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Raising my fico score quickly

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pregan12
New Member

Raising my fico score quickly

Anyone have any idea how to do this? My Fico score is 678 and I need to get it to 720.

 

I have 7K debt on 1 credit card and 9K debt on another. I heard somewhere that I can raise my credit score about 10 points for every 10% that I pay off my credit card. If that is correct than I can pay off about 6,400 of my credit cards and raise my score to about 720. I can do that immediately but does anyone know if this means of raising my score is accurate or somewhat accurate? Also, I have a few 30 day late payments (maybe 5?) on a credit card (I have paid off this particular credit card) from 2009. Otherwise my credit history is clean.

 

 

 

Message 1 of 10
9 REPLIES 9
dodfire
Valued Contributor

Re: Raising my fico score quickly

It would be impossible to tell you exactly how much your score will go up by paying down your cards.

But,

For maximum scoring purpose you should have a balance on ONLY 1 card and that balance should not be more than 9% of your total available revolving credit.

*8/10/13
Message 2 of 10
aurelie00
Regular Contributor

Re: Raising my fico score quickly

It's more about your utilization percentage than it is dollar amount. 

 

What are your credit limits on those cards and do you have any other revolving credit?


Starting Score: 524
Current Score: 715
Goal Score: 720


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Message 3 of 10
Shogun
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Raising my fico score quickly

Paying down your util is a fast and easy way to get a bump in your score.  How much of a bump though varies.  Best bet is to pay one off and the other as low as you can, prefereably below 9%.

Starting Score: 504
July 2013 score:
EQ FICO 819, TU08 778, EX "806 lender pull 07/26/2013
Goal Score: All Scores 760+, Newest goal 800+
Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge

Current scores after adding $81K in CLs and 2 new cars since July 2013
EQ:809 TU 777 EX 790 Now it's just garden time!

June 2017 update: All scores over 820, just pure gardening now.
Message 4 of 10
guiness56
Epic Contributor

Re: Raising my fico score quickly

I would say you would get between 5 - 10 points for every 10% you paid down.  It is an estimation and YMMV.

Message 5 of 10
pregan12
New Member

Re: Raising my fico score quickly

Thank you for all of your helpful comments. 

 

QUESTION: It's difficult for me to pay off one card AND get my second card down to 9% of its balance. Does it help if  I pay down my second card as much as I can AND get the bank to raise my credit limit raised in order to get to the 9% of the available credit?

 

Message 6 of 10
bahbahd
Established Contributor

Re: Raising my fico score quickly


@pregan12 wrote:

Thank you for all of your helpful comments. 

 

QUESTION: It's difficult for me to pay off one card AND get my second card down to 9% of its balance. Does it help if  I pay down my second card as much as I can AND get the bank to raise my credit limit raised in order to get to the 9% of the available credit?

 


Yes, CLI will reduce overall utilization. It might require a HP.

Message 7 of 10
need730back
New Visitor

Re: Raising my fico score quickly

your score is influenced by your debt to available credit ratio so if the amounts you stated are over 20% of avail. credit on each and if you have no other credit, you may very well raise your score by paying them down.  if your score is more a result of your length of credit or payment history or other factors, i doubt paying on them will show much if any increase.  raising your score usually takes deliberate actions on different areas used  to generate score over months. just be careful! the system is so bizarre these days like scores dropping 20 pts for paying off a debt. don't get discouraged, you'll get there!

Message 8 of 10
guiness56
Epic Contributor

Re: Raising my fico score quickly

A bigger part of your score is from the utilization of your available credit.  If your utilization is high, you can bet your score will go down as it is paid down.  How much is a YMMV but it will happen.

 

Paying down CC balances is a deliberate action and the quickest way to see your score go up.

Message 9 of 10
BethJ
Valued Member

Re: Raising my fico score quickly

I have a very high utilization and I am also trying to raise my FICO as fast as possible. I have a total of about $3,000 in CC debt. Most cards are low credit limits. The highest is $1,000. I just paid half of my $200 limit Target Card and my FICO increased by 10pts. I was amazed it increased by that much and that quickly!!

03/16/2009 EQ 535 * EXP 581 * TU 586
7/13 EQ 616 * EXP 626 * TU 640
8/1 EQ 626 * EXP 640 *TU 603
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