Bump up My credit score

[tink15823]

Hi I would like to bump up my credit score by at least 30 points. ! have a 680 . So anyone that have bumped up their credit suggestions would be great.

 

[TheRatPack]

Try Creditboards.com They have a lot of great advice for stuff like that. If you have any credit card debt, paying that off and getting it to a certain percentage is a good way to raise credit. Sometimes new credit can raise your score after a few months of consistent use. Getting any bad entries deleted due to the age of the accounts or if the information listed on your report is incorrect...etc.

 

[tink15823]

I think that is part of the trouble about 7 or 8 years ago we decided to go debit free we have not had a loan in 8 years we pay for everything in cash not a good such a good Idea . We own our home and our cars the day we get them we make payments to our selves so if we need to replace a car or home repair we have cash.

 

[mchllevns]

Pay on time or early...
pay more than the minimum on credit card debt to get it down...
don't try to open too many accounts or have your credit checked repeatedly..

 

[tink15823]

Pay on time or early...
pay more than the minimum on credit card debt to get it down...
don't try to open too many accounts or have your credit checked repeatedly..

We have no debit everything we own is paid for. We do not have a credit card , or car payment our house payment . We have no out standing bills . If I cant pay for it in cash we have not bought it for 8 years' Now I know I should not have done this. We can't show a credit history because we have paid everything off. A friend suggested a credit card I have a hard time paying a co that much extra money when you can plan a head and draw off your own resources saving at least 18 % .

 

[mchllevns]

If you only put on a credit card items you know you will pay off that month, you are not charged the interest. You can make small charges (i.e. a tank of gas) and pay off the amount as soon as the bill comes in.

 

[tink15823]

If you only put on a credit card items you know you will pay off that month, you are not charged the interest. You can make small charges (i.e. a tank of gas) and pay off the amount as soon as the bill comes in.

That is a great idea we have worked so long to get out of debit and stay that way . Doing it the way we did I never thought that not having debit would hurt us. I would just like to bump it up in the event we did need a loan I am not paying trough the roof in interest. Live and learn .

 

[TheRatPack]

If you have no debt and live by the belief (as you stated) that you shouldn't have anything you can't pay cash for.....you don't need to worry about your credit score. You have no reason to have a great credit score if you do not ever intend on buying something on credit....so I wouldn't worry about it if I were you

A credit score is a score of credit worthiness....BUT it's also quite the game. You have to have credit to show credit worthiness and creating some amount of debt seems to increase your credit score (percentage of your credit utilized, not just having a lot of credit cards sitting with a zero balance).

Again, it's a game and really unless you are going to use your credit...why worry about a credit score. Enjoy being debt free and continue to pay cash for items Have an emergency fund set up to keep you from having to take out loans....if you've made it this long without having to get a loan, you can continue to do it....just have that emergency money in place.

 

[Planogirl]

If you need good credit for some reason, I would suggest opening a few credit cards with the understanding that you will use them but pay them off every month. Not having active credit can certainly lower a score.

 

[tink15823]

If you have no debt and live by the belief (as you stated) that you shouldn't have anything you can't pay cash for.....you don't need to worry about your credit score. You have no reason to have a great credit score if you do not ever intend on buying something on credit....so I wouldn't worry about it if I were you

A credit score is a score of credit worthiness....BUT it's also quite the game. You have to have credit to show credit worthiness and creating some amount of debt seems to increase your credit score (percentage of your credit utilized, not just having a lot of credit cards sitting with a zero balance).

Again, it's a game and really unless you are going to use your credit...why worry about a credit score. Enjoy being debt free and continue to pay cash for items Have an emergency fund set up to keep you from having to take out loans....if you've made it this long without having to get a loan, you can continue to do it....just have that emergency money in place.

My only worry is I have two going into collage in 6 years . They do have money put back for it and savings bonds for every birthday holiday from the time they were born . I just know that the school Ds is looking into is a private school for theology not cheap .

Other than that i would be okay witht he debit free life.

 

[disneyfreakk]

6 years is plenty of time to bump up your credit score. I think you should get two credit cards and use one for a month and then pay it all off at the end of the billing cycle , then use the other card the next month. rinse and repeat. All the while making sure that you charge no more than 30% of your credit limit. Credit is a game, and you have to know how to play it in order to benefit from it.

Also, I would think you would want to bump your credit score up by at least 40 points. All of the best loan rates start with a credit score of 720. ( the higher, the better)

 

[tink15823]

6 years is plenty of time to bump up your credit score. I think you should get two credit cards and use one for a month and then pay it all off at the end of the billing cycle , then use the other card the next month. rinse and repeat. All the while making sure that you charge no more than 30% of your credit limit. Credit is a game, and you have to know how to play it in order to benefit from it.

Also, I would think you would want to bump your credit score up by at least 40 points. All of the best loan rates start with a credit score of 720. ( the higher, the better)

Thank you it looks like I am going to have to break down and get the credit cards . Great idea about two cards from what I heard one card with a good report is 30 points so 2 cards would be 60 points and would put us a a higher rate. Thank you my MIL just can't understand my dislike of credit cards living this long with out them I don't miss them. Oh well I can just put 20 on ea paying them off on the billing cycle and repeat for a while. Thank you everyone for your help.

 

[disneyfreakk]

just make sure you only use one each month. That is very important in the scoring module. You don't want "all" (in this case 2) of your cards being used at the same time.

 

[PandaPirate]

Leaving 20% of the limit on your card, and paying the min. each month is apparently good for your score..

 

[prncess674]

Leaving 20% of the limit on your card, and paying the min. each month is apparently good for your score..

It may raise your score a little bit, but a few points bump is not worth hundreds of dollars of interest.

 

[sookie]

debit cards wont help you either.
you will need credit cards for this.
maybe a store account and a credit card? you have to show a nice mix of credit.

 

[malibuconlee]

We have no debit everything we own is paid for. We do not have a credit card , or car payment our house payment . We have no out standing bills . If I cant pay for it in cash we have not bought it for 8 years' Now I know I should not have done this. We can't show a credit history because we have paid everything off. A friend suggested a credit card I have a hard time paying a co that much extra money when you can plan a head and draw off your own resources saving at least 18 % .

You don't need to pay interest to use a credit card. Just pay it off every month, or every two weeks like we do. We use a credit card for almost everything. We have fantastic credit.

I disagree with the person who said you don't need a credit score or credit, insurance companies use your credit score to determine your rates, well in part.