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Old 07-11-2010, 04:28 PM
 
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Have you successfully improved your credit score (by 100+ points)?

I'm just curious because it seems all but impossible. My score over ten years, has only fluctuated about 20 points, despite significant changes in debt, borrowing ability, and payment history. There's lots of talk about how important it is to improve your credit score, but I just wonder, how likely is it for a person to really move up to a better score bracket.
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Old 07-11-2010, 04:39 PM
 
Location: Fairfield, CT
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kodaka View Post
Have you successfully improved your credit score (by 100+ points)?

I'm just curious because it seems all but impossible. My score over ten years, has only fluctuated about 20 points, despite significant changes in debt, borrowing ability, and payment history. There's lots of talk about how important it is to improve your credit score, but I just wonder, how likely is it for a person to really move up to a better score bracket.
What is the range of your credit score? I imagine that the higher it is, the harder it is to improve, like a GPA. Mine is in the 790 range, and I can't get it higher either. I'd love to get it over 800, but it won't budge. I don't really understand why -- I have a good amount of available credit, much of it open for a long time, very little utilization of the credit (translation: very low debt) and no late payments on my credit report.
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Old 07-11-2010, 04:48 PM
 
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Its liikely the liitle use of credit that causes it. doesn't mean you should runout and buy somethig tho. I know people who used credit very little who had a much harder time of getting a laon. But credit score is not what it was just a shoet tiem ago. Other thngs like debt to income requirement being tighter to aviod risk are getting mre important.That siw aht much of the eefect of recent regualtion really is aimed at.Preventing risk taking by many like the past.
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Old 07-11-2010, 04:54 PM
 
Location: Fairfield, CT
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The big weakness in the FICO score is that it doesn't really say anything about a person's ability to manage additional debt, only how well they have managed the debt they have on a relatively short-term basis.

A person could be leveraged up to the hilt, but as long as he's making the required payments, he'll have a very good FICO score. Banks have been willing to give out far more in credit than a person can reasonably handle, so a low utilization rate doesn't necessarily mean that a person could comfortably take on more debt.

People forget that FICO is only one indicator of ability to service debt. It's also necessary to look at debt-to-income ratios, which are not considered by FICO, as well as balance sheet analysis.
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Old 07-11-2010, 05:15 PM
 
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There's a 20-point range. Transunion has ALWAYS been the lowest of my scores.

And currently the 'flaws' that they have identified are as follows:

1) 'Delinquency for $0' for a credit card. That CC company (Intrust) is so abhorrent. They've even lost their FDIC insurance recently, that's how bad they are. When I was their customer, they invented every fee under the sun for me, and when I tried to get a payoff balance they refused at first, when I filed a complaint against them they finally agreed--but then refused to officially close my account and then assessed a $25 administration fee for my having a $0 balance. I complained again and they finally agreed to close my account for good, but they left this false information on my report. Of course to anyone else, its just the delinquency that shows up, not the amount of $0. The delinquency is dated 09/2003 so it will disappear in a few months, otherwise I'd be bringing out the can of whoop-a$$. But as it is, it would probably take until september to get it resolved, so I'm going to try to remain somewhat calm about it, and let the record expire on its own.

2)One credit card which has been bought out by different banks over the years, and is reported as three separate and concurrent debts, rather than one debt that began and ended at staggering dates. All three accounts show a beginning date of 5/2000 and display payments through 6/2010, despite the fact that only one of them is a current account, the other two ended years ago, and the current account only began last year. Unfortunately I was late on a few payments--I admit, totally my fault, I moved and didn't notice I hadn't received a statemnt from them. BUT--I was only late for two months on ONE account, not on all three of them. I did some online research and found I'm not the only one with this problem with this specific credit card, and I have a feeling the concept is going to be too difficult for their customer service to grasp, and I probably won't be able to get this resolved.

3)They claim it counts against me that none of my accounts are old enough. Which I think is total BS. I have four accounts. All of them are more than five years old, and two are 15 years old. If that isn't long enough, then how long is, I ask!!!

On another note, I almost added this in my OP but decided to go for brevity. Along with my score, I received a letter grade. They gave me a D and state that a mere 10% of the country has worse credit than me. I find that really hard to believe. I know my score could be better but I don't think that a range of 660-680 should really be called 'almost failing' or that virtually no one is worse than me, especially with all the foreclosures and defaults recently. I think they just want to scare me, because scared consumers are the ones who buy credit reports regularly and that's how they make money.

But ultimately, as I said in my OP, my credit profile has changed quite a lot. My debt has dwindled considerably since I first established my credit history, and my ability to borrow has increased--and yet my score has pretty much stayed the same. I honestly wonder if I'll every get above 700 or if I've been branded for life, and if that's the case, should I even bother worrying about it?

Last edited by kodaka; 07-11-2010 at 05:49 PM..
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Old 07-11-2010, 05:18 PM
 
4,796 posts, read 22,856,006 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by texdav View Post
Its liikely the liitle use of credit that causes it. doesn't mean you should runout and buy somethig tho. I know people who used credit very little who had a much harder time of getting a laon. But credit score is not what it was just a shoet tiem ago. Other thngs like debt to income requirement being tighter to aviod risk are getting mre important.That siw aht much of the eefect of recent regualtion really is aimed at.Preventing risk taking by many like the past.
This is one thing I've been wondering about. My credit score assessment doesn't identify this as a problem for me, but I suspect it may be an issue. Currently my four active accounts are three credit cards (two of which I got solely in an attempt to improve my credit score, and it doesn't appear to have worked), and my student loan.

I ordered my credit score just to see where i stand in preparation for getting a car. I recently started a new job and really need to have one. I can rent a car for the days I need it for meetings and appointments, for now, but having a car regularly at my disposal really is necessary. I'm hoping with my score I won't get totally raped on an interest rate, and wonder if I could even improve my score by diversifying the types of debt I hold.

I was thinking of leasing though, since most of the expense can be written off as business use, and I'm not sure if that will appear on my credit report?

Last edited by kodaka; 07-11-2010 at 05:50 PM..
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Old 07-11-2010, 10:15 PM
 
Location: 23.7 million to 162 million miles North of Venus
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Have you ordered hard copies of your reports from each CRA? Or, are you looking at a tri-merge report. If you haven't ordered a hard copy from each CRA then you should do so. Tri-merges have been known to be incorrect and they are incomplete.

Did you get your scores from myFico or elsewhere? I'm guessing with a letter grade then the answer would be elsewhere. You should go to myFico to get your scores so you know where you stand since you are planning a major purchase. Creditors/lenders don't use fako's to get their scores from, they either use Fico and/or their own internal scoring system.

For #1, you should dispute that account as obsolete. It might be removed since it is within 6 months of its drop off date.

For #2, you could try claiming they are duplicates in your dispute and ask for their removal because of that.

For #3, 30 or 40+ years

You could let the negatives fall off on their own, but they won't be totally gone. IF a mortgage company or employer pulls a full factual they will see the negatives. If the negatives come off through a dispute, and remain off, then they will not be seen on a full factual.
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Old 07-11-2010, 11:03 PM
 
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Quote:
For #3, 30 or 40+ years
Well that makes sense, only bestowing a good credit score on people who are in their sixties.

Thanks for the info. I'll dispute them and see what happens.
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