Credit Scores and Payment History

Make Timely Payments

Once you start your credit repair program you should resolve to make all of your payments on time. Fair Isaac places 35% weight on this important factor, but it should be comforting to know that credit is quite forgiving, and regardless of your current situation you will be thrilled with the speed at which you are able to improve your scores, but you must be very diligent about making timely payments from this point forward.

You Must Have Open Accounts

There is another very important issue that falls into this category. Many people beginning credit repair do not have any open accounts, and hence no payment history at all. You cannot build your credit without open, active accounts. The FICO scoring model needs current positive information to develop a score. If you do not have any open accounts, you must rectify the situation now.

Content and Your Scores

Based on the current FICO model, in order to have a credit score you must have at least one account on your credit report with a minimum of six months of history that has some activity in the most recent six month period. Collection activity can be enough to generate a score even in the absence of open credit cards. A lack of scores is not usually a concern of people in credit repair programs, but this information underlines the fact that your credit score is dependent on content. The goal of credit repair is to clean up as many damaging accounts as possible while providing the scoring model with plenty of positive information.