No credit card required
Browse credit cards from a variety of issuers to see if there's a better card for you.
I would take a copy of your CR and go to a local CU and see if they would approve you based on your CR. They may not tell you unless you apply but if you don't apply, it won't cost you an INQ. Being a member of a local CU may pay off down the road if it doesn't right away. Even without the derogs on your CR, your AAoA is very low so you may have to wait anyway. Check out the rebuild section to the forum to see if there are any options you have to getting ride of those collections on your CR.
@Anonymous wrote:
... I've been thinking about trying to join a CU for a while now so I might just take that leap, any in particular you would suggest?
You might want to consider reading CreditGuyInDixies long but detailed and awesome post on the Shared Secured loan through Alliant Credit Union. It'll take $510 of liquidity to do, but the bump in your scores might help you get better cards down the road in having an installment loan report along with the cards you currently have.
If you already have an open installment loan then disregard this suggestion.
(Edit to add that I started my rebuild with Cap One with a Journey card and then PC'd over to a QS after 6 months...the only student part that allowed me to qualify was from the University Of Hard Knocks )
There will be people on here with a full menu of what you should do. I am not well versed enough to do that for you. But just throwing in my 2 cents, I have a couple comments.
If it were me I would not apply for my favorite Capital One card yet. The multiple HP's are not justified by the risk of being denied and the low SL you will receive. Also, keep in mind you are limited to two Capital One cards(co-branded is not included in the limit). Also keep in mind, Capital One tends to "brand" or "bracket" people, meaning if you get a card from them when you are weak, they will always consider you weak even if years later you are very strong. So in my view you would be "wasting" your Capital One opportunity. Personally, I don't care about Capital One or even like them. But just in general, if that is the card you want, you should wait until you know you will get approved and you get approved for a good SL....because again, you will have to live with it. I personally can't get a Venture card. I am not allowed. Why? Because I am stuck with two little QS cards I got a very long time ago and can't get rid of them because they are my oldest cards.
What my first priority would be is to see if you can get rid of some of those collections on your report. "If you feel justified in doing so (due to inaccuracies, etc)" I would Dispute those with the credit bureau. If it does not work, try it again. and again. and again. You just need the creditor to not respond in time once. OR Then you can also try to negotiate a payment to settle it if the creditor will delete it. But for sure your first plan of action should be to try and "clean" your credit report.
I would then work to turn those secured cards into unsecured cards. If you can do that, then you are ON YOUR WAY and life would get easier after that.
Getting rid of a negative or two, turning those secured cards into unsecured, and by then having a longer Age of Accounts by that time....THEN you could get approved for a good card and build from there.
Alternatively, there are also the credit building cards, but most on here seem to feel getting a good secured card is the better way and you seem to be on that path already. You will see on my profile I went the crappy credit builder card route and it actually worked out great for me.
Mostly, PATIENCE and avoid compiling wasted Hard Pulls is the most important in this game.
AMEX has a prequal page as well(it seemed like you had not tried this).
Also, bump, because I'm curious... If the OP already had an installment loan, and they already have 3 cards, what's next?
It seems like the best option is to go to garden, wait for unsecures, SP CLIs, try to deal with the collections, and wait for their accounts to age some more. What would be gained by app'ing right now?
@Ardecko wrote:
...Also, bump, because I'm curious... If the OP already had an installment loan, and they already have 3 cards, what's next?
It seems like the best option is to go to garden, wait for unsecures, SP CLIs, try to deal with the collections, and wait for their accounts to age some more. What would be gained by app'ing right now?
Asking for a friend?
..silly-fun teasing aside, you're spot on. Extending one's credit at that hypothetical situation would not make any sense. I'd grab a shovel, turn dirt and pluck away at credit score sucking bugs.
@Anonymous wrote:Also, keep in mind you are limited to two Capital One cards(co-branded is not included in the limit).
According to CapOne's website, a customer can up to five cards. But according to posts here, only two "starter" cards are allowed.