Improving your Credit and Credit Score

OK so I finally got my shit consistently above 750 at all 3 bureaus. It was a long journey.

Lessons learned
- Don't get a joint credit card if you can't pay it by yourself
- Don't get a mortgage with someone who has shitty credit or can't contribute.
- Don't carry a balance on your cards. If you can't pay it off at the end of the month or before the due date. You can't afford it. Wait.
 
OK so I finally got my shit consistently above 750 at all 3 bureaus. It was a long journey.

Lessons learned
- Don't get a joint credit card if you can't pay it by yourself
- Don't get a mortgage with someone who has shitty credit or can't contribute.
- Don't carry a balance on your cards. If you can't pay it off at the end of the month or before the due date. You can't afford it. Wait.
Where did you start(your start out scores), how long did it take you to get to 750 and the don'ts that you listed up there are those from personal experiences?
 
Where did you start(your start out scores), how long did it take you to get to 750 and the don'ts that you listed up there are those from personal experiences?

My scores dropped to below 600 over 10 years ago and I didn't know what to do to get out of my situation.
I lived off my cards constantly paying one card with another.
It took me years to get to a point where I stopped using my cards and I finally started focusing on my credit about 5 - 6 years ago.
Once I went to all cash, I was never late on a payment even if all I did was pay the minimum.
I was on the credit boards and tried all the tricks.
- called for lower rates
- called for credit increases
- got rid of all store cards
- got rid of my newest cards
Kept the oldest cards.
Applied for zero interest cards to transfer balances then did the snowball method.
Yah the don'ts are from personal experience. I got burned twice and learned from it.
 
My scores dropped to below 600 over 10 years ago and I didn't know what to do to get out of my situation.
I lived off my cards constantly paying one card with another.
It took me years to get to a point where I stopped using my cards and I finally started focusing on my credit about 5 - 6 years ago.
Once I went to all cash, I was never late on a payment even if all I did was pay the minimum.
I was on the credit boards and tried all the tricks.
- called for lower rates
- called for credit increases
- got rid of all store cards
- got rid of my newest cards
Kept the oldest cards.
Applied for zero interest cards to transfer balances then did the snowball method.
Yah the don'ts are from personal experience. I got burned twice and learned from it.
Hey props man!

Now that your credit is good what benefits are you seeing?
 
Credit is a marathon not a race. It will take time to get your shit in order to get to the 700's and 800's.
 
I was out of work and temp consulting work off and on.

Finally found something stable and paid off alot of bad debt.

But still fucked cause even settling those and making payments on time for my current lines of credit my rating is still shit.

Looking to refinance my home but gonna have to run this thread back on tips to get my score up ASAP.
 
I was out of work and temp consulting work off and on.

Finally found something stable and paid off alot of bad debt.

But still fucked cause even settling those and making payments on time for my current lines of credit my rating is still shit.

Looking to refinance my home but gonna have to run this thread back on tips to get my score up ASAP.
You need to keep the payments "never late" for at least a year before you start seeing the needle move. Get rid of recent cards and store cards. Call all your remaining cards every 6 mos for a credit line increase and/or lower interest rate. You won't make much progress until you are stable for a year but you never know.

Some folks may disagree with my methods but it worked for me. There is no overnight success to this shit. Number 1 rule NEVER BE LATE ON PAYMENTS even if you gotta pay the minimums.
 
Good info on here. I have a question: I had several late payments with my old mortgage company, a few were 120+. Never went into collections. Got suckered into an ARM. Anyway, in 2012, refied with a different company and been perfect since then. My question is how can I get that old mortgage removed? That's the only blemish on my report. Tried writing them asking to remove it since its been paid off, but they gave me the blah-blah about having to stay on for 7 years. Is this true or do I have another recourse?
 
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You need to keep the payments "never late" for at least a year before you start seeing the needle move. Get rid of recent cards and store cards. Call all your remaining cards every 6 mos for a credit line increase and/or lower interest rate. You won't make much progress until you are stable for a year but you never know.

Some folks may disagree with my methods but it worked for me. There is no overnight success to this shit. Number 1 rule NEVER BE LATE ON PAYMENTS even if you gotta pay the minimums.
I disagree with the only seeing results in a year but you are right on always pay on time.

I believe if you pay on time and keep your debt utilization below 10% your score will rise consistently.

Hey, I'm noticing you keep saying close store cards, why do you advise people to do that?
 
I disagree with the only seeing results in a year but you are right on always pay on time.

I believe if you pay on time and keep your debt utilization below 10% your score will rise consistently.

Hey, I'm noticing you keep saying close store cards, why do you advise people to do that?

IMHO store cards don't add any value to your score unless you had them for a long time. Any card you had for several years keep.
Agreed with your second sentence. I couldn't get my debt down for years so I just focused on paying on time. As I came into some more cash I paid above minimums when I could then paid off when I could. Eventually I got to below 10% utilization across all cards. Hoping to be CC debt free in 2017.
 
IMHO store cards don't add any value to your score unless you had them for a long time. Any card you had for several years keep.
Agreed with your second sentence. I couldn't get my debt down for years so I just focused on paying on time. As I came into some more cash I paid above minimums when I could then paid off when I could. Eventually I got to below 10% utilization across all cards. Hoping to be CC debt free in 2017.
I believe any line of credit helps.

1. more available credit helps keep your utilization down

2. more of a chance to show you can pay things on time.

Age of accounts matter when it comes to your FICO score but I believe it's only 5-10 Percent in the calculation.
 
thanks man!! But I don't think that you can send certified letters to P.O. boxes, I'm not 100% sure about it, but I don't think that you can, I could be wrong.
You CAN absolutely send certified mail to a Post office box (those owned by the post office)the renter of said box will have to sign for the letter/article/package.they get 2 notices(14-21 days)or it will be returned to sender UNCLAIMED!!you can go to usps.com and track the progress.Many people have this FALSE believe that you can't send mail/packages to PO Boxes,the confusion comes from FEDEX and UPS who DON'T deliver to PO BOXES (though in some cases UPS WILL use the Post office for delivery)
 
Good info on here. I have a question: I had several late payments with my old mortgage company, a few were 120+. Never went into collections. Got suckered into an ARM. Anyway, in 2012, refied with a different company and been perfect since then. My question is how can I get that old mortgage removed? That's the only blemish on my report. Tried writing them asking to remove it since its been paid off, but they gave me the blah-blah about having to stay on for 7 years. Is this true or do I have another recourse?

You have to wait the 7 years for the late payment to come off. If the bank really wanted to they could remove the blemish from your report but they have no incentive to
 
i would want to see more information about this.

it is possible to get a huge jump in one month on your credit scores. but almost 200 points???

but i call total bullshit on having 5xx credit scores and getting a nearly 20k visa 30 days later. even it is is from navy federal. something i find fishy about the offer is that it says $0 cash limit. a 20k cc will have some form of cash available. maybe this is a secured or partially secured card.

She basically game the system. What they did was dispute everything on person's credit report. While the item being dispute is investigated it is ignored in the credit score algorithm, so your score can jump temporarily but once the dispute is found to not be legitimate the blemish is back on your report and your score goes down again. SO basically people will game the system to temporarily boost their score so they can get approved for a new card or car loan. They then post that shit on social network when they didn't actually fix anything
 
On CK they under their recommendations to improve my credit score it keeps showing me offers for more credit cards and $5000 loans. i keep saying i already have one credit card and don't really need the cash loan but now i think i might just go on and get them

in order to maximize your credit score you need 3 revolving accounts (credit cards) and one installment loan (auto loan, mortage, line of credit form the bank, etc...)

and they all need to be paid on time, all of the time. also, it benefits you to keep them under 30% of your total utility. meaning 30% of your total line of credit across all lines.
 
She basically game the system. What they did was dispute everything on person's credit report. While the item being dispute is investigated it is ignored in the credit score algorithm, so your score can jump temporarily but once the dispute is found to not be legitimate the blemish is back on your report and your score goes down again. SO basically people will game the system to temporarily boost their score so they can get approved for a new card or car loan. They then post that shit on social network when they didn't actually fix anything

i promise she would not have gotten that line of credit from BOA, Chase, Citi, Amex, WF or any major bank. They would have dug deeper. something is fishy as hell about that.

People with 650 scores are getting denials from BOA for a SECURED card. i want to know the back story to that situation.
 
I was out of work and temp consulting work off and on.

Finally found something stable and paid off alot of bad debt.

But still fucked cause even settling those and making payments on time for my current lines of credit my rating is still shit.

Looking to refinance my home but gonna have to run this thread back on tips to get my score up ASAP.

https://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showforum=2

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/bd-p/rebuildingcredit
 
I believe any line of credit helps.

1. more available credit helps keep your utilization down

2. more of a chance to show you can pay things on time.

Age of accounts matter when it comes to your FICO score but I believe it's only 5-10 Percent in the calculation.

there is a large debate about store cards on creditboards and my fico.

there are two problems with store cards.

1. they have ridiculous interest rates.

2. they are usually considered sub-prime cards.

issue number one is mitigated if you pay in full each time you use it but many people don't. They sign up for the card to get the 10% off and end up paying 25%-30% interest. :hithead:

issue number two becomes a problem if you have to undergo a manual underwriting process. the underwriters want to see prime cards from major banks in order to give you the best interest rates. if all they see are sub-prime cards you will get a sub-prime rate. so if you have Chase, BOA, Amex, Citi, Discover, etc cards they are weighed much more favorably in a manual underwriting situation than a Lowes, Express, Victoria Secret, Walmart, Best Buy, etc card....

having a prime card in your portfolio opens up avenues to get more prime cards. same with credit limits. as your limits increase each bank will attempt to at least match whatever else you are carrying. the caveat is that you have been practicing good fiscal habits. store cards are notorious for poor limits and ridiculous interest rates.

people just starting out or trying to rebuild really need to focus on getting strong reputation cards even if it is a secured line. as i mentioned above prime banks are a tough nut to crack if you have marginal or even fair credit. they deny people for secured cards and with a secured card you are putting up your own money interest free in most cases.
 
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It's cool to have a couple of store cards if u have other solid credit cards. Either keep the balance low or pay in full every month. They can help with overall utilization and add a mix to your file. Sub prime cards can serve a purpose if u r smart with them but it's best to stay away because the credit limit will forever be tiny. Then years later when your credit is good, uou will wish u hadn't got it in the first place. To the guy saying he's going to close his store cards. Not sure why because it wouldn't help anything... it would help more if they have zero balance and just use them every few months with a small purchase just for the sake of aged accounts
 
It's cool to have a couple of store cards if u have other solid credit cards. Either keep the balance low or pay in full every month. They can help with overall utilization and add a mix to your file. Sub prime cards can serve a purpose if u r smart with them but it's best to stay away because the credit limit will forever be tiny. Then years later when your credit is good, uou will wish u hadn't got it in the first place. To the guy saying he's going to close his store cards. Not sure why because it wouldn't help anything... it would help more if they have zero balance and just use them every few months with a small purchase just for the sake of aged accounts
I never knew store cards where not good to have, I thought having a mixture helped.
 
Its ok to have a couple store cards.
But don't go crazy.
Some store cards can get really high limits.
Barneys up to 500k, Jcrew 25k , blue nile 50k.
 
I have 3 store cards. Best Buy, Amazon, and Target. Best Buy and Amazon both offer 0% financing when buying something over $199 with them.
 
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