I am living abroad and am having to move back to the USA next month because of the pandemic. I planned to be gone a few more years, so I only recently started thinking about my credit again. I just paid off all $16,000 of my defaulted student loans. I know that rehabbing them would have been better, but I need to find a place to live and buy a car in the next 90 days. I don't have 9 months to wait, and I don't want to be carrying any debt that I can afford to pay off now. This made me completely debt-free. I also increased the limit on my Wells Fargo secured card from $300 to $2000. Not the best card, I know, but I've had it for several years. I also got a Self credit builder loan. I have done all of this in the last month, so I am still waiting for it to appear in my reports. I'm expecting some of this, like the loan payoff, to show in the next week or so. What else can I do to quickly improve things?
There are multiple derogatory marks on my reports- settled and charged off credit card debts and the defaulted loans. These are the reasons for my low scores. Though at this point, my payment history on remaining open accounts is perfect for the last 3 years.
Equifax is 594, Transunion is 497, and Experian is 548.
