experian, Transunion) right now?
Cap one is pretty good for people trying to build scores especially if your score isnt high. Or do like I did and get a secured card with bank of America, you put down a deposit and thats your credit line but by a year your card will unsecure and they will put the money back in your account.
As long as you pay off the full balance before the due date, you will pay no interest.
I make multiple payments monthly and make sure to pay in full so i wont waste money on interest.
If you just pay the minimum then interest will be added.
i have that quicksilver one myself. its decent. sounds like you and a couple other posters are where i'm trying to get to. Hell i have 2 accounts that are 15 and 16yrs old. Adding another card would up my available credit, but i have to time it right, since i'm trying to buy a house at the end of the year. Having only one inquiry looks good on my report also.
Do you know your mortgage fico scores, they will be different from the standard ficos.
If you trying to buy a house then I wouldn't apply for a card if you trying to get a house in less then a year because the mortgage ficos hate new accounts, but if you scores are good then that will equal it out.
When you apply a morgate they pull a tri merged report, but they only look at inquiries from the past 120 days.
You can get your mortgage scores from myfico to see where you're at.
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i dont know them yet. But that scenario is exactly what i'm afraid of. One one hand my scores should be even higher by that time, but i dont want to rock the boat , so to speak.
pull my scores to see what they look like before you apply. If your scores are good then after about 6 months of use you will probably gain the points back from the inquiry and new account and then some.
But i can guarantee that you mortgage scores will be different from the general scores because the formula they use is a different for scoring
Ohio. Have to look up scores.
I was always afraid of doing the cards that require a deposit. So you just keep spending and loading it for a year?
Nope it reports like a regular credit card but the money you put down on it is collateral, so if you fail to pay or the card gets charged off the bank will use that money to cover the cost without taking a loss.
Say you put down 500. That will be your credit line. You use it monthly and pay on time and it will build your credit. After some time the bank will review your account and credit reports and refund you the 500 and probably raise your line of credit.
Bank of America will graduate you to an unsecured card within a year at the most, thats how i started with credit cards when my score was in the shits lol.
you load it up front and that is your balance, usually. Never went that route myself, so maybe others can explain better.
where do y'all recommend pulling all 3 fico's from? i already am up on getting my reports, but i want to see my scores before making any financial decisions.
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