How do you guys do it?

[egaithe]

I want to know how some of you, Pizza1, RoseyK etc. get these huge amounts of credit and good score in short periods of time. I'm currently at 633-EX, 639-TU, 606-EQ. I'm at 33% UTIL. I have 2 collections that will fall off in 2018 and 2019 respectively. No late pays in 3 three years, 5 recent apps in Feb, all helped with util, all revolving accounts: Target, 2 First Premier cards, Barclays Reward, Amazon Store, Capital One Quik Silver, Pier 1, Limited, VS, and Overstock, even though OS it's not reporting anywhere. Seemingly, my report is not that bad, but some of you who have recent BKs have higher scores than me! Help! I'm slowly crawling to the 700 club.....I appreciate any feedback. Oh, BTW, I burned Chase in 2011, settled in 2015. Since I bank with them, I desperately want to be back in and of course I'll take any AMEX.

[Anonymous]

3 weeks ago, I was around 650s. Lucky for me most of my negatives were planning to drop off within 6 months, so I called the CRAs and have them removed it. I was also at 90% HU in December but had a plan to pay them all off, which was completed last Friday. I tackled one card at a time and saw my scores rises every 2 weeks. I used my tax returns to pay off one card. I couldn't have done it this quick without my $95K salary and the motivations from the forum.

Just keep it up and contact loaners/creditor for goodwill on any late payments, delinquency, etc.

[egaithe]

Thanks, I sent a GW letter to Chase to no avail to get back in. Can I send GW letters to remove lates? The CRAs agreed to remove your negatives early?

[Anonymous]

Yes you can send GW to get lates remove. There's no harm in that. I did it for my college loan and they were happy to delete the entire account without me asking. TU and EX will be happy to remove your negatives depending on it's age. Some people got lucky and got removals of negatives that has 5-10 months left. Mine was 4 months and both CRA removed all. Both report are clean now. EQ on the other hand is a 90% chance to stand by their rules of only removing it if you have a month left. Some people got lucky but the majority did not, including myself. 

Note: they also calculate the average age of accounts. Mine is between 5-6 years depending on which report you're looking at.

Good luck and be patience.

[Anonymous]

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@egaithe wrote:

I want to know how some of you, Pizza1, RoseyK etc. get these huge amounts of credit and good score in short periods of time. I'm currently at 633-EX, 639-TU, 606-EQ. I'm at 33% UTIL. I have 2 collections that will fall off in 2018 and 2019 respectively. No late pays in 3 three years, 5 recent apps in Feb, all helped with util, all revolving accounts: Target, 2 First Premier cards, Barclays Reward, Amazon Store, Capital One Quik Silver, Pier 1, Limited, VS, and Overstock, even though OS it's not reporting anywhere. Seemingly, my report is not that bad, but some of you who have recent BKs have higher scores than me! Help! I'm slowly crawling to the 700 club.....I appreciate any feedback. Oh, BTW, I burned Chase in 2011, settled in 2015. Since I bank with them, I desperately want to be back in and of course I'll take any AMEX.

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My advice - don't be in a rush to "get there". IMHO, the "quick to rise" tend to be "quick to fall again" later on. Think of it as learning to run after losing the use of your legs for several years. First you have to learn to crawl again, then walk slowly, then walk quickly, then run. All that takes time. Learn to use the credit you have to your advantage first. Get your financial side in order, as you do that - establish your $1000 emergency cash fund, and start building your 6 month "crisis cash" fund, and your 2 year "worst case" fund. Once you get those established and building up (obviously it takes considerable time to build accounts that can carry you through 2.5 years), then work on specific revolving credit goals. Credit should be just one part of an overall financial plan, not and end in itself.