How to get my score up.....Any ideas? I've read all over but haven't found a solid idea.

[jsjroo]

Here's the situation. My current scores are about 640-650 with the big 3. My credit balances are only around $100, mortgage of 215K with value of 240K, no car loans. I've had 2 auto loans in the last 4 years which are all paid off now.

Back about 4.5 yrs ago, I was without a job for almost 3 months and right in the middle of a side business deal. I only had funds to pay rent/auto/gas/food. Thus many cards went 30-60-90 days late. Right after 2-3 months I was signed on to do credit counceling which helped out with interest and payment. The accounts were never late after that. I've never had a mortgage or installment loan late pay nor any collections accounts.

What's my best option to bring the score up in the 7's. I'd rather not wait another 2.5 years before my score goes up. I've paid almost all my credit cards off, though when I signed up for counseling, many were closed. I only have $1700 available credit. I spend about 15-20K per month for a business I own so I could tie that into a secured card to build credit. Income is in the 100's.

What will help the most. Goodwill letters? Secured card? Applying for a new un-secured card with larger limit.

Any help or advice would be appreciated. I also hired Edited! which to date hasn't helped out scores at all.

Thanks

(jsjroo, please be advised that references to the firm you mentioned which I edited out are not permitted, per myFICO Forums' Terms of Service, because it is an organization which promotes unethical credit repair methods. Please read the TOS and the Credit Repair Discussion Guidelines for more information and a complete understanding of the Forums guidelines. Thanks for your cooperation. - Scamp, Moderator)

Message Edited by jsjroo on 01-29-2009 08:23 AM

Message Edited by Scamp on 01-29-2009 08:54 AM

[Anonymous]

Hi jsjroo, welcome to the forums!

Your lates (if they are all 4.5 years old) shouldn't be hurting as much as they have been. How is the utilization on your current, open revolving accounts? Have you tried letting 1 report a balance (under 10 percent)?

GW letters can't do anything but help you. I would definitely recommend writing a few.

If you're in the market for a good secured card, I highly recommend the BOA secured card. After 9 months of positive history they normally unsecure your card and refund your deposit, and you even get to keep the history.

You might get more responses if this is moved to the Rebuilding Your Credit forum.  

[Anonymous]

I think you're in the wrong place--head over to the rebuilding credit area for specific questions about each of your issues.

GW letters may help you if you can get them to remove the late payments.  Even with low balances, you have low credit available, so you want to work on getting your util under 9% on each card, and overall.  You can play some with how much you show reporting to get the score up.  Your mix might be a little skewed since you don't have any current installment loans.

Unclear what you hired the law firm to do??  You should be able to do this on your own, unless they're suing someone for you?

[jsjroo]

The firm was hired to send out disputes where needed and GW letters. My util is 5% on all cards.  When the auto loan came off 4 months ago it made no diff in score.

What limit would be good for the BOA card?  How much of a hit for a new account opening?

Message Edited by jsjroo on 01-29-2009 09:12 AM

[Scamp]

jsjroo, I'm going to lock this thread and direct any responses to your duplicate thread here in General Credit, as that thread already has one of our other Mods weighing in on it.

Please don't cross-post the same question on different boards.

Thanks for your cooperation and contributions to the forums!

-Scamp

Message Edited by Scamp on 01-29-2009 12:32 PM