Tyler Rassle
Tyler Rassle, 43, is a teacher at a high school in South Carolina. Since his graduation from the University of South Carolina, he has thought he has been pretty savvy with his finances. He usually pays his bills on time and does not even have a credit card. So when Tyler Rassle found that his credit score was 561, he was shocked, to say the least.
After further investigation into the credit score, he found that a medical bill from his 30’s had not been paid. He had no idea about this bill because he had moved addresses and hadn’t received the bill. The collection agency had this bill for 4 years and is still marked as “UNPAID”. After trying to negotiate a “Pay-to-delete”, and failing, he decided to just not pay the amount and wait for the seven years to pass and the account to dissipate. He cannot get any lines of credit, a lease on a car, or even open a new checking account at a local bank.
What does this score mean?
For those of you who have a credit score around 550, you probably know that this isn’t the best credit score to have. But, do not worry. With just a few steps, you can bump that credit score up in no time. If you have a credit score around 550, it is likely that you won’t be able to experience some of life’s greatest moments. With a credit score around 550, you would most likely not be able to find a good mortgage on a house. With this range of credit score, you probably wouldn’t be able to get a credit card with a good interest rate. In addition, this credit score would make it hard for you to lease a vehicle.
How do you get a credit score around 550?
If you find yourself with a credit score around 550, you might have made some of these mistakes with your finances:
- Having a recent foreclosure on a house.
- Having more than one item in collections.
- Having claimed bankruptcy recently.
- Having an open loan – for example, a student loan.
- Having bills that you have not paid.
- Having accounts with collection agencies that are not paid.
- Consistently being late on payments.
How can you improve this credit score?
In order to improve this credit score, consider taking some of the following steps:
1) If you have troubles with your credit score, you should try talking to a credit counselor. Each credit situation is different and therefore, the solutions vary for each person.
2) Give it time! We know that it can be a lot of pressure to wait for a score to go up. However, this will not happen over night. Time will heal this credit score – if you take necessary measures to help.
3) Get some lines of credit open and make sure to pay off your statement, in full, each month.
4) If you have an account in collections, you should pay the amount due. There is a huge difference between a collection account that is “PAID” and “UNPAID”. This could be the difference in you getting approved for a lease or being rejected.
5) If you have more than one account in collections and do not have the money to pay them all off immediately, you should try paying off the items with the largest monetary value, opposed to the smaller values.
