Looking at this new board, I'm noticing practically all of the topics deal with old baddies and how to get them removed. That's an important aspect of credit rebuilding, true enough. But my advice is to not neglect the equally--if not more--important side of the coin: establishing new credit and managing it well. FICO scoring has two important properties: immutability of the past, and importance of inertia. Let me break that down for you... Immutability of the past means that once you screw up--once a baddie hits your CR--there's no way you can mitigate it. Paying collections or charge-offs does nothing to improve your score. Once lates go on, they're on. Short of PFDs, there's nothing much you can do about the past. Inertia means that an object in motion tends to remain in motion, and an object at rest tend to remain at rest. Massive objects are more difficult to change the motion of than light objects. How does this tie into credit scoring? Well, if you have six charge-offs and collections, and no accounts in good standing, that's a lot of negative inertia. You've got to apply a significant amount of force--get three or four accounts in good standing--to move that heavy "object" (your credit score) in the direction you want it to go. For more information, take a look at my blog and credit scoring guide. Benjamin
