There is some good news believe it or not regarding how credit scores are calculated. Vantage score which is the new score created by the 3 major credit bureaus has made some adjustments in their model which will help many who have paid off old debt or been victims of natural disasters. You can read the article here: http://tinyurl.com/a29uvh4 This may help many of you in terms of raising your score which is always a big issue in this forum.