Can I improve my credit score quickly?

Hi Ann!

In order to improve your credit score, you will have to manage the rest of your credit cards responsibly. Do not open accounts which you do not need. This can be extremely risky. The most important thing is that you should not close an account to remove it from the records. Even after closing the cards, they may remain on the records for an indefinite period of time.

Thanks,

Jerry

I recently attended a phone conference.
There really is no quick fix, but there are things you can do to help.

most credit cards should have less than a 70% balance.

If you have a collection that is years and years old, don't pay it off before buying a home to boost your credit score. Do it at closing if the lender requires it. Paying off a collection that is years old brings the debt current and has a negative effect on your score rather than a positive.

You should keep track of your credit as well to make sure no one has fraudulently used your social. Under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act , you can obtain one annual free copy of your credit report. For more information visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call 877-322-8228. You might have to pay a fee for your credit score though.

There are three bureaus, Exifax, Experian, Transunion. Most lenders pull a Tri- credit report and use the middle of the scores.

Remember, closing a credit card doesn't make the debt or the credit history go away. Always pay on time and use credit responsibly and you shouldn't have any problems.

Recently I have closed 7 credit cards after paying them off. I Have two credit cards with a loser apr so I put some of my other balances on that. I still have 7 credit cards. I always pay on time . Some I have had for years. Can I keep the ones I have now? Should I have the credit lines reduced or just get them down to a zero balance?

Hi Guest,

As you pay your credit cards regularly, you will be able to keep your credit cards. In my opinion, you can reduce your credit lines and keep the cards.

There's no quickest way to increase your score. But there's ways to improve it. You just need to be patient and very wise. What you need to do is try to paid all your balances. It will save you more money than you expect. If you can't pay all at least pay a little more than the minimum. It will help you paid off everything earlier. Don't open a new account or purchase something unless you paid first your remaining balance. Try to avoid late payments. It does affect a lot on your score. As long as you show that your responsible in your credit cards and you know how to handle your debts your on the right track... good luck

1. Don't close accounts. You want to show available credit with as low balance as possible. If you have a high amount of available credit with low balances and acceptable income. You are a great client and viewed positively.

2. Pay off balances to below 30% of avail credit. Meaning if you have 2 cards, 1 with $2K limit @ $1000 bal and one with $10K limit and $2500 bal. Pay off the $2K limit card first. Under 30% debt/limit is the way to go.

3. If you have IRS issues, get an accountant to handle your situation and make a deal with the IRS. It will keep any issues off you credit report no matter how big. Don't go it alone.

4. A bunch of store credit cards with low balances does you no harm. As long as it's under 30%. If you don't use your Saks or JC Penny account, don't close it, just cut up the card and live your life.

5. PLUS SCORE MEANS NOTHING. FICO IS EVERYTHING.

6. Don't ever be late on a payment for a car loan or credit card. Do anything you possibly can to pay these on time. 1 late payment take 2-7 years to fall off.

7. If you're even thinking about buying a home, get your credit run as early as you can to plan payoffs and fix errors.

8. AGAIN - DON'T CLOSE ANY ACCOUNTS

That 30% rule is reasonable, but there's no rational reason for anyone to carry a balance at all if they can afford to keep their cards at zero balance. I suggest, if it's possible, to use cards on at least a semi-regular basis, but to pay the bill in full upon receipt, thereby showing a zero balance on each account, negating any interest charges (which are just money ill-spent anyway), and reaping the benefits of a wonderful credit record.

I'm with blue and banker on this. Get your credit card balances down to around 25% of the available balances, and keep them paid on time as if your life depended on it. Your credit life DOES depend on it.

I noticed some disputing whether or not to have more credit lines or less, etc. My take is this, you may take a small hit in your score when you apply for a new credit line, but then again, if you can get a $5000 credit line from it and increase your overall availability, it will help you to get down around the 25% mark faster. Plus, any positive account notation is good...so the more positives you have open to offset any negatives helps in the long run. Just remember that if you do add a new credit line every so often, don't go out and burn through it! It's not the cards that hurt you, it's your spending habits that get you in trouble. See my blog for some personal experiences and some pointers if you wish - armchaircreditrepair.blogspot.com. I just started it last month but I'm going tto keep sharing my personal story and some things I've learned along the way. I'm no professional, just an individual that has learned through trial and error. Good luck!

There is no quick and fast remedy, but just make sure you pay your bills on time and gradually you will work your way back up with a good credit score.

Just wanted to bump this thread and add some accurate information.

There's a few ways to handle revolving accounts that will effect about 85% of your score.

- Keep an active balance on your cards below 35-40% of the limit. In other words, actively use your cards for purchases but only up to a max of 40% of the limit. Anything over will drop you fast and hard.

- Keep an active balance on your cards below 10% of the limit.

- Actively use your cards below 10% of the limit and pay them off every month.

NEVER CLOSE A CREDIT CARD ACCOUNT!!!

If you're worried about having too much available credit, even if you don't use it; Instead of closing your accounts, call the banks and have them lower your limit. The more the merrier is the expression and definitely applies towards your revolving accounts. Cut them up, don't use them, let them stay open. The more credit you're awarded for longer on your credit report will give you fantastic credit. Like I said your revolving accounts effect about 85% of your score.

You can in fact boost your credit score pretty much overnight and legally. You can do this by having someone with a credit card they've had for a long time and have excellent payment history on, sign you to that account as an authorized user. Immediately all of their positive payment history will post to your credit. There are even groups like the ones we work with that you can pay a fee to and they will put you as an authorized user on high limit cards that are paid off every month and keep you on there for about 3 months. This way you can positively impact your credit if you're applying for a car loan or credit cards or a home. You will never receive a card or have use of their available credit of course, but it will help you obtain your own for responsible use.

If you have zero credit, no credit history at all - you can set up what's called a secured credit card. This is something that will take awhile to build up a positive payment history, but it does do just that if you use it properly. Take $250 of your own money and put it on a secured credit card. Buy things you would normally buy like gas, groceries, etc. and pay up the balance every month. 6 months later and you can start applying for introductory credit cards. This same process applies to a line of credit as well.

Lates on an installment loan - These can be disputed pretty easily, but it's basically up to the creditor. It's basically asking them to remove those lates from your credit in good faith. They're typically pretty good about it.

Now let's talk about negative items on your credit for a minute. The bureaus are governed by a set of laws known as the Fair Credit Reporting Act or FCRA. They are only allowed to report accurate information that is verifiable with specific documents from the creditors. If they are not doing this they have to update or remove it IN A TIMELY MANNER. They're given a 30 day period to respond to a disputed item 60 days for a mortgage. Keep in mind they're tricky little devils and they are a for profit business. So they don't really want anyone to know how they work.

They all work with an automated system called E-OSCAR. This system does a number of things for them. I only want to talk about one of those things, disputes. Every day the bureaus receive literal TRUCK LOADS of dispute letters. Every letter is hand opened and ran through a scanner. Reason being is the bureaus are not required to respond to any third party or anything they think is frivolous. When and if it does get to an actual person they have 4 minutes to read it and generate a 3 digit code referencing what manner to proceed. Most often what they do is batch verify without actually verifying. From that response it's a pretty complicated process disputing to actual laws they're breaking and disputing with the creditors as well. While it is true most credit repair agencies charge a monthly fee and take an average of 12-18 months (sometimes longer!) to furnish positive results, this process takes 90 days 105 at most.

There's a lot more. Enough to make your head spin. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Thank you for sharing this! :) I'm sure this info will help a lot of people.

David, we appreciate the effort and the information, but I'd take a small bit of issue with one of the items you cited. You talk about authorized user situations, and I recognize that as a value. However, you mentioned someone paying a fee in order to get listed as an authorized user on an account. I think this is very dangerous territory, and I have always advocated that people who can get things for free ought not to have to pay. In this case, I'm not so much concerned about their ability to obtain free things or not, but more so that there's a business that's evolved from the authorized user gimmick (it's truly a gimmick, so why not call it that?).

Not sure about gimmicks there George. But I will say this. Not everybody knows someone who has great credit or an account with positive credit history who would be willing to do that for them. We always advise everyone if they know somebody they can go to to get it for free, then do that first. Otherwise there are groups out there set up to make a profit on it. If they have the ability to do so and there's a demand, then why not do it?