Help! I need help getting my credit score up to atleast 650 from 582!

[Anonymous]

I'm moving soon, and was leaning towards purchasing a condo oppose to renting again. I have a credit score of 582 and need to get it pass a 620 to even be eligible to apply to most morgage loans. I want to apply for a secured credit card, but not sure which one to go with. I also want to be added to someonesaccount as an AU user, just don't have any one at the time. An other ways, or credit cards I may be able to appy to that can help increase my credit score in less than 4 mth??

[llecs]

I'd aim for a scured. Check with your local bank or CU.

Focus on repair too. A new CC alone probably won't get you to 620.

[Crashem]

Can you give us details on your credit file at the moment?  Also, what credit lines/credit cards do you have at the moment?

[Anonymous]

Currently I have no credit cards. I haven't had for a few years now. I only have a debit card link to my checkings/savings.

[Anonymous]

What do you mean by credit file?

[Anonymous]

Smarty, for an FHA loan most lenders require a 600, I know that Wells Fargo requires that. 

If I were you I'd apply for a capital one card and if you get denied, go to your local bank and try to see if there is a secured card you could quality for.  That will be your best bet

[SpeedingWheels]

Cap1 secured helped me out tons. 

When I apped I had a "thin file" and was approved for the $49/$200 deal. 

8 months later I got WM ($800), Amazon ($1600) and an unsecured Cap1 ($500). 

BoA secured is supposed to be very good as well. 

I should also mention that after 3 months I added funds to the secured card which got reported as a CLI and boosted my score even more. 

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Thank you guys for your help! I will definitely try each of these options. I have about 4 month to make this happen. Fingers crossed.

[Funk-O-Meter]

First get your reports. Either through here:

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

or from a monitoring service like USAA. It's free to join USAA then 12.95 per month for all three reports (not scores, there's are FACO's) and you can check every day and get alerts via email or text when stuff changes. This way you'll know exactly what your working with. Don't guess the security questions. If you don't know don't find the answer cause they'll not give you your reports if you get them wrong. I highly recommend the USAA option.

For scores either buy your score here or sign up for the scorewatch trial for 10 days for free. These are the real scores. Everything else is crap.

If your file is just thin then you can get to gardening. App for a sub prime starter card or two with a low limit. Search hear and read for opinions. If you can't get a starter card then do the secured card thing. You'll have to pay to get these cards and they'lll have low limits but it'll grow your pretty fast. Charge a couple of small things on this card or maybe a monthly bill and don't use it. Just garden it. Watch your credit reports and when you've had it for 3 months or so and it's on your report and your score is up app for a real card or two. I went with chase. App in rounds then don't app for ANYTHING that's going to be a hard pull for months while your cards report and your average age of account gets longer and your score goes up.

Now if you've got some bad stuff on your report then you'll need to do what you can to get that cleaned up. Some stuff will drop off after 7 years from charge off date. Any inaccuracies or small unpaid balances can be dealt with by settling with assurance it will be reported and for inaccuracies contact the credit bureaus or creditors. 

I went from one single small closed line on my report from 12 years ago to having a 740 score, 3 cards and an AMEX with a 6k limit in a little over a year! It's a game just gotta learn the rules and strategies. 4 months is not a lot of time though.

One thing I did that has really helped me build credit fast is get an AMEX Blue Cash card as my second real card and as soon as I was able to apply for a credit limit increase after day 61 from activation I did via their website. You just hit a button and request up to 4x the limit and it's just a soft pull. I got bumped to 6k instantly and it dropped my utilization down to like 7 percent and my available overall credit to almost 8k. I'm not goint to request credit limit increases from my other cards for a while becasue they often are hard pulls that effect your credit score. AMEX is a great company to have an accoutn with cause they have great benefits and do things like that that other companies won't usually do.

[Dapper_Dan]

I haven't had a CC since 2008.  I have a settlement (paid) with Amex and a CO with Discover for >$10k.

I applied online 8/18 and was approved instantly for WalMart (GE) $500

I applied online 8/19 and was approved instantly for Cap1 Secured Visa $200 - required a $49 deposit, and can be increased 1:1 for every $1 I add.  Cap1 apparently does not report as a secured card.

My TU score is 584, and EQ is 577 - and the Cap1 inquiry hit today and my score did NOT change.  I don't know when they will report the credit line.

I too am looking to get to 690 for a car loan - and I'm looking to obtain a mortgage in Spring 2013.

My AAoA is 8 years.

The score simulator suggests that my score will hit 634 in 3 months if I continue to pay my bills on time (this was before any current CC and revolving trade line in my report).  All I have is a mortgage and two paid-off car loans.

I think that adding Cap1 and Walmart is all that is necessary, in addition to staying ontime with payments.

As far as utilization, my CO with Discover is putting me at 94%.  YMMV.  I'm not going to use the Walmart card more than once and PIF on the first statement.  The Cap1 card will probably burn and churn - and I may even place $2k with them to bump the limit while I PIF prior to each statement cycle.