I need a mod for my credit score!!!!

[Monchy36]

Direct to the point! My last thread show me that there's a lot of people here with good knowledge about lease, loans and numbers... Here's my problem for young stupidity i mess up my credit, the past 6 months i'm been working on fix it! my girl took the car on her name, but i want to pass the loan on my name because right now i only got just 3 credit cards i pay all my bills, keep everything the way it should be but my credit doesn't go up! I'm on 555 and i need to get to 620 so the bank pass the loan to me... any advice to supercharge my credit? TIA!

[montyhp]

I don't know what you did in the past, but it can take some time. I would get rid of all credit cards except one. Have you pulled your credit report? Make sure that all old accounts are actually closed, not just paid off. If you have too much available credit for your income it can drive your score down.

Also try to get ahead so you pay for most things cash. Open a money market or other easily accessible account and start building up an emergency fund that you pay each month. Once your emergency fund reaches 6 months salary, you can start using the excess to buy stuff that you would have originally put on a credit card.

Again, it can take a few years.

[Mr_Draco]

Credit cards are the worst thing you can do for credit. Seriously most lenders don't even look at them unless you have a high credit limit on it, $5,000+. Also having a lot of credit cards will hurt. Most experts say having 2-3 is the most you should ever have and having more hurts your credit, so don't get any more. NEVER keep a balance on your credit card, pay it off completely every month. People who say keeping a balance will help your credit don't know what their talking about. Credit cards have almost zero effect on helping raise your credit but will devastate it if you get behind.

Sadly the fastest way to get your score up that high will take longer then what is left on your car loan. Also sadly the fastest and easiest way to raise your credit is buying a new car. The second fastest way is to go the bank and take out a personal loan of a few thousand dollars. Put the money away in a savings account and pay on the loan every month. After a minimum of a year, pay it off, anything less then 1 year won't help you. Do this 4-5 times and you'll have somewhat good credit but no where near as good as the other route.

Also another to keep in mind, lenders want HISTORY. Most lenders don't give a crap about scores, what they care about most is a good history. What they want to see is in the past you was able to take on large lengthy loans and you paid them off and was never late with a payment. This is why credit cards will NEVER raise your credit unless they are high limit cards. You could have a 750 score but if you have a bad history you still wouldn't get a loan and the opposite is also true. You could have a 550 score but if you have a excellent history you'll get a loan. Unfortunately, your "young stupidity" has caused you to have a bad history and the only fix for that is Time.

[MackMan]

Originally Posted by Mr_Draco

Credit cards are the worst thing you can do for credit. Seriously most lenders don't even look at them unless you have a high credit limit on it, $5,000+. Also having a lot of credit cards will hurt. Most experts say having 2-3 is the most you should ever have and having more hurts your credit, so don't get any more. NEVER keep a balance on your credit card, pay it off completely every month. People who say keeping a balance will help your credit don't know what their talking about. Credit cards have almost zero effect on helping raise your credit but will devastate it if you get behind.

Sadly the fastest way to get your score up that high will take longer then what is left on your car loan. Also sadly the fastest and easiest way to raise your credit is buying a new car. The second fastest way is to go the bank and take out a personal loan of a few thousand dollars. Put the money away in a savings account and pay on the loan every month. After a minimum of a year, pay it off, anything less then 1 year won't help you. Do this 4-5 times and you'll have somewhat good credit but no where near as good as the other route.

Also another to keep in mind, lenders want HISTORY. Most lenders don't give a crap about scores, what they care about most is a good history. What they want to see is in the past you was able to take on large lengthy loans and you paid them off and was never late with a payment. This is why credit cards will NEVER raise your credit unless they are high limit cards. You could have a 750 score but if you have a bad history you still wouldn't get a loan and the opposite is also true. You could have a 550 score but if you have a excellent history you'll get a loan. Unfortunately, your "young stupidity" has caused you to have a bad history and the only fix for that is Time.

Wow that's extremely informative. Thanks for the advice there, even though it wasn't meant for he it explains a lot and hopefully will help the OP. I thought canceling credit cards hurt your credit. I have a few credit cards that have nothing on them and I will never use again, but didn't cancel them because I thought that hurt your credit. Weird.

[Monchy36]

I have student loans, medical bills and a car loan that i return it and din't pay the deference... but also pay off after that 3 car loans that i got with my ex 1 i pay it complete and the other 1 got pay off after a friend took a loan to get the car, last one i think my ex sell the car to a dealer... i was going up but after this last car loan my credit when down again... and the credit cards 2 i got it for more than 5 years and the other one my bank tool me to get a secure credit card that was going to help me to raise my credit... how about if my girl and me refinance the car together? that would help my credit score?

[Monchy36]

Originally Posted by MackMan

Wow that's extremely informative. Thanks for the advice there, even though it wasn't meant for he it explains a lot and hopefully will help the OP. I thought canceling credit cards hurt your credit. I have a few credit cards that have nothing on them and I will never use again, but didn't cancel them because I thought that hurt your credit. Weird.

Yea! i heard that too! Bank toll me that closing credit cards lowed you credit score... Can you elaborate a little more Mr. Draco in this please?

[habunow1]

The only thing that I didnt see above in the great informantion above is when you get all of your scores pulled see what bad history you can dispute or have removed. I had a Eddie Bauer credit account which I had to get removed from my report ( never even shoped there and would not even know where to find one) the burden is on the creditor to show you, your bad debt and if they cant you can get it removed.

Not making bad decisions and time is the only other thing I can think of.

[Mr_Draco]

Originally Posted by MackMan

I thought canceling credit cards hurt your credit. I have a few credit cards that have nothing on them and I will never use again, but didn't cancel them because I thought that hurt your credit. Weird.

Originally Posted by Monchy36

Yea! i heard that too! Bank toll me that closing credit cards lowed you credit score... Can you elaborate a little more Mr. Draco in this please?

Yes, closing credit cards WILL lower your score. The same holds true for closing ANY line of credit. This is why I said not to open any more instead of saying to close them. Believe it or not, paying off a loan also lowers your score. You are reducing the amount of credit available to you and reducing the number of creditors who reports on you thus it lowers your score. However, like I said above history matters more then your score and closing a card will not negatively impact your history. Personally, if I had a lot of credit cards, I wouldn't think twice about closing a low limit card that is never used but never close a high limit card. If you do decide to close a credit card, NEVER close a lot near the same time.

Also if you have a credit card not being used, it is just as bad as it being closed. Companies are trying to reduce their liability and one of the ways to do so is to close accounts that have been inactive for extended periods of time. A forced closure by the company will look worse then a voluntary closure from you.

[Mr_Draco]

Originally Posted by Monchy36

i was going up but after this last car loan my credit when down again.

This is normal so don't worry. Anytime you open a new line of credit, be it a loan, a credit card or whatever your score will go down. Another reason why credit cards are evil. A credit card will almost never raise your score enough to make up for the score you lose when you first open it.

Originally Posted by Monchy36

how about if my girl and me refinance the car together? that would help my credit score?

Yes doing this will help you a little and at least will get the loan in your name. If you do this, make sure you are put down as the primary and she goes down as the co-signer.

[880]

If you want to rebuild your credit, then get good advice first!!

I don't have the energy to correct some of the things that I just read. Go to a credit-building forum...

[formare]

What he said ...


Good information stays on your report forever, bad information is removed after 7 years and will lower your score the entire time. I dare say you have more than a few loans you are behind in.

[invaderzim]

Originally Posted by 880

If you want to rebuild your credit, then get good advice first!!

I don't have the energy to correct some of the things that I just read. Go to a credit-building forum...

I realize I'm a few days late here but.... +1 on this one.

no offense to Mr draco. he seems to have it about right. but some of his info is wrong or just incomplete.
credit cards. like he said. history is what matters. use them but pay them off. doesn't have to be high limit though. just don't carry more than around 20% of their balance. they will slowly but surely raise your score. even secured ones. every month. people confuse not carrying a balance with not using them. credit card usage is important and not showing a balance hurts your score because it basically cancels that part out of the equation. having a balance and carrying one over are 2 different things. have a low balance put pay it off monthly. as for your medical bills, i might be late, but do NOT pay them off or settle with them until they agree to remove them. this is the only way it'll help you. a paid collection will no longer hurt like in the old days. but won't help score either. just about any collector will agree to remove in exchange for a payment. and depending on how old they are even a $50 collection can lower your score by 100 points. even so, a bank will prefer a guy with a 550 score and 0 outstanding debt over a guy with a 650 score and unpaid collections. so either way its always a good idea to pay your obligations. the repo might be what's hurting you the most. as for cosigning with someone with good credit. that will still get you a high interest rate. so you might just want to fix your credit first. but it will get you an extra account on your file. which brings me to my last bit of advice. lenders like seeing a good mix of accounts on your report. so even though history is easily the most important, number of past accounts still helps. instead of getting a loan and keeping it for a year id recommend the old trick of getting a secured loan, paying it for a month or 2 to get it on your report then paying it off and starting over. do it for a year. you'll have a year of continueous history and now a few more good standing accounts. churning is illegal in the the stock market trade but fixing your credit isnt the stock market so all is fair....