Advice on credit

[afijunkie]

Hello all! I am hoping to get some advice on how to increase my overall credit history. I would like to be able to get my scores up in the 700 range with a clean history. The reason is becuase i would like to buy a house soon. My MyFico scores are; EQ 638, EX 649, TU 631. I have an auto loan and a couple of revolving accounts with Discover(joint), Cap1(new account) and Dell. I have applied for Citi and Bofa cards but got denied. Any ideas on how i can improve?

[Anonymous]

I don't know how soon you are going to be buying a home- if under 6 months I would avoid apps.

What is your utilization on revolving accounts? Balances and credit lines?

Do you have any baddies? Lates, Collections, CO's?

Getting the overall utlization under 10% and half of open accounts with a balance is the quickest way to increase scores.

[afijunkie]

I plan on buying a home within a year. The balances/credit lines on my revolving accounts are Discover: $1179 ($4700 CL) Cap1:$0($1000 CL) Dell:$203 ($1500 CL) I have 1 account in collections, Comcast and 1 CO from 2004.

[Anonymous]

Dis	1179	4700	25%
Cap1	0	1000	0%
Dell	203	1500	14%
	1382	7200	19%

Get the Discover under 10% UTl and pay the dell off 100%

That should be good for 30 to 50 points.

Then get the discover CL over 5K (something nice happens when you have a CL over 5K)

Give us the details on the Collection and CO -

[afijunkie]

The collection is an Applied Bank Student Visa, opened in 2001 and closed in 2004. Outstanding balance is 1685 (first CC ever). The Charge off is Citibank card closed in 2004. Im not sure how to pay off the collection. I know that it will still stay on my report and with the updated activity of the account it will hurt my score

[Anonymous]

Yeah- It a tough call-

You may want to look the the RTC101T (read the credit 101 Thread) in my signiture and look for PFD - Pay for delete. 

I wouldn't pay the CA without having them remove it- and do it now- as the payment to non-medical collections is often required on a mortgage- 

And if you go FHA on your mortgage- The score is only important for the PMI (if needed)  

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afijunkie wrote:
The collection is an Applied Bank Student Visa, opened in 2001 and closed in 2004. Outstanding balance is 1685 (first CC ever). The Charge off is Citibank card closed in 2004. Im not sure how to pay off the collection. I know that it will still stay on my report and with the updated activity of the account it will hurt my score

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