How can I raise my credit score?
The key to financial power lies in your credit rating. If you plan to get a home loan, save money and get better credit starting now!
My credit score is about 540 right now. I had 3 credit cards that were maxed out. Than I had about 2-3 with some charges but they weren't maxed out. I could only pay the minimum so obviously it wasn't helping me to pay them off. Recently my dad transferred my balances over to one of his credit cards with a lower interest rate, so now I am paying him every month. I don't have a lot of late payments reflected on my credit (maybe 6 at the most). How long with it take my credit score to go back up?
How can I raise my credit score?First, it might help to know what makes up your score:
35% payment history
30% total debt vs. available credit
15% length of time establishing credit
10% types of credit established
10% inquiries and new credit
Well, if 2-3 of your cards were maxed out, then that will affect 30% of your score. The scoring system is desgined to where it wants you to use but not overuse your credit. You should keep the balances on all your cards collectively at 30% of the combined available credit. Let's say that you have 5 cards with a total combined limit of $7500. You should have no more than $500 charged on each of those 5 cards.
As for the late payments, those hurt you the most since it's scored the heaviest. Unless you can contact the companies that you were late with and have them to re-age your account as a goodwill courtesy, you're going to have to ride those out from anywhere to 3-7 years. It's important to pay on time, if not a little earlier than the due date.
More Related Questions and Answers ...
The loan information post by website user , we not guarantee correctness.