If you want to increase the chances of getting a house in the next few months. pay all your credit cards off. if you have a 680, it will most definetaly boost you over 700. check truecredit.com and see.

This is a good article

http://www.onestopmortgageshopping.com/creditscore.htm

This worked for me about 10 years ago when i was a bumb playing in metal bands and needed to get a car,house and some credit.

Not sure if it still works now, but it is a way to get instant long term good looking credit. You need someone who trusts you with a long term of paying their bills to their credit companys on time. I had it good that i had my girlfriend(now wife) at the time had over 10 years of paying on her credit cards on time. Just have them call up the cc company and have them issue you a second card on that account (this is where the trust thing comes in,not many will do this for someone). AS soon as the card comes in the mail give it back and tear it up. In a couple months i had that "good credit" rating from the cc company on my credit record, it appeared i was the one owning and paying on that card all those years.

Not sure if this is still a valid method anymore, but at the time it worked for me and many others (who read the same book as i did ;-))

fuckin US credit pisses me off...


back in Canada, I got a HOME paid in time everytime..

cell phone of over 250$/month..

TV/Satelitte
Internet..

etc...


Got 2 Credit Cards totalling 23,000$ in credit, and they keep bugging me to increase it...


NOW... I get to work in the states...

they can't import it from canada..

so I'm here, getting declined everywhere because my SSN is new...

so I have to get a secured Credit Card..

so I go and spend as much as I can, with staying under the max I can spend...

so I stay 8$ from the limit the first month....

BAM, these fuckers hit me with the 25$ anual fee... I go OVERLIMIT... charge me 35$ in fees...


then, I ask for a CC at Macy's cuz they had that 15% with new card shit..

Credit refused... saying I overcharge my credit cards, and some other shit cuz of that..


it's so much fuckin bullshit man... makes me sad LOL

:1orglaugh... From the Equifax site:


Privacy and Opt Out Notices. We understand your desire to know how YOUR information will be used AND in our Privacy and Opt Out Notices we describe how we, the Suppliers will collect, use and maintain your information.


-----> By clicking below you may exercise your right to instruct us not to provide your non-public personal information to non-affiliated third parties, except as permitted by law.



So like if I don't click below, they are going to break laws? Wtf is the point of checking below if they are going to sell the information anyway?

:321GFY Credit reporting agencies.

When do they ask? Other than when you apply for a loan or a credit card, they never ask. So, if you last applied for a loan 6 years ago, do they assume your income is the same as it was back then? Do they calculate your credit score based on the old income information?

great advice here, i appreciate it too guys..

im working to build my credit, i have no real outline on how to do it.. i just pay my bills on time, and keep everything under 50% of the credit line.. getting a cell phone in my name tommorrow (got one under a girlfriend now) for another form of credit..

one question though, all my CC's are Capital One VISA's.. would it be in my best interest to diversify alil, with maybe an American Express or Master Card? or it doesnt matter.

also i have a Capital One Platinum card with a fucking credit line of $500 bucks, whats up with that?

credit cards don't establish your credit. if you're not using a card or don't plan on using it, cancel the card.

typically a loan will establish your credit, like an auto loan or something. if you make a big purchase like a vehicle or something, even if you have the money to buy it in cash take out a loan after putting 60% down. pay it off in a few months. a secured personal loan would work fine for building your credit up. try to take out a loan of some kind every year and pay it off in a couple months. could pay off when you actually need the credit to get a home.

banks rule the world,i see everyone here is an expert on loans,mortgage etc :-)

thats my ultimate goal, buying a home within the next 3 - 4 years.

i guess my question was more directed at if there were any credit institutions that hold more weight on a credit scale (i.e. bank of america over fleet) ?

like you mentioned banks on personal loans, but what about financing from places like dell (which i have done, and paid off), does this appear on my credit report?

What does a foreclosure do?

And, is a foreclosure worse or better or doesn't matter than, let's say, a bankruptcy?

If you are not using a card it is not a bad idea to keep it. The more cards you have at a 1/3 or less of the credit used, the more points you get on your FICO. The only cases where I would cancel cards like this is when the annual fees are not worth the extra point or two on the FICO score.

Mike B

i've got capital one card with a 19.8% apr and $2000 limit.. is it good or bad? i dunno, i always pay for my shit and never use credit

19.8 sucks ass bro

i just never use them cc's, so i didnt care..

what % should i consider if i apply in the future? or is my apr gonna drop at all?

Use your credit cards and pay them off. Never be late with a payment. Call them up and ask them to give you a higher spending limit.

Get small loans and pay them off. Don't be late with a payment.

I signed up for Equifax credit watch and its awesome, it notifies you withine 24 hours of any credit inquiry.

One thing to remember is that even if you pay off your CC every month it will still report the end balance on your statement to the credit bureaus.

Nope. I work for a credit card company. When I'm making my decisions, I have to take into consideration that those cards can be maxed out at moment's notice. They may even be maxed out when I'm doing the review.

So when someone is doing a credit decision for you, they consider those cards as maxed out, even if they got a $0 balance.

Credit decisions aren't based solely on your credit score. When you're applying for a mortgage, a human makes a decision, and he/she takes everything into consideration, not just your credit score.

Your salary/income doesn't affect your credit score. The credit bureau knows where you work and how long you've been there, but they don't know how much you make.

When you apply for credit, they ask you that information and use it in conjunction with your credit bureau information in order to make a decision.

Thats exactly correct especially with mortgage companies. The most important factor when it comes to getting a mortgage is collateral. I've seen people that had credit scores in the 500's get a mortgage with 20-30% down, although the mortgage company will make you pay off any chargeoffs and you'll get a higher interest rate.

Yep :thumbsup
They'll also make you close all your credit cards or at the very least, pay down and lower the limits on them.

If you're going to order a credit report through one of the agencies I'd suggest grabbing Equifax's 3 in 1 with FICO. It will give you all three major reporting agencies along with their FICO scoring. You can get this through other places too, but what's nice on Equifax's is that you get a list of the addresses for all of your creditors and inquirors from your report. Makes it nice if you need to contact any of them.

Another reason for checking all 3, is that you'd be amazed at the differences between them. Some tend to hang on to weird things forever. Also some potential creditors may use one agency over another. If you're only checking on one and there's mess on the one they use, it doesn't you no good.

they have to run a credit check every time u want a higher limit, credit check = bump you down a few points.

If you are going to apply for credit from different companies, try to group them together in the same span of time so it only shows up on your credit report once and doesn't hurt your FICO score so much.

Also, remember the Fair Credit Reporting Act which requires credit bureaus to remove any information on your credit report unless they can prove it's accurate within 30 days. If you or your attorney write letters about negative notes on your credit report, a lot of times they won't be able to prove something in that span of time just because of laziness and bureaucracy. If they can't prove it, they must remove the information.

that's not necessarily true.
most places work with a matrix determined by 2-4 items, including your current limit, your credit score, your internal bank score and your income.

for example, "He has a current limit of $3k, a score of 680 and $45k a year. He qualifies for up to $6k" etc.

The time span in between inquiries doesn't affect your score. The inquiries themselves do.
And when a creditor looks at your report and sees multiple requests within a short time span, you get labelled a credit seeker. "This guy is so desperate for credit, he's trying to get it everywhere".

Not only is that illegal if the information is accurate, it also defeats the whole purpose of credit history.

I don't know about the U.S., but here in Canada racking up a credit card and paying it off the same month (avoiding interest charges) does not affect credit rating at all. You have to maintain a balance and do payments to be rated.

My father found this out when he tried to lease a vehicle for the first time in his life. He didn't think he'd have any trouble since he used his credit cards for his business expenses, which averaged about $10,000 a month for years.

He had a zero credit rating because he never held a balance and his house had been paid off for over 10 years.

The dealership gave him the lease anyway because they looked up his business in the yellow pages in a 15 year old phone book.
lol

I'm sorry but you are wrong. Here's the text of the law.
Fair Credit Reporting Act

Maybe by illegal you mean unethical. Yes it's probably unethical but it's not illegal.

secured or collateral loans do not go on your credit report
so dont waste your time

i suggest getting a decent credit counselor who knows their shit rather than getting steered in the wrong direction.

You will need more than a decent credit score to get a mortgage. If you can't provide proof of sufficient self-employment income to satisfy your lender's requirements, you can check into a "no documentation" loan. The rates are higher, but much less proof of income is needed. Also, if you changed jobs often, lenders like to see that you stayed in the same line of business.

it sucks, but for car loans and stuff you can actually have *too good* of credit. mid-700's is probably about the best situation to try and stay in.

and, oddly enough, the beacon score does not mean everything. you'd think it would, but it only serves as a pretty good guide. so, when watching your beacon, pay attention to the other stuff. you actually can pull a 750 or better, and not qualify for financing. conversely, you can pull lower numbers and still have good credit.

it sucks that it is possible that sometimes for a car loan a person that pulls a 400 can get financed easier than someone with a 750.

something to remember about cars though. it's a lot easier usually to get financed than some people think, especially at larger dealerships and stuff.

if you do have crappy credit, and want to get financed, i'll give you some tips. you're going to have to get something (as of now) 99 or newer, most likely. a new car is easier to finance than a used car (from a risk standpoint.. they want to get their money back if you bail). so, generally go for a cheaper new car. you're gonna get stuck with a nasty interest rate, period. here the cap is 18%, so expect somewhere in low to mid teens. although, in states that do not have caps, it might be even higher than that. of course, downpayment makes a difference. around here i know if you put say $6-7k down on an eclipse, they'll automatically bump you to tier a financing, their terms for perfect credit. that's nice of them, because with that you can get the good rates.

if you are buying a used car, and can provide good utility statements and check stubs (or tax forms), some of the more off-beat financing companies will buy your deal, although sometimes you have to give them an extra $1k just to do the deal.

if you're trying to buy a car or something though and have *no* credit, you're just about as good as fucked. nobody in the car financing world generally wants anything to do with something like that, except maybe a buy-here-pay-here. bad credit is better than no credit.

just thought i'd add my :2 cents:

I know something about this so maybe this information will be helpful:

There are THREE things lenders consider when granting a home loan. Credit is only ONE of them, but it is not the end all be all of getting a mortage.

Lenders generally consider the following:

1) Credit
2) Employment
3) Cash


If you meet the criteria for at least two out of the three items listed above --- you're generally in pretty good shape. If you only meet one of the criteria, you still can get a mortgage. But all of the circumstances change depending upon your situation.

Let's start with a typical conventional loan.

1) Credit --- The lenders generally want a credit score of at least 620, and no late payments or collections for the past two years. Even if you've had a bankruptcy or foreclosure, as long as you've been clean in the last two years and have that 620 score or better -- you're credit is generally considered ok.

2) Employment --- They usually look for two years steady employment with W-2's to prove your income. If you're self employed, tax returns will do the same.

3) Money --- Let's say your credit is screwed up, but you still have a good job with steady income. Or, you're credit is great, but you just lost your job and have no steady income. If you have the cash to make a 20 percent down payment --- which substantially reduces the bank's risk --- you can still get a conventional mortgage.

BUT --- If you also have a lot of existing debt, that can screw up your application --- especially if you're out of a job. And, even if you do have a steady job, you have to make sure that your debt payments aren't so high that your NET income isn't enough to cover living expenses and, of course, the mortgage and property taxes.

Now, assuming the you don't have any major existing debt payments ... but you've got other problems and only meet ONE of the criteria mentioned above ...

You can still get a decent mortgage, but usually with a government guaranteed loan program -- typically FHA. However, you still would have to cough up some cash --- usually a three percent down payment plus closing costs which, give or take on the home price, fees, etc., could add another $5,000 to the bill. (The costs are much less if you served in the military and qualify for VA no money down loan, but that's another story.)

Then, if all else fails, you can do what is called an 80/20 loan for high risk borrowers. Basically 80 percent of the loan is financed at low conventional mortgage rates, but another lender puts up the 20 percent at high interest rates -- typically 11 percent. A lot of people do this to rebuild their credit and refinance the 20 percent after two years. But if you try to refinance before the two years has passed, there's usually substantial penalties running into the thousands.

There are also lots of other goverment programs which will help you buy a house. For example, one program involves the government buying the house, you "renting" the house by making the mortgage payments, etc. for two years and, after you build your credit back up --- you buy the house from the government in two years. But you have to qualify as a low income borrower.

As you can see, there are lots of ways to qualify for a mortgage.

Interesting post.

I forgot to mention that you probably still need a steady job and decent income for a government or high risk borrower loan ...

But if you have that, you can still qualify with lousy credit ... as long as you have some cash to close ... depending on what the loan requires. But in many cases, the cash requirements aren't that bad.

And, I do know people who have lost their jobs and gotten mortgages ... mostly because they had the cash to put down 20 percent and they had really great credit.

Foreclosure is generally considered worse than a bankruptcy but, depending upon the situation, you still can get a mortgage.

A lot of it depends upon how much time has passed since the foreclosure. Most lenders require two years, but a tougher lenders will require three years. If you want to get an FHA loan, for example, I believe the rule is three years.

BUT, you also have to figure out how the lender is going to count that time period.

Some will require that the 2-3 year period start the day the bank seized the property. Others will require that the 2-3 year period start the day the bank resells the property to someone else.

A lot of it can also depend upon when the foreclosed lender stops reporting the debt as an open, deliquent account on your credit report.

But, once you clear that time period, AND --- you've rebuilt your credit score to 620 or higher --- then you're pretty much in the clear.

You'll still have to write a letter of explanation, etc., but --- assuming you don't have any other major problems --- you'll be ok.

There's actually a lot of debate about this point. And you'll hear different opinions from different credit experts.

But I can tell you that one expert whom I really trust says it's best to try to keep a maximum of FIVE credit accounts open at any given time --- no more than that.

Not five credit cards, but five accounts total. Meaning, if you have a car payment, and a mortgage payment --- then you probably should have only three open credit card accounts --- just as an example.

You may think it looks good to have a bunch of credit cards with open credit lines that you're not using ....

But if you're applying for a mortgage, the bank will worry that you might use those accounts and run up huge balances in the future.

As far as your credit score, the ONLY thing that really boosts your score is making payments. LOTS of them --- on time.

And keeping your debt to a minimum ...

Another question...

Discover sends me a report (quarterly I believe) listing some of my credit information, open credit lines is one of them. I was looking over my report today and found two "open" lines of credit that I no longer hold. One was NextCard (now defunct), and the other was an old bank account. How do I get these closed and off my report?

Also, do "store" credit cards affect your credit score in any negative way? I have 3 standard credit cards and I just received a Best Buy credit card, should I drop my Best Buy card ASAP? Or is it fine to have?

First, you want to check your credit reports with the three credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. You can sign up for all of them and access their reports online for a minimal fee.

If they're inaccurately reporting those "open" accounts, you can ask them to remove them. It usually takes about 30 days.

And most of them offer what's called a 3-in-1 credit report --- where you can access all three bureau's data in one report.

That's really great and convenient BUT .... let's say you bought the 3-in-1 credit report from Equifax for $30, but the report is showing that TransUnion --- NOT Equifax --- is reporting the inaccurate information. Even though you paid Equifax the fee, Equifax can't correct it. Only TransUnion can ....

So ... You're still going to have to sign up with TransUnion's website to correct the information --- and pay them the $10 fee or whatever they charge for their individual credit report (this is not necessarily true in all states , but it is true in California where I live).

Therefore, I would recommend signing up with all three sites and paying the $10 (or whatever) each so you can dispute any information easily with all three bureaus. I know ... it's a pain in the ass ... but that's what they require. And ultimately it's alot faster because you can dispute the info online or by calling them.

To answer your second question: Keep in mind that the recommendation to keep only five open accounts mostly applies to when you are applying for a mortgage. And, even then, you can probably get away with six or seven open accounts --- as long as you don't have other major credit issues or other problems.

BTW ... I'm not saying that you won't get a mortgage if you have a lot of open accounts. It all depends upon the individual's circumstances. But you look a hellava lot better when you don't have a lot of open credit.

However, if you're not applying for any major credit like a mortgage --- Or, only applying for easier credit like a car loan or something like that --- more than five open accounts isn't a big deal. But you really don't want those open accounts to pile up in a major way because you never know if you'll need to refinance, take out a second on the house ... whatever.

Sometimes a store credit card can be great ... especially if you're paying off those balances every month. That DOES help your credit score because it's the PAYMENTS that matter --- especially when you pay them off. It's particularly helpful if, let's say, you've just declared bankruptcy (just as an example) and you need to establish some good credit really fast.

But if it's just sitting there as an open account that you probably won't use very much --- and you've got other cards to pay Best Buy --- I'd close it.

I'm sure there's a reason there is a Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Could it be perhaps that in the past, that credit reporting agencies have been unfair? Dare I say.....unethical even?? :1orglaugh