How long does it take

It will take some time may be 2-3 few months..the mortgage company has to send your payment record to the credit bureau. Only then will the score improve.

Thank you mac, will I see a significant raise in my score or will this take time.

it will take a bit of time jb - of course your score is also incumbent upon your payment habits on all of your other debts, if any.

payment history is 35% of your score, but the other 65% is important, too; if you havent shopped for credit lately, that is favorable; if your balances are 50% or less than your credit limits, that is favorable; if you have a lengthy (years) history of credit, that is favorable; of course, the better everything else is or has been, the more likely you will benefit in short order once the mortgage begins to be reported as paid on time.

the mortgage is the only debt that I have right now, I don't have any credit cards or filled out any applications for a card in years, so as far as inquiries on credit there should be none on my end. so does not having any cards do me any good at all?

Hi Jbarto,

Welcome to the forums.

Your score will not suddenly jump over to a higher value. It will take time. Having no cards doesn't matter to now because if you wish to rebuild credit, you can do so through timely payments on the mortgage itself.

However, for someone who doesn't have any credit taken out and wish to rebuild credit or for those who haven't gone for credit yet, can take out a credit card of small limit, make timely payments and then raise their score.

In case you need some tips on Self-help credit repair, please take a look at the information available here on this topic.

Thanks,
Jerry

Thank you jerry for a well thought out thorough answer, I really do appreciate it. I don't want to get a credit card right now, I have some other things to clean up and need to continue on this course for now.

I am going to continue to keep my mortgage payment with in that thirty day window. I am hoping making the payments like this on time each month will reap some kind of reward here in about six months. Is that a reasonable expectation? I have a descent income, so to take out credit cards to rebuild credit would be for just that rebuilding, but for now, I don't want to take them.

again, thank you for your reply.

Yeah right you are jbarto. :) If you can contiue paying the mortagge at regular intervals and at the right time, then i hope 6 months will be good enough time for your score to go up.

Not having a diversified credit profile will hurt your credit score. If your credit score is based solely on a mortgage that has been late, then it will take a long while before your score goes up.

Showing lenders/creditors that you were only late with 1 out of 3-5 accounts is reasonable. Showing lenders/creditors that you were late with 1 out of 1 account is not good. Since your score is probably low you may want to apply for a store card or gas card. Although, these accounts are not Visa/Mastercard/AMEX/Discover, they are still viewed as revolving credit. If you do apply for these new accounts, make sure to do them on the same day, and not once every month. Applying once a month can drastically affect your score, and will show that you're desperate for credit.

Yep, app sprees are the best. You don't want too many inquiries on them. Luckily, it's possible to bump them off of EQ and TU with around 60-120 soft pulls. The wonders of TrueCredit and MyPrivacyMatters :)

I do have a small loan on my credit that I paid off last year, I made all the payments on time and established the two year good payment standing there. So I do have some good past history.

I have 17 accounts that are mainly loan accounts that have been paid off in the last 10 years that are in good standing.

Well jbarto i do agree here with banker. Not having a mix and match of credit might affect our score. But that doesn't mean you go on taking loans you cannot afford; may be a mortgage and 1-2 credit cards if possible, that's fine enough I guess.

"Showing lenders/creditors that you were late with 1 out of 1 account is not good."
I agree with this completely. 1 late out of 2 or 3 loans make sense and can be forgotten but 1 out of 1 is something to consider.

Take Care

I will certainly consider taking out a card, I really am hesitant, does the card have to have any kind of amount or can a small one help for rebuilding credit? How long should one keep a card for it to be effective in credit score raising, 6 months, a year or two. I have somethings that will drop off in 2010, So if I take out a small card and use it for a year this would benefit me right? I don't plan on making any major purchases until my car is paid off so taking out a small card isn't going to kill me. thank all of you for your advice.

Does anyone recommend a certain card that don't play with intrest rates, up and down see saw effect?

yeah, a card having a small credit limit can help you rebuild credit. what's important is, how well you can manage it. It is good to keep it for a year at least.

Thanks, I looked at a few today and I have to tell you that it is down right retarded the fees that they want to open an account on the cards that I found, I would never pay that.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what cards have a descent rate? I know that I must be punished but the ones that I found, I would not even consider.