RAISING FICO SCORE

[Anonymous]

I AM TRUELY DESPARATE TO INCREASE MY SCORE ALL OF MY EFFORTS SEEM TO BE IN VAIN.  MY FICO SCORE IS 521 AS A RESULT MY FAMILY AND I ARE LITERALLY HOMELESS. I HAVE SENT GW LETTERS TO SEVERAL CREDITORS WITH NEGATIVE RESULTS. AND HAVE HAD ALL OF MY DISPUTES COME BACK VERIFIED.  I EVEN HAD A CA TELL ME THAT MY DISPUTE WAS IRRELEVANT.  I HAVE READ SO MUCH ON THESE BOARDS BUT I DONT KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO.  I CANT EXACTLY BE MORE SPECIFIC ABOUT CIRCUMSTANCES NOW BECAUSE I AM AT WORK.  BUT ANY HELP FOR NOW WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.  I CRY ABOUT MY CREDIT SCORE DAILY.  IM NOT A BAD PERSON BUT IVE HAD TO MAKE SOME DIFFICULT FINANCIAL DECISIONS  AND BELIEVE ME I AM PAYING DEARLY FOR THEM.  IM TO DEPRESSED FOR WORDS.  PLEASE, PLEASE , PLEASE HELP.    

[haulingthescoreup]

When you get a chance, get your most current credit report(s) and post your accounts etc on this thread. Be sure to include all the dates, what you owe, etc etc. If your reports are online, you can copy/ paste them, but BE SURE to xxx out account numbers and delete names, addresses, phone numbers, etc, and break up any links (blue and underlined) to maintain your privacy.

The most awful credit in the world can be fixed with guidance and hard work. If you let people here see where you are now, they can help you get where you need to be, although it will take some time.

No matter how terrible you may think your report is, we've all see ones like it and worse. I hope that you will let people here try to help.

[Anonymous]

You've taken the first step toward improvement of your FICO score, which is getting your score and acknowledging you have a problem. This may seem elementary, but its amazing how many people are actually too scared or angry to even bother pulling their FICO.

As far as housing, a FICO score is not the end-all and be-all of eligibility for rental housing. Yes, many landlords do pull a FICO, but it is only one factor in a decision to approve or deny a rental app.

Just as important, if not more so, than a FICO score is your rental history. If you can get letters from your last three to five years of landlords attesting that you are/were a stable tenant with on-time payment history and no wild parties or other drama, that counts for a lot. Yes, some soulless corporate managers of big apartment complexes will have minimum FICO cutoffs, but a lot of places don't.

Now, if you have an eviction on your record, that could be a problem. But again, get whatever references you can and try to negotiate.

As far as FICO, do you currently have any GOOD lines of credit?

[Madison]

Hang in there. Take one step at a time. Remember bad times don't lasts forever. Focus on making your payments on time. Then when minimum payments go down see where you can best use that normal monthly payments elsewhere. Try getting CC companies to lower your highest interest rates. Most of all keep the faith. You can do it.

[Anonymous]

Helpless:

Please hang in there.  My husbands credit score was 432 just over a month ago, I thought there was no help for him and I would lose my house because I wouldn't be able to re-fi.  His score is now at 609!  It can be done!  Like hauling said, put things on here as soon as you can so you can start the repairing process ASAP.  The people on here are wonderful. And just as NewWorld man pointed out you've taken the first step, my husband was too angry to look at his rpt AND he is in the real estate business, I can tell you that there are a lot of private landlords out there desperate to get tenants in their homes.  Be strong, it will work out, trust me, I can't even tell you what I thought about doing last year out of desperation but I've learned that as Madison said, bad time don't last forever and I truly believe that a person must experience them just to know when the good times are.  So hang in there and get us that info asap. 

[Anonymous]

Helpless,

   I'm new here, so take my advice for what it's worth. From personal experience I know that paying ALL bills on time EVERY time is the easiest way to hike up a score without having to do anything major. I know that it's easier said than done. Good Luck and don't give up...I've read some pretty amazing success stories on here.