Hello all, I am trying to improve my credit score and any advice would be greatly appreciated. I signed up for Bank of America's Privacy Assist service that provides me with my credit information and according to it my scores are as follows: Equifax: 616 Experian: 612 TransUnion: 616 I have a few questions: 1) Are these my true scores? Can I count on these scores being accurate? 2) How can I improve my credit if I have no open accounts? I currently owe $508 on a card that had a $650 limit. I am planning on paying this off within the next two months. Would this have an impact on my credit? 3) Am I able to remove credit inquiries from my credit report? 4) If my accounts have been closed, is there any way to get the reports that I made late payments off of my credit report? I am hoping to qualify for a loan by the end of this year. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much!
I'm not familiar with the BofA service, but I really doubt they're giving you FICO scores. If the service is costing you anything, I would frankly get rid of it. Now, if you want to improve your credit, you need to actually get some more credit and build positive payment history again. A secured credit card can serve that purpose if your FICO scores are in the bad credit range and you can't get access to a regular credit card. If you have a spouse/close relative that's willing to add you as an AU on one of their oldest credit cards with a low credit utilization ratio, that's another option that should help boost your credit scores. Also, pay down that $508 balance on your existing card and your scores should improve quite a bit. Your CU ratio accounts for about 30% of your FICO scores and you want to ideally keep your ratio under 10%. This is the very first thing you should do, before you even think about adding a new credit card to the mix. You can't remove credit inquiries unless they're bogus and the creditor didn't have a valid reason for pulling your credit. Don't worry about any of the "soft" inquiries- they're not hurting your FICO scores anyway. Lastly, dispute any late payments that you believe to be incorrect through the CRAs. If the late payments were legitimate and the accounts are closed, I doubt you'll be able to get them removed.
If you are looking for information for a secured card just go directly on creditnet.com website. It is great resource to compare different cards, so you can find the best one for you. Also, Josh mentioned adding yourself as an authorization user to one of your family member cards. If you can't find a family member to help you out, there are company's out there that will lease spots on credit cards as an authorized users. Make sure you do your research carefully, but it could be another option for you. Thanks! Heather with BoostMyScore.NET
Hey brokegirl, do you have any more questions in regards to our responses? What type of loan are you seeking by the end of the year?
