Repairing Credit

[anndruu12]

Hello everyone. I am 25 years old. Just bought my first apartment and am trying to furnish it. It tends to be hard to do when you can't be approved for financing. My credit isn't very good right now. Several years ago, I had 2 credit cards that went late. Both have since been paid off for about 2 years now. I have no collections on my credit report. One of the cards went 150 days late, and the other only 90. I had a credit card balance near the limit which I just paid off. Never been late on any recent credit card payments, auto payments or anything else. Is there anything else I can do to repair my credit? Those two bad cards are accurate, so I can't really dispute them. I guess just keep making on time payments and hope it gets better soon? Thanks for any help.

[freems4]

Do you still have those two cards that you were late on?

And are they still active?

If so; There is a chance that you can talked to them about removing your late payment since you had been on time and had paid them off.

[Hal Jordan]

Those late pays if they are over two years old won't hurt you that bad anymore. (they'll hurt your score but it won't be nearly as bad as they did two years ago). Get your debt utilzation down to around 20%. (20% available credit to the limit on your accounts) I am willing to wager dollars to doughnuts this will make a dramatic difference in your score as 30% of your FICO is calculated on your debt utilization percentage.

[anndruu12]

I don't have the two cards anymore. The accounts have been paid and closed. I guess the best bet is getting the credit/debt ratio down a bit and wait it out. Thanks.

[Hal Jordan]

Wait.. Do you have any open credit cards? If not paying off closed accounts any faster than what you've already agreed to won't give you any boost to your score at all.

If you don't have any credit cards you need to open one or two.. Possibly secured if thats the only way to get one. You may consider a credit union secured account also. Keep the balances low. Without open revovling credit your fico score won't ever really get any better.

[anndruu12]

Yes, I have two open cards. Those are the two that I was saying I would pay down a bit to lower the credit/debt ratio. The two bad cards I mentioned before, they are paid off and closed, so I no longer have anything to do with them.