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Newbie- how long does it take to see scores raised?

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Anonymous
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Newbie- how long does it take to see scores raised?

Hi:

I have learned a lot through reading the posts but I personally would like some info.

I went through credit issues from first marriage. Divorced in '98. Paid off some balances. Had a Ch. 13 on credit from 94, that has been removed. He did a complete Ch. 7 after divorce and started fresh. I thought I was doing "the right thing" by trying to finish paying off old debt. Manufactured home we had at time came back at ME(both of us were listed). I filed a 13 again in 2000 trying to save it; couldn't. That filing is scheduled to drop off 11/10. I moved away to current city in 2001 and only within last 5 years have been adding accounts and getting credit in shape. Last month, went in and paid off some old collections that were on me. Before this, me and fiance' were trying to qualify for home mortgage. Mid score was 9 points shy of 620 in April 09. Now, after last pull in May 09 and late payments on current accounts(car, loan- was taking care of parent) my scores stand at TU-522, EX-543, EQ-527. I went through two credit monitoring programs-freecreditreport.com and freescore.com, recently-1/25 and saw two different scores. The highest score showing now is a 571. How long does it take to see increase in scores after paying off old debt and what are the best methods to use in order to raise it for this year? I don't want to keep renting this year and will be trying one more time to go for a house.

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Jazzzy
Valued Contributor

Re: Newbie- how long does it take to see scores raised?

Hi...and welcome to the forums.

 

First, are the 3 scores you listed actual FICO scores pulled by your loan officer? You may want to pull the FICO scores that you can pull, just so you know where you are truly at right now. There are a lot of vendors who sell "credit scores," but they are not FICOs, and most lenders will use your actual FICO scores. It's good that you are monitoring your credit reports, but unless the scores are true FICOs, ignore the scores. The two monitoring services you mentioned are not giving you FICO scores, so there is no way to compare with where you were previously.

 

Equifax: You can pull your FICO score here at myFICO or directly from Equifax. This score should match the Equifax score that your loan officer will pull for your mortgage.

 

TransUnion: You can again pull that score here, or you can get it at transunioncs.com (note the 'cs'). The TransUnion score that you can pull as a consumer is the TU98 score, and for your mortgage, your loan officer will likely be pulling a TU04, but, as consumers, we can't get that score.

 

Experian: Consumers can't buy their Experian FICOs.

 

That said, it sounds as if you've paid a lot of collections. Do you have any more that are unpaid? If so, do some reading in the Rebuilding Your Credit forum to learn about Pay for Delete (PFD) letters. In that case, you would pay a collection agency only if they agree to remove the reporting from your credit reports.

 

For the paid collection or charge off accounts that are still on your reports, start sending Goodwill (GW) letters. This is where you ask them a favor...that out of the goodness of their hearts they remove the listing from your credit reports.

 

You may want to list your negative accounts one-by-one in the Rebuilding forum. Maybe those with past experience with the collection agency or creditor can give you some useful advice.

 

The best method to raise your scores for a mortgage is to try to get the derogatory listings off your reports (if you can). They may not all go away, and it takes time and patience, but you could be working on them. You haven't mentioned if you have credit card debt. Keeping your debt close to nothing is another way to boost scores. Remember, when paying your credit cards, it is the statement balance that most often gets reported to the credit reporting agencies (although some cards report the last business day of the month). So...you not only need to limit your debt, you have to manage the reporting by going online and paying your balances due before the statement even generates.

 

Does your fiance have a credit card that is older, has a clean payment history, and has no balance on it? If so, he could add you as an Authorized User (AU) on that account. That will then show on your credit history and should offer a bit of a bump. Before you do that, ask some questions here to make sure the card reports Authorized Users, etc. You want to make sure it is an older card so that it doesn't lower your Average Age of Accounts (AAoA).

 

Do some reading on the forums and come back with questions on specifics. There is a lot of knowledge here and a lot of people willing to help.

Message Edited by LynetteM on 01-28-2010 10:43 AM
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