Help me Up my scores please! What to Do?

Anonymous · ‎07-19-2007

Hello, I'm a stay-at-home mother but would still like to keep my scores in order. My scores are: Equifax: 668 Experian: 652 Transunion: 652 As of today. I have one credit card with my husband (joint). We don't have high debt on that card. The limit is about 15,000 and our debt is 3770 as of today but we can pay that off easily. No problem. I don't have many items in my name. I have a closed Amex account ( I closed it myself a few years back) that is still showing on my Equifax. It's in good standing. I have no lates on either card. I have two charged off accounts that were paid off 1 from 4 years ago. It was from one of those catalogs and only $100--one of those catalogs when you order something and don't have to pay until later. That was just an oversight on my part as I was pregnant during that time and had our son and didn't think about that bill. Foolish on my part but I paid if off in full as soon as I was made aware of it. I also have an ambulance bill showing on my report that I paid off in full but it went into collections. This is a crazy bill that I received after having my gallbladder removed at a wonderful state of the art surgery center. The surgery center was right next to the hospital. Literally 10 paces away. I have no idea of why they called an ambulance after my surgery to take me over to the hospital...not only that..they called an ambulance from another county! My husband was there in the waiting room as well...he could have taken me in our vehicle. They led him to believe I needed the ambulance and I was to 'out of it' to dispute at the time. So we got in and went over. I was fine really. In pain but fine. Anyway, I received one bill from them stating that they had billed my insurance some ridiculous amount and I never heard from them again. 3 years after my surgery, after we'd sold and purchased a new home. I receive a call from a collection agency stating that I owe 446 (the bill was 800 something) so I am sure my insurance paid something. I didn't want to pay but didn't want the trouble and didn't want it on my report..so I paid it in full. I received a letter from the agency stating that it was paid in full. However, what I did not know is that they reported it to the credit bureaus. I check my reports often and I had not seen this on my report before. However, I found out that it was placed on my report but they have reported it as paid. Still, it is affecting my score I guess. I hate that!!!! My question is what can I do to UP my scores. My husband has scores in the high 700's but he has more items on his reports than I do and a longer credit history. We are both responsible. We have a great household income. We pay our bills on time. I have my own savings and checkings accounts. Should I apply for a card in my name alone? Would this help my score? Do you think I can apply for a bank card with my scores now and get one? I don't want to deal with store cards. I'm responsible and always pay in cash--using cash literally or a debit card so I wouldn't go into more debt. I know that we should also pay off or pay down the debt on our one card together. Any other tips? Thanks ladies and gents! I look forward to your responses.

Tuscani · ‎07-19-2007

Welcome.. Please read the Scoring 101 thread:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=ficoscoring&thread.id=2654

Anonymous · ‎07-19-2007

Thanks! I just finished reading through that thread and a couple of others. This is such a wonderful forum it seems. I'd like to ask you if I should consider sending a GW letter (found out about that here..WOW!) to the collection agency (Ambulance bill) that I paid off in full. It's been about 6-7 months now since I paid this item off. I had a good experience with them. I paid the item off as soon as they phoned me about it. I made a payment that first day and I think I made 2 subsequent payments until it was paid off in full. I paid in time every month and was very happy when it was paid off in full and told them so. They were very nice to me actually. However, I had no idea about a GW letter until today. I'm hoping this can work with them. Do you think I should give it a try..even though it's been paid off in full now? Also, I am still unsure if I should try to open a credit account in my own name ONLY and how that would affect my score. I'm sure having a card in my own name is good (According to Suze Orman's books). My husband and I opened the joint card to improve my score. It seems that my score is the same or only a little better than it was before. Nothing has changed. The 668 score is the highest I've had so far. I've only been building and checking my credit reports for about 5-6 years now. So do I need to get my own card to improve my score? WILL it infact improve my score in your opinion? With my scores could I get a card in your opinion? Thanks so much to anyone for helping me with these questions.

fused · ‎07-19-2007

Yes, wrtite the GW letter. Be persistent if it does not work the first time. You might see your scores improve if you pay down your current CC balance to $1,335. You want to keep your utilization on your CC and future ones to 1-9% of the credit limit. FYI, a joint CC account is scored the same as an individual CC account.

Your scores alone qualify you for a decent CC. BUT if you do not need a new CC right away, I would wait and pay down the CC and see if the paid collection gets deleted. If both, the lower CC balance reports and the paid collection is deleted your scores can only go up. Even if only one happens your still better off. Nobody can say exactly how many points your scores will increase though.The scores you gave are they FICOs?

Anonymous · ‎07-19-2007

@fused111 wrote:
Yes, wrtite the GW letter. Be persistent if it does not work the first time. You might see your scores improve if you pay down your current CC balance to $1,335. You want to keep your utilization on your CC and future ones to 1-9% of the credit limit. FYI, a joint CC account is scored the same as an individual CC account.
Your scores alone qualify you for a decent CC. BUT if you do not need a new CC right away, I would wait and pay down the CC and see if the paid collection gets deleted. If both, the lower CC balance reports and the paid collection is deleted your scores can only go up. Even if only one happens your still better off. Nobody can say exactly how many points your scores will increase though.The scores you gave are they FICOs?

Thank you so much for your reply fuse. Yes, my scores are FICO's. I only buy mine through this site (or Suze Ormans MyFico Kits). I wouldn't trust buying scores elsewhere. I just finished talking to my husband about this. As I was disappointed in my scores and wanted to talk to him about them when he came in. He also told me that getting a card now is not good and that my scores were actually good. He said the best thing to do would be to write the GW letters or call the creditors for both accounts actually (since one is 4 years old already) since these are the issues most likely affecting my score (My first goal is to be over 700 and eventually high 700's). Also, I think I will send in an extra payment to the CC and get the balance down to around 1000 or less. I'm going to work on those GW letters momentarily and they will be mailed first thing tomorrow. I read Suze Ormans books a lot and other finance books. I'm so happy you stated the information about keeping the utilization of CC in the 1-9% range. I was under the impression that you could go up as high as 30% and be okay. I'm not sure where I got that info from but I think we will be keeping our balance in the 1-9% range from now on. Thanks again and I will let you know how those how things go with the GW letters!

MidnightVoice · ‎07-19-2007

Utlization - general opinion is 1-9% is ideal, over 50 is bad, over 90 is very bad. But until you get to the magic "less than 10%", any reduction is good.

The slide from grace is really more like gliding
And I've found the trick is not to stop the sliding
But to find a graceful way of staying slid

Anonymous · ‎07-19-2007

To the OP, I recommend a couple more credit cards. Use them for FICO improvement only. Charge something small each month, let it report, then pay it off.

Anonymous · ‎07-19-2007

@Anonymous wrote:
To the OP, I recommend a couple more credit cards. Use them for FICO improvement only. Charge something small each month, let it report, then pay it off.

Thanks MidnightVoice and TheNewWorldMan for your responses. I'm still reading through the board. There is so much great information here. TheNewWorldMan: I should be able to apply for a card on my own right? Through my bank even? I surely hope so. Perhaps I should try one of my online banks as well. My husband says it isn't necessary but I'm still researching. I'm very careful when it comes to my finances so having the card won't be a problem for me. I would likely never use it--and would only use i for FICO improvement. Charge something for 20 dollars and pay it off. Right now, I'm just focused on getting the GW letters mailed to remove those two PIF (Paid In Full) negative items showing on my report and I'll also be sending in a check to pay down the balance on our joint CC tomorrow. So I will see how those go first and how they affect my score before deciding on another card for myself. Thanks again.

fused · ‎07-19-2007

@Anonymous wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:
To the OP, I recommend a couple more credit cards. Use them for FICO improvement only. Charge something small each month, let it report, then pay it off.

Thanks MidnightVoice and TheNewWorldMan for your responses. I'm still reading through the board. There is so much great information here. TheNewWorldMan: I should be able to apply for a card on my own right? Through my bank even? I surely hope so. Perhaps I should try one of my online banks as well. My husband says it isn't necessary but I'm still researching. I'm very careful when it comes to my finances so having the card won't be a problem for me. I would likely never use it--and would only use i for FICO improvement. Charge something for 20 dollars and pay it off. Right now, I'm just focused on getting the GW letters mailed to remove those two PIF (Paid In Full) negative items showing on my report and I'll also be sending in a check to pay down the balance on our joint CC tomorrow. So I will see how those go first and how they affect my score before deciding on another card for myself. Thanks again.

In theory, I agree with TNWM. You have a few derogs and new CCs reporting postively with low util will help your scores over time, but you might take a ding in short the term. I just don't like to advise someone to apply for CCs if there not sure they really need or want them. If you decide to apply, it's best to find a CC that suites your needs and pulls EQ (your best score).