UPDATE!!! Since the original posting, my FICO score has gone up 41 points.
Okay...
So I'm home on leave and feel secure enough to look up my credit report online.
I found out my score for the first time in my life. It is currnetly above 550, and below 600. This is, from what I understand, abysmal, but it is in recovery from a God-only-knows-how-much-lower score.
There are no bankruptcies and no judgements on my record.
I do have some accounts that have gone into collections, and a some of my credit cards are at/near the limit. This, from what I understand is the primary influence in my low score.
As of now, all of my accounts are current, and have been so for over a year.
My primary goal is to boost my credit score over 700 (and eventually over 800). My secondary goal is to have no/low/manageable/comfortable debt. I have some cash saved up which I can use to zero out a few of my low limit credit cards all at once. I can also pay down some of my higher balance/limt credit cards as well.
From what I have researched, it's best to have revolving debt at less than 50% of the maximum limit, though maintaining some debt is good, because it can be used to analyze financial behavior.
Now, would it be best to zero three or four credit cards which have low limits, or just pay them down to about 20% or so? And for the higher ones, I can't afford to pay them all the way down, but some is better than none, I gather. For example, if I had one credit card sitting at 85% of the limit, I'd want to pay it down as much as I could, even if it was only down to, say, 75%, as that would improve my score. Correct?
Bottom line questions:
What's best to improve my credit score in the short term?
What's best for long term?
What's best "freeing" up money now and in the future?
How good of a score is 650? I have received some advice from the online "Credit Wizard" that tells me some actions that can boost my score to approximately this amount (presumably in 1 month, but that much is not 100% clear).
Also, I've wondered: if I have a few thousand dollars, is there some way to spend/invest it so that it will grow by... say... 25%-50% in 6 months? 12 months? And if so, how much of an investment of time/stress would be involved?
I am going to need to buy a car soon and will need to take out a loan to do so (about $25,000). I currently have control over my debt, but my score is still recovering from just being broke when I was younger.
Am I likely to be able to get the loan in... say... four or five months? I would prefer not to get the loan from one of those agancies that specializes in "bad credit" loans, as I understand that this has a negative impact on my credit score.
Any advice is much appreciated.
Okay...
So I'm home on leave and feel secure enough to look up my credit report online.
I found out my score for the first time in my life. It is currnetly above 550, and below 600. This is, from what I understand, abysmal, but it is in recovery from a God-only-knows-how-much-lower score.
There are no bankruptcies and no judgements on my record.
I do have some accounts that have gone into collections, and a some of my credit cards are at/near the limit. This, from what I understand is the primary influence in my low score.
As of now, all of my accounts are current, and have been so for over a year.
My primary goal is to boost my credit score over 700 (and eventually over 800). My secondary goal is to have no/low/manageable/comfortable debt. I have some cash saved up which I can use to zero out a few of my low limit credit cards all at once. I can also pay down some of my higher balance/limt credit cards as well.
From what I have researched, it's best to have revolving debt at less than 50% of the maximum limit, though maintaining some debt is good, because it can be used to analyze financial behavior.
Now, would it be best to zero three or four credit cards which have low limits, or just pay them down to about 20% or so? And for the higher ones, I can't afford to pay them all the way down, but some is better than none, I gather. For example, if I had one credit card sitting at 85% of the limit, I'd want to pay it down as much as I could, even if it was only down to, say, 75%, as that would improve my score. Correct?
Bottom line questions:
What's best to improve my credit score in the short term?
What's best for long term?
What's best "freeing" up money now and in the future?
How good of a score is 650? I have received some advice from the online "Credit Wizard" that tells me some actions that can boost my score to approximately this amount (presumably in 1 month, but that much is not 100% clear).
Also, I've wondered: if I have a few thousand dollars, is there some way to spend/invest it so that it will grow by... say... 25%-50% in 6 months? 12 months? And if so, how much of an investment of time/stress would be involved?
I am going to need to buy a car soon and will need to take out a loan to do so (about $25,000). I currently have control over my debt, but my score is still recovering from just being broke when I was younger.
Am I likely to be able to get the loan in... say... four or five months? I would prefer not to get the loan from one of those agancies that specializes in "bad credit" loans, as I understand that this has a negative impact on my credit score.
Any advice is much appreciated.
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