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Originally Posted by Averett
Hey again NoSoup!
I've asked questions before and you've been very hepful, thanks for that.
As you might remember, I've got credit card debt up to my ears. I've committed myself to pay them off as quickly as I can. I set up a budget for myself and it looks like i'll be debt free (under my current budget) by 2008. That's about $19,000 paid off.
So, my question is about my credit score. Last April I purchased my credit score online and found it to be about 650. I just checked it again last week and it was 680. I'm curious to see if it's a good idea to check my rating once a year. Or if that even is worth it. I was actually surprised to see that the rating went up. I've aquired quite a bit of credit card debt since last April, so I was sure the rating would go down. But I didn't account for the fact that I paid off a lot of my car loan in that time as well.
Anyway, to recap, is it worth it to check my credit score yearly? And how quickly will it take to make my credit score go up? The negitives I have on my report are that I have high balances based on the credit available, that I've applied for quite a few cards, and that I had one credit card that was over 60 days past due. And that was a whole big crappy situation with Best Buy back in 2000. May Best Buy rot in hell.
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I would certainly recommend taking a look at your credit annually. To see the score is fine, but more importantly, make sure that everything is reporting accurately, and there aren't any accounts open under your name that you didn't open.
As you pay your balances down, your credit score will increase. In addition, as more time passes between any adverse reporting (Best Buy) and the present time, they less it will affect your score. One thing that will help your score a bit more is to have fewer inquiries on your bureau, by applying for credit only rarely, and when you are going to compare interest rates on a loan or card or see if you qualify, apply at several different companies on the same day, as it counts as only one inquiry.
Depending on the type of credit cards you have open, it may be beneficial for you to pay off any "retail" cards. Retail cards are cards that you are able to aquire at retail stores. Best Buy, Shopko, Victoria's Secret, Barnes and Noble, ect are all considered a step lower than conventional credit cards.
Unfortunately, there is no way to really predict how quickly your score will increase without me having a ton more information, and even then - predictions about such things are usually very.... approximate.
Hope this helped - if you have any more questions, please feel free to ask!
P.S. Congrats on setting up a budget and taking care of your credit card debt. It may be difficult, but it will save you an incredible sum of money and I bet will feel quite wonderful when you mail that last payment to the greedy bastards
