This site is excellent. Need some help from you guys. I live in Minneapolis and real estate here is ridiculously high. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever own a home. : ( I recently paid off debt on 2 credit cards (Sears, MBNA). When I looked @ my credit score last summer (when utilizations were both over 90%), I was: Equifax - 614 Transunion - 609 Experian - 574 ??? I haven't had a late payment in over 5 years with Sears---and over 2 years with MBNA. 9 and 8 years respectively with each. I have a student loan that should come off my record in 2006. By getting my balances to 0, how should I expect my scores to increase? Would it be possible for me to hit 700 - 720 by the year-end? Also, is it true that having a Sears card is a "good" thing? Thanks, Tommy