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How bad IS my credit??  

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Hi guys, I'm new to this forum so bare with me please! I haven't had the best credit history. And on top of that I don't have very much credit history at all...which I suppose is another issue in itself.

I'm 25 years old and I got a copy of my credit report today and my score is 619, how bad is that REALLY? I only had a total of around 5 credit marks in my report, 3 of them being good and 2 being bad.

The good news is that I've had an $11,500 car loan that I paid off over 3 years and was never late for a payment. I also currently have a $1,000 loan through Wells Fargo Financial for a matress I recently purchased at 24mos at 0% interest.

The bad is I got into some trouble when I was younger and ran up some bills, nothing over 2 grand on credit card and it went to collections eventually and I paid it off in full. Also there was a discrepency with a department store debt that I thought I had paid but that eventually went to collections too which was paid in full. Fortunately it was only around $100.

How bad is my credit honestly, and how long would it take to build it back up?
 

asked Jan 5, 2007 01:24 PM

Anonymous

12Answers

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Hi, welcome!

Actually, 619 is pretty decent. You could pretty much get any credit cards you wanted, and wouldn't have too bad of an interest rate on a car loan.

You want to be in the 700's, though..The way to do this is get copies of your reports from all 3 agencies. Go through them, and start disputing the negative items. When you get your reports in the mail it will have info on how to do this, they usually include a form. Keep at them - and watch your rating go up.

There are some people on this board who have raised their credit quite a bit recently..I'm sure they'll chime in soon and explain what they did. Good luck!

answered Jan 5, 2007 01:27 PM

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Hmmm....well I did the free online report that I found a link to, the one that you can get once a year from all the creditors. I didn't get credit scores from all 3 agencies, but rather just from Equifax. They said it was my FICO credit score. And also it said that my 619 was rated as "very poor."

I'll have to look through them and see if it gives instructions on how to dispute. I printed all of my reports out here at work today. How can I dispute a negative item though if it is a legitimate bad mark? Wouldn't that be lying on my part? How long on average would it take to get my score into the 700s? I am probably going to try to apply for more financing in the very near future. I'm getting engaged and am going to try to finance a portion of the engagement ring...so that would be good as well.

answered Jan 5, 2007 01:36 PM

Anonymous
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REALLY?

619 was very poor? Wow, my credit rating is in the high 600's and I just re-financed my house for a much better interest rate. I know they just changed the way credit scores work, they have an A,B,D,F system now..But still!

I couldn't tell you how long it'll take to up your credit..You can dispute legitimate things as well, but I don't know enough about it to tell you how or why! Don't worry, someone will be along who does know.

Congrats on your engagement!

answered Jan 5, 2007 01:42 PM

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Hi speed,
I am in the process of improving my credit report. I have signed up for the triple advantage on Experian. This includes an analysis of my credit score. basically poor credit is below 620. Fair is 620 to I think about 700. Above 700 is good. The bottom is 330. On the analysis that experian gave me, they broke it down from High risk, to low risk in 5 categories. High, med-high, med.. etc. etc.. Of course you want a high number. Mine about 4 months ago was 470. Then I started to smarten up about credit and dealing with collection agencies. This site has been a big help by the way. Well, I pulled all of my credit reports and started disputing things. I alsso noticed that my good accounts were not being reported, mainly my mortgage. And I have a good payment history there. Anyway, my score is now 590. That's 120 points!! And I'm still disputing items. So your credit is not bad. It's not great either, but you can get pretty good loans. Experian would have you as a medium to medium-high risk. Where as I am still a med-high risk. Things that help of course are on time payments. They are a huge boost. Opening new accounts can hurt. So can inquiries. Hope that helps

answered Jan 5, 2007 03:21 PM

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The easiest thing to help it is to just keep paying things on time. If you have the monthly load down to where you can make the payments, consistent on time payments will keep that score going up.
About 4 years ago, my score had slipped. I went to refinance to pay some stuff off and get the monthly total down to a manageable level. My average of the 3 reporting agencies was right around 600. Some places I went to about refinancing were telling me I couldnt get better than about 6.5% when normal rates were below 5%. I went through a friend at Pine State Mortgage and I was able to get an FHA refi at about 4.5% variable. It is still below 6% and I will be able to get rid of the mortgage insurance premium next year!

Kinda wandered a little... Just keep paying on time and things get better. Also, dont stop at one place if they quote you some crazy interest rate!

Randy

answered Jan 6, 2007 08:39 PM

Anonymous
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Well here is my question, everyone keeps telling me to dispute negative marks. How can I dispute a negative mark when it is a legitimate mark?

answered Jan 8, 2007 08:49 AM

Anonymous
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Well I have some thoughts on that topic that may help you decide. I posted in an earlier topic about this very thing. Here is some of what I wrote in the past.
"I read somewhere that after 7 years, items drop off of your credit report, doesn't that mean that the credit bureaus are doing credit repair for us then? Why woult I wait til then, so I dispute things now. I feel that I get punished enough with all the debts and CA's I have to deal with. Here is another good point, the credit bureaus are in the business to make money, right? We know how they make money by capitalizing on our information. So why do I have to support there captilalistic ventures which can have a potentially profound negative impact on my financial life? Someone once asked me when I disputed something on my file if that was right and ethical, I used to think that way. But now, I have no moral obligation to support corporate greed because of that."

Like I've said before, I wouldn't advocate running up a bunch of bills just to dispute and not pay. I am paying on my bills but it seems like everytime I turn a corner, something else hinders me. So I feel that I am just leveling the playing field. I am paying on legitimate bills, but at the same time, I have to have a fighting chance to get by in these hard economic times and give me every edge I can get.

answered Jan 9, 2007 11:29 AM

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Outlaw...but are you lying about your reasons for dispute? That's mainly what Im after. If so that's a federal crime unfortunately.

answered Jan 9, 2007 02:47 PM

Anonymous
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well my parents i think has had some things in my name wich made me have bad credit how to i find out when i dont have a credit card

answered Apr 20, 2007 09:53 AM

Anonymous
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Anything on a credit report is disputable. You have to read it completely and be able to understand how it should read.If it is incorrect,bureau and data furnisher are legally bound by law to either fix or delete.

answered Apr 20, 2007 09:58 AM

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