Understanding FICO® Scoring

[ktl55]

Ok, is it necessary to apply for more credit to repair my credit? Thusfar I have had all but 2 negatives on my 3 CR's deleted. The BB is on all 3 reports. I think it was either 8 or 9 in total spread out over my 3 reports with a total of maybe $1200 in all. Lucky me. I have a lot of inquiries that I think may be weighing me down, most are due to come off this year. At what point should I start applying for credit if it will help repair my credit? I guess I'm asking what should my credit report and score look like before I start applying.............if I have to? I have 1 Chase CC with a $400 limit and a student loan that is paid on time since 2001.

Hard Inquiries

Equ - 0 (all deleted)
Exp - 9
TU - 12

[Tuscani]

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ktl55 wrote:

Ok, is it necessary to apply for more credit to repair my credit? Thusfar I have had all but 2 negatives on my 3 CR's deleted. The BB is on all 3 reports. I think it was either 8 or 9 in total spread out over my 3 reports with a total of maybe $1200 in all. Lucky me. I have a lot of inquiries that I think may be weighing me down, most are due to come off this year. At what point should I start applying for credit if it will help repair my credit? I guess I'm asking what should my credit report and score look like before I start applying.............if I have to? I have 1 Chase CC with a $400 limit and a student loan that is paid on time since 2001.

Hard Inquiries

Equ - 0 (all deleted)
Exp - 9
TU - 12

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That is not a lot of inqs. What are your FICO scores (from myfico.com)? You shoud always know your latest scores and what is on your report before applying for credit.

[ktl55]

I haven't check my scores in a couple of weeks. I was waiting for the last 2 disputes to complete. I didn't want to pay for them only to have to pay for them again when the investigations are over. The last time I checked they were

TU - 640

Exp - 626

Equ - 600 - This one I did update because I updated my report and added the score. 

These scores are before a new collection on 4/12/07 and before some disputes were deleted.

I was told that I should only have 1 or 2 inquiries a year? If I'm not mistaken I got these score before I had about 6 collection accounts deleted. 1 was from 2001 and the other were from 04 & 05.

[ktl55]

Tuscani,

I should add: My fico score with Equ was 618 on 4/4 when I updated it, it had dropped to 531 on 4/7 because of the new collection, when I got it with Equ on 4/17 it was back up to 600. Is the score that I get from scroe watch through equ a real score or is it their made up score? When ordering it I asked the CSR if it was a real Fico score and she said "yes". That was the only reason I ordered it.