Let me be honest: I don’t have a very good credit score. How do I fix this? Should I close some open accounts? Will this help?
And please don’t state the obvious …. thank you.

If your accounts are in good standing, do not close them. The largest component of a credit score is history. And even though those accounts will be on your reports for another 10 years after/if you close them, they will drop off and in 10 years, your credit history will severely shorten. Also, if you have some debt, like in credit cards, and you close accounts, your utilization ratio will increase, decreasing your score.

Paying on time with at least the minimum is mandatory. If you have debt, try to pay it down as quickly as possible. This is for unsecured, revolving debt like credit cards. Paying off installment loans like car and student loans more quickly than the maturity date won’t help, in fact, they’ll just fall off your reports more quickly (again the whole 10 years thing).

If you have been applying for credit frequently recently, stop. Hard inquiries ding your score. After one year, they won’t have an impact on your score and after two, they’ll drop off your reports.

If you have only one certain type of credit account; when it is suitable, apply for another type. Credit scores are also based on the type of credit accounts you have. If you have a credit card but not an installment loan like a car or student loan, apply for a personal loan and start paying it off. A lot of people have done this to establish a credit history; they don’t use the money from the loan but put it in savings to build a little interest and make monthly payments.

With all of this, time is what will help you the most. Just let your accounts age as long as possible.

FYI: Rent and utilities aren’t reported to credit bureaus unless they go delinquent.

I reported/contacted/mailed the credit report company, but they have never replied. It has been a couple of years and they have yet to fix it.

Do it again.
Get your reports at
annual credit report. com
Get all 3 reports online.
Dipute the item
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I recently checked my credit report and there were some things on it that were not there because of me. What is the best way to go about fixing this?

If you got your credit report from Trans Union, there should be a reference # on the top right hand side. Call their customer service # toll free @ 1-800-916-8800, type in the reference # and that will transfer you to a live person.

Of course. There is no requirement to pay someone to challenge. All they do is write the same note to the agency that you could have. Call for a free credit report. Read it and see what is wrong and then in the space they provide write down your version of the story. They must respond and must put a note in your report that says that you disputed some facts there. That is as much as that paid fixer could accomplish.

I am wondering if anyone has done this and has it worked? Do the items truely stay off your report? He is wanting his fee upfront and I’ve read that you shouldn’t have to pay until services are completed. Is this true as well? I’m confused because Wells Fargo referred me and I want to think it is reputable otherwise why would they ask me if I wanted these services? Any advice would be extremely helpful! Thank You!

Forget it. You will be out even more money. Use the funds to pay your debts. They promise nothing, do little and yes the problem MAY disappear a cyle and end up righ back on the reports.

I had some issues a few years back but have paid all of the debt and I am current on all of my payments. However, when I apply for credit it shows up as serious delinquency and delinquency to recent. Does anyone know of anything I can do to correct this?

It depends on what type of "issues" that you had on your credit.

Where they just late payments, or did the accounts go into default and get turned over for collection or written off?

If you have charge-offs those accounts will remain paid or unpaid for 7.5 years from date of first delinquency. There is nothing that can be done to remove a charge-off. It will remain.

If the "issues" are collections, that have been paid a long time ago, open a dispute as not your account with the credit bureaus..most likely the collection agencies will not respond, since they have there money. If it was recent paid collections, wait a few months then open the dispute.

If they are just late payments posted, you can send the creditors a letter requesting a goodwill adjustment. Some will do it, others will not depends on how you pay the account.

A common mistake when trying to raise you credit score is to close accounts. You need to make sure that you always hold on to your OLDEST credit card. Even if it doesn’t have the best rewards, interest rates etc. The longer ago a credit line was issued, the better it will reflect in your credit score. That said the lion’s share of you credit score is based on payment history like a few people have already said. The next most important thing is your credit to debt ratio – try to get to a place where no more than 1/3rd of the limit is charged on a given credit card. Also – get a Suze Ormond book out of the library. Her stuff helped me out a lot. 2 years ago my FICO score was 589 and so far I’ve gotten up to 715.

I am getting mixed up with my father because I am a jr. They have my birthday but his year and they have his things he defaulted on. I called one of the credit bureau and they couldn’t help me because i couldn’t match my info with what they had. I was told to write a letter to all 3 major credit bureaus but I have no idea what to write! What should I do?

Probably you have some wrong items in your credit report. Use credit repair service to find and remove such bad stuff from your credit – credit-report-score.10001mb.com

Сredit repair workеd fine to fix my credit. They disputed and removed lots of bad items from my credit report. I used this service – credit-report-score.10001mb.com

So my father took my info and opened credit cards in 2003-2004. I recently looked at my file and there is more in 2007. I put a fraud alert on my account. But now what? Contact the collection agencies? Any step by step instructions would be great. Thank you

My Wife went through this with her Son a few years ago and the only way to clear it up is to file a report with the police and send copies to both the credit card companies and the credit bureaus.

Weather or not the credit card companies or the police will do anything to your Dad is up to them, but they did nothing to my Wife’s Son.

Within a month my Wife’s credit was cleared.