How to boost credit score

[Train]

Cliffs:
1. Credit stuck at ~695 for 2 years, wont break 700.
2. Several attempts to boost it proved unsucessful
3. ??
4. Profit

/Cliffs

I have been very disciplined, never a late payment in years. Always used my credit cards a decent amount each month, and paid either more than the minimum payment, or the balance completely. Paid off my student loans with ease, bought 2 cars, both paid off early.

My score climbed pretty steady from about 420 in my not so financially smart college days, to as high as 697 about two years ago. When I saw the 697 I figured I would break 700 the next month because my score had been climbing at an average rate of 8-10 points a month.

But here I am nearly 2 years later and havent broke 700, for some reason its been bouncing around between around 675 and 697.

I've taken friends advice and started running up my cards more. use my debit cards as little as possible, and charge everything. I've even put some big ticket items on them. my limits are about $4k per card, 3 cards. it's hard to run up all 3 in a month. But after 6 months of effort to use them more, I have seen no gains at all, still flirting with 700 but wont break through.

Any ideas?

 

[pulsedrive]

Most likely it is having three cards. I personally only keep one active at a time. Find one you like and stick with it. Also, really to get up any higher you need to be a home owner.

 

[Train]

Originally posted by: pulsedrive
Most likely it is having three cards. I personally only keep one active at a time. Find one you like and stick with it. Also, really to get up any higher you need to be a home owner.

Thats the point though, I want to BUY a house, and all my real estate buddies tell me I can lock in a better rate with a 700+, and a GREAT one with 720. Kinda seems like a catch 22 if the only way to get it is to BE a homeowner, but the only reason I want a 700+ score is to BECOME a homeowner

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: pulsedrive
Most likely it is having three cards. I personally only keep one active at a time. Find one you like and stick with it. Also, really to get up any higher you need to be a home owner.

i'm at 750 and don't own a home or anything so i don't think that is really necessary.

a way to make it jump (i think) is when you pay off loans too.

 

[Miramonti]

The FICO credit score algorithm can be extremely complicated. What race are you?

 

[sciencewhiz]

Has the records from your "not so financially smart college days" rolled off the credit report yet? If not, then there probably isn't much you can do.

When I get my credit report from Equifax, it says what factors are hurting my credit score. What does yours say?

Keeping balances on your credit cards may be hurting your score based on credit utilization, depending on how much. Even if you pay it off each month will still show a balance on the report and may hurt, again depending on how much you put on it each month.

 

[msparish]

Using your cards doesn't help your score at all. Keeping a balance hurts your score. How long ago were your college days?

 

[Train]

Originally posted by: sciencewhiz
Has the records from your "not so financially smart college days" rolled off the credit report yet? If not, then there probably isn't much you can do.

When I get my credit report from Equifax, it says what factors are hurting my credit score. What does yours say?

Keeping balances on your credit cards may be hurting your score based on credit utilization, depending on how much. Even if you pay it off each month will still show a balance on the report and may hurt, again depending on how much you put on it each month.

Is it 5 years or 7 years for stuff to roll off? I cant remember. The last time I made any major boo boo's was late 2002, so if its 5 years, the last of it should be rolling off by now. If its 7, guess I'm screwed for now.

 

[FoBoT]

get free copies of your reports from annualcreditreport.com and you can see if that old bad stuff is still on them

 

[Train]

from TransUnion:

Most derogatory public records, collection items, and credit account delinquencies stay on your report for no more than seven years, though there are certain items that could remain longer.

 

[spidey07]

Most negative items or debts sent to collections are 7 years. You're just about screwed until those are gone.

Other than that try to increase your available credit and ask for credit raises on your cards. By using your cards so much you may be actually hurting your score by having a high balance on available revolving credit.

 

[evetstech]

Weird, I have 4 credit cards, student loans, and when I went to get a car loan, they pulled my credit up at 720, and I haven't done anything, other than make payments on my credit card on time. I have 4k credit limit on each credit card, and carry a balance on one of them. So unless you had a bad credit history when you were younger, I don't see how your score isn't higher than mine...

 

[kranky]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
get free copies of your reports from annualcreditreport.com and you can see if that old bad stuff is still on them

^ Yeah, do that.

There's no way to give constructive advice without knowing what's on your report.

 

[OrganizedChaos]

Originally posted by: Train

Originally posted by: sciencewhiz
Has the records from your "not so financially smart college days" rolled off the credit report yet? If not, then there probably isn't much you can do.

When I get my credit report from Equifax, it says what factors are hurting my credit score. What does yours say?

Keeping balances on your credit cards may be hurting your score based on credit utilization, depending on how much. Even if you pay it off each month will still show a balance on the report and may hurt, again depending on how much you put on it each month.

Is it 5 years or 7 years for stuff to roll off? I cant remember. The last time I made any major boo boo's was late 2002, so if its 5 years, the last of it should be rolling off by now. If its 7, guess I'm screwed for now.

most things drop off after 7 years. bankruptcies take 10. inquiries drop off after 1 or 2 years.

 

[gururu2]

think big numbers. approximately how much in total from loans/credit have you paid in on time, how much was paid down late, and how much are you still working on.

 

[BrokenVisage]

:music:FreeeeeCreditReport.commmm:music:

SIKE

 

[piasabird]

Probably has to do with the amount of debt you have versus your income. You would be surprised what will show up on a credit report. Pay down your credit. It may help to make some credit and pay it off right away. Holding a job for a few years helps also. Try paying one credit card off completely.

 

[D1gger]

Here is a page from the credit report I did on myself a couple of weeks ago that lists a couple of things they suggest could improve my rating.

Summary of factors affecting your score
The FICO score is calculated based on the information contained in your Equifax credit history. While knowing your actual score is a good start, understanding the key factors affecting your FICO score is much more important. These factors will provide you direction on how you can increase or maintain your FICO score overtime.

Typically, a FICO score is returned with up to four unique reason codes, which indicate the most significant factors on the credit report affecting an individual's score. Sometimes, particularly when the FICO score is high, there may be only a few such factors, and only two or three reasons are returned. Even more rare is to receive just one reason code. Although your score is very high, there are a few areas where you could score a few points higher. The guidelines below indicate what you can do to improve your score over time by the largest amount. However, nothing in your report suggests that you are a credit risk to lenders and chances are that you will have the widest array of credit available to you.


The time since you last applied for credit (as reflected by an inquiry on your credit report) is too recent

Research shows that consumers who are seeking new credit accounts are riskier than consumers who are not seeking credit. Inquiries are the only information-lenders have that indicates a-consumer is actively seeking credit. There are different types of inquiries that reside on your credit bureau report. The score only considers those inquiries that were posted as a result of you applying for credit. Other types of inquiries, such as account review inquiries (where a lender with whom you have an account has received your credit report) or consumer disclosure inquiries (where you have requested a copy of your own report) are not considered by the score. The scores can identify "rate shopping" so that one credit search involving multiple inquiries is usually only counted as a single inquiry. The FICO score evaluates not only the presence of inquiries, but also how recently the latest inquiry occurred. In general, the more recent the inquiry, the greater the risk.

As time passes the age of your most recent inquiry will increase and your score will rise as a result, provided you do not apply for additional credit in the meantime. Our best recommendation - apply for credit only when you need it.


The proportion of balances to credit limits on your bank or national revolving accounts is too high

Analysis of consumer credit behavior repeatedly finds that owing a substantial balance on bank or national revolving accounts (such as Visa, MasterCard) relative to the amount of revolving credit available to you represents increased risk. In fact, the level of revolving debt is one of the most important factors in the FICO score. A bank or national revolving account such as Visa or MasterCard allows consumers to make a minimum monthly payment and roll or "revolve" the remainder of their balance to the next month. The score evaluates your total balances in relation to your total available credit on bank or national revolving accounts as well as on individual revolving accounts. For a given amount of revolving credit available, a greater amount owed indicates a greater risk, and lowers the score. (For credit cards, the total outstanding balance on your last statement is generally the amount that will show in your credit bureau report. Bear in mind that even if you pay off your credit cards in full each and every month, your credit bureau report may show the last billing statement balance on those accounts.)
The more you owe on bank or national revolving accounts - relative to the amount of credit available to you - the more your score may be affected. So doing your best to pay your bank or national revolving account balances is a smart way to help increase your score. On the other hand, shifting balances among accounts, opening up new revolving accounts, and closing down other revolving accounts will not necessarily improve your score, and could possibly decrease your score.

 

[Viper GTS]

Aside from the aging negatives (which you can't really do much about)...

You need to up those limits substantially. If you're intentionally using the cards and letting the balance show when the statement closes you're screwing yourself by showing high utilization even if you're paying it off in full. Someone who charges ~$2K on a 4K limit and pays it in full every month looks no different on a credit report than someone with a ~$2K balance who makes the minimum payment.

Available credit and low utilization are key here, you need more cards and/or higher limits. If they won't up your limits outright get new cards, you can always combine them for some large(r) limit cards.

Viper GTS

 

[SoulAssassin]

Using the cards more and putting big ticket items on it will *NOT* improve your score. Here's my advice, if you're not looking to buy the house in the next 3-4 months do this: Pay off all your cards and pick one, preferably the one with the best cash back program, to use and pay it off every month. One right after another call all 3 credit card companies and ask for a credit line increase to the maximum that they will give you. Be sure you include your *total* household income when they ask. If you live with your parents include that, if you live with a couple friends include theirs, etc. This is completely legal and actually what the cc companies are asking for. Your FICO will probably take a ~10-20 point dip because of the credit inquiries (depends on if they do a hard pull on or, it may not drop at all) and then even out quickly. Now that you have higher credit lines you have the ability to charge more and use a lower % of your total credit lines. If you have a 2K credit line and you charge a 1K tv to it and pay it off the next month you're still 50% utilized which will drop your score. Get a 10K line and now you're 10% utilized and you're golden. It's important to do all 3 cards in the same day because they won't see the inquiries from the other companies, therefore they will think you have smaller lines and will be more inclined to give you a larger increase. This method has been proven by many, many people.

 

[thereds]

My Experian score is at 684.

The only negative thing on my report, which I viewed today coincidentally, is for a sprint bill that I missed a - read ONE - payment on. It was for a piddly $50 but it was sent to collections. No collection agency ever called me but I realised that I owed Sprint when I remembered one day that it had been a while since I had paid Sprint (for some reason their Your Sprint bill is ready emails stopped).

Is this one missed payment going to haunt me for 7 years?

Also, how frequently is your credit score updated? Every month?

 

[boomhower]

As others have said keep your balances to a minimum. From what you posted you should hit 700 when you last inquiry ages to 6 months. Another thing to consider is your "credit mix". What it basically amounts to is having different types of credit. For a max score you need a mix of credit i.e. both credt and store cards, car loan, mortgage. For what ever reason if you have or had all of these at some point it will increase your score. But do not run out and get a store card thinking it will push you over that 700 mark. It will initially hurt you credit in two ways another inquiry and it will bring down your average age of accounts.

 

[kranky]

Originally posted by: thereds
My Experian score is at 684.

The only negative thing on my report, which I viewed today coincidentally, is for a sprint bill that I missed a - read ONE - payment on. It was for a piddly $50 but it was sent to collections. No collection agency ever called me but I realised that I owed Sprint when I remembered one day that it had been a while since I had paid Sprint (for some reason their Your Sprint bill is ready emails stopped).

Is this one missed payment going to haunt me for 7 years?

Also, how frequently is your credit score updated? Every month?

Still a Sprint customer? You could ask for a goodwill removal of the late payment from your report.

 

[thereds]

Originally posted by: kranky

Originally posted by: thereds
My Experian score is at 684.

The only negative thing on my report, which I viewed today coincidentally, is for a sprint bill that I missed a - read ONE - payment on. It was for a piddly $50 but it was sent to collections. No collection agency ever called me but I realised that I owed Sprint when I remembered one day that it had been a while since I had paid Sprint (for some reason their Your Sprint bill is ready emails stopped).

Is this one missed payment going to haunt me for 7 years?

Also, how frequently is your credit score updated? Every month?

Still a Sprint customer? You could ask for a goodwill removal of the late payment from your report.

Yes, I am a still a Sprint customer. So just call them and ask them to remove that from the report? That's it?

 

[kranky]

Say something like "I've been a Sprint customer for X years and when I checked my credit report the other day, I found that I had a Sprint bill which was sent to collections. This very much surprised me as I am careful about paying my bills on time. For whatever reason I never was contacted about this overdue bill from Sprint or any collection agency, and when I saw that on my credit report I immediately paid it. I certainly would have taken care of it at once had I been sent any notice from Sprint. Would it be possible for you to remove that from my credit report? You can see from my payment record I do pay on time and while I don't know why I wasn't notified about the unpaid bill from Sprint, I paid it as soon as I was aware of it."