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CREDIT REPORT - Now that we have our free scores, how do we improve them?

G

glen

Lifer
Those of you with succesful storys, please reply.
I need to consolidate and pay off my credit cards.
I had low balances relative to my income, till the market totally crashed.
Now, they are huge, to me at least.
Can I just go to a bank?
Can I do it all on line?
What did you do?
How does it work?
 
I have 2 credit cards, both without balances. The one I currently use (which has a cash back program) is relatively new (~1 year old) and the one I don't use is ~3 years old. What would raise my score more: keeping the older card and not use it, or cancel it? 😕
 
I would think keeping the card would be better, since it shows a long credit history, but I could be wrong. 🙂

EDIT: In response to McPhreak. I forgot to quote. Haha.
 
What did you do?

The day I asked my wife to marry me I put all of my card in my office and left them there.
I have a $14k balance worked very hard that year and paid them all off and saved all the money for the wedding and honeymoon, well not all the money for the wedding my dad and her dad gave us $12k to help out with the wedding.

BTW I worked like 10 100 weeks that year and almost every weekend.

I had told my wife I would be out of CC debt and have the wedding and honeymoon paid for and we did.😀
 
Originally posted by: Renob
What did you do?

The day I asked my wife to marry me I put all of my card in my office and left them there.
I have a $14k balance worked very hard that year and paid them all off and save all the money for the wedding and honny moon, well not all the money for the wedding my dad and her dad gave us $12k to help out with the wedding.

BTW I worked like 10 100 weeks that year and almost every weekend.

I had told my wife I would be out of CC debt and have the wedding and honny moon paid for and we did.😀
Click to expand...

What's a "honny" moon?
 
What's a "honny" moon?

I can?t spell for $hit, but thanks for your helpful contribution I sure glen will be glad you replied to his thread.
 
There's something I need to do.

I have pretty decent credit for my age (I'm 20, have $12K in credit cards), but I owe a fair amount of money.

The sad thing is it's not even all THAT much money. It just never seems to go away, & keeps getting bigger. I'm a dumbass I guess.

Anybody know anything about temp agencies?

All I've ever had are "real" jobs, with a schedule, etc. I kinda like the idea that I could pick up work on weekends without any real commitment (since occasionally I have weekend commitments).

Viper GTS
 
My advice which could be wrong or right:

2-4 credit cards are good to have. Keep the ones you have had the longest and cancel all others.

Never sign up for store department cards to get free stuff. It is not worth the hit your credit score will take. It also takes ten years after you have closed any credit card account for it to be removed from your credit history. The credit limit on open and closed cards is also used in calculating the total amount of available credit. If you have to much available credit, it can be a bad thing.

Loans are a good way to show you can handle credit. A car loan even if only for a couple of years is a good credit builder if you have none.

Never be late on credit card payments. It is usually okay to mail the payment a few days late but never miss a payment before the next months cycle. It will go on your credit report and can really hurt.

Don't have more than half of your credit limit used up. Keep the balance less than 50% of your credit limit on the credit cards if you can. You will lose a couple of points if you don't.

Most important is to get a copy of your credit report. I did this and found accounts that were closed years ago were still being reported open and some still were being reported with balances. Call the companies and always get everything is writing.
 
Originally posted by: GoodRevrnd
I always thought there was a catch to those free credit reports.
Click to expand...

I heard that making too many requests for your report might be bad. I have never been able to confirm that.

 
Someone told me that it's a good idea to get a short-term loan from the bank and pay eveything back on time.
Somebody else also told me that if you know somebody with a good credit with mortgage payment, ask him/her to make you a co-signer. This way, his/her credit from the mortgage from the beginning will automatically transfer to you.

I haven't tried though...
 
Optoman has it pretty much right.

It is more important to show that you have a responsible credit history; ie pay everything on time and never 30 days late over a long period of time.

Opto is 100% correct on the credit cards...keep only 2-3 and the longest ones first.

The rest of his advice is spot on.

Someone also asked about inquiries. Any inquiry that you, as a consumer initiate, will affect your credit score negatively....especially if you have too many within a 12 month time frame.

Also be aware that if you are loan hunting, it is ok to have multiple inquiries within a few days from different loan providers. The creditors know you are just hunting for a good rate. The same is not true for credit cards.
 
Originally posted by: glen
I have always paid cash for cars.
It will be a hard habbit to break.
Click to expand...

Try to stick with one car as long as possible. My car is paid off, and I plan on keeping it until the regular cost of maintenance starts to exceed the equivalent cost of a car payment. Not exactly the sexiest way to go, but I spend maybe an half hour to an hour a day in my car, and therefore I budget it accordingly.
 
Originally posted by: FeathersMcGraw
Originally posted by: glen
I have always paid cash for cars.
It will be a hard habbit to break.
Click to expand...

Try to stick with one car as long as possible. My car is paid off, and I plan on keeping it until the regular cost of maintenance starts to exceed the equivalent cost of a car payment. Not exactly the sexiest way to go, but I spend maybe an half hour to an hour a day in my car, and therefore I budget it accordingly.
Click to expand...

I have never had a car payment.
I always pay cash for the whole amount.
But, now that the market crashed, I will have to drive my car for a long time.

:Q
 
Equifax - improving your credit
Experian - improving your credit score
TransUnion - Managing Personal Credit

Oh...and Dave Ramsey 🙂

Or...in trouble and need help reducing/consolidating debt:
Better Budget Financial Services
^
|
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I'm actually looking to use them for myself to avoid bankruptcy. They *say* they work w/creditors to reduce balances by up to half and setup a payment plan. I've compared them to several Consumer Credit Counseling Service agencies and BBFS offers a lower monthly payment and one-year less on the term (3 years and I'll be out of debt). I've checked at the Better Business Bureau and done Google searches and didn't find any negative items about BBFS. Anyone else heard/dealt with them?
 
the rule i go by is always paying my cred cards off every month. Its hard for some people since its almost like play money but i guess i've got the mindset where i can keep track of what i spent and stay within my boundarys. Credit card debt is the worst because you take such a huge hit in interest. Couple ideas i had though are a lower interest bank loan used to pay off the credit card debt so while you're still getting interest its at a much lower rate. Might run into problems getting the loan though if you have bad credit. Could try getting a 0% interest card and transferring your debt. You'll get hit with a transfer charge and you wont want to use the card before you pay off the transfer because the card will most likely put any new charges behind the transferred debt. so you'll have to clear the transferred debt before being able to pay off the new charges which they'll ding you at regular interest. Call the credit card company and try to get them to lower your rates. Then cut the cards up, and pay as much as you can on them. Use the tax refund for this year and get them as low as you can. Never pay the minimum payment. Paying the minimun payment will take you something like 200 payments to pay it off. By the time you pay it off, you've already paid the same debt twice. Be selective in the credit cards you use. I hold only 2, my primary card is a discovercard which i use for everything and get free stuff from staples due to the reward every couple of months(40 off 40 coupon usable both online and instore) and a chase freedom card for gas that gets me 3% back on any gas purchase, 6% for the first 90 days. once you do pay off your debt you may want to consider a debit card so you're only working with real money thats in an account.
 
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