Understanding FICO® Scoring

[Jograham]

I recently obtained my FICO score from Experian.  Negatives are a bankruptcy in 2001, no major credit card account and consumer finance co. loan.  We recently refinanced our high int. cf loan with another cf, at a lower int. rate.  I did not realize a cf loan would hurt us.  All payments since bankruptcy (and most before) have been paid on time.  Would it help me to refinance our car with a bank?  Also, the fact that everything has been paid on time seems to have no positive effect.  I suppose my score won't improve much until the bankruptcy falls off.

[Brammy]

Too many CF loans will hurt your score as they are looked at as giving credit to anyone with a pulse.  Try opening some revolving acounts and if you can refi through a bank it will help in the long run.

[TheNewWorldMan]

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Jograham wrote:

I recently obtained my FICO score from Experian. Negatives are a bankruptcy in 2001, no major credit card account and consumer finance co. loan. We recently refinanced our high int. cf loan with another cf, at a lower int. rate. I did not realize a cf loan would hurt us. All payments since bankruptcy (and most before) have been paid on time. Would it help me to refinance our car with a bank? Also, the fact that everything has been paid on time seems to have no positive effect. I suppose my score won't improve much until the bankruptcy falls off.

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Yeah, don't expect anything significant to happen until 2011.

But for now, you could always apply for a low-end CC or two, just as a trial balloon. But if your FICO is under 600 or so, don't bother--you're wasting your time and the inquiries will ding your score a little more.