does any one have any tips on how to improve one’s credit and issac scores?
Pay your bills on time. Pay the full amount on your credit card. On time.
If you can’t pay the full amount on your credit card, you are spending too much.
Here are the components of your score for FairIsaac
35% past payment history
30% the amount you currently owe (and what type of debt)
15% length of credit history
10% new credit that you have recently incurred
10% types of credit in use.
For pretty complete info: http://www.fairisaac.com/servlet/SiteDriver/Content/912
i don’t have a credit card and have never spent over what i can afford. i save my money and i pay my bills. i have no debt, and i mean, absolutely no debt what so ever aside from whatever my next electric bill is. what i need to know is how to up my issac score and get positive credit because apparently even paying all my bills on time is not helping me.
Paying bills on time to entities that don’t report payment history is not going to help you. Miss a couple and they will report it pronto.
The easiest route to get started with is either a cosigned loan, or if you have some savings a collateral loan at your bank or credit union.
If you have someone that will cosign a credit card or installment loan, make sure that your SS# is listed as primary to ensure that you get credit for the payment history.
With a collateral loan a financial institution will be more than happy to lend you back your own money at about a 3% spread to what ever rate you are earning. So if you have a $1,000 or more in a savings account at about a 3% rate, the Bank will lend you $1,000 at around 6%. Set it up with installment payments over a year. On a net basis it is going to cost you less than $25.00 over the year, but your credit will begin to get established.
I don’t know what type of credit you have applied for in the past, but if you haven’t, try for a gasoline card or department store card. They have traditionally been less stringent than major card issuers.
Once a decent history is established, you won’t be able to keep the credit offers away.
now thats the kind of info i needed. thanks barker. i’ll try that out.
You can’t get an Isaacs score without having any credit history whatsoever. I don’t think utility companies normally report your bill-payment history unless maybe you racked up a huge bill and they had to send it to collection. So, paying telephone, utility, and other bills of that type on time isn’t going to do anything for building up your FICO.
If you want to build a good credit score, you need to get some kind of installment loan or credit card on which you can make regular, not-just-the-minimum, payments (and you should really pay the entire balance every month). However, sometimes (but not always) it’s hard to get a credit card if you don’t already have a credit score. You might try getting a department store card first if you can’t get a regular Visa or MC. Make purchases that are well within your budget and pay off the card in full each month. After a few months (maybe 6-12) of this, you should be able to qualify for a regular Visa or MC, assuming you have a job and a regular income (even if it’s not zillions of dollars). And, don’t apply for a whole bunch of credit cards because that lowers your FICO score too.