What's the best way to clean up your credit history?

Question

there's alot of old stuff on my credit report that's been paid for or that's no longer active.

Answer 1

I really need more information to answer that question.  That is also a person by person thing to look at.  Everyones credit profile is different.

Answer 2

This is how your score is calculated: 1. Payment history- 35% 2. Total debt owed vs. available credit- 30% 3. Length of time establishing credit- 15% 4. Types of credit established-10% 5. Inquiries and New Accounts- 10% This is what you should do: 1. Open a checking and savings account at a bank or credit union if you haven't done that already. This established a banking relationship which will help you manage your money, but also develop rapport with the bank so that you may be exposed to their products especially if you're an account holder. 2. Get a secured credit card. This is the easiest credit card to get. Some major banks (which I posted links to below) and credit unions offer them. The reason why it's easy to get because you have to use your own money to place a deposit upfront which is used as collateral to establish a line of credit. This is not a bad thing, being that each time you apply for a regular card whether you're approved or not, it drops your score up to 5 points. So with that in mind you want to get a card that you can easily get and work your way from there. This is a way to "custom build" a high limit card that you wouldn't normally get from anyone else. Keep in mind that the deposit is normally usually tied to a savings account or certificate of deposit which means that your deposit money is gaining interest while you're building credit. This is a good way to create a savings for yourself. Also, when you add to the deposit, you increase the credit line which can also help your credit score because it creates a cushion between your total debt and your available credit. A good way to use the card would be to treat it as if it only had a $50 limit on it at all times, make smalll puchases and pay them off every month, and add to the deposit as much as possible. As long as you can keep the balance low, if not 0, and pay on time, usually after a year or so, the card converts to a regular card or a better card's offered, and most importantly you get the deposit back, with possible interest added to it. So when it's all said and done, you will have rebuilt your credit by custom building a high limit credit card, and have a nice savings for yourself! Then if you want to, you can repeat the process again to custom build another high limit card. 3. Enroll in PRBC- Consumer hit it right on the head. PRBC is a new credit bureau that reports accounts that normally don't report on your credit unless you fail to pay them and it goes to collections, like rent, utilities, cell phone, landline phone, etc. They take these payments and report it in what's called a BPS( bill payment score) which gives a more accurate picutre of what your paying and more importantly WHEN your're paying. They've teamed up with a bill pay service called CheckFree for $4.95 you can set up a checking account and it pays your bills every month and automatically reports it with PRBC (I posted the link to that website as well) 4. Try to clean up your report. A lot of times there are accounts on all 3 agencies that may not be yours and your credit is suffering as a result. Look over your reports and dispute anything with the bureaus that's not yours. As for the accounts that are yours, try to make arrangements with the collectors to get them paid off. Try to negotiate a "pay for delete" which is a payment in exchange for removing it from your credit report. The collectors may not do it at first, but it's worth a shot. I posted links on negotiating debts too I know that this is a lot of informtaion I threw at you, but it should work out for you Good Luck!