Raising Credit score?

[Anonymous]

Hi guys! I am a textile shop owner with moderate income. I have a wife and a five year old son. My wife occasionally earns a little by designing cakes for weddings. The problem we face now is that I have a low credit score, though not the worst situation. Though I haven't made any defaults, I have taken a long term mortgage taken through brokers and have used multiple credit cards almost close to limits. We are trying to raise the credit score to make the life easier when any future troubles come in our way. We have a read a few blogs like this: How to raise your credit score quickly?,  about raising the credit score. But not sure about how practical these solutions are. I would like to know about people who actually successfully tried these kind of techniques to raise their credit score. If anyone could share something useful, it will be great.

[Anonymous]

Step 1 if you are looking for advice would be to disclose as much as you are comfortable with regarding your credit profile.  Some of these things include but aren't limited to:  Total number of accounts (open and closed) on your credit report, AoOA, AAoA, number of inquiries present and how long ago you opened any accounts in the last 2 years, total number of revolving credit accounts, individual balance/limit on each of those credit cards (which then gives us total balances across all cards), a list of any negative items that may be on your reports such as late payments, collections etc. along with their severity and age, how many open installment loans you have and their current balance relative to their beginning balance.  Of course your current FICO scores would be useful too as a gauge; if you don't have your current FICO 08's you can get all 3 of them from Credit Check Total for $1.

[Anonymous]

Hi Geo.  Your credit scores will do fine if you can pay off your credit card debt.

That's the best way to think about it.  Not first "how can I get my scores up?" so that later you will not be in good shape if troubles come along.

But rather, how can I pay off my CC debt -- so that later I will be in good shape if troubles come along.

The credit score improvement will happen as a natural consequence of paying off all your CC debt.

It's quite possible that you may be up to your eyes in debt and that trying to pay it all off is the wrong solution.  If so, then the right solution is to consider bankruptcy.  But if you don't want to go that route, then what you want is to huddle with people who can suggest strategies on how to pay off CC debt.  The scores will take care of themselves as you do that.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi guys! I am a textile shop owner with moderate income. I have a wife and a five year old son. My wife occasionally earns a little by designing cakes for weddings. The problem we face now is that I have a low credit score, though not the worst situation. Though I haven't made any defaults, I have taken a long term mortgage taken through brokers and have used multiple credit cards almost close to limits. We are trying to raise the credit score to make the life easier when any future troubles come in our way. We have a read a few blogs like this: How to raise your credit score quickly?,  about raising the credit score. But not sure about how practical these solutions are. I would like to know about people who actually successfully tried these kind of techniques to raise their credit score. If anyone could share something useful, it will be great.

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There is often no way to raise one's score "quickly".

If you tell us information about your situation we can probably give you good advice on how to improve your credit scores. There might be some "quick" improvements, but probably most of the improvements will take time.

I would need to know:

1. your open installment loan original amounts and balances

2. your open credit card limits and reported balances

3. whether you have any negatives, and what they are

4. the average age of your accounts, whether you have recent inquiries and new accounts, etc.

[Anonymous]

Hi BBS, hi SJ.  In the original post, the OP explains that he's got several credit cards that are all almost maxxed out; that he has no derogs; and that he has an open installment loan.

I think his score issue may be pretty simple: pay off his cards.  That may take a while of course.  How to do it is a matter of budgeting and cash flow and so forth.  But his scoring issue doesn't strike me as too complicated, unless I have missed something altogether.

[Anonymous]

CGID, my only question was if he is using the term "defaults" to encompass all types of negative items, or if he's using it to suggest more serious negative items such as a BK, collections, etc. but could still have some things like 30 day late payments on an account or two.

Agreed completely though that tackling his CC debt is more than likely the best answer.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Step 1 if you are looking for advice would be to disclose as much as you are comfortable with regarding your credit profile.  Some of these things include but aren't limited to:  Total number of accounts (open and closed) on your credit report, AoOA, AAoA, number of inquiries present and how long ago you opened any accounts in the last 2 years, total number of revolving credit accounts, individual balance/limit on each of those credit cards (which then gives us total balances across all cards), a list of any negative items that may be on your reports such as late payments, collections etc. along with their severity and age, how many open installment loans you have and their current balance relative to their beginning balance.  Of course your current FICO scores would be useful too as a gauge; if you don't have your current FICO 08's you can get all 3 of them from Credit Check Total for $1.

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Great information here. Thanks for posting.