Hello I am new to this site I am 23 years old in the military and I am a little concerned with my credit score. Heres the run down . . .
I have a 636 credit score
1. I had a Captiol One credit card from JULY 04 - OCT 05 had a 150days past do I paid it off and closed the account. I closed it because I was ignorant about credit and credit cards
2. I had a Citi Card from NOV 03 - AUG 05 never had any issues I closed it because I was ignorant about credit and credit cards and I did not want to get in more trouble like the previous card
3. I had a auto Loan for 2,000 opened on Novemeber 2006 and paid it off and closed it June 2007 no late fees all payments made on time.
4. I am now stuck with a unsecure-mastercard 300 dollar limit since OCT 07 always paid on time current and my limit jumped up to 375 this month.
5. I have a car loan with wachovia wtih 13,300 left opened AUG 2007 always paid on time current.
6. I have 12 inquiries the bold ones are the time i got back from iraq and applied for auto loan on two different cars at two different dealers more of my own ignorance
10/2/2007
10/2/2007
8/22/2007
8/21/2007
8/20/2007
8/20/2007
8/20/2007
8/20/2007
8/20/2007
8/3/2007
7/28/2007
Well that is everything now I just want opnions on what I should do to get my credit score higher I know I probably made a lot of mistakes with my credit but I am trying to get on the right track to fix it. Another thing is that I am getting ready to go back out to iraq so should I pay off my car ASAP or just keep making payment i can pay it off in 18 months or 60 months. :)
It seems that you have never been delinquent. The only big mistake you have made is that after paying off all the debts in time you have closed the account which you should not have. Old accounts always add to your credit score if they are paid in time as you did. If you had those accounts open, it would have increased your credit score. Now you have a master card which is also paid in correct time. I advice you not to close this account, since with time this account will add to your credit score. Secondly, since you have already two hard inquiries reflected on your credit report for your car loan application, try to get these hard inquiries eliminated from the report and try not to apply for any more credit cards right now since applying for new cards will again bring another set of hard inquiry which will again lower your credit score. Your credit score is neither too good nor too bad. 636 is a moderate score as you can easily get loans with this score.
I too agree with Scott. It is true that the moment you apply for a new credit, there is a hard inquiry made by the creditor with your permission. The moment they make a hard inquiry, it gets reflected on your credit report, which gives a negative impression on your credit report and lowers your credit score. Hard inquiry is bad as it indicates that you are credit hungry.
Hi kdlopez01
First of all, welcome to the forum.
My suggestion is that if you can remove the existing hard inquiries from the credit report, your score will increase. To remove the existing hard inquiry you can try out the following.
Firstly order all of your credit reports from the CRAs. At the end of these reports you will find out the inquiries. Find out the addresses of the credit inquirers from the report and send them letters asking them to remove the inquiry. Under the FCRA, only authorized inquiry should reflect in your credit report. You can challenge the inquiring creditor whether they have proper authorization to pull the credit file. Some of them may send you documents that the inquiry was authorized. In that case you should check the authorization you have signed. In case of any dispute you can write them back and threaten to complain against them to the State Banking Commission. Many creditors simply delete the inquiry as a courtesy or just because they cannot verify the authorization.
IM, TRYINGTOO BE APPROVE FOR A MASTERCARD OR VISAHELP ME PLE
I, LOVE YOU AS A FRIEND IM, TRYING TOO BE APPROVE FOR A MASTERCARD OR VISA