I have spent the better part of my twenties buying and spending and just really not even knowing what a credit score was. Fast forward to my Thirties and now I am a mother and wife and have finally started to see just how important credit is. Good news is that I did not have credit cards back then!! Bad news is that I have them now and I am nearly maxed!! The home that my family is living in, and we have been buying for the last 4 years, belongs to my parent in-laws. They have now told us that hey are needing to sell quickly to refinance their own home... Problem is we are not "credit score" ready. I have a middle score of about 580 and I really need to get that up some more before attempting to purchase a home. I have untill about Feburary before we have to either buy here or move... I have enrolled in a credit repair program and I have made a gameplan for paying down the existing credit cards that I have. but I feel like that is still not going to be enough... Total credit card debt is about 3500.00 not to mention two vehicle loans with a combined debt of about 50,000. I have about 8 old collection accounts, all medical excpet for a phone bill.... a late payment on my student loan -but the thing is that I was still in school and that was their error.. I should not have went into repayment so soon. They put a grace back on but the late payment is still there... and I have a late payment on my car note, (my job switched their payroll agency and our checks got delayed for a week and that was the week it was due
) I really want t be ready by the first of the year but I have limited time. Does anyone have any suggestions for making this process smoother? Do I pay my credit cards completely off or do I pay down to a certain point? Any advice would help!
Welcome to the forum.
Until is 35% of your credit score and if you've maxed out your cards! that's an easy fix. I would also start with writing GW letter for the collections accounts, car and the SL debt.
It is possible to boost your scores up in time but you need to act fast.
Until is 35% of your credit score and if you've maxed out your cards! that's an easy fix. I would also start with writing GW letter for the collections accounts, car and the SL debt.
It is possible to boost your scores up in time but you need to act fast.
@Hannahsmom wrote:I have spent the better part of my twenties buying and spending and just really not even knowing what a credit score was. Fast forward to my Thirties and now I am a mother and wife and have finally started to see just how important credit is. Good news is that I did not have credit cards back then!! Bad news is that I have them now and I am nearly maxed!! The home that my family is living in, and we have been buying for the last 4 years, belongs to my parent in-laws. They have now told us that hey are needing to sell quickly to refinance their own home... Problem is we are not "credit score" ready. I have a middle score of about 580 and I really need to get that up some more before attempting to purchase a home. I have untill about February before we have to either buy here or move... I have enrolled in a credit repair program and I have made a gameplan for paying down the existing credit cards that I have. but I feel like that is still not going to be enough... Total credit card debt is about 3500.00 not to mention two vehicle loans with a combined debt of about 50,000. I have about 8 old collection accounts, all medical excpet for a phone bill.... a late payment on my student loan -but the thing is that I was still in school and that was their error.. I should not have went into repayment so soon. They put a grace back on but the late payment is still there... and I have a late payment on my car note, (my job switched their payroll agency and our checks got delayed for a week and that was the week it was due
First get your credit reports. I had the same issue with my student loan. It was fixed and my credit score jumped dramatically. Check to see if there are errors. If there are dispute them with the credit agencies. Furthermore if you have collections check the DOFD = date of first delinquency.. aka 7 years after they fall off your report. Some collections can be handled with a PFD; paid for deletion. Goodwill the car payment; there are samples of letters here. Start to pay down the credit card debt; it has a major impact on your score. If you have $3500 used (utilized) out of for example $5000, your CREDIT UTILIZATION IS 70%.
Starting Score: 525
