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I have been gardening for almost a year now. It has not been easy. Seen my scores going on a roller coster ride. My credit scores are okay now and probably the best I ever experienced. But I know how easy it is to see all that hard work be destroyed with just one small mistake.
So my goal this year
1) Keep my total utility under 10%
2) Fico08 scores 800+ across the board
First off, my apologies as I am completely new to this. I imagine this question has been asked numerous times but... how do I get my scores from all 3 bureaus to update my signature each month? I use CreditKarma so I see the TU and Equifax scores but that's it. Is there a way to get my other score without taking a hit to my credit?
Hi All... Coming late to the party but I'm here. I've been on quite a journey of my own! For years I've had poor to fair credit. For one reason or another, poor timing or difficult life events, I could never seem to find my way out of the slump. Finally put my mind to it, no turning back, I decided I was going to learn everything I could about the credit game. Well, it's paid off and boy do I feel great. In the beginning I couldn't get credit anywhere! So, I started with a secured card ($300) from Capital One. I began adding money to it bit by bit. Paid this card religiously! Next, I got a new car (not the greatest of terms - 13.6%) and paid it religiously too. As bad things began to drop off my credit report I began to see the light. Slowly my credit scores inched up. Once I got comfortable with my scores, and through many hours of research on this and any other site I could learn from, I applied for prime cards. Low and behold I was approved. First, a Discover It for $7,500. Next, a Chase Freedom Unlimited for $9,000. Currently waiting on a Bank of America Rewards card... Recently pre-approved for $40k 2.49% auto loan. And the list goes on... I started this endeavor just over two years ago (for full disclosure, it does take a while... starts slow, but when it takes off it happens fast!) I started with a high score of 519. Today all of my scores are above 700 with my high at 761. My goal is 800 across the board. For anyone out there reading this, YOU CAN DO IT!! Just be vigilant and patient...
@Anonymous wrote:First off, my apologies as I am completely new to this. I imagine this question has been asked numerous times but... how do I get my scores from all 3 bureaus to update my signature each month? I use CreditKarma so I see the TU and Equifax scores but that's it. Is there a way to get my other score without taking a hit to my credit?
Welcome to the forums!
Credit Karma provides Vantage 3.0 rather than any FICO variant; while I also use CK extensively (for free it's absurdly good access to one's report data which ultimately is what important) but the scores are of limited value as VS 3.0 while used, hasn't made tremendous inroads compared to the more common FICO scoring algorithm.
You can always pay for your FICO scores (you get all of them here, a subset or single everywhere else, but it does cost money either instant in time or monthly subscription) and one can get FICO scores from a lot of major credit card issuers now and some credit unions offer scores as well with membership. Just be aware that what a lender pulls may not be the same as the score you looking at, but since optimizing all of them are pretty similar, clean up your report and optimize it as much as possible before you apply and that that's as good as anyone can do.
Personally I use a mix of CK for report access, some free scores, and then when I actually need to know where I stand (like my thinking about doing a mortgage refinance next week or so and the precise scores used are well known there) I'll pay for my scores. There's never, ever any damage to your credit score for you checking your own reports and that includes the 3rd party monitoring services that you authorize to pull your reports... the damage factor (hard inquiry) comes when a lender reviews your credit report as part of a credit seeking application. There's a couple of other things credit reports are used for today (Verizon, sigh) but there's no harm in checking your credit reports regularly.
If you decide that the CK scores are good enough for your purposes, can always complete the EX side with credit.com (which I also use) but unlike the various variants of FICO scores, Vantage Score is a major departure in terms of how it scores one's profile: for example my Vantage Score are near 790, but you can see my common FICO scores in my signature (700-710ish) aren't anywhere close to that and won't be for another 1.5 years even.
@Anonymous wrote:Hi All... Coming late to the party but I'm here. I've been on quite a journey of my own! For years I've had poor to fair credit. For one reason or another, poor timing or difficult life events, I could never seem to find my way out of the slump. Finally put my mind to it, no turning back, I decided I was going to learn everything I could about the credit game. Well, it's paid off and boy do I feel great. In the beginning I couldn't get credit anywhere! So, I started with a secured card ($300) from Capital One. I began adding money to it bit by bit. Paid this card religiously! Next, I got a new car (not the greatest of terms - 13.6%) and paid it religiously too. As bad things began to drop off my credit report I began to see the light. Slowly my credit scores inched up. Once I got comfortable with my scores, and through many hours of research on this and any other site I could learn from, I applied for prime cards. Low and behold I was approved. First, a Discover It for $7,500. Next, a Chase Freedom Unlimited for $9,000. Currently waiting on a Bank of America Rewards card... Recently pre-approved for $40k 2.49% auto loan. And the list goes on... I started this endeavor just over two years ago (for full disclosure, it does take a while... starts slow, but when it takes off it happens fast!) I started with a high score of 519. Today all of my scores are above 700 with my high at 761. My goal is 800 across the board. For anyone out there reading this, YOU CAN DO IT!! Just be vigilant and patient...
Many congrats!
Yeah sometimes people get shortcuts (like a friendly lender or something that works in their favor in being able to get negatives deleted) but otherwise it can take a while... started back in late 2011 and well, yeah, still working waiting for redemption late next year.
If you haven't already used it, you can get your credit reports from all three bureau's once a year at https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action
Every year when I pull mine, they each have my fico score. I also subscribe to the quarterly my fico.com for $4.95 per month, and they give me one score and two credit reports. If you don't want to pay a monthly fee, the credit cards I have that give me my score are Capital One, Chase, Barclay, and Walmart. Walmart's score has been the closest to the score I get from myfico every time. Capital One has been off by as much as 30 points, and Barclay seems to only update the scores they give every two or three months.
I am not liking Credit Karma and Credit Sesame's new score change. They recently switched, and right now my Credit Karma and Credit Sesame scores are 40 points lower than my fico score. I guess it would come in handly to use as a guide for improvement, and then whenever a actual myfico is pulled it will be a huge happy surprise to see the bigger score number.
Not sure if it will work for you, but I used Ebay to help me pay off some of the debt I had.
I sold stuff from the house I was not using, including clothing, at first, and now its like a part time job.
I started shopping at thrift store, and resell the stuff on ebay.
It works for some, but not everyone.
Hello Guys, Im new here too.
I'm tired of being "picked" on because of my low credit score. Years upon years of neglect I'm talking. Time to step up the game. Im active duty military (Army), which doesnt meant anything when it comes to credit. Hate these collection agencies. That being said I want to
1) increase my credit score to its highest potential
2) Buy a house
3) Get a line of credit of a substantial amount to rehab properties
So right now I have
Macys
Portfolio Recovery Associates
Central Financial Control
to deal with.
Nice meeting you all!
You will get there Kento. It just takes a little bit of time, patience, and a committment to confront what is holding you down head on.
Have you pulled your credit reports? Thats the first step, so that you can see everything that is holding your score down.
Actually I did pull all 3. Some of them I recently paid. For some add reason though Portfolio Recovery Associates are reporting to EX as late, which I don't get?? So does a medical bill that I got with CFC. Seems like it's a new thing that they doing to hurt us more since the debts are old and way past SOL.