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I was in a place in my early 20s and went crazy with credit and payday loans. I had 5-6 Collections, each with about $300-500 and 3-4 credit cards charge off and an auto repo with 8k balance.
Earlier this year, I had a successful business venture and i have decided to clean up my credit and begin a long jaurney to healthy credit, in order to obtain mortgage and a dream Amex card
I began paying off all the collections with the Pay for Deletion methods and had great success in removing most of the negative items off my report, 3 of the scores jumped from mid-500 to high 500, close to 600. The only thing that are left on report are few paid collections that's a few years old and a 2 years old auto repo that's settled in full.
I have applied for a Capital One secured card with $3000 credit limit and began using it and keep the ultilitization below 30%.
This is the overall picture of my CR as of today.
EQ current score: 648
1 negative item: 07/2008 16000 auto loan, balance 0.
1 closed account: BOA card with 2k limit, balance 0.
EX. current score: 631
2 negative items: 09/2006 revolving item paid off, 10/2004 city collection paid off, 07, 2008 auto loan paid off
1 closed account: BOA card with 2k limit, balance 0.
1 open account, Cap1 with 3k limit, $39 balance, opened 03/2011
1 student education loan, deferred 8k that's paid off in 2 months after opened back in 2005.
TU: current score: 647
1. 10/2004 city collection paid off.
1 open account, Cap1 with 3k limit, $39 balance, opened 03/2011
What steps should i take to improve my credit further this year, do i have enough revolving credit at this point? i only have one credit card right now should i apply for a second one now that my credit score is fair? should i do a secured installment loan to diversify my credit report?
My goal is to have 700 Fico score on all 3 report and able to get approved for a mortgage and a Amex green card next year, it actually amazed me when i read some posts back in 08/09 where ppl with mid-600 score get approved for amex cards, i thoght you need at least low 700.
Anyone can help plan it out for me would be greatly appeciated! ThANKS IN ADVANCE!
I doubt i could lose current 2 paid off collection but they are both a few years old, and the settled auto repo is 2 years old as well.
obviously i would have to wait on those items because they only agreed to update items as paid after a lot of talk on PTD.
also, i read that 90% of the score is based on the last 2 years, so i guess they have little effect on it as time passes further?
Does one credit card enough at this point, should i keep just this one card until it's been 2 years before i do anything else?
I understand. I am constantly disputing the paid collection hoping one time they would fall off my report somehow due to age of item or they just get tired of reporting. but that's the only thing i could do for now.
I see. what cards would you suggest that would have a high successful approval rate based on the items on my report and my credit score at this time?
Will i be qualify for a AMEX or some better credit card? i have seen posts of people with avg 650 scores get approved for AMEX in old 2009/2010 posts but im sure they are probably much stricter in approving credit in 2011.
I'm definitely looking to apply only to HIGH QUALITY Credit card at this point or not at all, i would hate to have to cancel a card later on to get a better card and take a hit on the score because of the average credit history thing.
Unfortunately and to the best of my knowledge there are no short cuts or miracle approaches to a good credit score when there are negative entries in one's credit file. You do the best you can with the status quo, making payments on time, curtailing an appetite for new trade lines and keeping your utilization rate low. It's like dieting. If you burn up more calories than you consume, you will lose weight. It just takes time.
I understand. Thanks for the advise and suggestions. I guess i will keep the util even lower to 10% and make good payments for 2 years. I know time is only thing that can cure. I have heard that each on time payment will improve score about 10points each month, so i should be on the right track.
Equifax
Experian
TransUnion
Payment History Your history of paying bills on time.
Very Good
Very Good
Very Good
Amount of Debt Your total amount of outstanding debt.
Poor
Very Good
Very Good
Length of Credit History How long you've had credit
Poor
Poor
Poor
Amount of New Credit Your recent credit history of new loans or applications.
Good
Poor
Poor
Type of Credit The various types of credit accounts that you have.
Good
Fair
Good
Just a quick question on the "What's Impacting Your Scores" on Equifax, as i get the 3 in 1 report from Equifax.com
I do see i have good payment history so far.. and i just have to wait it out to get "Length of Credit History" to very good in time.
But i see "Amount of New Credit Your recent credit history of new loans or applications." and 2 of which are reported as poor
What does that mean?
Does that mean I have not enough credit cards or what? i'm confused by the phrasing they use. how can i improve on this?
It's confusing because my one and only new credit card has been reported to only Experian & TransUnion so far.
yet Equifax has the highest score and considered good amount of new credit?
First, you need to get real FICO scores if you are talking about getting your FICO past 700...
Also, you meantioned 10 points per month per on-time payment... (I would quote, but it's giving me an error for some reason)
Not sure where you got this information, but give yourself a small sanity check when you hear things like that...
I have a 38.8 year credit history, with 47 accounts. By that math, if I started at 400, I should have a credit score of somewhere between 4,560 and 214,320, depending on whether you heard it was payment per account, or just per month.
My credit score 3 years ago was a 540, but I have made on-time payments every month since... My score is not 900.
Good luck in your rebuilding efforts! It's a long, tough road, but well worth it in the end.