raise fico score

[princess27]

how many new credit cards should i obtain at one time to help raise fico score? or should i just get one per month

[Revco]

FICO scores are a little more complicated than the number of cards you have. In fact, your score could be lowered for up to six months with each card you add to your credit report. They take into account your average credit history length...each new card that you add will lower that average and could possibly affect your score. While additional tradelines are "generally" good for your history, (there's a theoretical too much somewhere...I don't know what it is) score will change all the time as you move along.

I'd also add that the score is not the "be all end all"...I have an Equifax FICO score of 786, but can't get approved for a credit card by any good banks because my average history is less than a year and my number of tradelines are relatively small (3). Keep that in mind.

[princess27]

thank you for the info, i have removed most of my negative tradelines but i do not have any open tradelines anymore. my history goes back to 96.

[breathing_easier]

Are your FICO scores high enough for an unsecured card? I would imagine that with no open accounts they may not be. Therefore, I would start out slow, with one or two low-limit secured cards, and then go from there. If you had problems handling credit in the past then you'll want to go slow and easy anyway. Too much credit can be too tempting and you don't want to end up back where you were. FICO likes to see a mix of credit...revolving, installment, auto loan, mortgage, etc.

[princess27]

my middle fico is 589,i recently opened a personal loan with a cu and a secured cc with orchard so hopefully within a few months my score should go up. i do not have a car loan, never did, and i'm trying to buy a house in nov, never had a mortgage, currently renting, so i just have personal loans and credit cards, any input on how many points that will help my score go up, also, if i was to get added to dh accounts as an au for 3-4 of his accounts, with a 4 year history, would that help as well

[Revco]

I would maybe look into adding a gas card, such as Chevron, to you mix. That's usually a decently easy card to get. You have to be careful as adding too many TL's at once will make your score go down at first...but after about six months, they should recover and be much better. Length of credit history is the next most important thing next to good payment history. Three good TL's (including that secured loan) will definately do well for your score.

Get another TL now and that way in six months (when you're going to buy a house) the score won't be brought down by new credit.

[Northern Lights]

REVCO--What happen to your score? it went down to a 641 from a 786, that is really a double wammie!!!

[CREDITGOD]

Hello All,

If you recieve a credit card and have poor credit or somewhat good credit you want to take advantage of it.... This will improve your fico score and give you more power to increase your credit limit in due time..if you have bills like most people do dont pay cash always try to use your credit card wheather its a cell bill or your going out to eat or paying for gas use your credit card I cannot tell people enough everytime you use your card it shows as a transaction the secret is dont wait for the due date pay it off right away if you spend 250 dollars worth of credit in one weekend you charge a cell bill and bought groceries for the weekend instead of paying cash "charge it" then go to the bank or send in a payment on monday a day later or 2 .... you where going to spend the cash anyway now once you done that you now have made a payment if you do this every month watch you fico score go up .....NEVER WAIT FOR THE DUE DATE that is where the interest will come into play after you made a payment past the due date so if you have a card with a 21 percent interest rate it is in your best interest to pay way before the due date I hope this makes sence .... you can use your limit every month and pay it off early the banks wont have a problem raising you limits because your payment history is in great standings and the amount of charges and payments made are considered excellent....its best to use the card thats how you get credit you dont get credit by paying CASH if you pay cash there is no paper trail for your credit this is how I raised my fico from 440 to above 800 it took time but it work I dont pay for anything cash I used all my credit cards but pay them off everytime I charge them usually the next day ...Never close a credit card that has a high limit just keep it low if you close a credit card for example with a 10,000 dollar limit you now have erase 10,000 dollars worth of credit this will hurt your credit ...I hope this helps you as it did me and I just wanted to share my knowledge

[Revco]

Northern Lights...it was weird...had a dispute in with EFX for an OLD C/O and for about 10 days they removed auxillary data such as "collection account, charged off, account in dispute". My score dropped from high 700's to mid 600's because it was showing up as a "new collection." All is good now...it went back up once they put the data in.

It freaked me out though, that's for sure.