Hey everybody, I've been a long time lurker. Since beginning to repair about six months ago, I've raised my score from 540 to about 755 on all three reports. I just wanted to let everybody know that if I can do it, anybody can. You can raise your score and improve your situation. My question is now what do I do? I have the same sub-prime cards that everybody else has, cap1, providian, ect... and would like to try to get some prime cards and get rid of these old cards. However, I'm worried about getting rid of old tradelines and getting a bunch of new inquiries. I did just get approved for an Amex green. What do you guys think? p.s. I didn't do anything great to raise my score soo much, I just had some old stuff deleted that was scheduled to come off in a year or two anyway. I also got lucky and had some 90 day lates deleted. I'm still a little worried that they are going to get reinserted. Thanks for any replies.
That is great!! Glad you're speaking up. After a few months, AmEx will probably offer you Blue. Go slowly. I got carried away and knocked mine back down with inquiries. breeze
Thanks Breeze, I don't even really use my credit cards very much and I'm not ready to buy a house. It's now become just a stupid game that I'm forced to play. The whole idea of a number defining a person's risk is ridiculous. The members on this board probably have lower than average scores because we are all rebuilding. But I guarantee we all are much lower risks than the general public because we know how hard it is to live with damaged credit. Whew, just had to get that off my chest!
Hey, parasky! Congratulations on your success! If you don't mind sharing, how did you get the items deleted? I am sitting in the high 500's and all negative info is scheduled to drop off by 11/03 (all from 95-96). Is there any way around waiting 2 more years? Thanks!
Parasky- CONGRATS!!! Breeze - I'm right there with 'ya! My eastern-european heritage got the best of me (gotta get it while I can- for tomorrow there might be famine!) Back the the original ? -- what are your goals/needs? If you want to earn points/miles, then stick with Amex (try the Gold Rewards + card if you travel). Make sure you enroll in Membership Rewards. If you want low-cost sources of funds - try Bank of America (they offer 9.9 for purchases and frequently offer Prime for balance xfers). Amex Blue is good at 9.9, and Chase is also great for low-rate intros (3.9) and frequent 5.9 balance xfers. High credit lines? NextCard seems to offer big ones (and reasonable 9.99 rates) - with balance xfers. I've got a wallet-full (and another "card file" at my desk full) of cards. I will whittle them down to 4 or 5 - plus Amex & Diners. That way I'll have a "perpetual" intro rate / bal xfer going on (cheap money) as well as high lines for "whatever" comes up. Breeze was right on the money - go slow, but make sure you exercize & use 'em.
THIS POST IS A BUNCH OF CRAP! I challenge anybody to do what is described below. YOU CAN'T ... 540 to 755 in six months? NO WAY. I've gone from 527 to 634 in the last 2 years by disputing and paying all bills on time. The crap you see below is just that, crap... Mike
Mike.... Why couldn't you? Assume this person has at least a few good trade lines that are a few years old. Assume also that he has several bad ones that are 6-7 years old. Once the bad stuff falls off and he disputes the remaining negatives off, the only items remaining would be all positive (several years old). Unless you know the situation, I don't know if you can make a statement like that. Tom
I think alot of people think that FICO is a graduated scale that you can only incrimently increase or decrease on. It's more like a "snapshot" of whats going on when that report is pulled. As we have seen with other peoples reports "recents lates" are a killer on a report. Taking some poeple in the low low 600's and 500's. If those recent lates we disputed and removed and the report was then flawless imagine the jump in score. Now I do believe that most rebuilding takes place in steps therefore causing scores to increase in incriments. Thats what we see most often and thats why alot of people here think that FICO can only jump "so many" points.
I have gone from 633 to 720 in 3 months, for all of those reasons Tom mentioned...in another 3 months I hope to continue improving on that since I still have public record negs to remove (5 years old), inquiries to drop off (3), and limits to increase (Cap one does not report a limit so I need to get cards that report limits to offset my reported balances). On CreditExpert doing those things makes my score shoot another 70-80 points(even though I don't rely on its accuracy, it still is some measure of scoring using rules similar to FICO). I may not be able to beat 540-755 in 6 mos, but I love to have that as a benchmark to shoot for. -Dave
That is really hard to believe (no one is saying you are not telling the truth). I am with Mike, it took me 2 years to go from a 545 to a 680. I had charge-offs and lates that are now gone. 2 inquiries and no negs and do not have anywhere near a 755. My ratios are exactly the same too. It just shows how truly f* up the whole scoring thing is. . .
No Kidding there messed up. I of course went the opposite way. For no apparent reason other then 3 pulls in 9 months my Equifax went from 751 to 598. Nothing at all changed otherwise. Now explain that one. Becky
IT CERTAINLY CAN BE DONE! It all depends on what you have on your report. If you only have negatives and can get all the charge-offs removed and such BUT don't have any positives on your report then YES, maybe you will only move up at small rates of increase. You sound like you are just building up positives. That's why it's taking longer. BUT>>>>>> if you have positives that remain after clearing all the negs off, you are left with lots of positives, that will jump your score right up to the mid 700's. Right now, I have a 673. I know exactly how to jump mine up to just under 800. It could be done in a matter of 3 months. I just don't have the money at hand to pay off all my credit cards. I have one inquiry left to fall off in about one week. Then my score should jump by about 5 - 15 points. I am hoping that I can jump to 700 or more. It's all about what you start with at first. If you are starting from scratch and building, then it takes time.
Wow! I posted last night before I left work, and then I just got to work and logged on. I didn't know I was going to start a controversy. this is great. I don't feel all that comfortable giving out to many specifics, however, I had some pretty positive tradelines(school loans that I've been paying off for many years with no negatives) and 2 or 3 very bad negatives. One of the negatives was scheduled to come off at the end of this year while the other was scheduled to come off next year. I disputed them all and they were all deleted. I guess that maybe if they are pretty close to coming off then the bureaus don't really try that hard to verify. Other than that I had some over 90's that were killing my score that were deleted. All of these things were deleted in a pretty short time period so I think that's what makes my score jump seen so drastic. I really don't trust it that much, and wouldn't be surprised if my score went back down in a month or so. that's why I'm thinking maybe I should try to get some good cards while my score is this high in case it goes back down if things get put back in.
You are correct. I didn't consider what would happen if a bunch of stuff suddenly dropped off. I guess I will find out in 2004. I apologize for that little outburst. I had a very bad day and vented where I shouldn't have. Mike
No problem, Mike. I guess if this proves anything, it's that nobody really knows how the scores work and the providers are trying to keep us in the dark as much as possible.
NOBODY KNOWS WHAT REALLY HAPPENS WITH F.I.C.O., EXCEPT F.I.C.O. I LOST 5 POINTS ON F.I.C.O. 1 INQUIRY MORE...BUT I ALSO OWE $1,000'S LESS (WITH NO EXTRA POINTS GIVEN). THEY ARE CLUELESS...
