To make a long story short, I was in college and got a lot of free things along credit cards that came with them. Used them for any and everything, my parents were helping me pay but they went through a divorce and things went downhill really fast. I graduated got a really job and called everyone on my credit report to make arrangements to pay off all of my debt (Not including my student loan).
Now I have fully paid 7 of the 8 charged off accounts on my CR. I have paid my student loans and Car note on time (Car note on time for the last 2 years.) and was able to get a secured Credit Card from the credit union which I Pay off every month ($500 credit limit).
The problem in March of 2008 my credit score was about 430 now it's 588, but there is only 1 more bill to pay off, but since it's will be another "paid charge off" I doubt my score will go up much more. Also I never qualify for credit cards because of my past credit history, therefore I cant increase my revolving credit to add to my credit report. Is there anything I can do?
Hi OldMajor,
A "Paid Charge-off" will not improve your credit score immediately, but will have a positive impact on your credit records. If you do not qualify for revolving credit accounts, you can apply for a secured credit card account. In a secured credit card account, you some deposit cash to the card issuer. The amount you deposit is your credit limit. By using the secured account for all your purchases and making timely payments for it will help to improve your credit history.
Do not keep shopping around for credit till you have a good credit score. Every time you apply for a new line of credit, there are hard inquiries from the credit card company. A hard inquiry can further lower your score. You will find 6 easy tips to improve your credit score if you visit the following link: http://www.creditmagic.org/knowledgebank/credit-scoring.html#improvecre… .
Thanks Scott. I guess I was getting anxious because I was looking to buy a home soon. With my credit score what it is, it didn't look possible. However I have found a program (NACA) for first time home buyers that may enable me to purchase a house. My problem is now I make good money, and have good cash equity to go along with my retirement savings but absolutely poor credit. So i'm kind of hamstrung when it comes to big purchases.
NACA program
Hi OldMajor,
Can you share the details of the NACA program. How does it help? I am also looking to buy my first home pretty soon. But I was recently denied a loan because of a poor score.
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