How long does it take to fix credit?

[dxkj]

Did a credit score report and it was pretty low due to thinking I had a card paid off, and having it roll on me for 6 months (they never got ahold of me).


Do making regular purchases help, or could i just leave the cards to gather dust on them and it would be fine?



My options:

1) Pay for everything with debit card
2) pay for everything with credit card, and then pay it off each month before interest, with my bank account

 

[Queasy]

Financial institutions are concerned about your 24-month history so it will take two years to clear. Your best bet is just to make sure that all payments are on time from now and that you don't carry a balance any more than 40% of your limit on any card.

 

[boyRacer]

7 years before those things get cleared...

 

[StageLeft]

As long as your credit account is still open the frequency of your using it is not reflected in your credit report whatsoever. It may score you points with your CC company which will result in an increased limit, which is then fed to your credit report and will likely help your score, but your credit report has no representation of how much you use the CC.

In regards to how long it can take to fix it depends how bad your score is and how much history you have on it. Several screwed accounts can take a good number of years but in your case if it's just the one card and you can somehow get another one (unlikely at this stage) or a car loan (likely with a high interest rate) you can repair your credit much faster.

 

[dxkj]

I have 2 cards at the moment, each for 1k limit. I lost the third card (it was the one I oopsied on).

Been using credit cards for about 2-3 years.

 

[Queasy]

Call and cancel the third card that you lost. Keep only two cards active and keep the balances <40% like I mentioned above. Keep paying on time and your bad payment history will be gone in 24 months.