How to quickly raise credit score by 100 points

[zjones]

Hey all!

I have just started to get into really upping my credit score and closely monitoring my credit, and have heard phenomenal things about this sites forums!

I just pulled my Fico score for the first time and was a very sad panda (landed between 550-600), but oddly, my transunion score was about 115 points higher!

Long story short, I'm looking for some ways to pull my score up to a minimum of 650, and was wondering for some solid tricks/tips on how I can keep beefing my score up.

Thank you all for your time :]

[myjourney]

Welcome to the forum 

I wish I could tell you there's a magic pill but I can't

100 pts is a lot of ground to cover..

Just being honest and don't want you to expect miracles and be let down.

Good credit is a marathon not a sprint 

Now to better help you start the process of increasing score we need more info.

INQ's in the last 12 months?

AAoA if you know it?

Baddies?

TL's .....loans, car. mortgage, Student loan credit cards?

[user5387]

1.  Pull your reports and make sure the information on them is accurate.

2.  Do whatever you can to address derogatories.

3.  Pay off balances on your cards, and let only one of them report a small balance.

[zjones]

Thanks so much for your response! Heres a quick little snippet of whats going on with my credit

-I have 2 Credit Cards, both with about 50%-80% of their limit filled up. One is actually a secured card that I got when I was 20 and still use, the other is a regular CC.

-My average account age is 1.5 years on these 2 cards according to FICO.

-My only loan that I have under my name is a car loan that was opened last March, and no payments have been missed.

-One credit card was marked as having "Missed a Payment", but it was only 30 days, not 60-90 days out.

My understanding is that getting my 2 credit cards between 5%-10% of their limits should have a drastic impact on my credit score. I also am calling my credit card company to see if they might be able to excuse my missed payment. 

Hope thats enough info for you to go off of Thanks!

[user5387]

I'd do everything you can to get rid of the 30-day late, and also to lower your utilization.

[myjourney]

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@zjones wrote:

Thanks so much for your response! Heres a quick little snippet of whats going on with my credit

-I have 2 Credit Cards, both with about 50%-80% of their limit filled up. One is actually a secured card that I got when I was 20 and still use, the other is a regular CC.

-My average account age is 1.5 years on these 2 cards according to FICO.

-My only loan that I have under my name is a car loan that was opened last March, and no payments have been missed.

-One credit card was marked as having "Missed a Payment", but it was only 30 days, not 60-90 days out.

My understanding is that getting my 2 credit cards between 5%-10% of their limits should have a drastic impact on my credit score. I also am calling my credit card company to see if they might be able to excuse my missed payment. 

Hope thats enough info for you to go off of Thanks!

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Ok I see what's going on here now  Lets go to work

First)

start with calls,GW's for the late its hold scores down the older it gets the less the ding/pain 

second)

the cards you spoke of any time cards shown high UTL scores will drop 

By you having 2 cards with high UTL that doubles the drop

Now here's the kicker any card over say 70% UTL is dinged again meaning you took a Fico score drop for the high UTL and another for the Max out card combine that with a baddie (30 day late) and now you have a major score drop.

Solution 

whichever card has the lowest balance pay it off as soon as you can

The second card bring UTL down <9% as soon as you can

Golden rule for score increases

For max Fico scoring pay all cards off expect one 

On the other card have a balance report to CB's between 1-9% 

[zjones]

Awesome thank you SO much ! 

Called my CC company to try to remove the late payment and they said they will only remove inaccurate late payments and don't offer GW removals. I think I'll try back tomorrow and see if they'll remove it if I sign up for auto pay...

I know it will take a while, but I will definitely give all of this a try and hopefully it gives me a slight bump. With tax returns coming I should be able to take care of all this CC debt in one fell swoop.

Thanks again!

[myjourney]

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@zjones wrote:

Awesome thank you SO much ! 

Called my CC company to try to remove the late payment and they said they will only remove inaccurate late payments and don't offer GW removals. I think I'll try back tomorrow and see if they'll remove it if I sign up for auto pay...

I know it will take a while, but I will definitely give all of this a try and hopefully it gives me a slight bump. With tax returns coming I should be able to take care of all this CC debt in one fell swoop.

Thanks again!

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Here's some good reading on GW's 

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/GW-letter-Q-amp-A-Examples-and-GW-Success-Sto...

Glad to help, good luck and don't be a stranger 

Welcome to the forum again

[takeshi74]

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@zjones wrote:
How to quickly raise credit score by 100 points

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There are no magic tricks or quick fixes with credit.  Expect to be in this for the long haul. If you haven't read up on the factors involved in credit scoring you might want to read up in the Understanding FICO Scoring subforum. There's a sticky there with informative threads linked.

@zjones wrote:

-I have 2 Credit Cards, both with about 50%-80% of their limit filled up. One is actually a secured card that I got when I was 20 and still use, the other is a regular CC.

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30% is the generally recommended max for utilization.  Ideal is probably 10% or less.

[zjones]

Also I forgot to add on to this conversation. Why is the gap between my Equifax and Transunion scores so far apart? I could see 15-20 point, but 1165 points apart? That's a whole different tier of credit.