Don't understand why my credit score is only 600?

Question

I only have I neg. account for $300 that I didn't know about until seeing my credit report.

I seen my credit report all my 5 cards have a 0 balance. With a limit no more than 1,000.

I have only paid rent on time for 1.5 years.
I have been paying my sprint bill on time for 4 years.
Electric, student loans, etc I have never missed a payment.

It says 18 accounts in good standing.
Why the low score

The 5 cards that I have are department store cards

Answer 1

Are you getting your scores from myfico or somewhere else?
If it's the "somewhere else" that could be a major part of the problem.

As for other ways to look for the problem --

The one negative is part of the problem, no denying that. Though you didn't mention if the negative is actually yours. If it is, if it is still with the original creditor or a collection agency, etc.

Store cards, and loans, do help but they do not factor in as highly as major credit cards.
You might go to your bank or credit union and see what they have to offer as far as major credit cards (secured or unsecured)

You have the student loan and only 5 accounts with a total of approximately $5000 (or less) of revolving "store" credit, your student loan could possibly be throwing your overall utilization out of whack.

If you have any recent lates (within the last few years) that may be a factor. If you do have lates and the lates are with a company you are still doing business with, you could try a goodwill letter asking them to remove the lates.

If you have a short history, all of your accounts are only 4 or 5 years old -- you might see if a parent or spouse would add you as an authorized user to their card, as long as the card you are added to has a long history, no lates, low utilization, etc. (otherwise you would be defeating the purpose)

If your electric, rent, etc., are reporting, that is a plus. Those types of accounts do not always report for many people.

Building credit is a series of ups and downs. When you apply and/or receive new credit, you will have the hard inquiries along with the new age of the account.
Though in both cases, the score harm would start to diminish around 6 months or so.

Answer 2

There's a lot of different things that can lower your score so it's hard to tell from the info you shared. If boosting your score is important to you some of the things you'll want to do is follow the steps I have listed here and make sure you get the free credit report monitoring on the article listed below to track your progress.

Here are my 10 steps you can use to build your credit score quickly. I raised mine to well over 700 points fro 500 using these steps in less than a year -- :

# Know and Track Your Credit Score (be sure to sign up for the free trial of your credit score monitoring listed on the article below. It really helped my get my score up.)
# Never Miss a Payment, Starting Today
# Never use more than 20% of your Available Credit
# Keep Credit Cards that Have No Annual Fees Open For as Long as Possible
# Extend Your Credit Limit on Cards You Already Have before You Get New Ones
# Get Credit Cards that Have CashBack Rewards to Contribute to your Balance
# Transfer Your Balance to a Credit Card with a Lower Interest Rate and a Higher Available Credit-
# If You Think You Are Going to be FORCED to Pay a Bill Late Ask for an Extension or Payment Plan
# Take out a Small Personal Loan and Repay it Over a Year
# Ask Someone With Good Credit if They will Account Shadow you

Read the full article here, it gives you an overview of credit scores, and the 10 steps in detail on page 2 .. Good luck!
http://millionster.com/articles/debt/increase-fico-credit-score/

If you have any more questions just post a comment on my blog above.

Answer 3

One negative account can hurt you score quite a bit.

And the fact that you only have a limit of 1k and very little activitvy is hurting your score. Not having and debt doesnt mean your score is going to be higher. In fact if anything that could be hurting you also. The people with the best credit scores ussualy have alot of activity, some debt, and very high limits. But the key is to NEVER have a late payment.

I would not worry to much about it though. With a little work you cuold get that score up ner 700 in no time. I would start using your card, and paying like 95% of it off every month.

Answer 4

The following 5 critical factors affect your credit score in a major way. By knowing these you can keep a check on them and make your credit score a healthy one.

1. Re-payment history

This factor carries the highest weight in your credit report. How steadfast are you in repaying your loans, makes your credit report shine. Experts claim that this factor alone accounts for 35% of points in your credit score. So, if you falter on repayment front it is sure to be reflected poorly on your credit score.

2. Outstanding debt

The next comes your debt burden. How much you owe is a factor that according to experts carries about 30% weight in your credit score. This is
30% is based upon outstanding debt. To get a better score it is advised that you keep your outstanding debt to a minimum.

3. Length of your established credit history

The time for which you have a credit history also matters. The longer your established credit history the more credit reporting agencies believe in you. This could be simply because of the fact that they have more data to analyze your financial position. Experts give it a 15% weight in determining your credit score. Read more about it at: http://www.credit-card-gallery.com/article/204,5_critical_factors_affecting_your_credit_score

Answer 5

Think about this
Payment HISTORY 35%
Amounts owed 30%
types Creidt 10%
New Credit 10%
Lenth of History 5%

Answer 6

Just use 2 of your credit cards, only charge like maybe a tank of gas on them each month, this raise my credit score 70 points in 2 months, make sure to pay them off every month

Answer 7

The more companies check on your credit the lower it will become.

Answer 8

With that many accounts,,, and also a negative one,, that can hurt it.