how to gain 40 pts on fico

[Anonymous]

Is there anything I can do to get my score to a 680 by March? Im hovering at about 638. I have 2 negatives from emergency room bills from 5 years ago dragging it down. I have one capital one credit card that I use monthly. Ive had this card 2 years.

[Anonymous]

Do you have any open installment loans?  If not, we can suggest a method that will help a lot.

There are some derog-removal tecniques that are specific to medical bills, but I don't know what they are.  THere's at least one person here who can tell you what to google to find out more about them.

What is the credit limit on your credit card, and how much do you typically have on it?

[Anonymous]

i dont have any installment loans. i actually want to get my score up to 680 so i can take out an installment loan. i have one credit card with a $200 limit. i usually spend $10-$15 a month

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

i dont have any installment loans. i actually want to get my score up to 680 so i can take out an installment loan. i have one credit card with a $200 limit. i usually spend $10-$15 a month

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You're doing good things.

Here's what I would do.

1. Try for a credit limit increase on Capital One (>Services>More...>Request Credit Limit Increase)

2. Apply for a Barclay Rewards card

3. Go to Alliant Credit Union, take out a $500+ savings account, take out a $500 share secured loan secured by the savings account with a 48 or 60 month term, decline or cancel autopay, transfer $455 from the savings account towards the loan balance bringing the balance down to $45.

4. Send verification letters to the credit bureaus on the negatives; sometimes this results in them being taken out of the report.

[Anonymous]

Here is a link that will explain step-by-step how the Alliant loan works:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Adding-an-installment-loan-the-Share-Secu...

As far as medical debt goes (i.e. getting bad marks related to medical debt removed from your reports) there are certain strategies that are very specific to medical debt that are out there.  One of them you can find if you were to google HIPAA WHYCHAT GUIDE.  Unfortunately we cannot discuss that strategy with you in any further detail (or give you links to it) due to policies set down by the administrators of this forum. 

Here's a link from this forum where that strategy is mentioned but where the veterans carefully avoid endorsing or discussing or giving links to it.  You might find more discussions if you do searches of the Forum.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Medical/m-p/4802824/highlight/true#M513136?q=...

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much for the  info. Regarding the shared secured loan,  I  once had an installment loan from financing a car but I paid that off 5 years ago, so will opening a new installment loan still be worthwhile for me interms of getting those extra fico points?

Also is the Barclay Rewards Card pretty easy to qualify for?

Im guessing the average age on my accounts will take a hit, but Im assuming it wont be too damaging?

[Anonymous]

Regarding the installment loan from Alliant:

You need an open installment loan.  The old installment loan you paid off years ago won't help.  If you would click on that link I gave you, it will explain everything,

Regarding a possible hit to your AAoA:

You ask us to comment on how damaging it will be.  We can't say because we don't have enough information.  Can you tell us:

    (a) What your AAoA is as now?

    (b) What tool you are using to determine your AAoA?

    (c) How many accounts you have total, closed and open together?

Opening the new loan will involve an AAoA hit and so will opening the new card.  They are still worth doing regardless (but see below).

You mention that you need these extra points very soon.  Can you comment on why you need them?  Depending on your answer the SS loan and/or the new card may be a great idea or perhaps not so good.  Specifically, are you trying to buy a house?

[Anonymous]

sure I can comment. I would like to finance a cosmetic proceedure. I dnt have to have it done in March but that was ideal....and if I could get an extra 30-40 points I would feel extra confident about applying.

[Anonymous]

Good.  If it had been a home purchase, then the Alliant loan would not have helped nearly as much, since mortgage lenders use the very old FICO models.  But assuming your lemnder uses FICO 8 then the installment loan idea will help a huge amount.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks so much for the  info. Regarding the shared secured loan,  I  once had an installment loan from financing a car but I paid that off 5 years ago, so will opening a new installment loan still be worthwhile for me interms of getting those extra fico points?

Yes

Also is the Barclay Rewards Card pretty easy to qualify for?

Yes

Im guessing the average age on my accounts will take a hit, but Im assuming it wont be too damaging?

Overall I think it will help. If you get the 2nd account, then make sure 1 account reports a zero balance when statement cuts, and the other reports a small balance.

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