What was most effective for you in raising FICO?

Anonymous · ‎03-26-2010

I'd like to hear some success stories as to what courses of action produced the best results as far as gaining points.

MarineVietVet · ‎03-26-2010

@Anonymous wrote:
I'd like to hear some success stories as to what courses of action produced the best results as far as gaining points.

Always paying on time, reducing my revolving utilization, and letting my accounts age all helped me. It sounds very boring but it works.

From a BK years ago to:
7/09 TU-742 EQ- 779
8/09 TU-765 EQ- 783
9/09 EX pulled by lender 802

You can do the same thing with hard work

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LIGHTNIN · ‎03-26-2010

Agree with marinevietvet.

also getting those CA off my CR.

Having a emergency fund helps, so I don't have to use a CC or get a loan for those surprising bills.

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RobertEG · ‎03-26-2010

If your plan is long term, then I suggest putting first effort into addressing old derogs in your CR.

Payment history, at 35 % your FICO score, has the greatest impact, and is also the most difficult to deal with. Not only do they stay for a long time (7 - 71/2 years),

they can become, if not adressed, COs, CAs, or legal action that could further damage your score. In other words, they can become worse.

Disputes of inaccurate reporting, DVs on colletions that you challenge, attempts to PFD before payment, and GW letters after payment, are the actions to look at.

% util is, of course, also important, but if your plan is long term, remember that % utiil, unlike payment history, has no historical memory, and thus prior % util has no lingering impact on current FICO score once it is updated. Hit % util hard around three months before you plan to apply for new credit.

Of course, needless to say, always pay on time so that you dont pick up new derogs, dont make new inquiries without a really good reason, and dont close accounts, and thus reduce your CL.

Anonymous · ‎03-26-2010

Reducing my cc util and paying loans on time.

laz98 · ‎03-26-2010

bringing my utilization down, & adding myself to my girlfriend's card, which is only a little older than my oldest card, but has a much higher limit than anything i have, by far.

Anonymous · ‎03-27-2010

Remove the app button from your computer. Always pay for everything on time do not use auto pay ever. Do not apply for anything unless you absolutley positively need a card. If you are rebuilding this is unavoidable but if you have enough credit what good will 3-4 more toy limit cards do? You don't need a lot of cards or credit to get high scores.

Anonymous · ‎03-29-2010

@Anonymous wrote:
You don't need a lot of cards or credit to get high scores.

True. DH was in 800's with one CC (Orchard - a bank card) with a $500 CL.

We saw some good increases when we cleaned up some inaccurate reporting; the second most significant impact came from opening first credit card (bank card). Now we're building up AAofA and keeping that clean payment history. Slow going but it makes me very happy. No app'ing for us - right now that would be our number one score killer (assuming we make all our payments - which we do).