No New Late Payments in 3 Years
Doing great here. I would suspect that this fact in addition to your clearing up some of the identity theft mess has contributed largely to your current gains; however, timely payments only account for about 35% of your overall credit score.
You should be aware that your current score of 666 is technically a C-grade and is considered by MyFico to be “fair”; if you’re trying to get an A for “excellent” you’ve gotta do those extra credit things that exemplify such a stellar grade. While keeping up with your payments is going to help you maintain your current score, you need to go above and beyond to get that magical score of 800. It might not be very realistic to have high expectations for your credit score while you’re in school, especially if you don’t have the means of extending your available credit.
Current Score is 666, Why is it not increasing more?
As I’ve just mentioned a credit score 666 is only relatively low. (I need to stop typing that score out, it’s giving me the jeebies!) You mentioned that you have been paying your bills and making all the right moves but your score wasn’t increasing. You asked me how I was able to get such a huge jump in one year. –Well, my gains were largely due to the fact that I had no revolving credit and the only credit history I had was my student loans and some collections. When I learned about credit scores, I had a very hard time getting any credit card at all. I thought to myself, geez how the hell am I suppose to build any credit if they won’t give me a freaking card.
I tried everything really. But I was lucky, USAA was the first to take me on as a risk. USAA is an awesome bank, and I plan on writing a piece about them one day… Anyhow, once I established my credit with the help of two major credit cards and a humongous credit limit, my score skyrocketed! I mean, it all comes down to which piece of the FICO pie you’re hurting in. Sure you might be paying your bills on time, but do you have enough available credit for example? Take a look at the generic credit score break down to see what area you’re gonna need work in. I already have an idea what might be hurting you which is the next thing I’m gonna talk about…
April 23rd, 2007 at 7:02 pm
Good luck with the apartment purchase. My wife and I have owned a 4-family apt building since Dec of 2004 (shameless plug: I wrote about it on my blog tonight, check it out). It has been a wonderful investment - I recommend it to anyone.
I must apologize for knowing nothing when it comes to improving a credit score.
April 23rd, 2007 at 8:37 pm
Writing letters to the credit agencies to remove innacurate or old information is beneficial with basic credit records. Identity theft may be more of a head ache when it comes to correcting those but like you said, be patient and professional but persistent (translated - consistent) in your corrective letter writing until each individual situation is addressed to each agency.
April 23rd, 2007 at 8:51 pm
@Chris! Yeah I was reading that post you’ll have to write more about it! Where do you guys live at btw. Man If I could find a 4-bed Apt for 250K$ I’d be all over it! Alas California..
@Martin Lindsey! Yeah I think she’s pretty much past that stage I just wrote the bit about Identity theft to be thorough to anyone else that read it. Thanks for sharing and coming by!
April 24th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
Whether you have a good credit card or card for bad credit, you should always see to it that all of your payment information is reported to the 3 major credit bureaus. And it should be correct. In case you find some false info, you have all the right to dispute it. If it’s identity theft they must investigate…
April 25th, 2007 at 7:48 am
I posted a great list of top ten things I’ve heard a prospective or current tenant say. Read that and then decide if you want to own rental property. (of course I still recommend you do!)
Chris (Q)
May 2nd, 2007 at 1:30 pm
[…] Juan Millon (1mil) presents Ask 1mil: How Can I Increase My Credit Score? posted at Millionster.com. […]