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I'm not sure what you mean. Are you saying that knowing mine is hovering around 675 is not enough? Thanks!

So lately I have been reading a lot about what people with 800 credit scores or above have in common like low utilization, low inquiries, average of 10 years history per account, and 4 to 6 credit card accounts. So I suppose - assuming that's all true - that our profile is a little lacking. Here is a little background on us.... My wife has a middle score of 750 and mine (due to the dreaded "I'm going to start my own business!") is back up to around 670. She has a Mastercard and Amex that I am an authorized user on. She's had the Mastercard open for around 4 years and the Amex for 2. The credit limit on the Amex is $3000 and the Mastercard is "revolving," which seems like it could hurt our score since it never reports a balance. So the way I see it is that makes our utilization artificially high, but what do I know. Anyway, I have a secured card with a $300 limit that I charge around $50 per month on and pay off. I've never thought it was a good idea to add her to that card so it's just me on it. We have little debt at this point. My student loans stand at about $7500 and other than that we just have a mortgage and no car payments. However, we are at the point where we really need to buy another car and it seems like we should have at least another credit card. To complicate matters, we'd like to buy a bigger house in the next year and a half. This is what I am wondering: If we purchase a new car AND get a new card, will the impact of those two things be positive in around a year or so on our credit score if we maintain good behavior. Obviously you might need to know more so let me know if you do. I appreciate your consideration and I am very thankful for this site!

Thanks for your time!

Oh, I should have mentioned that. It (the refund) has already posted to the account but the statement balance is what it was before the refund.

This is probably a silly question but I have so often seen logic contradicted when it comes to credit scoring that I feel it's worth asking.....even though I'm probably being paranoid! Anyway, my statement came out a few days ago for my Citi Mastercard. Today I received notification of a refund for some concert tickets that I purchased because the show was cancelled. I can't believe I am actually asking this but do I need to pay the original statement balance or the current one? I am just concerned that it would mistakenly appear that I was carrying a balance on a card when I'm not. So I am sorry for the overanalyzing. It's just that I have worked to hard to rebuild my credit and I've seen so many people get hosed on technicalities like this. I'm determined not to let it happen to me. Thanks in advance for your responses. Now more than ever do I hate having to play this "game" of credit.

Thanks. I appreciate that.

Wonderful, thank you!

I don't see how $30 a month will convince anyone you can handle serious credit. I'd raise the limit on secured card and actually use it. It is time for another credit card or 2. FICO score models show better score with about 3 or more revolving accounts. Well, I don't know how much better this looks but I do have 2 other cards reporting and the Mastercard and Amex both have $3000 limits. We generally charge under 15% on each and always pay it off each month. The main reason I only charged $30 on the secured card was for low utilization. I tried to get the secured card moved to an unsecured one recently but it was to no avail. I don't know if it's the credit-lending environment we are in or if statistically I am still a bad risk! Also, I am going back to school for another degree so I would prefer not to add more collateral to the secured card unless I had a really good idea that it would make a significant difference. I also understand that it's probably impossible for any of you to tell that.

Great, thanks for the info! I was starting to get severely frustrated because I have done nothing but work hard at this for the past few years and it was so deflating to see that score drop!

Hmmm. That's interesting. I have a general idea of how that might work mainly because I am in the property/casualty insurance business and I know the "rating game" all too well! Thanks for the info.

Hello everyone, I have been looking for an answer to this on the forums but have had no luck. My question relates to collections both medically-related and unrelated to medical bills. I have very happy with my progress the last 3 years with credit repair yet these collection accounts seem to still be haunting me. They are all over 4 years old. But that brings me to the crux of the issue. Do I dispute the "date opened" the same way that I would dispute it with the original creditor? I don't know if that question makes sense or not but I am looking to find out when these collection accounts will become 7 years old and many of them still look too new to me. I keep looking at them and thinking that there is no way that they ended up in collections that long after the original delinquency. I hope this makes sense. Thanks for your time!

Hi Stryker, Thanks for the response. I will look into Scorewatch. Do you have any recommendations as to what sorts of things I should use to bulk up my file? I forgot to mention that the home we live in was purchased by my wife before we were married so I am not on the loan. My understanding is that my credit would be used to determine whether or not I could get on it. If that's the case then I would have to assume that in this underwriting environment a 620 just won't cut it. But perhaps I am assuming too much.

First of all I want to thank you for the site. It has been tremendously helpful to me as I’ve been rebuilding my credit. Here is my situation: For the past three years or so, I have been vigilant about repairing my credit from past mistakes. I started out at myfico’s site and learned a great deal about how to maximize my score. So in recent months my score has gotten as high as 650. As I write this email, it is down to 620. Now the only thing that has changed on my report lately is that I have gotten married and been added as an authorized used on my wife’s two credit cards. Now my wife has an excellent score, she’s never carried a balance on either of her cards, her utilization is almost always under 15%, and she has never been late. Furthermore, my score was at its high point after her two cards started showing on my reports. In my case, I have a secured card that has a $300 limit, and I also have a student loan that is on ACH through my bank. I charge around $30 per month on the secured card and pay it off. I’ve maintained that behavior on that card for around 2 years. As far as my past history goes, the bad parts (nothing as recently as 2 ½ years ago) include very late car payments when I started my business, medical collections, and I was in default on my student loan, however, I completed rehab on the loan over two years ago. Sorry if I am rambling here but I am just confused and in need of help. I totally understand that time is often the only thing (along with responsible behavior) that helps in these situations, but for the life of me I cannot understand why my score has decreased. I thought I was pretty educated on these matters but maybe I am wrong. Please help! Thanks!

So if i DID choose Consolidation vs Rehabilitation (Just to get them away from NJ HESAA, same principle, i feel fortunate i got the info i need to do so on the phone) then DirectLoan would basically just -add- it to my existing Payment, so i reall AM making "One" Monthly Payment, yes? I believe it would still fall off 7 years from DOFD, yes? Also... Why does AES/SLMA -AND- NJ HESAA show on my Credit Report? NJ HESSA is the Guarantor, AES/SLAM the Servicer.. so would Rehabbing remove -Both-? Im kind of Disenfranchised with NJ HESAA myself.. wondering if i should just COnsolidate to Pay them, The TLs will update to Paid, will they not? And then it will be the Waiting Game... True or False? Very nice thread hijack there. I appreciate it.

Ugh, unfortunately they are private but I thank you for the info!