Need to improve score quick

[Anonymous]

So I really have not had any credit for a while, outside of 2 small installment loans over the past few years that are both now paid off. Score starting out after that was around 620ish.  Recently I decided I needed to improve my score and got approved for a BJ's MC ($3500 limit) and Discover ($1000). That was in December, since receiving them I have charged about $1600 on Discover paid it all off, and about $1000 on the other one paid off. Plan is to keep doing that for monthy bills etc. I need a personal loan in the next 30-60 days for a renovation to the house I live in, and was looking for some tips that could improve my score in that time. I have liquid cash in the bank(like 8k), can move money around....whatever it takes. I am open to anything.

I want to try to get those credit card limits as high as possible asap, but with the accounts being so new I don't want to set off any red flags.  Same thing with applying for any new accounts, I want to be careful before I do any of that even though I would prob get approved for small amounts. I was reading something on here about secured savings account loans, that sounds like it would work if it could really help the score. But any help would be appreciated. I never really needed credit before but I do now lol.

[bdhu2001]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So I really have not had any credit for a while, outside of 2 small installment loans over the past few years that are both now paid off. Score starting out after that was around 620ish.  Recently I decided I needed to improve my score and got approved for a BJ's MC ($3500 limit) and Discover ($1000). That was in December, since receiving them I have charged about $1600 on Discover paid it all off, and about $1000 on the other one paid off. Plan is to keep doing that for monthy bills etc. I need a personal loan in the next 30-60 days for a renovation to the house I live in, and was looking for some tips that could improve my score in that time. I have liquid cash in the bank(like 8k), can move money around....whatever it takes. I am open to anything.

I want to try to get those credit card limits as high as possible asap, but with the accounts being so new I don't want to set off any red flags.  Same thing with applying for any new accounts, I want to be careful before I do any of that even though I would prob get approved for small amounts. I was reading something on here about secured savings account loans, that sounds like it would work if it could really help the score. But any help would be appreciated. I never really needed credit before but I do now lol.

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With your current situation, the only thing I can see is to allow a small amount to report on 1 card.  That doesn't mean pay interest.  You simply pay off previous balance by due date, but continue to charge.  

You stated you had 2 small installment loans. Do you still have some type of installment loan: mortgage, auto, student loan, etc?  If not then the shared loan method would work. I've heard the most positive statements about Alliant.  Deposit $550, get a 5 year shared loan & wait for the loan to hit your report.  Then pay everything except 10% off.

If you already have some other type of installment loan then it won't help much.

[Anonymous]

No other installment loans right now, just the two credit cards. The house I live in is in my mothers name, we are in the process of adding me to the deed so eventually I can get everything in my name including mortgage. Just have standard bills electricity, cable etc.

The easiest way I could think of to inch score up was to get my debt to credit limit as low as possible, but again the accounts are so new I am afraid to ask for an increase or apply for another card. I am looking to see if I can get approved for a line of credit vs loan, that would be ideal. I have been looking around on personal loansd and a lot of them are like 660 and up  to get something even reasonable rate wise.

[Anonymous]

Hello PJ!  It sounds like you may be under the impression that getting higher credit limits for the cards will in themselves improve your scores.  That's a common belief and quite reasonable -- you'd think that if creditors are granting you big credit limits, then FICO would interpret that as you being less risky and give you a higher score.  It's just that, counter to your intuition, FICO doesn't do that.  A student with two cards each of which has a $300 limit can get just as much scoring benefit from them as a guy with two cards that have limits of $30,000 each. 

All that matters is a person's utilization on the cards, which is a percent.  To get the maximum points, you want exactly one card reporting with a small positive balance and all other cards reporting $0.  (You want a total U of 1-5%)

As far as adding a share secure loan as a technique for raising your score, it's conceivable that would help but it would take about 3-4 months before you executed all the steps and got the scoring benefit.  And you want to get your "real" loan (the one for the home renovation) in 30-60 days.  So the Share Secure approach is also out.

Best approach given your timeframe is to keep one card reporting about $20 a month and the other card reporting $0.

PS.  Actually, there is a magic bullet that will work faster.  If you have a loved one (typically a parent, but it could be a girlfriend, boyfriend, best buddy, whatever) who happens to have a very old credit card, that person could add you as an "Authorized user" to that card.  The card would need to be clean (never any late payments) and have a $0 balance or a low balance.  If the card is MUCH older than your oldest account, then that could give you a substantial score boost.

EXAMPLE:

Your oldest account is a closed installment account that was opened 4 years ago.  If your mom has a CC that was opened 20 years ago and adds you to it, that will give your score a fast and substantial boost.  But if her oldest card is only 10 years old, it might not be worth it (only six years older than yours).

[Anonymous]

OK thanks. So are you saying pay one card off completely every month, and the other one leave like a $20 balance on it but pay the rest off? Never heard of that before.

[Anonymous]

No.  You should pay off every card that you use each month, so that you don't pay interest (that's just one reason, there are others).  The question is controlling how much the card's report. 

A CC typically reports whatever balance it had when the statement printed... i.e. the Amount Owed at the top of the statement.  It reports that figure to each of the three credit bureaus. 

For maximum scoring benefit, you want exactly one card to report a small but positive balance.  And you want all your other cards to report $0.

For the $0 cards, that means either not using them at all or paying them down to $0 a few days before the statement prints.  (And then not using them again until AFTER the statement prints.)

For the card with the small balance, that means paying the card down to a small balance before the statement prints. Then AFTER the statement prints you should pay that (small) amount in full, whatever was on that statement.

[Anonymous]

Gotcha.

How can I figure out what day the statement actually "prints"?

[Anonymous]

With many CCs, the statement will print AROUND a certain day of the month, but it may be 1-2 days off. One month it is the 22nd.  The next the 25th.  The next after that the 23rd.  Etc.  Since you cards are so new, you may just need to call the credit card company each month and ask them.  After a few months you'll get a sense of when it is likely to be.

[takeshi74]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I need a personal loan in the next 30-60 days for a renovation to the house I live in, and was looking for some tips that could improve my score in that time.

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There are no quick fixes with credit.  Building and rebulding are long, slow processes.  If you're 30-60 days out there's really nothing you can do to significiantly improve scores.  The only possbility is that if you have revolving accounts that will report in that timeframe you can optimize your revolving utilization by allowing only one balance to report at 10% or less but that may or may not provide much benefit.  It really depends on what your currentl revolvinng utilization is as indicated on your reports and how drastically you can reduce it.

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@Anonymous wrote:

Same thing with applying for any new accounts, I want to be careful before I do any of that even though I would prob get approved for small amounts. I was reading something on here about secured savings account loans, that sounds like it would work if it could really help the score. But any help would be appreciated. I never really needed credit before but I do now lol.

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I would doubt that new accounts would help you in 30-60 days.  Some new accounts take longer than that to first report.  However, the hard pull would immediately report.  Keep in mind that new accounts will reduce your AAoA.  Additionally, if you have a thin profile like you decscribe, credit seeking activity can be a red flag.

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@Anonymous wrote:

I want to try to get those credit card limits as high as possible asap, but with the accounts being so new I don't want to set off any red flags.

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Worst case would be that if you didn't qualify for a CLI you might end up with a hard pull and no CLI.  Hard pulls are generally small impact, however, with a think profile like yours they can have a bigger impact.  As stated above, it's really reportd revolving utilization that matters and you can decrease it even without a CLI.  For any fraction you can decrease the numerator and/or increase the denominator to make the fraction smaller.  Since revolving utilization is balance(s)/limit(s) you can seek a CLI to increase limit(s) or you can pay down balance(s) prior to report date.

The CLI's that you qualify for will be based on your credit profile and income.  CLI's are not just handed out in exchange for time.

I don't see any quick fixes for you and, in general, you shouldn't expect them.  You can keep things in mind for longer term credit goals but I doubt you'll see drastic improvement in a 30-60 day timeframe.

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@Anonymous wrote:

How can I figure out what day the statement actually "prints"?

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You can always confirm report dates with your creditors.  Your credit reports may indicate report date where they indicate "last reported" as long as there has not been a midcycle update.  Most cards report on statement date but there are some that report on a fixed day of the month.

Discover reports on statement date.  Not sure about BJ's.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the responses....I just checked my score and it is up to 660! It was 619 on Dec 19th, and was at 660 Jan 19th. This was before the cards I have now were reporting....I literally JUST got both of them at the beginning of January.  So hopefully I can pay them down and get a couple payments reporting in next 30-60 days and get it a little higher. I didn't think I could get anywhere close to 700 fast but maybe I can after all.