auto loan has helped improve - questions!

[elevation]

Hi all,

My bad credit started about as early as it could. I had my first and second credit cards at 18 - paid good on them for about a year, and then fell off track fast and hard. This was in 2003. Both cards were closed and reported delinquent in 2004, sold off sometime later - additionally, on my report, I have a cellphone bill (delinquent in 2005) and a utility bill (2005 as well). Clearly, 2004 and 2005 were bad years for me I have had basically nothing since.

In February, I applied for an auto loan with a credit score of 463 (according to what the dealer pulled from Experian). My boyfriend co-signed, but since his credit is also extremely poor, my APR is WAYYY high and my monthly payment is over $500/mo. With interest, I basically will be paying almost twice the purchase price of the car (ouch). Which is slightly depressing, but fine - I expected this, and I would not have taken out the loan if I couldn't afford the monthly payment. It's the price I had to pay to get a car after my old one took a dump beyond repair, and I accept that

After 4 months of on-time/early payments, I pulled my report a few days ago and my score jumped from 463 to 572. I'm super excited about this!! I didn't expect to see it climb so high in such a short period of time, even though it's still a very poor score.

My questions are:

• Can I expect it to continue to climb at such a steady rate with continued on-time payments?
• My 2 oldest accounts should fall off my report within the next year or so, according to what I've read. The other 2 oldest accounts should fall off within two years. When they do, should I expect much drastic improvement in my credit?
• I would really love to re-finance my auto loan as soon as possible, to lower my payments. The payment amount is fine, but it's super depressing to see such a small dollar amount applied to the principle balance, with all the rest going towards interest When - roughly - should I consider trying to re-finance my loan?
• Would obtaining a secured credit card help improve my credit much, along with my auto loan?

I have lived with bad credit for SO long - basically since I was 18! I'm so anxious for the turnaround.

Thanks for any help

[chane]

The accounts are so old that I would dispute them...unless you still owe on them and are afraid that by doing so they will try to collect on them. You may also want to see if they are out of SOL for your state.

I doubt your scores will go up much until those are removed and if you want to refinance asap I would dispute them. Older accounts are generally easier to get removed.

Yes, getting more positive credit reporting will help.

As far as refinancing, try it when those accounts are gone. You're going to want 680-720 credit scores before even attempting.