Hi, my husband and I have raked up roughy $33,000 in credit card debt due to him being unemployed for almost 3 years. :( He's back to work now, so we are chipping away at the debt. Our credit scores are roughly 600 (give or take a few points).
We are coming into inheritance money from my grandfather, and it will be enough to pay off all of our credit card debt in one payment, and put away enough for a downpayment on a house (we currently rent).
I want to wait for our scores to go up. We are usually never late (we were late about a week on a couple bills due to me having surgery and being hospitalized, but that was last year). How long after we make this payment will our scores go up? We will have roughly $50,000 in available credit, and $0 in debt after the payment, except our car loan which will be paid off at in April 2012.
Thanks.
Paying off all debt.. credit score increase
Negative item hurts your credit score. Usually negative items remain on your credit report for 7 years from the date of your first default. The best thing to improve your credit score is to make all the payments on time. It’s very difficult to say when your credit score will go up after making the payments. This is because credit score goes up gradually with time.