Hard Work Really does Pays Off fico UP BY 47 POINTS IN 3 WEEKS!

[Anonymous]

My credit score is still far from my goal, however, I haven't used tricks or schemes to up my fico. I pulled credit reports from all bureaus and called the creditors that showed up as collection items. Sometimes the wait on the phone was over thirty minutes but I knew I wanted a better score. Ihad to major collections plus the original debtors dinging my credit hard. It is still hard to know what raises the scores more rapidly then other things. Anyway, I asked both creditors to send me proof and neither could produce anything. They then said we have to delete it, I asked them to fax/mail me a letter and did an online dispute and it was cleared up in less than 30 days. I paid off any collections that were showing unpaid after the deletions which totaled approx 1200.00 and they were all almost 7 years old but some things have a habit of sticking around longer than 7 years, especially when you don't pay up. So after I paid I called back and many of them were willing to delete since it was close to the drop off date and paid in full! My score improved approx 47 points in less than 30 days just by really reviewing my reports.

Since all my cc are maxed I know by reading your forums that was also holding me back. So today I mailed off payments to all 10 yes 10 of my cc and ensured they will go from over 90% util to under 25%. I plan on doing disputes on all accounts within the next week to boost the score faster. I pkan on having a house in 3 months so my goal is a fico of 650+

I will be amazed if I reach the goal in 3 but thanks to all of you guys experiences and comments I believe I can do it legally and quickly. I use to be afraid of FICO but now I embrace it as an important part of my life. 

I will keep you posted as to what my scores do in the upcoming weeks. More advice from rookies and veterans is more than welcomed!!! 

Does anyone out there know what type of a boost one may get from going from 90 util to under 25 on 10 cards in less than 30??

[Anonymous]

  Great Work LadyF.  I could have written your post myself not long ago.  As far as disputing them I would let them report naturally, I find that you get to see the results of each effort that way.  For me its become that, watching the results of such hard work pay off  I don't know how long your history is but I can tell you my open revolving accounts with the exception of two cards are lessthan a year old and I have a BK on record and managed to get my scores from the 5s to and past the goal you stated so I don't think you'll have very long to wait, age of history is important too.

As I say it becomes fun to play the game once you know the rules and by the way though I can't tell you how much of a bump you'll receive, you'll get one and then again at 10%

[Anonymous]

How long did it take to go from the 5 to the 6 range? My history is longest card 5 years and about 3 cards are more than 2-3 years another 2 cards are over 1 year and 2 are under a year with one being only two months old. I know I have to many but at this point I am not closing anything in case I whammy myself However, I push the disputes to see if I can get house ready in 3 months. It is a little stressful since I have that time crunch. So that is why I am wondering how long thus far has it taken you to go from bad to good? 

Message Edited by LadyFICO on 04-13-2007 11:03 AM

Message Edited by LadyFICO on 04-13-2007 11:04 AM

[Nuggy]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

How long did it take to go from the 5 to the 6 range? My history is longest card 5 years and about 3 cards are more than 2-3 years another 2 cards are over 1 year and 2 are under a year with one being only two months old. I know I have to many but at this point I am not closing anything in case I whammy myself However, I push the disputes to see if I can get house ready in 3 months. It is a little stressful since I have that time crunch. So that is why I am wondering how long thus far has it taken you to go from bad to good?

Message Edited by LadyFICO on 04-13-2007 11:03 AM

Message Edited by LadyFICO on 04-13-2007 11:04 AM

---

If this is any indication, I recently refinanced some debt at the end of February. I had about 9k in Finance Co loans, a 25k HELOC that was maxed, and 10 or 12 credit cards that were all above 90% - 17k bal on 18k lines. The FC loans are paid off, as is the HELOC, and I was able to get most of my cards to a zero balance, though I have 3 that still have balances, but they are down to the 60-70% range and will be PIF by summer. My overall util is about 20% now. My score when I refi'd on Feb 26 was 555. I believe all of my card payoffs have now been reported, and as of April 9 I'm at a 646... a 91 point jump in ~45 days, simply from paying down my balances.

Message Edited by Nuggy on 04-13-2007 03:50 PM

[Anonymous]

Okay from the fives as of Sept, I am now in the 680s-to low 700s sixty of those points came in the past month and a half.  I was no where near maxed out right at 40% across the board or so.  Bring my accounts under 30% overall resulted in that boost. 

From the high fives I disputed every wrong collection on my account.  I had one card open closed it and opened cards with higher limits.  Keep in mind your score boost will probaly be more because maxxed out cards really hurt your score (90% or above) and your open accounts are older than mine.  Good luck

Message Edited by Brammy on 04-13-2007 08:03 PM

[Anonymous]

Thank you guys for all your input and support.  You and Brammy deserve another congrats for all the effort it takes to make the decision to control your fico and not let fico control you. The key is consistency and I believe that people should at least at minimum have score watch to be aware of the ups and downs that occur to thier FICO throughout the year. It shows trends and patterns of how our spending and credit apps/new cards/auto, etc effects it. Based on your past and present situations ,it looks extremely promising that my FICO will go up considerably in the next 45 days and then hopefully another boost around the three month mark as the accounts continue to age and get below the 10% mark. I will keep you all posted!

[Anonymous]

Brammy, I was thinking based on what you said that your biggest boost seem to have come about the 6 month after you began your focus on your FICO score in sept. Were you low or high 5's? Regardless it is still a big boost whether you started high or low 5's. I'm still trying to see if I will be close to my goal in the next 30-45 days. I believe the six month is key. I reviewed somewhere that said my hx was 17 years which I assume will be helping my fico to grow as far as hx goes. I went up since feb 56 on tu and 66 on EX EQ kind of funny down 25 and then up 23 in same time frame with similar changes. With a couple of diff tu has updated 2 accounts EX updated 1 and EQ none of the 10 pay downs. I'm sure I am still looking at another 30-45 days before they all are updated with all three bureau. I'm uncertain why EQ is the slowest are they the biggest in your opinion?

[Anonymous]

---

LadyFICO wrote:

Brammy, I was thinking based on what you said that your biggest boost seem to have come about the 6 month after you began your focus on your FICO score in sept. Were you low or high 5's? Regardless it is still a big boost whether you started high or low 5's. I'm still trying to see if I will be close to my goal in the next 30-45 days. I believe the six month is key. I reviewed somewhere that said my hx was 17 years which I assume will be helping my fico to grow as far as hx goes. I went up since feb 56 on tu and 66 on EX EQ kind of funny down 25 and then up 23 in same time frame with similar changes. With a couple of diff tu has updated 2 accounts EX updated 1 and EQ none of the 10 pay downs. I'm sure I am still looking at another 30-45 days before they all are updated with all three bureau. I'm uncertain why EQ is the slowest are they the biggest in your opinion?

---

It was mid to low 5s but the biggest jump came since end of January til now and that was pure utilization factor and not having really small balances on a number of cards.  The small balances on cards is hard for me because most of my cards have some benefit depending on where and how they are used.  Even Target gives money back to my son's school so I gues sthat hit wil keep on hitting me.  I never have more than about 30.00 on my Target cards on any particular statement and have acouple of higher interest cards that I use just to keep them active. So 10 bucks here, 20 there.  It only hurts when its all in the same month.