I have been lurking here for quite awhile reading, learning & improving my credit. I have only posted once before. I'd like to share my experience & thank all the contributors for the great information. My credit about 1 yr ago was very very bad. Middle fico of about 500. I could bearly qualify for a subprime loan to refinance my house. You see, I (my family) had a difficult time a couple of yrs ago financially, low income, switched professions, etc. Anyways, after securing a new job that pays well I have been on a mission to improve our credit. Long story short, my middle score today is low 600s and climbing on a monthly basis. We are looking to build a home this summer. If you want to increase your scores quickly I have found that for people in my situation (many collections, lates, chargeoffs, etc) to focus on a fews key areas. 1) get current on all your accounts (obvious). 2) get your balance to limit ratio as low as possible (<30%). 3) establish some new accounts to build credit, best way is through AUs. 4) dispute derogatory accounts for deletion (charge offs, bad AU accounts, etc) I know this info is pretty obvious to many people but I found out through trial and error. It can get very overwelming when first starting out and confusing. TY!
