How do I improve my sh*t-a$$ credit score?

[TontoKowalski]

I was an idiot over my immediate years after college and ran up some credit cards. I'm paid off on all fo them now, but a few of them I had major delinquencies on and another few I settled with credit collectors for less. Now I have no credit debt but still have 2 cards active (one with a huge limit, I just never f'd around with this card) and another with practically no limit as in barely any available.

So I did a credit report and I'm a 605. Not disasterous but definitely not good. I'm probably 2-3 years away from thinking about getting a house, still paying rent. Any advice would be great.

PS I know there are a gazillion googleable sites out there that go over this but I want to hear from a real person who doesn't have some kind of service to sell me.

 

[Lookn4help]

credit score

credit score

Start with making some purchases and then paying them off after making payments for a couple of months. Use both the high offer card and the low end so that you can ask for a raise in limit on the low end card after showing a good payment history. DO NOT CANCEL any cards...you need to show a balance of available credit as to income ie 30% in use etc. After that it's a matter of time. Hope this helps

 

[TontoKowalski]

Thanks. So will it take forever to get it back up to 700? I guess so. I'm a real dumb ass for not taking this shit seriously before. I just figured that I wasn't that bad off with roughly 5k when I hear constantly about people with upward of 10k to 20k in debt. I was young and dumb, and now I am paying for it. I guess it could be worse.

 

[Agent 0659]

You're fine, especially if you paid it all off. 2 years of good history from now and it will climb.

I did the same thing as you out of college, millions have. That's something I wish was taught a LOT better in High School, is credit awareness for young kids. EVERYTHING depends on it now. Your ability to buy anything, even your insurance premiums, all based on credit. We need to do a MUCH better job of teaching the next generation responsible credit.

 

[Cie]

Have a relative, spouse, or girlfriend with excellent credit list you as an authorized user on a credit card of theirs. Within 6 months, your score will climb based on their activity. Your poor score will not affect theirs. And, you do not have to use their credit card for this to work.


Try it if at all possible. I had a problem with Verizon when I closed a small business a few years ago. I had accidentally left an unpaid balance of like $200 for over two years. It crushed my credit score. When I discovered it, I paid immediately, but my score remained low. This technique raised my middle score over 50 points in 3 months.

Good luck:weed:

 

[The Boys]

I was under the impression that the negative stuff stayed on your credit report for 7 years???

 

[The Boys]

How long do negative items stay on my credit report?


Accurate negative information generally can be reported for seven years, but there are exceptions:

Bankruptcy information can be reported for 10 years;
Information reported because of an application for a job with a salary of more than $20,000 has no time limitation;
Information reported because of an application for more than $50,000 worth of credit or life insurance has no time limitation;
Information concerning a lawsuit or a judgment against you can be reported for seven years or until the statute of limitations runs out, whichever is longer; and
Default information concerning U.S. Government insured or guaranteed student loans can be reported for seven years after certain guarantor actions.
Tax liens stay on 7 years from the date PAID.
Some other rules to keep in mind:

The Statute of Limitations has nothing to do with the length of time something can stay on your credit report, they are two TOTALLY separate things. Again, there is absolutely NO relationship.

The length of time a negative mark can stay on your credit report starts from the time you were late or the late payment went into collection, not from the last time you made a payment on the account. Some collection agencies update their reporting status on you to keep the account active with the bureaus to extend the time the account appears on your report. Very crafty and underhanded of them, because most often the account is updated and the period of time the account is active appears to be extended. This is illegal! Challenge this! If you do, bureaus will correctly remove it 7 years from origination. Period. In other words, paying a collection will not keep it on your credit report for a longer period of time.

 

[Woodson]

First, don't go deeper in debt. Second, start a budget, as financial success is 90% daily practiced and controlled spending


THE FASTER WAY TO INCREASE YOUR SCORE:

CREDIT UTILIZATION % but it sounds to me that you are at 0 % since its paid.

Congrats you're better off than most people out there.

Next would be establishing POSITIVE credit accounts. Join your credit union and open a savings account. Establish a savings of say $1000 or whatevevr money you can afford.

After doing so, ask for a SECURED loan of the amount that is in your savings account. Set up a electronic debit, and don't spend the money borrowed... simply pay off the loan for what ever amount you agreed...

If it's 12 months, go back in a year and do another. What you are establishing is not a pay off but discipline to be able to make monthly payments over the course of the loan...

Do this twice and in two years you'll negatives will have not fallen off (7 years) but WILL be significantly LESS WEIGHTED and you will have added TWO POSITIVE (12/24 month loans) CREDIT notations AND the kicker

ESTABLISHED A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CREDIT UNION FOR YOUR HOME LOAN...


Thank me in TWO years...

back to work...kurby

B

 

[kellyindallas]

I was a loan officer right out of college, before law school. It doesn't take as long as you think. Basically, you need to show a good payment history for the next 18 months. Timely payment every month for a solid 18 months. Keep your debt ratio low.

Don't go opening a bunch of accounts - that's as bad as closing a bunch. Numerous inquiries by credit providers is an indication that the borrower may have fallen on hard times. In a weird twist, closing accounts, especially ones that have been opened a long time actually serves to decrease the amount of available credit (which in the creditors' eyes can be negative).

Obviously, credit has tightened up and will continue to do so. Keep paying your bills timely and your score will rise considerably in not that long of a time.

Good luck.

 

[redsfann]

I was an idiot over my immediate years after college and ran up some credit cards. I'm paid off on all fo them now, but a few of them I had major delinquencies on and another few I settled with credit collectors for less. Now I have no credit debt but still have 2 cards active (one with a huge limit, I just never f'd around with this card) and another with practically no limit as in barely any available.

So I did a credit report and I'm a 605. Not disasterous but definitely not good. I'm probably 2-3 years away from thinking about getting a house, still paying rent. Any advice would be great.

PS I know there are a gazillion googleable sites out there that go over this but I want to hear from a real person who doesn't have some kind of service to sell me.

Couple of things to do. First, start putting a small amount of $$ every month in a savings account if you are not already. Preferably in an on-line account like ING so you earn 3% or so on your money. This will be for a down payment and closing costs when you buy a house in a few years.
Second, take that high-limit credit card you have and buy a couple of tanks of gas with it every month and they pay it off when the bill comes. A large part of your credit score is your utilization of your available credit. lets say your limit on that card is 10,000. You never want to have over 5,000 on it as that is a negative. However, charging a couple of hundred a month and then paying in full once the bill comes will make your score climb quickly.
And while the days of only needing a heartbeat to get a mortgage are hopefully over, someone with a verifiable income, some money for a down payment and closing costs and a couple of solid years of using credit wisely shouldn't have a problem buying a house.

 

[TontoKowalski]

Thanks a lot guys. This is exactly the kind of info I was looking for instead of that packaged bs you find when you run a google search.

 

[Ravenous]

Get a copy of your credit report for free from www.annualcreditreport.com (Do not go to freecreditreport, because those guys are thieves and do not really give you a free report). There are three major credit reporting agencies, make sure you get all three reports.

They have fine print on the reports about how you can dispute inaccurate information on your credit report. Pretend that every negative thing on your report is inaccurate and dispute it. DO NOT DO AN ONLINE DISPUTE BECAUSE YOU MAY HAVE TO GO TO ARBITRATION TO GET ANYTHING REMOVED. INSTEAD, DISPUTE THE ITEMS BY MAIL. You do not have to prove that the information is inaccurate. All you have to do is dispute the information and make them prove the info is accurate.

The credit reporting agencies have 30 days to do an investigation, and they might just miss the deadline or decide that it is easier to take the negative info off your credit report than it is to respond to your dispute. After you have done this, keep doing it every month until all the negative stuff is gone.

 

[IntenseOperator]

Get a copy of your credit report for free from www.annualcreditreport.com (Do not go to freecreditreport, because those guys are thieves and do not relly give you a free report). There are three major credit reporting agencies, make sure you get all three reports.

They have fine print on the reports about how you can dispute inaccurate information on your credit report. Pretend that every negative thing on your report is inaccurate and dispute it. DO NOT DO AN ONLINE DISPUTE BECAUSE YOU MAY HAVE TO GO TO ARBITRATION TO GET ANYTHING REMOVED. INSTEAD, DISPUTE THE ITEMS BY MAIL. You do not have to prove that the information is inaccurate. All you have to do is dispute the information and make them prove the info is accurate.

The credit reporting agencies have 30 days to do an investigation, and they might just miss the deadline or decide that it is easier to take the negative info off your credit report than it is to respond to your dispute. After you have done this, keep doing it every month until all the negative stuff is gone.

Ravenous

how many hoops does one have to jump through for a free credit report?

 

[Ravenous]

Ravenous

how many hoops does one have to jump through for a free credit report?

If you go to www.annualcreditreport.com you can usually get it in a matter of a few minutes. Federal law requires that the credit reporting agencies give you free access to your report at least once per year. www.annualcreditreport.com is the website set up to guarantee that people have easy access to their reports.

I should note that each of the three agencies will attempt to sell you your credit score. You do not have to buy your score to see the items that are on your credit report.

 

[IntenseOperator]

Thanks

FWIW

Do not choose the 1st credit outfit. The 2nd one was a lot easier to go through with minimal distracting bs.

They show a credit history of an item in dispute for the last year and a half/two years (almost). I don't think anything over that applies today.

Balance History: (this is for my Menards account)
08/2008 $65
07/2008 $0
06/2008 $9
05/2008 $89
04/2008 $595
03/2008 $505
02/2008 $616
01/2008 $605
12/2007 $573
11/2007 $108
10/2007 $94
07/2007 $0
06/2007 $29
05/2007 $528
04/2007 $0
03/2007 $58
02/2007 $0
01/2007 $29
12/2006 $321

and I can't seem to find an actual "credit score" on the report

 

[IntenseOperator]

How about all of these cats looking into my credit?????

Requests Viewed By Others

According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, credit grantors with a permissible purpose may review your credit information. When a request for your credit history is made, a record of who made the request and the reason they reviewed your credit will display on your credit report for two years.

No Requests viewed by others appear on your report.

Requests Viewed Only By You

According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, credit grantors listed in this section had a permissible purpose to review your information, although the requests listed in this section do not display to them. When a request for your information is made, it will display on your credit report for two years.

We report these requests only to you as a record of those who reviewed your information, and we do not include any of these requests on credit reports to others.

? CHASE BANK USA,NA
Date: September 12, 2008

? DISCOVER FINANCIAL SVCS
Date: September 10, 2008 , August 12, 2008 ,
December 10, 2007 , September 26, 2007

? BANK OF AMERICA
Date: August 27, 2008

? AMEX
Date: August 25, 2008 , July 21, 2008 ,
June 20, 2008 , June 4, 2008 ,
April 29, 2008 , March 20, 2008 ,
February 25, 2008 , January 22, 2008 ,
December 6, 2007 , November 20, 2007 ,
October 26, 2007 , September 18, 2007 ,
August 29, 2007 , July 31, 2007 ,
June 14, 2007 , June 4, 2007 ,
May 22, 2007 , January 26, 2007 ,
December 27, 2006 , December 5, 2006 ,
November 6, 2006 , October 8, 2006

? WELLS FARGO BANK
Date: August 25, 2008 , June 12, 2008 ,
April 17, 2008 , February 20, 2008 ,
December 12, 2007 , October 15, 2007 ,
March 14, 2007 , December 12, 2006 ,
October 13, 2006

? FIRST USA,NA
Date: August 21, 2008 , December 13, 2007 ,
December 3, 2007 , November 1, 2007 ,
October 31, 2007 , May 31, 2007 ,
April 30, 2007 , April 13, 2007 ,
March 31, 2007 , September 7, 2006

? SILVERLEAF RESORTS INC
Date: May 20, 2008

? AMERI CAPITAL FUNDING
Date: March 6, 2008

? AT HOME MORTGAGE CORP
Date: January 25, 2008

? FNB OMAHA
Date: December 20, 2007 , December 7, 2006

? CAP ONE NA
Date: December 14, 2007 , July 12, 2007 ,
June 15, 2007 , June 11, 2007 ,
April 16, 2007 , February 5, 2007 ,
January 12, 2007 , December 15, 2006 ,
December 7, 2006 , October 27, 2006 ,
October 19, 2006 , September 17, 2006

? CHASE CARD SERVICES
Date: November 30, 2007

? BANK OF AMERICA
Date: October 11, 2007 , August 2, 2007 ,
June 6, 2007 , October 3, 2006

? CAP ONE
Date: September 11, 2007 , December 9, 2006 ,
November 13, 2006

? PARK NATIONAL BANK
Date: September 10, 2007 , March 7, 2007

? CHASE BANK
Date: April 13, 2007

? BANK OF AMERICA
Date: March 27, 2007

? PARK NATIONAL BANK
Date: March 7, 2007

? ADVANTA BANK CORP
Date: October 25, 2006 , September 6, 2006

? SABRINA LLC
Date: September 30, 2006

? ADVANTA BANK CORP
Date: September 6, 2006

? CIT BANK/DFS
Date: September 6, 2006

 

[IntenseOperator]

You gots to pay them for your "actual" credit score

 

[gardenweasel]

If you go to www.annualcreditreport.com you can usually get it in a matter of a few minutes. Federal law requires that the credit reporting agencies give you free access to your report at least once per year. www.annualcreditreport.com is the website set up to guarantee that people have easy access to their reports.

I should note that each of the three agencies will attempt to sell you your credit score. You do not have to buy your score to see the items that are on your credit report.

you sure that`s safe,i.o.?...they`re asking for an ssn...

 

[IntenseOperator]

you sure that`s safe,i.o.?...they`re asking for an ssn...

hope so

I'm pretty sure I've been hearing about them on the air waves locally. They (the site moved to)were right on about the credit info they had and the info they showed.

 

[gardenweasel]

the ones i`m aware of through the banks that i peruse make you pay for a score....

you`d think that would be something someone wouldn`t have to pay for...