Hey guys, Just took a look at my credit score and its not going up. Anyone know any tricks or tips to help increase your credit score?
I used to take out small loans that I didn't need and pay them back over the loan's alotted time frame. Best way to do that is go to your bank, ask for a 1000 dollar loan over 12 months if they allow it. Then pay it off over 12 months. Credit builds by paying back bills on time. They are looking for a history of timely payments. Don't pay it off early either. Yes, you will pay the bank some money for interest, but think of it as buying good credit.
Credit card and roll a small balance every month. They are looking for you to have bills and pay them every month on time. You don't want to max out a CC either. So if you have a 5k cc, you don't want 4k on it, you always want to use half of less. Russ
I have always been told that carrying a 15% balance on atleast 1 CC is the best way to go about it Credit Card wise. Like Readymix said, Installment's are the best way to build fast credit...but carrying a small balance on a CC will also help a lot.
I have also heard that if you have a capital one credit card---it can hurt your score, because they apparently don't report your credit limit to the credit bureaus... so, for instance, if you have a $1000 dollar credit limit, and have used $800 of that..then they report it as 80% to your limit, which is bad. But, if you have a $10,000 dollar limit and have used lets say $2,000 of that---its more money that you have spent, but technically you are not as close to your limit that they report. They just report your percentage, no matter how large or small. So even if yo have something as low as like a $500 dollar limit, and have spent a weak $250---still 50% to limit.
Good advice being given out here, just spend responsibly. If you think you can't afford something chances are you probably can't.
^^ Yes.... don't buy an STi when you are already in debt, like me. I should have listened to smokey the bear when he told me so.
You haven't been necessarily misdirected here but my advice, as a "reformed" commercial lender and corporate finance professional, don't ask for personal credit advice on a forum for car geeks. They're always finding new ways to part with cash/incur debt with the best of them! Go to your local bank and speak with a personal banker. Many can set you up with a specific credit product designed for rebuilding your credit score. Good luck, my brother has been through a few credit "episodes" and is finally back to healthy status.
Here is a post from a thread on MNSC from a guy who works with this kind of stuff. You do not need an account to view this either. http://mnsportcompacts.net/forum/showthread.php?t=42036&highlight=Credit+Score
Dont be like me, Credit Card #1 - Used 60% of limit Credit Card #2 - Used 70% of limit Line of Credit loan - Used 90% of limit (one of those was my Rota's, lol) well at least my score is still in the low 700's.
anything above 700 is good, most importantly its your history! Yes, having your credits card less than half is good. You should have close to 5 lines of credit open at all times too. Its better for you. Even if you dont use a credit card, get one anyways cause then you are worth more and less of a risk. sorry, but I can explain this a lot better in person.
Charge a small amount to a CC every month and then pay it off. Don't accumulate a balance. Do this to a couple of cards if you like. Buy a car and pay it back on time/early.
I was told the exact opposite. For every line of credit one has open the bank assumes one could, at any time, use all available credit. Lowering the amount one would be able to borrow. That said it is a good idea to have at least one credit card (get one with rewards if you can), provided you can personally handle the responsibility.
This is not meant to be bragging or anything, but before I purchased my house, I had 2 CC with 28k limits on them. They told me the best thing to do was either have the max limits lowered or close one of them. Reason was, I had too much available credit. So I could purchase a house and throw myself another 56k in the hole, which would not be good when I am trying to pay off the house. I lowered both cards to 10k each, and my credit score jumped right up. Russ
That's what I was told too. I guess I'm pretty much doing Daveo's suggestion, without even realizing it. Hotel for rallycross goes on the card and gets paid off immediately, and paying the car off on time / early.
