how many charge cards?

NEgs hold you down once those fall off your score should shoot up at least in the 700s if not more. Once the negs are gone and you keep paying you will be fine. As far as credit cards , keep the balances low and paid on time or off every month. dont close credit lines as for some reason that drops your score. Dont open a lot more or have lots of people looking at your report. Like get in on the opt out of pre approvals and such. having people peek all the time at you report for preapprovals of which you do not even want most likely is a neg on reports... dont know why but it is. hope this info helps. humm and depending on how much you make will depend on your home loan with your other car loan and school loan debts. If your a first time homebuyer you have it good if not your screwed. You will have to fork out 3.5% for fha loan down payment, or conventional loan will require 5% or more down. So start saving. Love what the stupid bail out did to help us out they made it Impossible to get a friggen home loan for people who dont carry 10 grand in the bank on a daily basis.

as for the down payment, we (me+spouse) have several thousand$ in (as above 40) equity so were not too worried about that..we have lived in the same home for 10+ yrs so not first time buyers either...i'm more concerned w/ credit#s b/c we tanked bad several yrs ago when med bills were high..either pay em or we discontinue life saving procedures..so the credit got tanked and were trying to restore...but thanks for your reply :)

Look for a first-time homebuyer seminar in your area-- many mortgage brokers and realtor offices offer these regularly. Even if you aren't a first time homebuyer you will get some good info about credit reports and scores there. Definitely don't open or shop around for any credit until you're ready to buy that house!

The problem may not be the amount of cards, but the credit utilization. If the cards are maxed out, that will hurt your credit score. You should keep them at less than 30% of the credit limit. If you try to apply for more credit to increase you score, you may damage it instead. Inquiries will lower your score a few points.

none of my cards are even close to being maxed out...i use em put about 10% then we pay them down to 0% and put a few bucks here and there on em and pay em off-we've been doing this for about a year or so...just hoping they would increase our scores but they really have but only a little bit...i was beginning to think maybe we don't have enough debt to have an awesome score!!!

none of my cards are even close to being maxed out...i use em put about 10% then we pay them down to 0% and put a few bucks here and there on em and pay em off-we've been doing this for about a year or so...just hoping they would increase our scores but they really have but only a little bit...i was beginning to think maybe we don't have enough debt to have an awesome score!!!

It really is a mystery how FICO figures the scores out. They have a proprietary system that is known only to them. I really don't think that they want you to know how to manipulate your score like this. You would think that by using credit and paying it responsibly that would be enough, but it isn't. You may not have the right kind of credit. They also look for a mix of charge accounts, loans, mortgage, etc. I believe that they amount of savings you have also figures into it.