Where to go from here ??

[Anonymous]

I filled for CH7 on 5/1/10 and discharged 9/12/10.  I'm just really trying to improve my credit score from where it is now, even though it's higher then it has been in about 5 years (and I was scared to file because EVERYONE told me it would just make it worse)  My credit before BK was crap and I had about 95k in debt from cars to credit cards plus 11k in IRS debt.  I don't know where to go from here.  I have no debt, I kept nothing and reaffirmed nothing.  My credit scores were  TU=498 and EQ 502.  As of yesterday they are TU= 580 and EQ= 582 and I have no open lines of credit.  I do still have a couple accounts showing on my credit with a balance, 24k in total, which I have disputed to get updated to show IIB so hopefully that will raise it a little more.  My oldest account is 7 years (2 cars that I actually managed to pay off before I lost my mind and went spending crazy) and my AAoA is 4 years.  My question is what to do and how to do it to raise my score.  I don't really want credit cards again but I know I am going to have to.  I have a "pre-approval" from 1st premier bank for a starting CL of $700.00 before the $175.00 they want to charge me just to get the card.  So do I get that one and maybe 1 or 2 more or just get that one.  Will one card make a difference.  I know if I get it I will need to pay at least 130.00 before I even get a bill to keep me under the 10% usage rule.  Any help or direction would be appreciated.  As you might can tell I'm kinda lost and don't want to mess it up again... Thanks..

[Anonymous]

Hi white,  I just broke your post into paragraphs (didn't change anything else) so it's easier for everyone to read:

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whiteboyone31 wrote:

I filled for CH7 on 5/1/10 and discharged 9/12/10. 

I'm just really trying to improve my credit score from where it is now, even though it's higher then it has been in about 5 years (and I was scared to file because EVERYONE told me it would just make it worse)  My credit before BK was crap and I had about 95k in debt from cars to credit cards plus 11k in IRS debt. 

I don't know where to go from here.  I have no debt, I kept nothing and reaffirmed nothing.  My credit scores were  TU=498 and EQ 502.  As of yesterday they are TU= 580 and EQ= 582 and I have no open lines of credit. 

I do still have a couple accounts showing on my credit with a balance, 24k in total, which I have disputed to get updated to show IIB so hopefully that will raise it a little more.  My oldest account is 7 years (2 cars that I actually managed to pay off before I lost my mind and went spending crazy) and my AAoA is 4 years. 

My question is what to do and how to do it to raise my score.  I don't really want credit cards again but I know I am going to have to.  I have a "pre-approval" from 1st premier bank for a starting CL of $700.00 before the $175.00 they want to charge me just to get the card.  So do I get that one and maybe 1 or 2 more or just get that one.  Will one card make a difference.  I know if I get it I will need to pay at least 130.00 before I even get a bill to keep me under the 10% usage rule. 

Any help or direction would be appreciated.  As you might can tell I'm kinda lost and don't want to mess it up again... Thanks..

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[Anonymous]

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I do still have a couple accounts showing on my credit with a balance, 24k in total, which I have disputed to get updated to show IIB so hopefully that will raise it a little more.  My oldest account is 7 years (2 cars that I actually managed to pay off before I lost my mind and went spending crazy) and my AAoA is 4 years. 

My question is what to do and how to do it to raise my score.  I don't really want credit cards again but I know I am going to have to.  I have a "pre-approval" from 1st premier bank for a starting CL of $700.00 before the $175.00 they want to charge me just to get the card.  So do I get that one and maybe 1 or 2 more or just get that one.  Will one card make a difference.  I know if I get it I will need to pay at least 130.00 before I even get a bill to keep me under the 10% usage rule. 

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Okay, I'll try to give a response!  Maybe that'll be more helpful.

First, I would make sure you get the accounts reporting correctly - which is what you've already started working on.

Then, I would look at opening a bank/national cc card.  I would stay away from First Premier like they had um, something terrible, can't thing of anything.  At any rate, I would avoid them like - oh, yeah - the plague.  You can't afford them.  I can't afford them.  Nobody can afford them.  Which you've already figured out.

One thing you may consider is to open a secured card.  If you do a search here you will find lots of good information on secured cards.  That will build your credit and your FICO nicely.  If you don't have available cash for a secured card, then you certainly don't have enough available cash for a First Premier .  If that's the case, get your reports corrected and come back for some good advice on which unsecured credit cards would be most helpful to you with your newly corrected reports and your new scores.  You're only going to need one, and you don't need to carry a balance, so it won't be too stressful and it will serve you well as you move forward.

Don't get discouraged with the clean up of postBK credit reports.  It took us several attempts, but it worked.  And looking back, it didn't take that much time.  A couple months - just seemed like a very long effort at the time.

Best wishes!

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the advise.  I wasn't too sure on the secured card thing.  I haven't check on any of them.  As for 1st premier I had a feeling that $175.00 to open an account, even with BK, was kind of much.  I'll do some checking on secured cards on here.  I also who have tried to get more then just one and I never would have thought that just one card would do any good so if one will work then one is what I will do as I don't want any to start with.  I thought you had to have a balance, at least to start with, or it wouldn't report so thanks for that as well. 

Glad to hear not to get discouraged about post BK clean up.  It was my fear that it would take years and years to recover, of course after reading what I have read on here I know believe differently.  I am actually surprised to see my scores where they are, not that they are great but they are better then what they where 4 months ago when I started and I didn't think that would be the case.

Thanks again..

[Creditaddict]

You can probably get Best Buy MC, do the pre-qual site. also check the pre-qual site at Capital One.

Other then those 2 for unsecured, I would also go the secured route and NO to 1st premier!