Sandra Hines
Sandra Hines, 35, moved to the United States in 2005 with her American fiancé. She always dreamed of coming to the United States and was ecstatic when her fiancé finally asked her to move there with him. After their wedding, the got a credit card and started some lines of credit, which she had never done before. She pays all of her bills on time each month, but she doesn’t pay them in full, just the minimum balance.
Unfortunately, she just hasn’t had enough experience with credit to move the score up or down. Therefore, she doesn’t have the ability to lease a car without a co-signer. Her husband and her want to buy a house, but they can’t combine their finances because her score will decrease the chances of them getting a decent mortgage.
What does this score mean?
If you have a credit score around 600, you might know this isn’t the absolute best credit score you can have. In fact you can miss out on some great opportunities with this credit score. But, do not worry. With just a few steps, you can improve your credit score in no time. With a credit score around 600, 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. If you combine your credit score with your spouse, it could make it impossible to get a mortgage.
How do you get a credit score around 600?
If you find yourself with a credit score around 600, you may have done some of these things with your finances:
- 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.
- Not really had a lot of experience with credit cards.
- Not had a lot of experience with other lines of credit.
- Made simple mistakes with credit and not repaired it.
How can you improve this credit score?
In order to improve this credit score, consider taking some of the following steps:
1) Get some lines of credit open and make sure to pay off your statement, in full, each month.
2) 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.
3) 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.
4) 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.
5) 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.
