I have three store cards, and I have been making my payments on time but I am not seeing improvement in my credit scores, can you tell me why?
Credit repair involves a fair amount of attention to detail, some of which seems counter-intuitive at first glance. Credit cards can make an enormous positive difference in your credit scores, but not all credit cards are treated in the same way by the credit bureaus. While mainstream cards, such as MasterCard and Visa are of great value, store cards are not a good credit repair tool. There is no question that you did the right thing by making your payments on time as nothing can make your scores plummet faster than a late payment. But as the FICO scoring model contains a bias against consumer debt, including store cards, your accounts are of little credit repair value.
The Right Kind of Credit
To get the best credit repair results you should open a couple of new credit cards. This time you should stick with MasterCard and Visa. And unless you have some good use for your store cards, like discounts or store sales for members only, you should pay them off when you can and close them.
Using Your Cards Properly
It is also imperative to your credit repair success that you understand that the balances on your revolving accounts have a profound effect on your scores. Making your payments on time is essential, but even with a perfect payment history, if you let your balances rise anywhere near the card limit you could lose 100 points or more. For the best credit repair results try to use only twenty percent of your cards limit.