Trying to raise credit score

[Anonymous]

Okay her is my credit story

          About a year ago I changed jobs and I got behind on things I ended up with 2 collection accounts one for my cell phone and one for cable. I also had 2 credit cards at the time and both ended up closed by credit grantor. Okay now fast forward I have now paid off all the collections and credit cards and I am paying everything  on time and have been for the past 6 months. My problem is that my credit score is not going any higher. TransUnion at 675 Exo. at 699 and Equifax at 600. My question is should I apply for a credit card will this raise my score? I have not applied for any new credit in almost 3 years.

                                                     Help

[Anonymous]

daisy, have you pulled a credit report the past week or so? Do you have any 'baddies' popping up(like late payments, other than the one's you mentioned)?

You have pretty decent scores. Mine are just about in the same range, maybe a little lower. You should have no trouble in getting a card. Are you looking for one in particular? I'd suggest not even thinking about an American Express or Discover. They have pretty strict requirements.

Before you apply, as each application hurts your score, find out several cards you'd be willing to go for, based on what people here say. There's a wealth of info here at your fingertips. Good luck!

[Tuscani]

Welcome.. Please read the Scoring 101 thread:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=ficoscoring&thread.id=2654

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice. Yes I have pulled my credit report in the last week or so. I pulled experian and equifax. One of the credit cards that I was paying on and just recently paid off may be the factor in my low credit score. My real question is if I open a new credit card will that help my score? Or should I just go on paying the school loan and mortgage on time and see if that raises my score?

[SmartCookie]

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daisylove wrote:

Thanks for the advice. Yes I have pulled my credit report in the last week or so. I pulled experian and equifax. One of the credit cards that I was paying on and just recently paid off may be the factor in my low credit score. My real question is if I open a new credit card will that help my score? Or should I just go on paying the school loan and mortgage on time and see if that raises my score?

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Read Credit 101 again

You should first be doing clean-up work on anything that is paid and derog.  Yes continue to never be late again! That will raise your score as you pay off balances.  How many open CCs do you have and what is your utilization?  Applying for new credit can give you a temporary hit, and you don't want to unless you need to and are certain you will be approved.  You might be best off requesting a CLI if your utilization is high.  Still, do clean up work beforehand and then re-evaluate.

[Anonymous]

I have done the clean up work I am all payed up on everything and everything has been current for the past six months. The only thing left was the credit card that I just paid off last month that was showing as a charge off. So now do I sit and wait for the score to go up or apply for new credit?

[Anonymous]

also I am new to this sight and not sure what you are asking. What are CCs you mean current account? I have 2 my mortgage and my student loan payments. The student loan has been current for a year and my mortgage has been current for 3 years. No Lates

[SmartCookie]

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daisylove wrote:

I have done the clean up work I am all payed up on everything and everything has been current for the past six months. The only thing left was the credit card that I just paid off last month that was showing as a charge off. So now do I sit and wait for the score to go up or apply for new credit?

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CCs= credit cards.  Not sure if you should sit and wait... are you waiting on GWs and/or PFDs? 

[Anonymous]

I have no open cc's that is why I am wondering if I should open one since all now that is showing positive on my credit report is the mortgage and the student loan.

[SmartCookie]

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daisylove wrote:

I have no open cc's that is why I am wondering if I should open one since all now that is showing positive on my credit report is the mortgage and the student loan.

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Yes if you have none, you need to open one if you have done your reading, understand what cleaning up your reports means and have gotten all the results showing (or removed as the case may be).

But only apply for what you know you will get since the hard INQs matter and we also don't know how may you have had in the past 12 months.  Search the board on BOA 99/500 among others.