I've made some poor choices in my financial life, and my credit is...?

Question

really poor! Now that I have a limited amount of money to work with and credit is everything these days, how do I fix it, without having to wait 6-9 months for the score to come up? What can be done in the 6-9 month period that can erase some or all of the negative marks, or what can I do to increase the score?

Answer 1

Unfortunately, there is no quick fix to improving your credit score.  If there is something on your credit that is incorrect, you can dispute it, and if it's found in error, it will quickly improve.  If you have a lot of credit card debt, try spreading it out into smaller amounts.  You want low ratios (outstanding balance versus credit limit).  As much as possible, you want low balances and high limits.  This shows you're not maxed out.  Paying off bad debts (accounts with negative remarks) will also help.  Also, opening new accounts will lower your score in the short term.  There is also an awesome website listed below.

Answer 2

I was like you about 2 years back and here is my suggestion.

Don't apply for more credit.

Pay cash for everything. If you have any credit available in your credit card, don't use it.

Write to credit bureau to remove the negative marks by investigating.

if they don't reply in 30 days the negative marks will be removed.

if they don't remove they re-write to them till they remove.

Answer 3

There are a few things you can do right away to boost your score - this is a 30-60 day process.

1. Order your credit reports from the 3 bureaus

www.equifax.com

www.experian.com

www.transunion.com

If you're ordering for the first time, get your score (for a fee) from Equifax as their scoring matters most.

2. Make copies of your report and put the originals in a binder. On the photocopied reports use a highlighter and check for any incorrect, outdate, false, etc...info

3. Download a dispute letter(s) from the credit bureaus website and list anything that is wrong. Mail them to their office(s). They have 30 days to reply.

4. If they will not remove something that is not yours or too old (> 7 years) as them for a debt validation. This may take an additional 30 days.

5. Once the 'baddies' come off, take care not to let any of your other accounts fall into that predicament.

6. If you haven't already make sure your existing accounts are current and paid on time ALWAYS.

7. Get a secured credit card with www.capitalone.com or www.mastercard.com for like $500-1000 or more if you can and use it sparingly. Charge like $50 on the card each month and pay it in FULL and on TIME. Make sure you do this for a minimum of 6 months so that you estabish a positive repayment history.

8. Problem with just letting them (collections) 'fall off' is that they may never. You may get sued before that...that's where you suddenly get a summons to appear in court and a judgment for collection against you.

For collection items...pay them but get a 'pay for delete' from the collection agency in WRITING...they'll delete it after you pay and it will help your credit score.

Answer 4

Believe it or not get a credit card you have, and making rebuilding credit and knocking down the debt you have essentially your number one priority.     I have made getting out of debt my number one priority and given myself a two year goal to do it.  Even though I have good credit, I have too much debt and I am going at it with every spare dollar (and this means not spending the spare dollars on luxuries like lattes, etc).  

Damaged credit makes it harder to obtain credit cards, but rebuilding credit cards are an excellent way to repair even the worst credit.

The two card options for you if you want to rebuild credit are:

1. "Bad credit" credit cards that may have higher fees and higher interest, or

2. Pre-paid rebuilding credit cards that actually work more like a debit card. These prepaid cards are much better than a debit card though, because with a good prepaid card, a positive report is sent to the credit reporting agencies for every month the consumer pays the balance due on their cards. Essentially, the consumer is opening a savings account, tied to the available limit of the prepaid rebuilding credit cards.

This site, below, has some good information on rebuiding credit.  Good luck!