We’ve written many times here about writing dispute letters when you have incorrect items on your report. In addition to this, you could improve your score by 50 points if you would do the following:
- Pay off any verified bad credit item on your report. In exchange for your payment have the lender remove the item from your credit report. This works especially well if you have medical collections… once the collection is sold multiple times, it shows on your credit report multiple times, so get it off!
- Pay your bills on time. It is alleged that missing one monthly payment can cause your score to drop by up to 50 points. We tell folks that they should be able to purchase a home if they have 12 months of ON TIME payments!
- Open a new line of credit. You will get the most benefit if this is a revolving line of credit. We recommend an unsecured credit card… but if you must use a secured card – do it! But, make sure it reports to all 3 bureaus.
- Pay your large debts down. This is called your available credit to debt. The bureaus need to see that you are not in over you head and that you do have credit that is not being used.
These four action items are the only things you need to concern yourself with when trying to improve your FICO credit score. The minimum credit score for most loan programs is 640, however, you CAN buy a home with a credit score of 600!. If you have a score in the high 500′s to low 600′s, and want to buy a home – we might be able to help! Call Steve Thorne 919-694-5058
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