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Trying to bolster my score

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jenrhi
New Contributor

Trying to bolster my score

I have three credit cards, a car note and a personal loan-all showing as paid on time--using the score watch i have monitoring my Equifax score for months and last week I pulled my other two reports thru various sites

Equifax was a 596

Experian a 635

Transunion a 631- (scores so low due to a bancrupty I filed almost 4 years ago)

 

I thought i had finally achived a mid score high enough to qualify me for a mortgage so I let a lender pull my trimerge and the Transunion score was a dismal 588! Needless to say, I am heartbroken but not wanting to give up

 

My question is this, would it help me to pay off the small personal loan (I borrowed $2800, have about $500 left to pay off) or it more advantagous to keep making the monthly payments??

Message 1 of 5
4 REPLIES 4
GoodCredBen
Valued Contributor

Re: Trying to bolster my score

Well, there are other ways to get your score up, i would continue to make monthly payments so that you benefit from the history of paying it....

 

Since the balance is low (i am not 100% sure) but if it is factored into your util, it is relatively low... 

 

That all being said, i think we need more information....

 

I would pull your reports from annualcreditreport.com and see what all is on there, and then come back and let us know so that we may help you. 

My credit journey has completed. I am currently sitting at 800+ across the board.

I started my journey here years ago, and thanks to MyFico, it really is possible.
Message 2 of 5
jenrhi
New Contributor

Re: Trying to bolster my score

Well I have all three of my reports and I know the thing that is dragging it down the most is the bancruptcy. That was discharged in 09/08 and since that date I have had no late payments on the cards I have open or my car payment. I had successfully paid off a car note early as well as a personal loan since then. The $2800 personal loan I have now has a balance of $500 so i thought it would look good to pay that off early.

 

I did have 4 medical bills that wen into collections in 2008 and I was not even aware of them until I started monitoring my credit thru scorewatch so I immediately paid them all in Mar 2011 (they totaled less than $600 which i could kick myself) I just did not know they were there.

 

Other than that everything is clean, even the mortgage lender said he couldnt understand why my score was low.

All 3 say I have a high number of inquiries (about 20 in two years)

Message 3 of 5
GoodCredBen
Valued Contributor

Re: Trying to bolster my score

from a scoring point, it doesnt matter whether you pay it off early (from my experience) ... the only thing that would benefit you is if it was counted into your util%...

 

I would google HIPPA processes to get those removed... Smiley Happy (medical collections)

My credit journey has completed. I am currently sitting at 800+ across the board.

I started my journey here years ago, and thanks to MyFico, it really is possible.
Message 4 of 5
jenrhi
New Contributor

Re: Trying to bolster my score

Thanks for the link, one other question..it seems that this works if the medical bills were paid to the doctor not after they were sent to a collection agency?




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