A little help please! Trying to raise my score.

Anonymous · ‎01-03-2008

WOW! I am so glad that I have found this site! Just today in the last hour I have learned so much but I still have some questions that some of you would be willing to help me with.

I am looking at buying a home in the near future. The loan that I would like to go with requires that my score be 620 and I am shy by 5 stupid points - 615. I have been reading that it is better to keep a low balance on credit cards rather then pay them and cancel. That is what I did with 2 credit cards just last fall. OK - I will get to my point.

I just need 5 points for this loan for a house but I would like to get it higher of course. I dont have a very long credit history because I am pretty young. I have a Dell credit card with a limit of 2k with a balance of 400. Also, I have a personal loan with 2200 left and a new car loan (only have made one payment) with 3000 left. I dont have any other credit cards. I am worried that if I get another card it will lower my score. Also I am thinking of trading my current car in for a new one that is a little more expensive, will this hurt my credit too? If anyone has any advice please help!

Anonymous · ‎01-03-2008

crysann wrote:
WOW! I am so glad that I have found this site! Just today in the last hour I have learned so much but I still have some questions that some of you would be willing to help me with.

I am looking at buying a home in the near future. The loan that I would like to go with requires that my score be 620 and I am shy by 5 stupid points - 615. I have been reading that it is better to keep a low balance on credit cards rather then pay them and cancel. That is what I did with 2 credit cards just last fall. OK - I will get to my point.

I just need 5 points for this loan for a house but I would like to get it higher of course. I dont have a very long credit history because I am pretty young. I have a Dell credit card with a limit of 2k with a balance of 400. Also, I have a personal loan with 2200 left and a new car loan (only have made one payment) with 3000 left. I dont have any other credit cards. I am worried that if I get another card it will lower my score. Also I am thinking of trading my current car in for a new one that is a little more expensive, will this hurt my credit too? If anyone has any advice please help!

The quickest way to get a score boost in your situation is to pay your CC balance down to around 1% of the CL. If you can make a $380 payment, leaving a $20 balance, that just may be worth the 5 points you're looking for.

I agree you don't want to open any new CCs right now if you're planning on martgage shopping soon.

kbell · ‎01-03-2008

Consider holding off taking on a new car loan until after closing on a home. Those mortgage weasels don't like to see too much debt in your portfolio.

Also, see if you can reopen the cards you closed last fall. Maybe it's not too late.

Anonymous · ‎01-03-2008

if i ask them to reopen the cards will i get all of the credit history that i had before i closed it? or will it start like a new card?

Anonymous · ‎01-03-2008

Maybe a CLI on one of your existing cc's? If you have one in good standing maybe they would grant you one.

Any baddies on your report you can try and gw or pfd?

kbell · ‎01-03-2008

@Anonymous wrote:
if i ask them to reopen the cards will i get all of the credit history that i had before i closed it? or will it start like a new card?

Reopening a card will give you back the same acct # and history.

Anonymous · ‎01-03-2008

Yeah I will ask for a CLI. I am working on a late payment that I had last year. I have the GW typed up already. OH - I called to see if I could reopen one of those closed credit cards and they told me that it was past the 90 days that I had to change my mind! oh well.

Anonymous · ‎01-03-2008

@Anonymous wrote:
Yeah I will ask for a CLI. I am working on a late payment that I had last year. I have the GW typed up already. OH - I called to see if I could reopen one of those closed credit cards and they told me that it was past the 90 days that I had to change my mind! oh well.

What company was that? I just reopened my Saks CC that had been closed since 02'.

Anonymous · ‎01-08-2008

it was chase that said that i couldnt reopen my credit card. I called again today and they said that it cant ever be reopen. ???

fishbjc · ‎01-08-2008

Did your Chase acct go to collections or did they close it, by chance? I wonder if Chase blacklists. Anyone know?

If you're current w/Dell...call them and ask for a little increase or pay that bugger off. You should see 5pts.

Message Edited by fishbjc on 01-08-2008 12:09 PM