What can I do to improve my credit score?
Hi there! The good news is that you already have what it takes to improve your credit - a desire and willingness to do so! Keep up the good work and timely payments on your student loans. Same goes for your current car payment. With each timely payment, you'll get an "OK" mark on your credit report and in time, your score will go up because you're demonstrating responsible use of credit. You may also want to consider getting a secured credit card to help you build your credit score. A secured card is just like a "regular" unsecured card, only you must put down a security deposit (typically $200-$500) as an assurance to the bank that you will repay your debt. Use this card regularly, pay your balance in full each month and in time, this responsible use of credit will help you increase your score. If you have any past-due debts, pay up to get current. The worst thing you can do to your credit score is miss payments. About a third of your score is your "credit history," or how reliably you've paid your debt in the past. Now that you have the means to pay on time, make sure you do so every single month. Eventually, those late payments will have less of an effect on your credit score and your timely payments will help increase your score. For more tips about how to improve your credit score, check out the link below. Good luck!
How much should I expect my credit score to go up when my bankruptcy finally drops off (10 years after discharge)?
Because your credit scores are most heavily weighted on a forward rolling basis, the most recent 6 months and gradually taper off with each 6 months going back, at the end of 10 years your change will likely be minimal - I would guess no more that 15 points. What really will make the difference is how you have handled your affairs since the bankruptcy. Have you re-established, do you keep your usage of revolving credit low (less that 25%), are your payments always current, what is your mix of credit, do you have stable employment and residence - all of these will play more heavily than the dropping of a 10 year old public records entry.I once had a tax lien, as a result of a miscommunication, which I promptly paid. While it haunted me for the next 7 years (I had to keep reaffirming the payment as all three bureaus kept bringing it back as unpaid), when it fell off, my score only moved by 5 points.The truth is, nobody knows for sure how someones score will change as the algorithms are more well protected than the credit files themselves, which have been hacked on several occasions.Hope this helps.
Why did my credit score go up overnight?
Hello..my husband and I are applying for a new home...we obviously don't have the perfect credit but we have stable income and our debts are very low...we are in the process of rebuilding our credit..but I have had no activity recently on my credit reports and I subscribe to Identity Guard every month to monitor my credit...well I got an alert email saying I have an inquiry on my report. I checked it and it was the lender when we went in the day before to check our credit. I thought nothing of it...then two days later I got another email for activity..so I logged in and saw my scores WENT UP...not down but UP! My score jumped 15 pts. on one, almost 20-30pts. on another, and only 2 pts. on the other one...I thought it was a mistake..I haven't done anything different or anything on my credit since that one day where I signed for him to run a check on our scores...can anyone explain this?? I'm not complaining! I'm just lost... :-) Thanks!
Does my credit score go up when i turn 25?
Nope. Check your credit reports and make sure you take care of the negatives. If you have credit card balances, start paying them in full each month.
Does your credit score go up if you overpay your credit cards?
No, it doesn't. While credit agencies might imply otherwise, credit scores are based on two things: your reliability in making regular monthly payments on or before the dates they fall due; the percentage of profit the account earns the card issuer. In this latter respect card companies reap profits in two ways; firstly from commissions paid by the vendor when accepting payment for goods with your card, secondly by interest charged on the unpaid balance of your account at the end of each month. The last thing that credit card companies want is for you to have a positive balance on your account, or for you to pay off your account in full at the end of each month. Both limit their income to vendor commissions and deprive them of the more lucrative element of interest. So the person who scores highest, is the one who runs his card at the credit limit and who regularly, and without default, pays the minimum monthly payment shown on the billing. This maximises annual interest return and makes the card company very happy. By rote, that happiness reflects in your credit rating. Of course for those that pay off their account each month, the credit card companies have devised all sorts of practices to trap you into paying penalties. If you want more information on how this is done and how to avoid the traps, as well as sound advice on how best to manage credit cards, you might want to do what I have done and that is to subscribe to the following website. It's based in the UK but the advice it gives is universal and what it discloses about the connived theivery of the banking and finance industry, is truly an eye-opener. http://www.fool.co.uk Be sure to trawl its archives. 24.03.06: You misread it tevangelista. I never suggested that an account should be run at its limit. Only an idiot or a person who is desperate does that. I merely identified the type of account that scores highest with the CCC's. Bureau scores are based on input from credit sources; but then you know that anyway. Providing there is no history of default, the principles associated with 'High Risk Activity' went out of the window with the advent of balance transfers and other forms of debt trading. In the UK alone, there is a trillion poundsworth of paper on the market, most of it unsecured and much of it being punted around from one owner to another on a daily basis. Times have moved on.
If I pay off my debt will my credit score go up?
I have 6 credit cards. Best Buy, Best Buy MC, Express, Capital One, Citi Card and Credit one. Total credit limit is $11,850. My total combined balance is $9879. I also have a car loan which was for around 13k in 2011. I owe around $5500 left on that. My credit score is 655 which sucks. If I pay off the entire car loan and $9879 for the cards how long will it take to have my credit score to go up? I am trying to get a new car and want the lowest monthly payment possible... the interest rate on my current car is 9% which is high. I want around 3 or 4 at the highest. I am going to trade in the Mazda since Ill fully own it and it has decent value along with 4 or 5k down. Should I pay off all the cards then spend a little bit of them so i still have activity like payments reporting to the credit bureaus?
How many points does your credit score go up when you pay off a credit card? How long to reflect your score?
It depends on how high the balances were in relation to your limits. If you were using 80%+ of your limits then your score could rise quite a bit. If you were only using 10% of your limits, you may or may not get a couple of points. EDIT: "Both of my limits were maxed out" If all else is well with your credit and these are the only revolving accounts you should get a pretty nice boost in your score (50-80 points). My credit card companies report to the bureaus around my billing date each month. Your score should go up as soon as they report.