Repair Credit Score

Posts Tagged ‘free’

Question: What's the best and fastest way to increase credit fico scores?

wondering if old charge offs 'fall-off' your Credit Report after 7 years? 10 years? Do any of those Credit Repair Services work? Heard about writing letters to creditors and if they do not respond in 30 days, the item must be erased from report--true?

Answer: Credit history is reported on you FICO for seven years. After that, credit card companies (and mortgage firms, etc) do not have access to that information.

Bankruptcies may last up to 10 years before falling off the grid. (Depends on state law)

As for the best way to improve your FICO:
1. Steady payment history is the best -- pay your current bills on time (do NOT let past bad performance discourage you from not paying your bills now!)

2. Take care of unresolved debts (if you have been contacted by a debt collector, try to work something out with them; otherwise contact the company -- the goal is to have the old debt listed as "paid in full", which is much better than "settled")

3. Make sure that your credit cards are not maxed out (FICO looks at the ratio of open credit to used credit -- too little open credit hurts you)

4. Make sure that you do not have too many lines of credit (if you can pay off and close some credit cards, that is good. As to which ones, it depends on interest rates -- get rid of high interest cards -- and payment history -- keep the cards with the longest GOOD payment history)

5. Yes, there is a time limit in which a creditor must respond to you if you dispute a charge or a debt amount (I can not remember if it is 30 or 60 days, but that should be easily found on the internet)

6. Be careful of debt consolidation services -- most are rip offs. Some are good. Check with the better business bureau.

7. Remember that one payment towards an old debt is a REAFFIRMATION that you are responsible for that debt.

That's all I have. Sorry, not a professional.

Credit Repair - info from the Credit Secrets Bible

Question: What happens if I let my 5-yr ARM mortgage adjust?

I am not sure if I should refinance or not. If I do not, what happens with my current ARM loan when it resets?

Answer: Your mortgage contract will spell out exactly what index is used and how many points over that index you will be paying. With today's low interest you may actually adjust downward. So calculate what the interest rate will be based on today's rates and you can go from there. Since your loan to value is 93% you may have a hard time refinancing without putting up some cash. Also in order to refinance you may have to pay off the second.

Mortgage Testing/Credit Score Press Conference Part 2 - April 21, 2010

Question: Can i still get my navy security clearance?

I just DEP'd in the Navy a couple of weeks ago and my job requires a secret clearance. I'm a Senior in college and my Credit Score is about 686. I just had my car repo'd yesterday and today I had a credit alert that said the DOD did a hard inquiry on my credit. I have no other bad things in my credit and i only had the car for about 5 months. Will this stop me from getting a security clearance?

Answer: You only had the car for 5 months, yet it got repossessed? Sounds like you never made a single payment. It is rare a car gets repossessed until it has been behind for at least 6-8 payments.

Credit can be a real issue during background checks. Even though your Credit Score isn't horrible, when they look at your credit they look at recent activity and what your activity represents. In your case it shows a lack of responsibility. That may pose a problem.

Good luck. Hopefully they will see it as a rough patch versus a pattern of behavior. Rough patches get excused... patterns of behavior end in "No Thank You's".

CWN ALERT: Sallie Mae Misrepresenting Status of Student Loan