How to improve credit score?

wrigleyville · January 2015

780 will get you a mortgage, car loan, etc. with really good interest rates (including those 0% deals car dealers run sometimes), so I wouldn't worry too much. Anything over 750 is pretty golden.

FiancB · January 2015

Bleh, I hate this shit so much. It's hard to strike a balance between being good with money and good with credit. They kinda conflict, really. It's like, oh so you're telling me that only buying what I can afford and/or paying it off quickly is a bad thing? It makes me ragey.

My score was piss poor because I only had one small credit card. In the last couple years it's gone way up because I pretty much got a loan for that sole reason and more credit cards. Go fuckin figure. I have bought a couple pieces of furniture and financed them and even though I'd really rather pay them off right away, I'm dragging it out as long as I can while still getting 0% interest. That is one good thing about retail cards- they often have 0% interest for a pretty long time. I'm now the proud owner of cards with Slumberland, Best Buy, and Amazon. Bleh.

But really your score is already fantastic so don't worry about it. That's like getting hung up on someone else getting higher grades when you already have a 4.0.

KatieinBkln · January 2015

Yeah, there's almost nothing you can't get with your current credit score.

Mine was great until I took the world's worst-paying job in book publishing for a few years and ran up a big balance. But that's improving every day; just got one card paid off and my goal is to have a zero balance on the other one by the end of the year.

Back when I was a young thing and my dad co-signed my apartment leases, I saw that his credit score was like, 5 points away from the highest possible score there is! I think it helps to be:

-in your 60s

-lucky enough to have been gainfully employed since you were 23

-obsessive about bill paying

-obsessive about living within your means

-willing to take on SOME debt, in the form of homes, cars, and mayyyybe a major appliance, when you're young

-on top of all your your mortgage(s)

-ETA: be lucky enough not to get sick/need bankruptcy-inducing amounts of surgery or care

But ultimately, that high-800s score isn't snagging my dad any major benefits that a 750 wouldn't have. It just looks cool*.

*cool, of course, as defined by a huge dork like me

huskypuppy14 · January 2015

So everyone has 3 credit scores. I have two in the 780s and one in the 750s. I've had my oldest account for over 12 years, so that is a positive factor. But it also says having accounts over 30 years old are best (Ok so you have to be at least 48 years old for this!).

My credit was dinged a little a couple years ago, because I had one late payment, by accident. I didn't get the bill in the mail, Ann Taylor charged the wrong card. I thought it was charged on one card, but that card had a 0 balance. It was very confusing.

Luckily I called when I never got a bill and figured it out. but it was already late. Apparently they sent the bill to my old address that I hadn't lived in 3 years. My credit score dropped over 50-80 points because of one small error. It went from low 800s to low 700s, still good, but not the best.

It didn't impede me from buying a house last year (though my husband also has excellent credit). What stinks, is the better your credit is, the worse a small error will hurt it, but a small positive factor won't help it. Oh well.

teddygirl9 · January 2015

I have heard completely different things from multiple different people lol. I don't know what makes good credit, and the only thing I know that makes bad credit is missing payments. All I try to do is pay my shit off, and be consistent. I've never been turned down for a loan/mortgage/etc yet, so tbh I don't care what my score is. (and I actually have no idea).

lovemesomemonster · January 2015

I have a credit question for all of you credit savvy ladies! I have excellent credit, it was over 700 the last time we bought a house (that was a year ago, not sure where it's at now but we are looking for house #3 so I will find out). My question is.. I was out of the country for over a month in October/November, while I was gone my checking, savings, and one credit card were closed due to nothing I did myself. My dad was still on my accounts (never changed it after college) and it was an issue with HIS personal account but because of the "relationship" of having his name on my accounts they closed everything with his name on it. I managed to make sure all bills were paid, nothing late, but will this hurt my credit?

Yes, this was a pain in the ass from the bank, I had 3 weeks to go, no checking account, and they thought "snail mail" was a good enough way to alert me that they would be closed.

VulgarGirl · January 2015

Yeah...I don't have a fucking clue what my score is but I was able to get a mortgage, a car loan, and business loan all with decent rates. So it must not be terrible.

I can't believe everyone seems to just know their credit scores. I just try to pay all my bills on time and have as little debt as possible. As long as the bill collectors aren't calling and I've got money in the bank, I'm a happy chick.

arrippa · January 2015

MagicInk said:

Yeah...I don't have a fucking clue what my score is but I was able to get a mortgage, a car loan, and business loan all with decent rates. So it must not be terrible.

I can't believe everyone seems to just know their credit scores. I just try to pay all my bills on time and have as little debt as possible. As long as the bill collectors aren't calling and I've got money in the bank, I'm a happy chick.

My bank sends me my credit score once a month. That's the only way I know.

theartistformerlyknownas · January 2015

MagicInk said:
Yeah...I don't have a fucking clue what my score is but I was able to get a mortgage, a car loan, and business loan all with decent rates. So it must not be terrible.

I can't believe everyone seems to just know their credit scores. I just try to pay all my bills on time and have as little debt as possible. As long as the bill collectors aren't calling and I've got money in the bank, I'm a happy chick.

I only know because American Express tells me.

theartistformerlyknownas · January 2015

Knottie05294205 said:
I have a credit question for all of you credit savvy ladies! I have excellent credit, it was over 700 the last time we bought a house (that was a year ago, not sure where it's at now but we are looking for house #3 so I will find out). My question is.. I was out of the country for over a month in October/November, while I was gone my checking, savings, and one credit card were closed due to nothing I did myself. My dad was still on my accounts (never changed it after college) and it was an issue with HIS personal account but because of the "relationship" of having his name on my accounts they closed everything with his name on it. I managed to make sure all bills were paid, nothing late, but will this hurt my credit?

Yes, this was a pain in the ass from the bank, I had 3 weeks to go, no checking account, and they thought "snail mail" was a good enough way to alert me that they would be closed.

If these were the longest accounts you had, or if closing the card made your debt utilization percentage skyrocket, it could affect your score. But the mere act of closing an account doesn't necessarily do anything bad. It'll just show up like "Paid/Closed/Never Late" on your credit report. All your good months of on time payments will still show up for ten years.

lyndausvi · January 2015

lolo883 said:

I have a credit question for all of you credit savvy ladies! I have excellent credit, it was over 700 the last time we bought a house (that was a year ago, not sure where it's at now but we are looking for house #3 so I will find out). My question is.. I was out of the country for over a month in October/November, while I was gone my checking, savings, and one credit card were closed due to nothing I did myself. My dad was still on my accounts (never changed it after college) and it was an issue with HIS personal account but because of the "relationship" of having his name on my accounts they closed everything with his name on it. I managed to make sure all bills were paid, nothing late, but will this hurt my credit?

Yes, this was a pain in the ass from the bank, I had 3 weeks to go, no checking account, and they thought "snail mail" was a good enough way to alert me that they would be closed.
If these were the longest accounts you had, or if closing the card made your debt utilization percentage skyrocket, it could affect your score. But the mere act of closing an account doesn't necessarily do anything bad. It'll just show up like "Paid/Closed/Never Late" on your credit report. All your good months of on time payments will still show up for ten years.

This.

Closing of the checking and savings should not effect you. The closing of the credit card can hurt you in terms of length of credit and utilization.

lovemesomemonster · January 2015

Thanks ladies, sorry to ask on someone else's thread.. credit card was the longest open but with a VERY small credit limit (college card almost never used) so hopefully it won't hit that bad.. I was so angry that they left me in another country with no funds, and no email when I do all online banking at the time I could care less if it hurt it, I just wanted to get AWAY from that bank!!!

lyndausvi · January 2015

MagicInk said:

Yeah...I don't have a fucking clue what my score is but I was able to get a mortgage, a car loan, and business loan all with decent rates. So it must not be terrible.

I can't believe everyone seems to just know their credit scores. I just try to pay all my bills on time and have as little debt as possible. As long as the bill collectors aren't calling and I've got money in the bank, I'm a happy chick.

We are looking to get a house so we checked. Good thing because DH had a medical collection we never knew about. Never got a bill or anything. Found out later it was a mistake and was taken off (and his score went up).

If we are not looking to buy something like a house or car we don't bother keeping track.

JCbride2015 · January 2015

huskypuppy14 said:

So everyone has 3 credit scores. I have two in the 780s and one in the 750s. I've had my oldest account for over 12 years, so that is a positive factor. But it also says having accounts over 30 years old are best (Ok so you have to be at least 48 years old for this!).

My credit was dinged a little a couple years ago, because I had one late payment, by accident. I didn't get the bill in the mail, Ann Taylor charged the wrong card. I thought it was charged on one card, but that card had a 0 balance. It was very confusing.

Luckily I called when I never got a bill and figured it out. but it was already late. Apparently they sent the bill to my old address that I hadn't lived in 3 years. My credit score dropped over 50-80 points because of one small error. It went from low 800s to low 700s, still good, but not the best.

It didn't impede me from buying a house last year (though my husband also has excellent credit). What stinks, is the better your credit is, the worse a small error will hurt it, but a small positive factor won't help it. Oh well.

You're kidding, right? The only late payment on my credit report is my Ann Taylor card... because I mistakenly thought I had paid it all off, and they never sent me a bill in the mail!

flyingfoxes · January 2015

The only reason I know my score right now is my fabulous recently-dumped gynecologist's office threw our records out in the Dumpster instead of shredding them for anybody to find. Our consolation prize was a year of free credit monitoring to avoid identity theft.

huskypuppy14 · January 2015

mobride2015 said:

The only reason I know my score right now is my fabulous recently-dumped gynecologist's office threw our records out in the Dumpster instead of shredding them for anybody to find. Our consolation prize was a year of free credit monitoring to avoid identity theft.

WTF! That must be a huge HIPPA violation in addition to an identity theft risk.

huskypuppy14 · January 2015

JCbride2015 said:

huskypuppy14 said:

So everyone has 3 credit scores. I have two in the 780s and one in the 750s. I've had my oldest account for over 12 years, so that is a positive factor. But it also says having accounts over 30 years old are best (Ok so you have to be at least 48 years old for this!).

My credit was dinged a little a couple years ago, because I had one late payment, by accident. I didn't get the bill in the mail, Ann Taylor charged the wrong card. I thought it was charged on one card, but that card had a 0 balance. It was very confusing.

Luckily I called when I never got a bill and figured it out. but it was already late. Apparently they sent the bill to my old address that I hadn't lived in 3 years. My credit score dropped over 50-80 points because of one small error. It went from low 800s to low 700s, still good, but not the best.

It didn't impede me from buying a house last year (though my husband also has excellent credit). What stinks, is the better your credit is, the worse a small error will hurt it, but a small positive factor won't help it. Oh well.

You're kidding, right? The only late payment on my credit report is my Ann Taylor card... because I mistakenly thought I had paid it all off, and they never sent me a bill in the mail!

Nope, I was shopping in Loft one day, and apparently a LOFT card is different than the Ann Taylor card ( that I already had). So I opened up the LOFT card to get 10% off or something (so stupid). I assumed they charged the new LOFT card, nope they charged my Ann Taylor card (I didn't actually have the physical card, so they must have looked it up).

A couple months later I had never gotten a bill, but the LOFT statement showed 0 dollars. I ended up calling and telling them I never got a bill. They said it was on my Ann Taylor card, not my LOFT card and I was almost 60 days late. They had my old address, so I never received the bill. They waived one of the late fees, but it was still dinged at 30 days late. Oh well, live and learn. I don't think I'll open any more store cards now.

lovesclimbing · January 2015

Argh, H and I need to get credit cards!! We don't have any and we never have. We're early/mid-20s. We just use debit cards from the bank. You'd think that's the responsible thing to do, you know - really no risk of spending more than you can pay, but nooooo, have to have a credit score.

We'll need a credit score in a few years, so I should really sign us up for a couple.

jenna8984 · January 2015

@lovesclimbing you definirtely should!! As we are all saying we get dinged for not having long enough credit history so I wish I had opened mine at 18 instead of 21.

teddygirl9 · January 2015

lovesclimbing said:

Argh, H and I need to get credit cards!! We don't have any and we never have. We're early/mid-20s. We just use debit cards from the bank. You'd think that's the responsible thing to do, you know - really no risk of spending more than you can pay, but nooooo, have to have a credit score. We'll need a credit score in a few years, so I should really sign us up for a couple.

You can also get pre-paid credit cards, that are basically debit cards, but still build credit. And you can use them for online purchases where debit is not available.

theartistformerlyknownas · January 2015

jenna8984 said:

@lovesclimbing you definirtely should!! As we are all saying we get dinged for not having long enough credit history so I wish I had opened mine at 18 instead of 21.

Another thing you can do is get added as an authorized user on your parent's card, if they have one and are willing. You'll get some credit for their good credit history (not as much as if it were your own, but it helps). I did this for my brother a few years ago, and never gave him a copy of the card, when his score was in the 400s and I was getting calls from collection agencies looking for him. It must have helped because while we are no longer on speaking terms (he claimed I was "unsupportive", despite that and the fact that I paid some of those bills off for him), I heard he just bought a house.

flyingfoxes · January 2015

huskypuppy14 said:

mobride2015 said:

The only reason I know my score right now is my fabulous recently-dumped gynecologist's office threw our records out in the Dumpster instead of shredding them for anybody to find. Our consolation prize was a year of free credit monitoring to avoid identity theft.

WTF! That must be a huge HIPPA violation in addition to an identity theft risk.

Yeah and I just got the inevitable class action lawsuit notice in the mail last week.

Bubblegum5586 · January 2015

princessofgenovia said:

I have no idea what my credit score is. I feel like an unsuccessful adult right now.

But I'm gonna guess it's not super great. I have one credit card and had one small car loan that I paid off very quickly. My parents were bad with credit cards, and both have sucky credit they're trying to improve. But their sucky credit skills, made me terrified of ever having a credit card/carrying a balance of any kind. I try to pay off everything as quickly as possible.

FI and I are looking at homes to buy, and it makes me nervous about how much of a loan we'll take out. Even thought IT'S TOTALLY NORMAL. And most people don't pay cash for their houses. I'm like "But, but, shouldn't we buy something we could pay off in like 2 or 3 years" and he just kisses me and tells me it's ok.

I just can't wrap my brain around it. I'm great with money. I'm shit with credit.

I remember watching house hunters years ago and seeing people getting nervous over the total amount... and I would think "but it is just a monthly payment!". Then when it was my turn to buy a house... the thought of that much debt was terrifying!!! If you can put down at least 20% that will save you on paying PMI which can be costly and money you never see again

lolo883 said:

jenna8984 said:

@lovesclimbing you definirtely should!! As we are all saying we get dinged for not having long enough credit history so I wish I had opened mine at 18 instead of 21.

Another thing you can do is get added as an authorized user on your parent's card, if they have one and are willing. You'll get some credit for their good credit history (not as much as if it were your own, but it helps). I did this for my brother a few years ago, and never gave him a copy of the card, when his score was in the 400s and I was getting calls from collection agencies looking for him. It must have helped because while we are no longer on speaking terms (he claimed I was "unsupportive", despite that and the fact that I paid some of those bills off for him), I heard he just bought a house.

Yes I did this for H. It helped his score as I had a longer/better history. I gave him a copy of the card to... but for emergencies only!

lovesclimbing · January 2015

teddygirl9 said:

lovesclimbing said:

Argh, H and I need to get credit cards!! We don't have any and we never have. We're early/mid-20s. We just use debit cards from the bank. You'd think that's the responsible thing to do, you know - really no risk of spending more than you can pay, but nooooo, have to have a credit score.

We'll need a credit score in a few years, so I should really sign us up for a couple.

You can also get pre-paid credit cards, that are basically debit cards, but still build credit. And you can use them for online purchases where debit is not available.

----boxes----

I have never heard of this. Where is debit not available? I order online all the time and have never had an issue using my debit card. I even run my debit as credit at the store to avoid having to put in my PIN. Never had an issue.

firebabe6519 · January 2015

huskypuppy14 said:
So everyone has 3 credit scores. I have two in the 780s and one in the 750s. I've had my oldest account for over 12 years, so that is a positive factor. But it also says having accounts over 30 years old are best (Ok so you have to be at least 48 years old for this!).

My credit was dinged a little a couple years ago, because I had one late payment, by accident. I didn't get the bill in the mail, Ann Taylor charged the wrong card. I thought it was charged on one card, but that card had a 0 balance. It was very confusing.

Luckily I called when I never got a bill and figured it out. but it was already late. Apparently they sent the bill to my old address that I hadn't lived in 3 years. My credit score dropped over 50-80 points because of one small error. It went from low 800s to low 700s, still good, but not the best.

It didn't impede me from buying a house last year (though my husband also has excellent credit). What stinks, is the better your credit is, the worse a small error will hurt it, but a small positive factor won't help it. Oh well.

FYI for that late because of not receiving a statement, you can have that removed from your credit report. Not receiving a statement is considered a bank error and is a valid reason for deletion of a late reporting. You can usually go through your creditor to request that they amend the report, or you can also go through the credit bureaus directly.

theartistformerlyknownas · January 2015

lovesclimbing said:

teddygirl9 said:

lovesclimbing said:

Argh, H and I need to get credit cards!! We don't have any and we never have. We're early/mid-20s. We just use debit cards from the bank. You'd think that's the responsible thing to do, you know - really no risk of spending more than you can pay, but nooooo, have to have a credit score.

We'll need a credit score in a few years, so I should really sign us up for a couple.

You can also get pre-paid credit cards, that are basically debit cards, but still build credit. And you can use them for online purchases where debit is not available.

----boxes----

I have never heard of this. Where is debit not available? I order online all the time and have never had an issue using my debit card. I even run my debit as credit at the store to avoid having to put in my PIN. Never had an issue.

That's exactly why - because it's being run as credit. It probably has a Visa or MasterCard logo on it, right? So it's accepted wherever Visa or MasterCard are. Not all debit cards have this - I have one that just has I think the Novus sign or something, so I can only use it as debit with a pin.

firebabe6519 · January 2015

Just a heads up to those of you who are monitoring your credit... If you use Credit Karma, they have had a scam issue going on lately since they partnered with some credit fixer service. Credit Karma will show false lates and negative info. Then there will be a link that you can click that takes you to this credit fixing company that charges hundreds of dollars for their services.

Its supposedly getting corrected soon.

lovesclimbing · January 2015

lolo883 said:

lovesclimbing said:

Argh, H and I need to get credit cards!! We don't have any and we never have. We're early/mid-20s. We just use debit cards from the bank. You'd think that's the responsible thing to do, you know - really no risk of spending more than you can pay, but nooooo, have to have a credit score. We'll need a credit score in a few years, so I should really sign us up for a couple.

You can also get pre-paid credit cards, that are basically debit cards, but still build credit. And you can use them for online purchases where debit is not available.
----boxes---- I have never heard of this. Where is debit not available? I order online all the time and have never had an issue using my debit card. I even run my debit as credit at the store to avoid having to put in my PIN. Never had an issue.
That's exactly why - because it's being run as credit. It probably has a Visa or MasterCard logo on it, right? So it's accepted wherever Visa or MasterCard are. Not all debit cards have this - I have one that just has I think the Novus sign or something, so I can only use it as debit with a pin.

Interesting, I didn't know that. I thought they all would have to be one of the well-known card brands. I have used two different banks: KeyBank and AlaskaUSA. Keybank's debits are Mastercard and AlaskaUSA's are Visa.

theartistformerlyknownas · January 2015

lovesclimbing said:
Interesting, I didn't know that. I thought they all would have to be one of the well-known card brands. I have used two different banks: KeyBank and AlaskaUSA. Keybank's debits are Mastercard and AlaskaUSA's are Visa.

Nope, not all debit cards have that relationship. It's actually kind of nice sometimes because it makes it harder to spend that money! Plus my USAA debit (the one that's not a Visa or MC debit) was the only one accepted at many of the ATMs I used in Europe. Just different networks.

How to improve credit score?

Re: How to improve credit score?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards