I am at a loss. I have been reading posts where scores are posted ahowing the progression of increases over several months. How have you done this???? My husband & I have had nothing negative put on our reports since 3/99. There are a 1995 discharged BK7 (with no negs remaining on report from it) & a 1999 discharged BK13 (was buisness related) Only 2 CC neg on husbands(which were mine), but, not reporting on mine. Have older positive items showing. Plus 2 new CC positive since 1/2001+. A new mortage showing positive for 7 months. In the past year there has been 5 inquiries. 3 of which were for the mortagage. So why are our scores going down & not up? 11/01 Tu-580 4/02 Tu-516 11/01 EQ-598 7/02 EQ-591 11/01 EX-574 7/02 ? Not one late payment or missed anything in 3 1/2 years. Any ideas most welcome. Thanks, Becky
First, no matter what your credit limits are, keep the usage down. Using a card to its limit and slowly paying down is a score killer. If you are at a high % of usage on your cc's, pay the balances down. You'd be surprised how quickly it will increase your scores. Otherwise, I don't know why your scores are so low unless, you don't have enough credit. Maybe you should get a couple more credit cards. A retail card also would help for the "proper mix". Maybe a gas card. And lastly, if there are no negs on your reports, then it may just take some time for your good credit to age. I do believe though, if you were to add a couple more cc's that would help you.
YES, it is possible to INCREASE your score by adding extra credit cards...(BETTER DEBT TO CREDIT LIMIT RATIO)...
Thanks, The cards we do have are at $1000 & $1800 CL. Both have had no more then $200 on them at any one time. We just use them each month for gas or groceries & then pay them off on the bill. Not enough activity? One thing the $1800 card originally was issued with a $500 CL. When my husband got it he called enraged that they had issued such a low CL. They rasied it on the spot to $1800. I was surprised that they actual did that. The first card started last year at $300 & it's taken 3 increases to get to the $1000. Yet our scores go down. So frustrating. I am afraid to apply for any other cards. More inquiries, lowering the scores again. Our's never seem to go down 2-3, but more like 10-15 points each time. Becky
Another thing that worked for me was to charge large ticket items, using 50% more of the available credit on my cards, then paying it off almost in full (I'd carry a $5-10 balance). Each time I'd pay off a card, my scores would jump. But I wouldn't suggest you do this unless you have the cash to pay them off every month. Right now your biggest score killer is the bk. As more time passes, it will have less impact on your scores...although most prime lenders will not consider offering you credit until it falls off. You'd be surprised at high your scores will jump once the BK gets deleted. EQ 724 EX 795 TU 745
You can also ask current cards to increase your current limit...NO INQUIRY...OR FORGET IT!!! Unless your score can take the "HIT" with the inquiry...(you may lose MORE than you gain)...
I have a question. How important is it to have a proper mix of credit? I have 2 CC revolving and 1 installment. I don't have any store or gas cards. I am in the process of purchasing a home would it be wise to apply for a store card? I don't really want one. My overall goal is to only have two cards with a combination of $3000 CL. I figure that is all I need. Any advise. I like to pay in cash. However, I need my score to go up how much would it jump?
PAYING ***CASH*** WILL NEVER HELP YOUR CREDIT HISTORY!!! If you don't want any debt...just pay the credit cards in full every month. Also there is no law that says you can't carry a CREDIT BALANCE from month to month...(if you plan on spending about $500 in AUGUST...just send a payment in for $500 at the end of JULY)...
They like to see four cards with Bal , to show that you know how to use Credit cards, but wait until sept/ oct they like to give CC for the spending season. Try Cap one gives cards out to people with low scores,but the limit suck. You just need more CC Activity and the BK to fall off.
Becky OK you did BK CH7 1995 & BK CH 13 in 1999 and Beacon score at 591 as of 07/02. Question, was the BK 13 completed? By the way, forget the scores your get from TU and Experian. You may want to pull your score from http://www.eloan.com which will give you a rough idea of what your TU score is. As far as number and type of cards you would profit from having say 2 store cards and 3 to 6 bank cards each. I recommend that people do not get joint credit cards ever. A bank card is a Visa, MasterCard or Discover card. As far as inquires go, first of all, they only impact your score for 1 year. Second, if you limit your applications for credit to 1 every 91 days, you will never have a major point loss from inquires. No one knows the exact formula but it looks like a single inquiry initially costs about 6 points on the 350 to 800 FICO point scale and trails in a non-linear way to zero in twelve months with more of a point loss closer to the inquiry and less near the 12 month anniversary. Also remember that a inquiry does not report to all the credit bureaus. Another thing to do is, when you don't care about your score, run your cards up to 90% utilization. Zero balances. You want to pay off all cards about 7 weeks before you apply for new credit to temporarily boost your credit score. You should always try to have three open lines of some kind at all times. You said you have two so getting one more will give your a score boost. If you can't get a regular card, you might want to consider a secured card. It would be best if the card does not report as a secured card and has at least a 20 day float with no monthly participation fee. I wish you luck. Me, I filed BK 7 in 1997 and my Beacon score is around 675. I still have about 6 negative accounts but I have 1 installment loan, 2 store cards, 1 Amex gold charge card, and 4 Visa cards. The only accounts that survived the BK were the installment loan (student loan) and the Amex gold charge card. Good luck!
