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How does building a credit score work in the US?

April 5th, 2009
Jean-François D asked:


Hi, I moved from Europe to the US 2 years ago. Just tried to buy a house. Unfortunately i had no credit history in the US. Therefore i did my best to get a credit card to get a credit score (which i did 4 months ago). I now have a credit score of 653. Look quite bad no? Is it a bad score because my credit card is too recent?

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  1. Dan
    April 5th, 2009 at 09:33 | #1
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    Alot of factors can affect your credit score.

    New cards.
    High revolving balance compare to overall limit
    low amounts of overall credit
    late payment of any kind
    multiple inquiries by creditors about your score

    that’s just a sample of the things that can affect it. no telling what may have brought you that low however. the new card is definitely not helping though.

  2. lucky314
    April 6th, 2009 at 01:33 | #2
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    Hey there. Building credit is not that difficult. A good way to bring up scores is yes having a credit card but make sure you pay balance in full or almost the full balance. Keeping your balance low will look good since you aren’t living beyond your means. Oh, and just having the card does nothing for your score. Also new credit brings your score down but the longer an account is open the higher your score will get. You lost credit points when they ran your credit but it is easily made up when approved for card and using it. Hope this was helpful to you.

  3. bdancer222
    April 8th, 2009 at 13:35 | #3
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    Your score is due to the limited credit history. 653 isn’t too bad for only 4 months.

    Use the card and pay it in full every month. Your score will keep going up.

  4. dmallen321
    April 11th, 2009 at 20:06 | #4
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    Yes to the appearance. You now need a longer credit history that is positive. Use your card to purchase something but you need to pay off the balance when it come due. Continue with this for a few months, always paying more than mimimum amount due. This will prove your credit worthiness and thus improve your credit score.

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