Which credit bureau should I fix first? Which one is the most crucial?

Question

Is it experian?

Also, do you know of a site that monitors all 3 bureau's? (that is good, legit and cheap)

I have 1k in debt, $230 in a revolving balance I'm going to pay off.. I'm wondering also if I should get a secured card to better my score, and maybe get approved for more credit.

Answer 1

In order to build up credit and establish a good credit, you must show a number of stabilizing attributes. Most notably, your report must prove to the lender that he will get his money back. Here are some suggestions:

OPEN A BANK ACCOUNT
Open a bank account and use it responsibly. This is the first step in establishing a financial history.

CO-SIGN
One way is to piggy-back onto someone who already has a good credit history established and is willing to co-sign. Once the co-signing has occurred, you simply make payments on or before the due date. In time you will have established a credit history.

SECURED CREDIT CARD
Apply for a credit card. Shop around and only apply for a card if you can meet the lender's requirements. Responsible use (spending within your budget and paying your bill on time) will help you build a good credit history.

DEPARTMENT AND GASOLINE CREDIT CARDS
Since gasoline credit cards are not revolving (cannot carry a balance forward month-to-month), often they are easier to obtain than regular credit cards. Similarly, some department stores offer revolving credit for a specific purchase and this is sometimes easier to establish. It is also a great way to establish credit.

This website can be very useful for you:
http://www.howtoestablishgoodcredit.com/Credit_Articles/index.php?page=1&category=7

Answer 2

All credit reporting agencys (CRA's) are separate and do not share information

You might concentrate on the the negative(s) and not a particular CRA.
If you have the same negative reporting inaccurately on one, two or all 3 reports, then dispute that negative with all of the CRA's it is reporting to.

When you dispute with the CRA's you should always use a paid report that you get from each CRA. Don't use a tri-merge report to do your disputes from.

For using a tri-merge report to keep tabs on whats going on with your reports, they are pretty similar. Both in price and what they offer. I use True Credit myself and I believe the current price for that is close to $15 per month (once you sign up at a price you will not be affected by any price hikes they may have in the future)
Walmart has (or had at one time) a link from their site to sign up for TC at a discounted rate. You might check it out.

Also with TC, you are allowed a fresh report every 12 hours + 1 minute. But it does not auto refresh, you have to click on the "update my report" or "update my scores".

Keep in mind that the scores the tri-merges show are not true FICO scores and could be off by a few points to more than 100 points.

As for applying for a secured card, since I don't know what negatives or scores you have it would be hard to say if you "might" be approved for a regular card or a secured card only.

If your scores are in the mid 500's to very low 600's (more or less) than applying for a secured major credit card would probably be best. You could try Bank of America (BofA), Orchard Bank, HSBC, and possibly even Hooters. (yes Hooters has a major credit card lol) Stay away from Cap One. They will only hurt your scores since they will not report your credit limit and that makes your utilization look bad.

If your scores are in the low 600's, you might also try Juniper/Barclay's Bank partner cards. (Carnival Cruise and US Air seem to be the easiest to get for people with those scores)

You might also try for store cards like Walmart, Target etc. (Old Navy is one that is hard to get with low scores)

Before you start applying, you might do some searches on the following link:
http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?autocom=creditpulls

It is a fantastic and free search tool for looking up individual creditors. You can see which CRA they pull, what scores a person was approved or denied at, many times what negatives a person had on their reports at the time etc.
Don't click on a particular CRA or state as that would not give you a complete picture of that particular credit card company.

Answer 3

If you are paying as agreed. Your score is what it is. They use outstanding debt as a % of your total income. Lower the debt, better is your score. Most people go by equifax FICO score

Answer 4

All are crucial. If you are applying for a major loan such as a mortgage, they tend to run all three and average the fico scores.

Answer 5

they are all equal.