My credit score is 550. How can I improve my score without going further into debt?

Question

My credit score is poor at 550 level. I don't have any credit cards now, but how can I raise my score??
I have student loans on my credit report, but payments are deferred till I finished college. I have some collections items on my credit report, and was wondering if paying them now will improve my credit score.
Frustrated SSN bearer.

Answer 1

the sooner you will start to pay your collection, the better for you in the long run. if you have any collection, that are 7 years old- don't pay them , they will be removed from your credit report after 7 years . if you will start to pay your newer collection, this will hurt your credit for a while, but after couple mth of timely payment or paying them in full- you will see credit score improvements. also if you can , open new credit card and in your situation , you can get only secured credit card and remember, don't max up your credit card, only use as much as you can pay each mth or live balance below 40% of your credit limit.ask maybe your parents to put you on their credit card like authorized user and their payment history will show on your credit witch will help you a lot.

Answer 2

Credit Score 550

Answer 3

Okay - my husband has a similar score and no things he is currently paying on - same sort of thing - he just has no credit he is showing and some old stuff. Here is what a mort. broker told me - go to a credit union and get a 500.00 CD, then at the same bank open a loan if they will do that for you against the CD, then open a savings acct and have auto withdrawal from the savings acct to the loan acct each month. It will take a year to pay the 500 so you might pay like 15.00 in interest on the loan, but no big deal. They will show a installment loan that was paid on time every month for a year. You will not have to worry about it bc youve already paid the loan, have the money drafted each month without even having to think about it! It is a good plan IMO. Also, he said your credit cards should never exceed 15.63% of their limit. So, if youve got a card w a 800 limit, make sure it stays below like 120.00. I think these two things are good advice and try capital one to get you a card if no one else will. They obviously are not the pinnacle of credit card companies but they will offer you a card with your score being low and the limit will be only like 200 or 300 dollars so you will be able to manage it very easily... Hope this helps - and working on your credit at this time in our country is a superb idea - when our nation turns around there will be a lot of people with poor credit and those of us who have good or great ratings will be offered great incentives for our loans! So good job! ;o) And good luck...

Answer 4

550 Credit Score

Answer 5

Your credit score is not based om how much debt you have, it's based on your ability and willingness to make payments on time. It also takes into consideration what kind of debts are not paid on time. For example, your credit score will be reduced more if you are late paying your car or home loan, because these are necessities. Late payments on credit cards will reduce your score, but not as much.

If you have collection items, contact the lender. They may be willing to remove the collection item if you pay the debt. It's worth a try.

Get your credit report first to determine what's actually being reported. Take care of ay public records first, because they stay on your credit report longer. Don't worry about accounts that are 6+ years since you first went delinquent; they will fall off your report soon.

Answer 6

get a secured Credit Card

I had a low Credit Score and got a secure credit card and payed each bill on time

after 3 months my score shot up 70 points

Answer 7

Never thought about that too much

Answer 8

Thankyou for the answers EVERYONE xx