So what do you guys know about credit and credit scores?

[oscar]

You guys give the worst advice. You can have as many open lines of credit as you want and this will not harm your credit. Having a $5000 limit credit card with ZERO balnce is GREAT for your FICO score. Having a $5000 limit and a balance owed of $4500 is BAD for your FICO.

My advice is to keep all your credit cards but dont use but one or two. Having credit without balances shows lenders you are a responsible person and not a person that applies for credit cards, runs them up and just pay the minimum monthly payments. Keep your Debt to Income ratio less than 40% and you can borrow as much as your income reflects you can pay back.

The most important thing about having tons of credit cards with little or no balances is the borrowing power you have in the form of cash advances. If you ever need cash for an investment, emergency etc. its right in your wallet. It may be a matter of survival and if you are in survival mode you won't really care about your credit rating when you are hungry or need to borrow a few thousand to save your home etc. Keep your credit cards just don't use them unless you have to.

 

[oscar]

Chalkeater, I didn't read your reply before I wrote mine.....GREAT ADVICE

 

[JohnnyDetroit+]

too many open accounts is not good. it is a deragatory on the report. the key thing is pay on time and dont close anything that has been open for a long time. it tracks months reporting and the longer the better with no blemishes. if u got a cc in college with a 20% int rate with a zero balance leave it alone. dont close it cause months reported with no lates is important.

 

[3peet]

I'm a mortgage lender and see this stuff every single day. I'm always asked how do I improve my FICO score???

Best and fastest way, eliminated as much of that debt as possible. The best and quickest track to an improved score???

-Get most of those balances to atleast half max.
-The more you can pay off and keep at zero the better. (although it's impossible unless you cash out your equity on your home if you have one)

Easier said than done. GL

If you need more advice (or anyone else) give me a holler!

h_long_61@yahoo.com

 

[chalkeater]

Thanks Oscar. I've always taken the approach I have posted in this thread. It worked for me, so why can't it work for someone else?

I've been fortunate. My mom always stressed the importance at a young age to establish credit, but mostly importantly, always pay your bills on time to help establish your credit even further.

To this day, I have never had a late payment or a missed payment. I have no deragatory remarks on my credit report.

I've recently helped my wife improve her credit score from the high 600's to 763. I paid off her balances, left her major credit cards open, but closed some of the lesser credit card (clothing departments). She has never been late on a payment either, plus we just paid off her car loan as well.

Credit is so important. I'm one of those people who always want the best rate available, regardless of what loan I may be applying for and I don't want to have a negative mark on my credit affect the lender's decision as to whether or not I am going to be approved.

For those that are really interested in helping improve your credit score, I suggest you take a look at www.bankrate.com . They have some very informative articles on just this subject alone.

Hope this helps.

CE

 

[vinividivinci]

FunkSoulBrother

Do you not find it somewhat ironic to be seeking financial advice from a group of broke, degenerate gamblers? My suggestion is to seek out a few older, wealthy folks and ask them how they got that way. You will have to search far and wide to find very many who got rich by using their credit cards.


VVV

 

[Tatiana]

take it from a lady whose been there done that and maxed out all her high interest credit cards on expensive shopping sprees that all went delinquent, oscar's advise is best.

get rid of the jc penny cards with the $1000 max, this tells lenders that creditors don't trust you with larger limits.

keep all those other cards, just don't use them. having those cards with high limits and no money on them should show positively in your report. I wouldn't close them all at once. that could show negatively I am thinking.

renting and leasing = no assets. bad. buy a car. buy a home. do something.

finally check your score regularly. having high balance on even one card will kill your score but remember the score you see on line is not what lenders see. its usually lower.

Trust Tatiana

 

[Dante]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Tatiana:
take it from a lady whose been there done that and maxed out all her high interest credit cards on expensive shopping sprees that all went delinquent, oscar's advise is best.

get rid of the jc penny cards with the $1000 max, this tells lenders that creditors don't trust you with larger limits.

keep all those other cards, just don't use them. having those cards with high limits and no money on them should show positively in your report. I wouldn't close them all at once. that could show negatively I am thinking.

renting and leasing = no assets. bad. buy a car. buy a home. do something.

finally check your score regularly. having high balance on even one card will kill your score but remember the score you see on line is not what lenders see. its usually lower.

Trust Tatiana

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

[RIOSHILL]

Make sure you get MILES!

 

[Tatiana]

dante maybe if I had a man like you in my life i wouldn't be in this perdicament.

how are the moose and buffalo?

 

[Dante]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Tatiana:
dante maybe if I had a man like you in my life i wouldn't be in this perdicament.

how are the moose and buffalo?

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>