How long does it take to realistically jump up 100-120 points?

[Anonymous]

In Jan 2005 my low score was 499 and my high score was 505. Since then I've paid off 3 collections totaling about $10000, I just wish that I would have found out about PFD before I paid them. Also got 4 TL removed that belong solely to my ex-wife. Brought my utilization from over 100% (yes I was competely maxed out) to under 40%. I haven't been late on one payment since then. One of my citibank cards called my about a year ago and told me that they were going to reactive it after they had shut it off for 2 years. I also opened 3 new cards for balance transfers @ 0% which I will have paid off be the end of next month. Just received a new car loan for $20000. My scores are all averaging about 650 as off last month (no score watch alerts in the last 3 weeks).

It has been a long road, but I can finally see the light at the end of the debt tunnel. My next goal is to buy a house in the next year or so.

To everybody out there it can be done.
Good luck,
Erik

[Anonymous]

Very inspiring. Something I just learned from you, Citi called you out of the blue and wanted to reactivate your card? That's interesting so you get yourself out of debt and the cc catch wind and come knocking at the door. I'm hoping to get a decent offer after the paydowns start posting I'm tired of s/p land ready to move into prime territory! Do you remember how long it took to hit 600-620? I was thinking it was a year ago when citi started calling or was it before that? Your scores do prove the fico simulators correct again. Thanks for sharing! 

[girlie]

my tu score was a measly 466 a year ago and today it is 660 to my astonishment.  i was a homeowner swimming in credit card debt, self employed trying to make ends meet.  i had several accounts that were severely past due and all my utilization was 100% plus.  i also had one paid tax lien and one unpaid tax lien.  i also had two collection accounts.  my financial picture was bleak and depressing.  little by little i dug myself out.  i paid my two collection accounts.  i brought all my accounts current and when i sold my house, the tax lien was paid off.  i have been paying down my debt consistently and am now at about 60% utilization.  my score keeps going up and let me tell you, I will NEVER get myself into that situation again.  I felt like a leper.  my goal is to have all scores at 660-700 in the next 4 months and I believe i can do this.

[Anonymous]

That is wonderful and I know it is nice to see when you work hard on something and you actually get to see your progress. Sort of like the ugly duckling into a beautiful swan.

It seems like those of us with poor credit have so many more areas in which to improve our fico scores that when we start to put them all together we get good spikes in our scores. A year of working on your credit has surely paid off.

Thanks for the boost of confidence that more scores will not be low forever and good luck on your goal of the 700 club that will probably part two of my credit repair.  

[smallfry]

Great job there girlie.

[girlie]

thanks smallfry. 

i have been doing some research and just learned that i really need a minimum of 700 to get a good car lease.  i thought i could squeak by at 660-680, but i am reading that auto loans/leases are often more difficult to get reasonable rates than mortgages.  doesn't really make sense to me.  any information you have on this subject would be appreciated.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Very inspiring. Something I just learned from you, Citi called you out of the blue and wanted to reactivate your card? That's interesting so you get yourself out of debt and the cc catch wind and come knocking at the door. I'm hoping to get a decent offer after the paydowns start posting I'm tired of s/p land ready to move into prime territory! Do you remember how long it took to hit 600-620? I was thinking it was a year ago when citi started calling or was it before that? Your scores do prove the fico simulators correct again. Thanks for sharing! 

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Yeah I was shocked when they called me. My original plan was to wait until my scores were closer to 700 and call and beg them to take me back, but they called first. My scores were right around 620 when they reactivated the card. If I remember correctly it took about a year to get from 499 to over 600. If I had it to over now it would have taken less time because the collections and charge-offs would only been paid with a PFD stipulation. Unfortunately now that they are paid I'm going to have to let them age off, which won't start happening until feb of next year. I'll be expecting some good score increases then.

[Anonymous]

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@girlie wrote:

thanks smallfry. 

i have been doing some research and just learned that i really need a minimum of 700 to get a good car lease.  i thought i could squeak by at 660-680, but i am reading that auto loans/leases are often more difficult to get reasonable rates than mortgages.  doesn't really make sense to me.  any information you have on this subject would be appreciated.

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When I financed my new car about 2 weeks ago I talked with the finance manager regarding which account they had pulled. They pulled TU and said my score was 680 according to the "auto" Fico model they used. This score was 30 pts higher than the TU score I just pulled. After reading a little here I'm understanding that this "auto" Fico score they use is more heavily weighted towards previous auto loans than the standard FICO score (please correct me if I am wrong). So if you have good payment history on your previous car loans/leases maybe your score does not have to be as high as you think. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Seems like this is just another way they try to make money off of you. If you have a good fico score that should be the main factor. But less say of course I will put myself out there I have two auto loans and in the past I was late because to me a roof, food, and family was first. So, if I were to be in the market for a new vehicle (which fortunately, I am not) my score could be lower based on the model these dealers are using. Now on the flip side if I had perfect payment hx with the auto loan I could possibly get a better score. To me it is also a way to try to hide things from the consumer again.

Well knowledge is power I will make sure to look for my vehicle when my late ages to the 2 year mark unless someone out there knows the aging process for the auto scores.

[Anonymous]

Erik:

See who's doing the begging now! So CCC monitor you way after your gone. I hope to reach the 620 soon so I can get a mortgage unfortunately I can't wait until another year when my fico is closer to the 700 mark (I am optimistic it will get there). So I am going to go for it when my middle fico reaches 620-640. I guess that will have to be ex and tu since eq doesn't seem to want to play nice and go up like everyone else. But I keep thinking that I might get a big boost when the dust settles. If not they are sticklers for one doing the right thing consistently over time. We'll see!

Message Edited by LadyFICO on 05-07-2007 01:05 AM