Anyone ever try a credit repair expert? (pay, rent, rate)
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I’m looking to pump up my credit score from 640-to 700 to get a better interest rate on my mortgage. I’ve heard opening new credit card accounts can help (some say it could hurt) the score but i doubt that would be enough. I surfed the internet and read about credit repair experts that could help. Has anyone tried these guys? Do they really help and if they do how much can they help. The agency i talked to there name was Lexington, but not sure if they can help as much as they say they can.
Thanks for the advice.
go to myFICO - FICO Credit Scores | Get a Free Credit Report Online
They have a credit education section that will teach you a lot about what is and what is not involved in determining your credit score. Also, see www.annualcreditreport.com for a free copy of your credit report to make sure their are no errors (free once a year from each bureau). Also, as you pay off accounts, especially collection or old deliquencies, keep the receipts to prove they are paid. Errors and failure to report payment to the credit bureaus are common.
Good luck and I commend your willingness to do what it takes to improve your credit
Stay away from "Scam" credit repair experts. You can do the same thing for free. The main ingredient in pumping up your score, is don't have to much credit extended, and pay your bills on time.
The only thing an expert can do to help, is pay your bills for you. Don't think that is going to happen.
Agree about the credit repair companies. It's not that hard tp build up your FICO. Over 1/3 of your score comes from payment history, and just under 1/3 comes from proportion of balance to available credit. So here is what you do. Pay all of your existing credit cards down to less than 20% balance, pay them off if possible. If you cannot pay them off then continue to make payments of them (not the minimum) and stay under that 20%. If you can pay them off, DO NOT CANCEL THEM, with the exception of department store credit cards or any other type of consumer credit card (Best Buy, Office Max, etc.). Now, let's say you have zero balance and 4 open cards. Use a different one every week to get something small that you would normally buy with cash, say a tank of gas. Pay each one off before the end of the billing cycle so as not to incur any interest charges. You are getting the benefit of the consistent payment history, with the benefit of low balance to available credit ratio, and it's not costing you any extra money to use those cards. Keep that up for a while and your FICO scores will be up there with the best, the right way.
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Last edited by Global Friend; 05-27-2008 at 06:31 AM..
All these people do is pay off your credit for you, and then you pay the credit repair people. Of course, in the end, you are going to end up paying the credit repair people more money (they are a business and have to make a profit, too) then you would by just paying off your debt by yourself.
I’m looking to pump up my credit score from 640-to 700 to get a better interest rate on my mortgage. I’ve heard opening new credit card accounts can help (some say it could hurt) the score but i doubt that would be enough. I surfed the internet and read about credit repair experts that could help. Has anyone tried these guys? Do they really help and if they do how much can they help. The agency i talked to there name was Lexington, but not sure if they can help as much as they say they can.
Thanks for the advice.
Credit repair is a complete waste of money and could end up hurting your score. Most mortgage lenders can tell you how to raise your score for free.
What type and how much credit history do you have?
ie:
lots of history or limited history?
mortgage(s), car loan(s), student loan(s), credit cards?
any bankruptcies, judgements, or collections?
who told you your current score is 640?
do you currently have a mortgage or are you planning on purchasing?
how much equity or down payment do you have?
why is 700 your "magic" number?
I’m looking to pump up my credit score from 640-to 700 to get a better interest rate on my mortgage. I’ve heard opening new credit card accounts can help (some say it could hurt) the score but i doubt that would be enough. I surfed the internet and read about credit repair experts that could help. Has anyone tried these guys? Do they really help and if they do how much can they help. The agency i talked to there name was Lexington, but not sure if they can help as much as they say they can.
Thanks for the advice.
I have also been trying to increase my credit score and there are some very knowledgeable people on this forum who have helped me tremendously.
The first thing to do is go through your credit report carefully and do an on-line dispute for any incorrect information or error. If a company does not respond to the credit bureau dispute within 30 days, the credit bureau has to delete the item from your account. I disputed almost everything on my report - hoping that someone wouldn't respond. I was told that paying old collection accounts also cause your credit score to fall because bringing the accounts current shows the payment as being 3-4-5-or 6 years delinquent. I was told you're better off paying down recent debt instead of old debt.
Still I paid off everything that was negative on my account except for one medical bill that turned over to a collection agency. The collection agency claimed not to be able to locate the medical bill when I called about it but said they might have other accounts in my name. I wasn't interested in hearing about anything not on my credit report so i hung up. Be aware of trickery and deception on behalf of collection agencies. They can dredge up some account 15 or 20 years old and have you verify that it was yours, and the account can then be re-aged and placed back into your records.
I learned that opening one [not some] new credit card [if its been more than a year since you opened a previous credit card] can boost your score if you open the card with a major bank and if you DON'T use up the available credit on the card--except to make the smallest purchase so that you can pay off the balance each month and have it reported to the credit bureau. Opening a credit card and using up the credit line will cause your score to plummet. I once purchased $375 of a $500 credit limit card and my score went down 55 points in one month! I quickly paid off the balance and now it's back up but I didn't know that credit scores considered available credit. i thought only timely payments were considered. But the more available credit you have showing on your report, the better your score. So paying down any charge accounts that you already have will be a huge boost to your score. You have to also pay every single bill on time and not apply for any unnecessary credit.
As for Lexington, they charge a monthly fee for doing what you can do yourself. They pretty much only handle credit card negotiations. I was signed up with them a few years ago and never used them because I thought they could help me clean up a student loan mess. [I cleaned it up myself]. If you negotiate with your creditors, get EVERTHING in writing before authorizing payment for even $1. Something new I learned was that if you've paid utility bills or cell phone bills or cable bill on time for at least 12 months, you can have those charges as well as rent charges reported to the credit bureau through companies that report these charges. Hope this information helps. Good luck to you!
Last edited by mccray916; 06-02-2008 at 12:15 AM..
You can pay about $39 to a banker or lender to have then run a progam such as ScoreRight; Score Wizard or CreditXpert which will tell you what you can do to your credit score that will have the greatest impact...for example with one of the programs, the banker or lender can tell you exactly which order you need to pay things off to get the biggest boost or what you can do [such as applying for creditcard] --to increase your score...
I was told that paying old collection accounts also cause your credit score to fall because bringing the accounts current shows the payment as being 3-4-5-or 6 years delinquent. I was told you're better off paying down recent debt instead of old debt.
My GF, who once worked for a collections agency, told me that if your delinquent accounts are going to expire within two years then you should just let them ride out, but if they are older then two years then it might be in your best interest to at least try and settle them.
But yeah, you are correct; making an inquiry on any past-due debt will bring that account up to date; starting the seven-year cycle all over again.
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