How can I raise my credit score?

Question

I have been on this up and down rollercoaster with my credit. Just at the beginning of the year my credit score was a little over 600, now it was ran a couple of weeks ago, and now the median score is a little over 550. I dont get it, I am on time with my payments, and I have not applied for any other credit cards or loans. I have signed up for a credit company that professionally disputes items on my credit report. Was that a good move? I also disputed items myself a couple of months ago, and SOME items were removed, but the score had not been updated yet, so how long does it take to update my score number. HELP! We are trying to buy a house in a year, and we will be making a lot of xtra income, is it better to pay off 1 of the 2 cars we have or is it better to save the money for a down payment. Oh another thing, we area single income family as I am a stay at home mom, and I intend to stay that way. So whats the best thing for me to do?

Answer 1

They go by your debt ratio and how you pay the creditors that report to the bureau's.

Sometimes you have to constantly be on the bureau's behinds and your creditors, to report accurately.

My own goes up and down 2pts, then jump 10....it also depends on whose pulling the report.....enquiries will also bring the score down .......I don't allow anyone to pull my credit, no matter how much the beg, plea and lie that it will not hurt "your score"......they lie.
You have a professional credit company "bah humbug" they may be the cause to collect more more and you can do it yourself!

It takes about 6 months to a year to get a higher score, just don't get any deragotories! and keep your debt on your credit cards less than half and pay them about 2 weeks in advance..............weird but this is what they look at.

Answer 2

As far as obtaining a mortgage goes, between paying off a car and having a greater down payment, use the money for the downpayment.

Paying off the car will increase your household income/debt ratio so it helps, but it's easier for a bank to lend out money if the value of the property exceeds the amount borrowed against it.

Your monthly payments overall will be temporarily higher (payments on the car loan will be greater than the same borrowed on the mortgage), but in a few years you'll be glad you chose that route, especially if you plan to sell.

As for the credit score, it really depends. You say you're keeping up with the payments, but not if you've increased the amount borrowed on the card and only paying the minimum. The disputes really depends on the card companies and the situations, so I can't give an opinion on that.

Answer 3

First, I am sorry to tell you that you are paying a "professional" to dispute tradelines and that is something that is free to all consumers as providing by the Fair Credit reporting act. When a customer disputes directly with the 3 bureaus then these inquiries never impact the credit score of the consumer, other types of inquiries do have a negative impact. Go on line to the websites below and get your free credit report, you get one free per year, and dispute directly with them. I have also included a website from the Federal Trade Commission that explains how credit scoring works. Hope these help.

Answer 4

If you want to buy a house in the near future, you need to pay off as much debt as you can, especially credit cards. Having credit cards with no outstanding balance will increase your score greatly.

I suggest you make yourself a very strict budget which includes putting a set amount into a savings account for your future home purchase. You will need cash in hand for all sorts of costs and a nice downpayment might get you a better interest rate and/or lower payment.

With such a low credit score, you may want to plan on two years to buy that home.

Answer 5

Get your credit score for yourself! Go to www.myfico.com they are the ones who "invented" the score and there will be 3 of them. Most lenders go with the middle one so someone may have quoted you the lowest or the highest and the credit repair people may have quoted the lowest and then the higher one after they had time to "fix" it. No offense but, not everyone out there is on the up and up. Good luck Don't let a lot of people pull credit to find out the score go to the fico. Everytime credit is pulled unless it is for a similar purpose like different lenders when you buy a house it impacts the score-you see? It looks like they may have denied you credit if they don't open a line of credit for you!

Answer 6

okay first do you have your own copy of your credit reports? If so, there is a summary stating what is affecting your credit score.

Stay on top of your credit repair company and make sure they are disputing ALL negative items including the inquiries. Sometimes it takes more than one round of letters to get them removed.

The credit repair company below has a link on their main page for a free 30 day trial of my fico scorewatch. scorewatch will notify you at the end of thirty days and ask you if you want to continue = its about $8 a month to monitor your scores.

Answer 7

. Usually companies charge hundreds of dollars to simply pull your credit and send correctly worded dispute letters—this is the key…..people will tell you that you can do this yourself for free but the truth of the matter is that the credit bureaus will throw your letters away or simply reject them. There is an easy to use online kit that will deliver the results you want available for just $19.95 at the source website. A similar kit is being sold via infomercials and radio talk shows for seventy dollars more but they try to solicit you repeatedly for other services after the fact.

Answer 8

Hi.
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