Has anyone tested the Score Simulator?

[Anonymous]

I used the score simulator to see how much of my tax refund should go to paying down my CC debt - I needed some of the other money for other purposes. I paid down my CC debt from 96% to under 8% and the score simulator said it should increase my score by at least 40 points.

Anybody else test it out? I'm wondering how accruate it is.

When I get my new score I will let you know how it fared.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Hi Shnapple, and welcome to the forum!

The score simulator is pretty cool, and is only an indicator as to what COULD happen if you pay down/off your cc's.

Having 96% utilization(the ratio between anount of cc debt divided by total credit limits of all cc's combined) is killing your scores. You've maxed out all your cc's and potential lenders see you as a BIG financial risk. You are in dire straits and no one will grant your credit. (that's how they see you IF they look at your cr).

Lowering your utils is the FASTEST way to improve your scores.

In Febuary, 2007 I was maxed out on about all of my 5 cc's I had. My Transunion FICO score was 521. I woke up out of my credit coma, withdrew money from my savings, paid down, over a 4 month time period all my cc's.

I reduced the utilization down to 18% and by July my scores climed to 681. And THAT opened the door to applying and getting the cc's I needed.

Hope that helps.

[Anonymous]

Oh they'll be looking at my credit reports alright. I'm planning on getting my first mortgage this year. If the simulator is even slightly accurate, I'll be close to 700 in the next month or so. Pre-approval here I come!

I have four negatives on my account but they are 6 mos, 1, 2, and 3 years away (respectively) from falling off my report. So I don't believe they are effecting my score very much, and my lender isn't worried about them (especially since two of them are my dumb ex-husbands fault).

Thanks for the feedback Sylvia. If anyone else has tested out the simulator, I'd still love to hear stories.

Thanks!

S

[Anonymous]

What kind of "negatives" are they? We really can't help you unless we know the gory details.

[Anonymous]

FICO/Experian report:

1. Car Reposession through a Credit Union - Status: "Bad debt/collection" $0 balance - DOLA - Nov 2001

2. AFNI Collection from Verizon - ex husband failed to show me a "final bill" when I moved out of his house. Unwittingly I PIF this past October. Status: 120+ days past due, $0 balance, DOLA - Jun 2002 - EX shows as "Paid/Closed collection account". Which is a better status?

3. Unsecured bank loan - Status: "Bad debt/collection", $0 balance, DOLA - May 2003 - 15 late payments (various 30, 60, 90+ days)

4. Ex husband's Student loan - Story on this one is that he stopped paying when I moved out, it went into the financial institution's collection department - good news for us is that it doesn't look like a collection, bad news is that he went late 9 times on these payments. Status: "Pays account as agreed". $0 balance, DOLA Nov 2007 (date he finally paid it off).

This showed as two accounts for a while - the inital loan then moved to their collections department. I successfully disputed the original account due to the SOL and they removed from my CRs early (not my ex husband's hehe).

I'm a fighter (and a lover?), so I'll take any advice you have on how/if I should contest any of these.

Thanks for the perusal!

S

[Anonymous]

FYI - I just mailed off the dispute letter to Equifax to have my "Current Status" updated for the AFNI collection.