@monni wrote:Hello Everyone,I am a newby and I am just looking for some advice on how to improve my credit. I am 23 and I want to refinace my car when my score is higher. My current equifax cerdit score is 628. This month I bought a new car so that is not on my credit report yet. On my report I have 3 charge offs. One from Cap 1 who I still owe 149 and two others. One was from a store card and they have agreed to remove this week and the other is a T-mobile account that was a 0 balance. I have 4 inquires from my car loan and one from 2006. I currently have no active credit cards.Would anyone have any advice on where I should start?
In your case I would pull all 3 of your FICO scores and see if all of them are close or very different. Once you know what is on each report I would dispute anything that may be wrong in any way. Some things will fall off at this point and others will be updated.
Once round 1 is finished you will have a better idea of what you need to do next. If you don't have many positive TLs on your reports I would suggest opening 1 or 2 new credit cards. AMEX Delta if you are over 620 on EX or EQ would be a great card and the Hooters and Carnival Sea Miles cards would be great if you are over 620 on TU. With 2 of these cards and decent credit limits you will see your score increase. I helped a friend raise his scores about 40 points by simply paying down some debt and opening a couple new cards to help reduce his overall utilization. Utilization is 35% of your FICO score and between 1% and 9% will net you the biggest FICO score possible.
If you have any lates on your report send some GW letters to see if you can get any of them removed. All this together could easily get you up to or even over 700 in a very short time. Good luck and don't worry....it takes time but you CAN and WILL do it. Just be patient and ask as many questions as you need on this board and you will get all the help you need.
