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@Anonymous wrote:MaizeandBlue,
I saw your reply about repeatedly using the 30 day trial. I have been using that for a while too.
I also noticed your dramatic rise in your FICO scores in just a bit more than a year and am VERY impressed.
Can you give me some of your tips -- what allowed you to rise so quickly in such a short time.
Thanks.
Sorry about the delay; I was traveling for most of yesterday.
If you dont currently have an installment loan of any kind on your credit report you should add one. I managed to get a Share Secured loan from Alliant before they stopped issuing them. An installment loan paid down to 8.9% or less of the loan amount immediately adds about 40 points to your score.
I've also kept my utilization at 1-2% by paying in full each month; I appreciate that not everyone can or wants to do that, but it really did help my scores.
Once my scores started increasing I started getting loan offers. I took two of them, and paid them back immediately. You take a hit when the loan first reports but your scores will recover and go higher than before once the loan is paid off (or at least paid down to below 8.9%). Plus it helps to thicken your credit profile.
Gardening also works. After my initial rash of applications I gardened for a few months to allow my scores to stabilized, then earlier this year I applied for a few more cards, then gardened for just over 7 months.
Thanks.
I do have a shared secured loan from Navy Federal. And I have done just that -- paid it off so it is below 8.9.
I have three secured credit cards -- also WAY below 8.9.
My Experian score is at 711 with all that.
I have one more collection notice that I am trying to remove -- it is almost 7 years old so it will be going off soon anyway.
Tell me about these loans you were offered? How large were the loans you took out.
And as far as gardening -- does it help to have lots of cards? I have been led to believe that 3 cards with low utlitization was fine.
But there may be another aspect of this that helps.
I appreciate any guidance you can give me.
Thanks again.
As long is you are moving foward, anyone can bounce back from any credit situation. It took me almost 10 years to get my credit scores to what you see them as now.
RE: sjt
Thank you so much for the encouraging words! Following this advice - working on statement to give to potential landlords, and letters of recommendations.
I agree the NY state law is a blessing.. in less than 4 years from now should be free from of all of these deliquencies (hard to believe - and never going to do it again!). Downloaded Mint personal finance app and Experian Creditworks to track spending/credit changes. If anyone else has recommendations, please share them.
The Experian app is incredible - highly recommend it to anyone. I find it better than Credit Check Total.
UPDATES/QUESTIONS (minor):
1. Taxes: I spoke to my accountant, gave her details on everything per sjt's advice - all debts owed, my pay statement (it helped that I don't claim any dependents). And she's now estimating that I will owe $1900 come tax time (which is a lot better than $3500)!
2. Anticipated Score Change:
My current FICO 8 credit scores are:
Experian: 564 (poor)
Equifax: 547 (poor)
Transunion: 561 (poor)
Revolving Credit Lines: $1000
Revolving Account Balance: $35,007
Revolving Utilization: 99%
Accounts with Balances: 5
Collections: 0
Negative Public Records: 0
Late payments: 10
Inquiries: 1 (dropping off at end of this month)
Open Cards: 2
Age of oldest account: 8 yrs 2 months
Average Age: 5 yrs 2 mons
Now this is what's interesting: Experian is estimating that if I were to pay off my entire balance, I would get a credit score boost of 100 points to 664 (which is above the 650 that I need to rent an apartment).
As previous posted, I did pay off entire balance in the month of December, so I will report back here if I do get a boost to 664 in 60 days- hopefully will help other people in similar situations for estimations.
3. Question: I'm starting to get letters in the mail from companies offering me credit cards. I would only consider them (or a secured account), some time in the future for rebuilding my credit history (paying off in full each month).
I got one from Merrick Bank (has anyone heard of them?). It's called the Double Your Line Visa Credit Card. Says it would give me $550 credit line, and when I make my payments on time for 7 consecutive months the balance will increase to $1100. Is this worth considering in the future to rebuild? Or should I try to get a secured card from a more establish brand like Bank of America or HSBC (I think the only two well known lenders I haven't burned)?
Concord,
80/100 point increase sounds about right. I would leave a $5 balance on the card and let it report. Your score wont increase as much with zero balances reporting.
Merrick is an ok bank. Stay away from Credit One, First Premier, Surge, Finger Hut, etc. I would hold off applying for accounts until you get your utilization down and the settlement payments report. See what your score is and check out pre-qual sites like Discover, BofA, Amex, etc.
UPDATES:
So my credit score finally updated today. All charge offs are now reporting as paid!
Experian score is now 652. It was previously 564. For reference for others, the increases I got were:
First charge off paid: 6 point increase
Second charge off paid: 13 point increase
Third and fourth charge offs paid (updated simultaneously): 59 point increase
Thoughts: is there any way to go up from here (652 credit score)? Or I'm kind of stuck here as I wait for previous bad marks to age? I have two open accounts: Discover card ($500 limit), and Nordstrom card ($500 limit). Not sure if I should open more?
Hopefully it's a strong enough credit score to rent an apartment in May. I saw 650 is the average score for NYC rentals. I followed sjt's advice:
-wrote letter appealing to future landlord
-have 2 former landlords as references (never missed rent payment)
-leaving a ~$10 balance on my Discover card every month
NEXT STEPS: not sure if there's anything left?
-Never taking out more debt than i can pay back within 30 days again.
-Will update here with Transunion and Equifax credit scores.
Thanks everyone for help, especially sjt, ImTheDevil, tmr, Lithium5, RobertEG and tenaya (who never posted, but always gives kudos - much appreciated!!).
Congratulations!
This made my day.
A couple of things regardig your credit:
Amex:
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/check-for-offers/?inav=menu_cards_prequal_offer
Cap One:
https://www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/prequalify