Any Chance Of Ever Having A Decent Score After Repair?

[acenstace]

Hello all, Again I want to say thanks for all of the good advice. My question of the day is- What kind of a credit score can I ever expect to obtain with a released tax lien from 2007, a judgement that has been satisfied since 2001 (OFF IN AUG. 2008) and a charge of from Crap One paid in full (co in july 06)? I have a mortgage, 2 car loans (since march 2006) and a capt. 1 cc 250.00 limit (03), 2 new orchard cards (sec. $500, unsec. $500) crown jewelers( new $1500) and school loans since 2004 (20,000). Is a decent score possible with the negatives? If I keep all accounts open, make payments on time and keep utilization less than 30% will I receover? Ifso, what kind of time frame am I looking at? Hate the thought of having to wait for all of the negatives to disappear. I have had much success thanks to this site. Around ten deletes for DV and disputes, 3 accounts PFD and a couple accounts that were removed by goodwill letters. I have had no luck with removal of late pays from my cars though. Again, thanks to all who have given their advice.

[MadinKS]

Welcome acenstace.

Unfortunately the FICO game is not an exact science and not easily predicted. I know 1 thing for sure though, if you continue to keep your accounts open and on time, the only way to go for the FICO is up. The time frame is not easily predicted either. I would think that maybe 2 yrs of on-time would be about right, but it's just not easy to predict. I can't even begin to predict a score though. If we could do that we'd be gazillionaires. Sorry if that's not what you were looking for. It's just my opinion. Best of luck to you.

[UNCForest]

The only thing I can recommend is to either speak with someone who works in this arena...or...

Go to, say, myfico.com

Order their scorewatch service. They have a 30-day free trial if you want. Otherwise its, what, 9 bucks a month.

They have a fico simulator.

It will incorporate what your fico is currently and your current debt, etc.

It has a bunch of scenerios that you can choose to do a bunch of "what-ifs"

[timbercreektech]

If memory serves me right, depending on which state you reside, a judgment can stay on your report longer than 7 years.

[kevin3344]

True, it's 7 years or when the gov statute of lim has expired...generally though, it's 7 years. In NY it's actually 5 if paid (learned that on this board).

At any rate, for the OP, it's hard to fool the FICO model. It takes consistent, on-time payments over time to get a good score. Of course, one false move can hurt all of your hard work. Never miss a payment. If you do that alone, it will work wonders for your score. A recent 30 day late will tank your score more than an old CO, so keep that in mind. This is where the old saying 'an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure' comes in. It's far easier to make a payment on time, even if it's just the minimum, than it is to repair the damage by writing a goodwill letter to recover from a 30 day late.

Secondly, watch your balance to credit limit ratio on revolving accounts. I would keep this as low as possible. The lower the better. Keep some at zero because FICO looks at that as well.

[timbercreektech]

There are two SOL's. One in which the reporting is allowed to stay on your credit report and one which is how long a creditor can SUE. In WV it is 20 years and the judgment can be renewable. Understand the differentiation.

A judgment is also a done deal and can only go away by payment or getting the judgment vacated because of improper service. During that period of time they can garnish at any time.