Rebuilding Your Credit

[murcury]

I recently became aware of my credit score....not great....554....and want to fix it.  I've been going through and trying to clear up anything that is past due or in collections...down to one account for $819 to NCO FIN/99, which I'm in the process of validating.

My girlfriend brought up a thought.  If she adds me as an authorized user on her credit card...will this help my credit score?  

I opened a Capital One account a couple months ago, big $300 limit, with the agreement that after March it will go up to $500 as long as I don't miss any payments, which I haven't, but it carries a balance, and last two months it happened to be higher balance then when I got my previous fico update, which made my score drop.  If i pay it off, and it carries a $0 balance, will this help my score?  and if so, how long after i eliminate the balance will it take to reflect on my score?

I want to thank the forum.  I spent quite some time here today reading, and you guys/girls have me excited about repairing my credit.

[Shogun]

Getting added as an AU could help you with util and AAoA if it's an older account.  Paying down your util will help your score, typically 9% or lower gets you in the sweet spot.  

[blessed92380]

Being added as ANU to a longstanding account that has a low utilization and payment history should definitely help.  When we were purchasing our home we were added as ANU and our score increased once it reported the following month.  With a small credit line of 300.00 it is very important to keep the balance low 9% or less.  I watch my score go up and down throughout the month and the only changes that take place are my balances.  My score will drop 20 points from just having a higher balance on my card.  Once I pay it and it reports the score goes right back up.