I Need Help With Raising My FICO Score
I want to know how can I raise my score. I have established credit since 94 and my last late payment on one of my cards was over a year ago and the others were in 97/98 because I was out of work. I recently paid off 7 accounts with a loan that was pre-approved. That loan was right on time eventhough the interest rate is hiiiigh. I also have 2 collections that I'm working on to have removed. One of the collections was a mistake and theyy're given me a hard time removing it. The other I paid off and trying to get them to remove the collection status. I've had some success with some of the accounts being removed, but its only been 2 months since I've been working on my report because I work really hard and I pay my bills on time to feel as though I can't have what I want. I will follow some of the advise of others telling their story because I've never tried charging something on credit before and paying it off every month because before the loan all my CC was Maxed out. I almost forgot. Some of the accounts that were paid off are now closed. I know this also dragged my score down. My score is 597 now. Could this be because of all the activity of paying of 7 CC , collections, closed accounts in one month. What else can I do to raise it to a score of lets say 750 , and how long do you think it will take. I'm sorry this message is so long but I need some feed back because I want to buy a home in 2 years after i pay off my car note. Thank you. 
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Bryson, I have a pamphlet from FICO that gives you some tips as to how to raise your score. I checked your profile but I didn't see an e-mail address. Check my profile and send me an e-mail and I will forward this document. One thing they mentioned is that is not a good idea to close accounts that are paid off because this will reduce your available credit amount and it may increase your percentage of debt to open/available credit. Example: You have 5 cards $5K each. You owe $2,500 total on all 5 cards. Your percentage of debt to available credit is 10% ... not bad. If you close 4 and keep one that has a limit is $3,000, you percentage of debt to available credit is now over 80% ... this is very bad and will drag your score down. I thought the doc from FICO was pretty good.
I hope I can help you because I went through the same thing. My credit 3 years ago was 598 and now it is 716. My advice is this..... Paying off what you can will help. Try to make deals with your creditors ahead of time that if you pay immediately, ask if they will purge and delete the tradeline. Some will and some won't but if they don't, pay them anyway. Each creditor that is paid-off could raise your score about 20 points. Also, keep disputing Items. I know that equifax temporarily raises your score while items are in dispute. Also, continue to pay on time and keep your credit cards around 10 to 25%. Don't worry about having a zero balance just keep the balance low. Unfortunately this is a slow process but don't let it discourage you. Fight the things that you can and pay the things that you can't fight. Also don't let people pull your report unless it is absolutely neccessary. Always pull your own report about once every 2 months and pull your own credit scores to see where you are. Don't be afraid to tell potential lenders that you know what your score is and you will let them pull a report when you decide you want to make a deal. They can usually tell you what your score should be for certain programs and they also understand. If you follow this advice accordingly based on what you posted, you should be at around 620 within 18 months which should allow you to get into many real estate programs,(just not with the best terms), but you gotta start somewhere. A score of 750 is based more on time and you will need a longer credit history to get a score that high. (about 7 years without problem). Most lender consider above 680 to be great and 720 to be optimal credit. Just keep at it and it may happen faster than you think
Thanks
Rock2000 wrote a VERY thorough Article on FICO.... Have you read IT yet?
You can also open a cd at a bank then turn around and take a loan out against it. Make sure the schedule for repayment is over 6 months(otherwise it won't be reported to your credit). The interest is usually a point or 2 higher than your return so the payment will be low. Besides you can make the payments out of the loan proceeeds. Hope this helps.
I attempted to send you the Credit Scoring Booklet from FICO but it seems your address does not work. Send me an e-mail to my address (See my profile) and I will be glad to send you the info. Good luck.
Hey letsgomario can you e-mail me that credit scoring booklet from FICO my score is about 545 and I'm working on building it up.
It will be highly appreciated
Thanks a million.
Dave
here. tell my your ****Must Reach Senior Investor status before posting URL's*** credit score, and I will help you get a "good" creditcard, Mastercard, no subprime garbage...
they are based on equifax, and email me I will tell you the trick...
the longer the time from late payments the better
try this: take $ 500.00 put it in a cd or a savings acount, use it for security to loan the same amount. Take the loan money to another bank and due it again. Three places should due the trick. as a previous post mentioned make sure the loan is for at least 6 months in length or it will not be reported to the credit burrows.
this will cost you a little to get the loans, and a little in interrest because the amount is not that high.
MAKE SURE YOU MAKE THE PAYMENTS ON TIME and after the 6 or 7 months try it again or you may conscider going back to each of the loan officers personally and trying to open new credit card accounts, you will have established a record with each of the institutions. that may weigh in your favor when conscidering the application. be honest with the loan officers and explain the purpose to reestablish your credit.
Also, if you have any of your old accounts still open, and in good standing, ( no late payments for 6 months), call them and ask for credit increases, this will also boost your score.
remember the most important thing is to pay on time , house payment, car loan, credit cards, gas cards, ect...
John
All of the posts have had great advice. In the post regarding pulling your credit, I would write the agencies and pay the fee to make sure that it doesn't count as a "hard hit" on your credit. Of course if you apply for any credit through a financial institution, they will pull your credit and it will show up as a hard hit which can and will have an adverse effect on your credit. Have your credit pulled apringly. Once or twice and it doesn't really matter. More than that, and you can run into trouble...
A good website to go to, to find your credit score and ways to improve it is: http://www.myfico.com.
When they pull your credit, it does count, but it counts as a "soft hit."
good luck, bringing your credit score up can be done!