Anyone ever try a credit repair expert?

jakspaaro

[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
I’m looking to pump up my credit score from 640-to 700 to get a better interest rate on my mortgage. I’ve heard opening new credit card accounts can help (some say it could hurt) the score but i doubt that would be enough. I surfed the internet and read about credit repair experts that could help. Has anyone tried these guys? Do they really help and if they do how much can they help. The agency i talked to there name was Lexington, but not sure if they can help as much as they say they can.
Thanks for the advice.[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

skyrider007

They're scams. Nobody but yourself can improve your credit rating.

PAULUK08

to be honest , these people only do what you can do yourself. What I would do is get a copy of your credit files and see where the problems are and then make a list of the issues and then ask questions on here . Also try the consumer action group website . By doing this you should be able to sort . I did that last year . With regards to CCJ's and defaults you can only lawfully remove if these are incorrect and some of these repair companies will try and make you 'distort the truth' to say you have not/or were not aware of them .
good luck!

clarabella

I went to see a mortgage expert and he said to me that if you open up a credit card and buy something small on it and clear the balence off in full each month then that will improve your credit rating. He recomended it for people who has never had a credit card or borrowed anything so they don't have a recored as that apparently is just as bad as having a poor credit rating. I would try this myself but i have such a poor credit rating that no one will give me a credit card. Hope this helps.
Claire

skyrider007

You don't have to pay the balance in full in order to improve your credit rating. As long as you pay at least the minimum payment you will earn a green "zero" tick. Not that I am encouraging people to pay minimum balance.

clarabella

skyrider007 wrote: »

You don't have to pay the balance in full in order to improve your credit rating. As long as you pay at least the minimum payment you will earn a green "zero" tick. Not that I am encouraging people to pay minimum balance.

If you do this then you are paying intrest on something that could only cost a few quid its not worth it so you could save yourself money and better your credit rating

skyrider007

clarabella wrote: »

If you do this then you are paying intrest on something that could only cost a few quid its not worth it so you could save yourself money and better your credit rating

I am NOT suggesting that people should pay the minimum balance or any balance less than the full balance for that matter.

What I was trying to say is that should anyone not be able to afford to pay the whole balance each month, by paying the minimum payment they would still get green "zero" ticks on the credit reports.

Even so, people who are on 0% BT promotion are unlikely to pay the full balance as this would not be to their advantage. They still get green ticks anyway provided they pay at least the minimum payment.

jimcarry

Agree about the credit repair companies. It's not that hard tp build up your FICO. Over 1/3 of your score comes from payment history, and just under 1/3 comes from proportion of balance to available credit. So here is what you do. Pay all of your existing credit cards down to less than 20% balance, pay them off if possible. If you cannot pay them off then continue to make payments of them (not the minimum) and stay under that 20%. If you can pay them off, DO NOT CANCEL THEM, with the exception of department store credit cards or any other type of consumer credit card (Best Buy, Office Max, etc.). Now, let's say you have zero balance and 4 open cards. Use a different one every week to get something small that you would normally buy with cash, say a tank of gas. Pay each one off before the end of the billing cycle so as not to incur any interest charges. You are getting the benefit of the consistent payment history, with the benefit of low balance to available credit ratio, and it's not costing you any extra money to use those cards. Keep that up for a while and your FICO scores will be up there with the best, the right way.
_______________________________________]

inmypocketnottheirs

The credit score you refer to 640-700 means absolutely nothing. It is a scam perpetrated by Experian/Equifax to get you to part with your money. Every single lender has different criteria, even for different individual products.

Agree that credit repair experts are a waste of money. You can do more to repair your file by looking around this site and making sure that any information recorded against you is accurate.

skyrider007

jimcarry wrote: »

Agree about the credit repair companies. It's not that hard tp build up your FICO. Over 1/3 of your score comes from payment history, and just under 1/3 comes from proportion of balance to available credit. So here is what you do. Pay all of your existing credit cards down to less than 20% balance, pay them off if possible. If you cannot pay them off then continue to make payments of them (not the minimum) and stay under that 20%. If you can pay them off, DO NOT CANCEL THEM, with the exception of department store credit cards or any other type of consumer credit card (Best Buy, Office Max, etc.). Now, let's say you have zero balance and 4 open cards. Use a different one every week to get something small that you would normally buy with cash, say a tank of gas. Pay each one off before the end of the billing cycle so as not to incur any interest charges. You are getting the benefit of the consistent payment history, with the benefit of low balance to available credit ratio, and it's not costing you any extra money to use those cards. Keep that up for a while and your FICO scores will be up there with the best, the right way.
_______________________________________]

Hi Jimbo

I don't think we use FICO here. FICO is an American system usually used by their mortgage lenders. UK banks tend to have a scoring system of their own.

FICO® risk scores rank-order consumers according to the likelihood that their credit obligations will be paid as expected.

The recognized industry standard in consumer credit risk assessment

FICO® risk scores play a pivotal role in billions of business decisions each year. With the accurate, reliable and fast credit risk assessment provided by FICO® scores, credit grantors are empowered to make more profitable, automated decisions regarding prospects, applicants and customers. FICO® risk scores are widely regarded as essential building blocks for devising successful, precisely targeted marketing, origination and customer management strategies by credit grantors, insurance providers and telecommunications companies.

How and why they work...

FICO® risk scores are developed based on advanced, proprietary predictive model development technologies by Fair Isaac analysts with extensive credit industry and data management expertise. These sophisticated scoring models are updated regularly to reflect changes in consumer credit behavior and lending practices, leveraging recent credit performance data of millions of consumers.

Classic FICO® Risk Scores

Classic FICO® risk scores rank-order consumers according to the likelihood that their credit obligations will be paid as expected. Classic FICO® scores are by far the most-used broad-based risk score available in the market today, and are considered the gold standard of bureau-based risk scores for credit risk management.

Ask for the classic FICO® scores by name from reporting agencies in the US, Canada and South Africa:

BEACON® at Equifax US and Canada
FICO® Risk Score, Classic at TransUnion US
Experian/Fair Isaac Risk Model at Experian

clarabella

skyrider007 wrote: »

I am NOT suggesting that people should pay the minimum balance or any balance less than the full balance for that matter.

What I was trying to say is that should anyone not be able to afford to pay the whole balance each month, by paying the minimum payment they would still get green "zero" ticks on the credit reports.

Even so, people who are on 0% BT promotion are unlikely to pay the full balance as this would not be to their advantage. They still get green ticks anyway provided they pay at least the minimum payment.

What i was trying to say in my original post was that take out a creidit card and buy a pair of tights or something small. Not something like your weekly shopping or your petrol. This way you wont have a big debt to clear off when your bill comes in and you wont be in debt to another credit card. I only wish my credit rating was good enough to take out a creidt card so i could do this.