Tricks to raise credit score

[Anonymous]

We are going to apply for a mortgage soon. Our credit scores are in the high 600's. What can we do (if anything) to raise the scores, and how long would a trick take to have an effect? I think our biggest problem is debt ratio. We don't have late payments, collections, etc. (Don't suggest paying off debt please -- we are moving to a lower COLA area so that we can do that)

[Anonymous]

You answered your own question. Debt ratio is debt ratio. Lower your debt: There is no trick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You answered your own question. Debt ratio is debt ratio. Lower your debt: There is no trick.

Well, the other half of debt ratio is the credit limit. Raising this by definition lowers your debt / credit utilization ratio. May be good for a few points pop after a couple months.

[Anonymous]

Call your credit card company/ies and ask for a credit line increase. If you haven't missed/been late on payments it's not uncommon to get an increase every year or two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You answered your own question. Debt ratio is debt ratio. Lower your debt: There is no trick.

Well, the other half of debt ratio is the credit limit. Raising this by definition lowers your debt / credit utilization ratio. May be good for a few points pop after a couple months.

Be careful about this. You may raise your credit score, but decrease the amount that lenders are willing to lend you. Lenders take your total credit limit into account when determining how much they will lend you. Many have a limit of some percentage above your income that they are willing to lend you and the more credit you have, whether in the form of credit card limits, HELOCs, car loans, appliance loans, etc the less they will lend you. If you are trying to lower your credit score to sell here and move somewhere else where you will need a mortgage, the general rule is that you want to lower the amount of total credit that you have rather than increasing it.

[Anonymous]

Call all credit cards and ask them to raise your limit the maximum they can without pulling your credit.

If you won't be applying for 2-3 months, put something small on every single card you have and then pay each off. You must pay them off at least one month before you apply or this will backfire

Close any debts you have had less than a year.

Stop using all revolving credit lines immediately (except as stated above )

[Anonymous]

also, once you've raised your ceiling on your credit cards make sure you have less than 50% on each card, even less if you can....not sure how much c.c. debt you have...as previous poster stated a 3 month turnaround is the norm...check your credit record as opposed to credit score (FICO) and check to see if there are any errors (late payment, someone else error on your record) and have them remove it pronto...it's law that the 3 credit reporting agencies have to give you a 1 free credit record/report every 12 months...once you visit anyone of these they all make a pitch for access to your FICO score for a fee!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:also, once you've raised your ceiling on your credit cards make sure you have less than 50% on each card, even less if you can....not sure how much c.c. debt you have...as previous poster stated a 3 month turnaround is the norm...check your credit record as opposed to credit score (FICO) and check to see if there are any errors (late payment, someone else error on your record) and have them remove it pronto...it's law that the 3 credit reporting agencies have to give you a 1 free credit record/report every 12 months...once you visit anyone of these they all make a pitch for access to your FICO score for a fee!

I'm fairly certain the threshold you need to stay under is 35% credit utilization (debt to limit ratio). I'd stay under 25% to be safe.