Any way to get a quick boost?

Anonymous · ‎03-12-2012

lol. My husband and I have been working for the past month to clean up our credit so we can get a home loan. We are talking with a friend of a friend who is a lender. We just got everything off my husband's credit and everything but one thing off of mine. We both got a secure card and my husband has made one payment and is going to make another this week. The lender just ran our scores and my husbands are 602 Equifax and 609 TU - Experian still NA. Is there any way to get a 20 point jump this month? lol Maybe not. but we have done so much in a month I was hoping so. Also, over the weekend we just got a new collection that we didn't know about. It is on his report though. Maybe getting that off would give us the jump, or paying his cc bill again? thanks!

Anonymous · ‎03-12-2012

@Anonymous wrote:
lol. My husband and I have been working for the past month to clean up our credit so we can get a home loan. We are talking with a friend of a friend who is a lender. We just got everything off my husband's credit and everything but one thing off of mine. We both got a secure card and my husband has made one payment and is going to make another this week. The lender just ran our scores and my husbands are 602 Equifax and 609 TU - Experian still NA. Is there any way to get a 20 point jump this month? lol Maybe not. but we have done so much in a month I was hoping so. Also, over the weekend we just got a new collection that we didn't know about. It is on his report though. Maybe getting that off would give us the jump, or paying his cc bill again? thanks!

Lowering your utilization rate on your revolving accounts (credit cards) is the only super quick way. What is your utilization rate? balance / credit limit? If you get that down you will see a quick jump as your credit cards report their monthly balances.

Anonymous · ‎03-12-2012

honestly, im not sure what utilization rate is? is it how often we use it? he has a secured card with $300 limit, $172 balance. My card is $200 limit and I think $110 balance. We both just got our cards. He got his about 3 ago and I got mine about a week ago. He has made one payment on his - he paid it off shortly after he got it.

Anonymous · ‎03-12-2012

@Anonymous wrote:
honestly, im not sure what utilization rate is? is it how often we use it? he has a secured card with $300 limit, $172 balance. My card is $200 limit and I think $110 balance.

That makes your husband's utilization rate 57% (172/300) and yours 55% (100/200). Getting that down will give you big boost. Say get your husband's balance to $20 and yours to $10. Dont' make it zero. it may actually hurt.

Anonymous · ‎03-12-2012

so pay the bill, but dont pay the whole thing. and dont let the balance get as high? or use it less times a month? Also, does it matter if we make more than one payment a month - or is that using it too much? Say we use the card during the begining of the month and then pay most of it off, then use it again and pay it off again at the end of the month.

Anonymous · ‎03-12-2012

@Anonymous wrote:
so pay the bill, but dont pay the whole thing. and dont let the balance get as high? or use it less times a month? Also, does it matter if we make more than one payment a month - or is that using it too much? Say we use the card during the begining of the month and then pay most of it off, then use it again and pay it off again at the end of the month.

Pay it off before the statement comes out. So what they report (which will be the statement balance) will be a low percentage of your total credit limit. Do this the month prior before you need to apply for whatever you need your score for.

Anonymous · ‎03-12-2012

I checked online and my husbands bill is due 4/1 - so if he pays it now does that mean he shouldnt use it again for the rest of the month. I would love to get his score boosted up asap.

Anonymous · ‎03-12-2012

@Anonymous wrote:
I checked online and my husbands bill is due 4/1 - so if he pays it now does that mean he shouldnt use it again for the rest of the month. I would love to get his score boosted up asap.

Let's not worry about the due date. let's say that your husband's monthly statement comes out around 4/5 (which is probably close since his due date is 4/1). You want to make sure to pay what is due on 4/1 + whatever charges that are not yet billed but part of the total balance.

Let says that what is due on 4/1 is $350. But, when you look online balance, there is another $300 that will be on the statement issued on 4/5, you want to pay $600+ so that when the 4/5 bill comes out, it's only for ~$50 bucks. that will be the balance that will be reported to the credit beureaus and will be used in FICO score calculation.

Anonymous · ‎03-12-2012

ok. thanks! : )

Anonymous · ‎03-12-2012

Oh btw, about how much might this boost the score?