How long will it take for scores to increase?

[Anonymous]

My husband is working on repairing his credit so we can buy a home. He has paid off all collection accounts and paid his util down to 10%, we have not seen an increase in scores. Can anyone tell me how long it normally takes to see an increase in scores? Thanks in advance for the help.

Thanks,

PokeyMommy

[Kevin5974]

It will increase as soon as the closing of each of those credit cards close their billing cycles and the collections can take 3-60 days to report paid. If time is a factor, dispute the balances online with all the credit bureaus and you can rush it a little bit faster..

[Tuscani]

FYI... Paying collections oftens HURTS your score. You want them deleted. Ask them to delete or try the GW letter.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=generalcredit&message.id=2661

Don't shoot the messenger.

[Kevin5974]

Tuscani, I heard that practice stopped now and that it doesn't hurt your score now if you pay them off. I heard they were getting really beaten up over that practice...

[Anonymous]

Larger and larger lawsuits against the credit industry are being awarded. They ain't learned nuttin'.

[Anonymous]

Kevin:

Where did you here this? What about those of us who have already paid our collections will they make ammends for that? Will see! 

[Anonymous]

I paid all mine down on 4-12-07 TU still hasn't updated 5 of 10 cc paydowns so I did a dispute yesterday to try to get it posted. EQ just finished updating this week. EX has one left. 30-60 is the norm but you never know.

[Anonymous]

On the collections I'm paying on, I generally have to kick the CRAs to get the balances to update. TU updated within a few days when I last kicked 'em.

[Tuscani]

Kevin - What you posted has been rumored.. I will try and get confirmation.

Sometimes paid collections wil bring up a score.. as with anything, any change is dependant upon your overall credit picture. Most of us comment based on personal experience, and my experiance is that paid collections bring down a score most of the time.

[Anonymous]

It depends on the age of the collection account - or, more specifically, the last time you paid on it.  If you threw a payment at it two months ago, then paying it down more this month will help to increase your score.  If, on the other hand, you haven't touched it in six years, then you'll want to leave it alone.  Dont send them anything - just let it fall off your credit report.

Back to the original topic.  If you have a number of collection accounts, you will find it difficult (read: impossible) to improve your score quickly.  Everything else in your file could be perfect, however, those collection accounts will continue to drag your score down severely until they actually fall off your report (seven years from the date you pay them off).