What are some ways to improve credit without applying for a credit card?

Question

My credit is poor and it has been at a stand still for at least 4 yrs now. I had 2 accounts that went bad when my financial situation changed so they were cancelled and now I do not have open credit accounts and cannot qualify for new ones! What can I do? I know about secured cards and that is something I am looking into but what else can I do? Do cell phone companies report to credit bureaus? Any ideas????

I meant do cell phone companies report your payment history to the credit bureaus.... I knew they used them to decide if they are going to give you service.

Answer 1

you need to visit annualcreditreport.com and run all 3 of your credit reports (for free).
You are allowed by federal law to run your credit report once a year for free.
once you have your credit reports, start rectifying the negative credit items...if that means making payments to people...do it. if there are items on the credit reports that do not belong to you, you can submit statments to tha affect.

you'll need to pay off teh credit cards...and YES cell phone companies report your late or non payments.

so...good luck

Answer 2

If you have accounts in colllections the easiest way to clean your credit is to pay them off...there are some great resources in my source that talk about how to negotiate your credit rating when negotiating a payoff...

Also, keep your cards you do have at less than 50% of available credit...make sure the payments are on time every month (the day your cards go over 50% of available credit you credit takes a big hit!).

Answer 3

You bet Cell phone & all companies use credit bureaus.
Even you employer knows your score, so it affects jobs.
What about rent & power utilities, have you paid them?
Have you overdrawn a bank account or misused an ATM?
Try getting a store account, charge a purchase, & pay for it.
Only buy what you need, & always pay promptly.