How long until credit score will start to improve?

I had terrible, horrible credit but I got everything paid off. Now I finally got approved for 2 small credit cards, $300 credit lines, and have 5 consecutive months of on time payments. How long until my credit will start to improve?|||Unfortunately, credit scoring is much too complex a calculation for me to tell you specifically when your credit score should improve without knowing much, much more about your credit history. Even if I had a copy of your credit report, it would be difficult for me to tell you when and if your score would improve. Paying all of your accounts on time should slowly improve your credit profile, but how long it will take for your score to improve really depends on how much damage your credit score suffered due to any previous negative items(if any), such as collection accounts, and how many positive credit listings are now appearing on your credit report.





Increasing your credit limit is not going to automatically bring your score up, because what the bureaus look at is called the credit utilization ratio. This is simply the ratio of your current total debt to the total amount of available credit. This ratio should be no more than 25% (meaning, on a credit card that has about $1,000 in credit limit, you should ideally use no more than $250.)





While I cannot tell you when your credit score will improve, I encourage you to make your monthly payments in a timely manner, as the longer you make payments, the more positive influence your accounts will have on your credit history. I encourage you to regularly obtain copies of your credit reports from the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian) to verify that all listings appearing on your report are accurate. If you find any inaccurate credit listings, you should dispute the item with the credit bureau reporting the information.





If it would help you for future knowledge, I can help you to understand how your credit score is calculated. Your credit rating is calculated based on several variables, including: your payment history (do you have any late payments, charge-offs, etc.), the amount and type of debt that you owe, if you have maxed out any of your trade lines, and then several other secondary factors like the length of your credit history and how many recent inquiries have been made to look at your credit history.





Generally speaking, all items remain on your credit report for up to 7 years unless you dispute the listing and it is removed as inaccurate by the credit bureaus. A bankruptcy may remain on your credit report for up to 10 years.





Here are some steps you can take to help improve your credit rating:





Pay off all debts and keep revolving lines below 25% utilization (and certainly don't 'max out' any loans or cards);


Get a small store card or gas card or credit card and make payments every month (this will help you re-establish a track-record of positive payment history);


Pull your credit report and contest any inaccurate information so that it can be corrected by the credit bureaus.


To learn more about credit reports and credit scoring, I encourage you to visit the Bills.com Credit Solutions and Resources page.





I hope that the information I have provided helps you Find. Learn. Save.





Best,





Bill





www.bills.com|||Lets use those credit cards wisely to get that score up.

Use one for food and one for gas

Pay in full each month.

Make sure you never use more than 30% of your available credit limit

Ex: $300 credit line, make sure you never touch more than $90 a month in usage

This is when the score starts reducing.



Many people do not know these rules and end up causing damage all over again.

Use your cards wisely and with care

Never dare carry a balance

It will take 1 to 2 years to see an improvement - a very slow process|||Frank-





It will take anywhere from one to two years to see a noticeable difference. This is of course, if you charge your card and then pay off the balance at the end of every month. Consistency is the key.|||A credit score is based on a 12 month activity and usually take 24 months of activity to boost your score between 660/749 which is a good score. Also make sure they belong to the credit bureau.|||http://raiseyourcreditnow.com/ has articles and several steps to raise your credit score.