How Long Must I Have A Credit Card Paid Perfectly Before It Starts Helping My Score?

[PRESCOTT]

Hi y'all,

This is my fourth post. I pulled an equifax bureau off their website last night and I was shocked that are showing me as having the following:

04/30/07

total accounts 13

open accounts 2

closed accounts 11

delinquent 0

deogatory 4

inquiries 5

credit score 664

03/07/07

total accounts 49

open accounts 26

closed accounts 23

delinquent 1

derogatory 25

inquiries 19

credit score 565

After a lot of research on the phone with my credit card companies, I've got a list of all of my credit cards, the date they were opened,credit limits and balances( I keep them all paid off at the end of every month). According to Equifax, I only have two open revolving accounts when I actually have 9 credit cards. Some of the credit cards are very new accounts and I wonder if I get them put back on if it is going to make my score go down because of their newness. Could someone look at these and tell me which ones to dispute to have put back on. I just spoke with all of the card companies and the accounts are active,not closed. I'm trying to get my score up for a mortgage.So here is the info:

Old Navy opened- may 1, 05- never late- $500 limit

HSBC-opened march 2, 2007-never late-$1600 limit

Washington Mutual-opened sept 8, 2006-never late-$2000 limit

Orchard -opened january 25,2006-never late-$600 limit

Cap One-opened July 15,2004-never late-$1000 limit

Chevron/texaco-opened March 3,2007-never late- limit $600

Target-opened March 1,2007-never late- limit $300

Walmart-opened Feb 4, 2007-never late- limit $600

Sams-opened January 3,2006-never late- limit $600

Please tell me which cards to tell them to put back on my report immediately, or, if I should have them put back all of them. My concern is that all of the newer cards(less than 2 years pay history, might drive my score down. I hope someone out there will give me good advice. Are there any cards I need to close? Do I have too many?As i said earlier, they are all at about zero balances, paid down.

Finally, Equifax deleted all of my student loan accounts that had a lot of lates and a balance of $63,000. Is this a good thing? Or do I need to have a big installment account on my file? I hav not been paying them. I've kept them in forbearance for the past 7 years? Thanks for any and all help.

[Big Time]

I'm not sure why your EQ was purged, but any cards that actively report will be on mext month, and should have the complete history.

Having a 3-4 cards with large availible credit will help your score more than many small limit cards, especially if you carry balances on them. Try to keep your utilization below 30% on each card to maintain high sores. Ask for credit limit increases on your favorites and dump the rest.

I'm pretty sure your student loans will make their way back to your reports when your forbearance period ends. Make sure you consolodate them so only one tradeline reports.

[DocDon]

To add:

FICO's scoring system is proprietary, so the exact science is spooky top-secret. However, from what's been reported by members over the years, you can draw some general assumptions on how it works.

Not all creditors report to all the bureaus (they have to subscribe to the service). Because of that, you may see one creditor report to the "Big Three" (Equifax, Trans Union, Experian) while another reports to just Trans Union and Experian, while another yet only reports to Equifax.

FICO considers 30 years to be the optimum credit history. In that history should be a mix of revolving and installment accounts.

Creditors also rate your "potential risk for default". So while you have a solid credit history and low balances on your revolving accounts, they may still take into account what the risk would be should you max out all your cards and not be able to pay.

In all honesty, when a positive account is deleted for no apparent reason, you'd be better off shoving a fork in your eye than trying to get them back on your report. Once an item is removed, the data is cloaked by the CRA's - so even while the creditor verifies the information is being reported monthly, it never shows up. Because so much information is missing, you may have a split file and they only sent you 1/2 of your total record.

Going from 25 derogs to 4 certainly helped, as you can see by the boost in your score.

[PRESCOTT]

Thanks again to you guys. You really are making me feel welcome and I'm learning a lot. One thing is for sure. This is a process, not an event. It is a race for those with endurance, patience-cunning people, smart people who follow directions clearly and completely. Muchos Mardi Gras!