topic Re: Questions improving my credit in Rebuilding Your Credit

Questions improving my credit

guangrui — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 06:30:15 GMT

Hello, I have a few questions on how to improve my cridit score. Im 21 years old, and im trying to get a loan for a car.

I recently checked my equifax score here are some infomations on it.

Mortage $0

Installment $4,954 payment is deffered dont need to pay them back until i graduated. since i didnt go to school for one year they reported me. only on equifax 1/3.

Revolving account: 6400

Capitalone: 200 with balance of 0

Chase:3200 with balance of 1700

Discover:3000 with balance of 75

My question is should i do a balance transfer from discover to chase and even the balance or keep the high balance?

Im a joint user does that help also?

I have 3 negative accounts 2 is closed 1 is still open

and one charge off from my auto dealer which i paid back.

and lots of inquirys 31.

Is there any way of improving my credit?

Re: Questions improving my credit

guydiver — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 08:54:25 GMT

guangrui wrote:
Hello, I have a few questions on how to improve my cridit score. Im 21 years old, and im trying to get a loan for a car.
I recently checked my equifax score here are some infomations on it.

Mortage $0
Installment $4,954 payment is deffered dont need to pay them back until i graduated. since i didnt go to school for one year they reported me. only on equifax 1/3.
Revolving account: 6400
Capitalone: 200 with balance of 0
Chase:3200 with balance of 1700
Discover:3000 with balance of 75
My question is should i do a balance transfer from discover to chase and even the balance or keep the high balance?
Im a joint user does that help also?
I have 3 negative accounts 2 is closed 1 is still open
and one charge off from my auto dealer which i paid back.
and lots of inquirys 31.

Is there any way of improving my credit?

Hi guangrui, and welcome to the forums!

Since you are looking to get an auto loan, there are a few things you can do here.

First, you got yourself into a pickle with that auto charge-off. This damages your auto enhanced Fico score big time. Paid or not, affects the same. Have you tried sending GW(goodwill) letters yet? You need to try to get that off your reports. I doubt with your age and limited credit history you can get another car loan without some major money down or a co-signer. As for your revolving, you show three accounts. You need to have less than 50% of your accounts report any balance, so for you that is only one. Pay off the lowest balance to Discover, and work on getting your total utilization down to 9% or less of your total CL of 6400. I wouldn't recommend any balance transfers, as you could have one of your tradelines closed and lose that CL which would put your util. through the roof. You don't need any more inquiries, so stop applying for credit. Those stay on your reports for two years, and even though they only hurt your Fico scores for one year, any creditor who pulls your reports will see them, and that is a LOT of inquiries. You need some time to rebuild here. You might be stuck with a" buy here, pay here" type dealer. Can you scrape up enough cash to buy a beater to drive for a while? How about joining a credit union? A lot of them only pull EQ, and don't use auto industry option scores. Plus, they are a little bit easier to work with and can be less stringent on credit requirements. If you don't know your EQ Fico score, you can get it from myFico on this site. That would be a good starting point to see where you are. Good luck, and be sure to post any more questions on here you may have. I have only hit on the basics. Good luck.

Re: Questions improving my credit

guydiver — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 09:06:54 GMT

guydiver wrote:
guangrui wrote:
Hello, I have a few questions on how to improve my cridit score. Im 21 years old, and im trying to get a loan for a car.
I recently checked my equifax score here are some infomations on it.

Mortage $0
Installment $4,954 payment is deffered dont need to pay them back until i graduated. since i didnt go to school for one year they reported me. only on equifax 1/3.
Revolving account: 6400
Capitalone: 200 with balance of 0
Chase:3200 with balance of 1700
Discover:3000 with balance of 75
My question is should i do a balance transfer from discover to chase and even the balance or keep the high balance?
Im a joint user does that help also?
I have 3 negative accounts 2 is closed 1 is still open
and one charge off from my auto dealer which i paid back.
and lots of inquirys 31.

Is there any way of improving my credit?
Hi guangrui, and welcome to the forums!
Since you are looking to get an auto loan, there are a few things you can do here.
First, you got yourself into a pickle with that auto charge-off. This damages your auto enhanced Fico score big time. Paid or not, affects the same. Have you tried sending GW(goodwill) letters yet? You need to try to get that off your reports. I doubt with your age and limited credit history you can get another car loan without some major money down or a co-signer. As for your revolving, you show three accounts. You need to have less than 50% of your accounts report any balance, so for you that is only one. Pay off the lowest balance to Discover, and work on getting your total utilization down to 9% or less of your total CL of 6400. I wouldn't recommend any balance transfers, as you could have one of your tradelines closed and lose that CL which would put your util. through the roof. You don't need any more inquiries, so stop applying for credit. Those stay on your reports for two years, and even though they only hurt your Fico scores for one year, any creditor who pulls your reports will see them, and that is a LOT of inquiries. You need some time to rebuild here. You might be stuck with a" buy here, pay here" type dealer. Can you scrape up enough cash to buy a beater to drive for a while? How about joining a credit union? A lot of them only pull EQ, and don't use auto industry option scores. Plus, they are a little bit easier to work with and can be less stringent on credit requirements. If you don't know your EQ Fico score, you can get it from myFico on this site. That would be a good starting point to see where you are. Good luck, and be sure to post any more questions on here you may have. I have only hit on the basics. Good luck.

Sorry, I forgot to touch on this question.

If you are a joint user on an account, it means that both parties are responsible on that account, and the account history reports the same and separately on each person's credit report(s). It's basically the same as a co-signer. So it can be both good or bad, depending upon the history. Downside is that you are responsible, so it counts into your debt to income ratio for loan qualification purposes.

Re: Questions improving my credit

FrugalRican — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:25:38 GMT

guangrui wrote:
Hello, I have a few questions on how to improve my cridit score. Im 21 years old, and im trying to get a loan for a car.
I recently checked my equifax score here are some infomations on it.

Capitalone: 200 with balance of 0
Chase:3200 with balance of 1700
Discover:3000 with balance of 75

Is there any way of improving my credit?

Just gonna comment on this part.

Post your interest rates for these cards.

Just by getting the CC balances down, you'd see an increase in your score, however small that may be.

But definitely get that Chase card down. Your overall util is at 51%.

Re: Questions improving my credit

guangrui — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:57:48 GMT

No i didnt write a gw letter for the charge off. Il write one now thanks for your advice.

Re: Questions improving my credit

guydiver — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:47:40 GMT

guangrui wrote:
No i didnt write a gw letter for the charge off. Il write one now thanks for your advice.

You can write GW letters for all of your negative accounts. Everything helps. Those negatives can stay on your report for up to 7.5 years. Whatever you do, don't be late again. Eat beans and rice if you have to. Cut every corner you can to pay down your revolving debt because that is the second most important factor in your Fico scores.

Re: Questions improving my credit

jimbo831 — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 17:59:57 GMT

guydiver wrote:
guangrui wrote:
No i didnt write a gw letter for the charge off. Il write one now thanks for your advice.
You can write GW letters for all of your negative accounts. Everything helps. Those negatives can stay on your report for up to 7.5 years. Whatever you do, don't be late again. Eat beans and rice if you have to. Cut every corner you can to pay down your revolving debt because that is the second most important factor in your Fico scores.

As bad as this sounds, after my bad credit situations, I will do whatever I can to make sure my CCs and any other reporting loans are paid on time. Rent is #1 priority (need a place to live), then any bills that report. You can pay cell phones, utilities, and many other monthly bills late and make arrangements with them with few repurcussions. Those lates that report though, hurt just so bad.