Credit Score

[John Larkin]

And what Christopha said + get one of those cash back ones like American Express Blue Cash. Gas, groceries, and any bill that will accept it. Just be dedicating to paying the balance monthly. I got one in April and so far have about $50 in rebates. Free money is hard to turn down.

 

[gnxtc2]

My experience for getting a loan

This is why I hate getting loans, all banks SUCK, period.

My experience:
I had a loan with Midlantic Bank which was bought by Valley National. I paid off the loan, never missing a payment nor being late. I have been banking with the same for 5 years. A few years go by and apply for a loan. I had more $$$ in the bank than I was asking for. I get a call for me to contact the bank. The bank person said I had to come down. She tells me that I am denied due to an undetermined amount of debt......WTF is that?????? She continues to tell me that I pay off all my credit cards and have no debt. I reply isn't that what everybody wants to be; debt free. She says your right but.......

I closed the account and withdrew all my money. I go to another bank, open an account and get a loan with no questions asked.

If I can pay cash, I pay cash.

Like I said, I hate all banks

Take your money out that credit union and put it else where.

Billy T.
gnxtc2@aol.com

 

[86 TR]

I did a little research. I got copies of my credit report from all three agencies and low and behold there is one outstanding debt I forgot about. Medical bill from the hospital from about 5 years ago. I paid that off and now Im going to work to get those credit cards paid off and hopefully that will start to bring my score back up.

Thanks for all of the helpful input guys...

 

[granatl]

Creditors want to see your ability to pay on time, and effectively manage the credit that you already have. So, being late, especially on a first mortgage, is a huge hit. Also, they want to see that your ratio of "what you owe" to your limit stays under something like 70%. So if you have a CC limit of $1,000, you're best-off to never owe more than $700, but it's also advisable that you don't pay off the balance either (see how you're doomed to fail???). Sometimes, you can simply "cheat" and as the CC provider to raise your limit, which improves your ratio, which improves your credit score.
Opening a new CC hurts you, closing an existing CC hurts you. You cannot win! It's like the Kevin Trudeau infomercial that runs on tv; the lower your score, the more money they make off you (due to higher interest rates).

In short:
Keep a mix like mortgage, car, CC
Keep the debt-to-limit ratio down, but not 0
Pay on time.
Some credit reporting agencies will accept on-time paying of utility bills to enhance your credit score.

You can use a company like LexingtonLawFirm.com to help eliminate negative items from your report. Figure about $40/mo for about a year to make some real progress.

 

[Evans Ward]

When I see or hear the word "credit score", I think of that guy that says "I'm thinking of a number"! Now back to your regularly scheduled program..... :wink:

Seriously..... working with a financial planner about 3 yrs ago was the best move I could make. Goal is to be debt-free and it's working excluding the mortgage but working on that with the accelerator feature. Wish I could have set those goals years ago.

 

[bison]

but it's also advisable that you don't pay off the balance either. Sometimes, you can simply "cheat" and as the CC provider to raise your limit, which improves your ratio, which improves your credit score.
Opening a new CC hurts you, closing an existing CC hurts you. You cannot win! It's like the Kevin Trudeau infomercial that runs on tv; the lower your score, the more money they make off you (due to higher interest rates).

I have never personally seen a persons credit score go down if they paid off an account that has a balance. Opening a new one hurts you initially form the inquiry and could be a problem if you have several cards that already have high limits regardless of the balances. Closing a CC account definitely hurts you. My score was 823 and dropped to 790 after closing 4 accounts! They didnt even have high limits(under $10k ea.). I countered this by requesting higher limits on my existing accounts and now it is around 815.

The best time to build credit for anyone is in the 18-20 age bracket. I got a few credit cards and had several inquiries on my credit when i was young and it didnt matter having the inquiries too much since i wasnt applying for a big $ loan or getting a mortgage that young. I still have 2 of those initial cards with high limits that i am going to leave open indefinitely. As stated many times earlier in this thread, you can ruin your credit in 90 days but it will take 6 or 7 years from the time you first showed credit to get to a score that will be the most attractive to lenders if you have absolutely no hits on it in the 6 or 7 years prior. Even one late knocks it down a bunch. Ive never been late on anything. Its one thing that my dad said that i actually followed precisely. Dont ever, ever, ever miss a payment! If you have $hitty credit you cant buy $hit!