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First Post, First Credit Card!! Advice?

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Anonymous
Not applicable

First Post, First Credit Card!! Advice?

Hi All!

I am so excited, I was approved for the Capital One Secured Mastercard with a $200 limit !! It's a pretty big deal for me, as I've never had a credit card.

I don't know what my credit score is. (equifax didn't have one for me) Update- I just checked my TU score it's 553  Smiley Sad

 

I know I have a few negatives in my report though. (old medical bill, utilities bill and comcast from a few years ago, not paid off yet)

I also defaulted on a student loan from going to college in 2006, I tried to rehab the loan last year but it still shows that it was 120+ delinquent for a while. I finally got it out of the hands of the collection company, and got back in good standing with dept of education.

 

Now I am back in college full time and my current student loans are payment deferred due to in-school status.

 

So I'm not sure if that's considered a thin file or not? I have a few collections and my student loans past and current.

 

I am trying to figure out the best way to use this card to finally be on my way to good credit.

From everything I've read I think i should:

 

Charge 30% of the credit limit per month ($60)

Pay it all off except for a few dollars leaving under 10% (under $20)

Repeat for a few months

 

And then apply for the Capital One Journey student card.

 

After 1 year, apply for USBank secured or BOA secured

 

Is this a good plan?

 

I know I can add money to the card to increase my credit line, should I :

 

Add $200 every month to the credit line till it reaches max ($3000)  or

Make one large increase or

Just let it stay a low credit limit??

 

Does increasing your credit line too fast look bad?

 

I am going to be getting an iphone soon and signing up with att wireless, I think they do a hard pull inquiry.

 

My ultimate goal with credit is to be able to qualify to buy a home, not sure how long that will take..especially in lower income bracket.

 

Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

Smiley Happy Thank you

 

Have a great day!

 

 

Message 1 of 13
12 REPLIES 12
LS2982
Mega Contributor

Re: First Post, First Credit Card!! Advice?


@Anonymous wrote:

Hi All!

I am so excited, I was approved for the Capital One Secured Mastercard with a $200 limit !! It's a pretty big deal for me, as I've never had a credit card.

I don't know what my credit score is. (equifax didn't have one for me)

 

I know I have a few negatives in my report though. (old medical bill, utilities bill and comcast from a few years ago, not paid off yet)

I also defaulted on a student loan from going to college in 2006, I tried to rehab the loan last year but it still shows that it was 120+ delinquent for a while. I finally got it out of the hands of the collection company, and got back in good standing with dept of education.

 

Now I am back in college full time and my current student loans are payment deferred due to in-school status.

 

So I'm not sure if that's considered a thin file or not? I have a few collections and my student loans past and current.

 

I am trying to figure out the best way to use this card to finally be on my way to good credit.

From everything I've read I think i should:

 

Charge 30% of the credit limit per month ($60)

Pay it all off except for a few dollars leaving under 10% (under $20)

Repeat for a few months

 

And then apply for the Capital One Journey student card.

 

After 1 year, apply for USBank secured or BOA secured

 

Is this a good plan?

 

I know I can add money to the card to increase my credit line, should I :

 

Add $200 every month to the credit line till it reaches max ($3000)  or

Make one large increase or

Just let it stay a low credit limit??

 

Does increasing your credit line too fast look bad?

 

I am going to be getting an iphone soon and signing up with att wireless, I think they do a hard pull inquiry.

 

My ultimate goal with credit is to be able to qualify to buy a home, not sure how long that will take..especially in lower income bracket.

 

Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

Smiley Happy Thank you

 

Have a great day!

 

 


Welcome to the forums and congrats on your new CC!!!!

 

First thing I would do is pull your credit reports here and see your EQ and TU FICO's. From there, you should focus on gardening this card while monthly making deposits to increase your CL. While in garden mode, work on resolving your bad debts by way of PFD.

 

If you have success with removals, than in a year you should be good for the Cap1 journey. But the key is deposits/work on baddies!




EQ FICO 548 3/3/16
Message 2 of 13
crunching_numbers
Valued Contributor

Re: First Post, First Credit Card!! Advice?


@Anonymous wrote:

Hi All!

I am so excited, I was approved for the Capital One Secured Mastercard with a $200 limit !! It's a pretty big deal for me, as I've never had a credit card.

I don't know what my credit score is. (equifax didn't have one for me)

 

I know I have a few negatives in my report though. (old medical bill, utilities bill and comcast from a few years ago, not paid off yet)

I also defaulted on a student loan from going to college in 2006, I tried to rehab the loan last year but it still shows that it was 120+ delinquent for a while. I finally got it out of the hands of the collection company, and got back in good standing with dept of education.

 

Now I am back in college full time and my current student loans are payment deferred due to in-school status.

 

So I'm not sure if that's considered a thin file or not? I have a few collections and my student loans past and current.

 

I am trying to figure out the best way to use this card to finally be on my way to good credit.

From everything I've read I think i should:

 

Charge 30% of the credit limit per month ($60)

Pay it all off except for a few dollars leaving under 10% (under $20)

Repeat for a few months

 

And then apply for the Capital One Journey student card.

 

After 1 year, apply for USBank secured or BOA secured

 

Is this a good plan?

 

I know I can add money to the card to increase my credit line, should I :

 

Add $200 every month to the credit line till it reaches max ($3000)  or

Make one large increase or

Just let it stay a low credit limit??

 

Does increasing your credit line too fast look bad?

 

I am going to be getting an iphone soon and signing up with att wireless, I think they do a hard pull inquiry.

 

My ultimate goal with credit is to be able to qualify to buy a home, not sure how long that will take..especially in lower income bracket.

 

Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

Smiley Happy Thank you

 

Have a great day!

 

 



We are all in different stages of our "credit journey" and different things are important at different times.  Having less than 10% reporting on one card is good for your FICO, but is not where your early focus should be.  Your #1 rule is no baddies.  That means make no more new baddies (pay minimum on time no matter what) and work on getting rid of old baddies (PFD, GW, resolve student loan issues).  At this stage, fixing stuff on your reports and letting time work on your side is important. Being good to the new card is essential.  FICO is a snap shot in time, so less than 10% reporting only helps for that very moment in time.  Work hard at the old stuff, since it is causing the most problems with your scores.  Your card is secured, so it is a credit builder.  The goal is to get to graduate. 


Starting Score: 693 TU FICO, 679 EQ FICO
Current Score: FICO 8 = 844(9/15) EQ, 827 TU, 811 EX (7/15); mortgage FICO= 758 (9/15)EQ5, 797 TU4, 748 EX2 (7/15)
Goal Score: 750+, but shooting for the 800's
Hyatt Visa Sig ($23K), Amex BCP (24.8K), BofA Travel Rew Sig (22.5K), B&N World MC (22.3K), Amex RP Gold (NPSL w/ S&T), Cash+ Sig (20K),United Mil+ExpSig (16.3K), FNBO Visa (13.1K), Hilton Surpass (10K), Freedom Visa Sig (8.6K), Disc It (16.4K), Citi Dia Pref MC (3.7K),Sam's MC (10K), Wally (7.5K), JCP(5.3K), Costco (2K)
Message 3 of 13
Jake0215
Frequent Contributor

Re: First Post, First Credit Card!! Advice?


@Anonymous wrote:

Hi All!

I am so excited, I was approved for the Capital One Secured Mastercard with a $200 limit !! It's a pretty big deal for me, as I've never had a credit card.

I don't know what my credit score is. (equifax didn't have one for me)

 

I know I have a few negatives in my report though. (old medical bill, utilities bill and comcast from a few years ago, not paid off yet)

I also defaulted on a student loan from going to college in 2006, I tried to rehab the loan last year but it still shows that it was 120+ delinquent for a while. I finally got it out of the hands of the collection company, and got back in good standing with dept of education.

 

Now I am back in college full time and my current student loans are payment deferred due to in-school status.

 

So I'm not sure if that's considered a thin file or not? I have a few collections and my student loans past and current.

 

I am trying to figure out the best way to use this card to finally be on my way to good credit.

From everything I've read I think i should:

 

Charge 30% of the credit limit per month ($60)

Pay it all off except for a few dollars leaving under 10% (under $20)

Repeat for a few months

 

And then apply for the Capital One Journey student card.

 

After 1 year, apply for USBank secured or BOA secured

 

Is this a good plan?

 

I know I can add money to the card to increase my credit line, should I :

 

Add $200 every month to the credit line till it reaches max ($3000)  or

Make one large increase or

Just let it stay a low credit limit??

 

Does increasing your credit line too fast look bad?

 

I am going to be getting an iphone soon and signing up with att wireless, I think they do a hard pull inquiry.

 

My ultimate goal with credit is to be able to qualify to buy a home, not sure how long that will take..especially in lower income bracket.

 

Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

Smiley Happy Thank you

 

Have a great day!

 

 


If you completed the rehab process with direct loans/dept of education, part of the agreement is that all negative information will/would be removed. I would pull all three reports either at annual credit report for free or if you have used your freebie this year another monitoring service and disput those negative tradelines. You should see a nice bump in score as soon as those lates are removed.


Starting Score: 617 EQ 10-17-11
Current Score: EQ 767 TU 769 EX 749 (all FICO but who really knows?)
Goal Score: 800


Take the FICO Fitness Challenge
Message 4 of 13
jamesdwi
Valued Contributor

Re: First Post, First Credit Card!! Advice?


@Anonymous wrote:

Hi All!

I am so excited, I was approved for the Capital One Secured Mastercard with a $200 limit !! It's a pretty big deal for me, as I've never had a credit card.

I don't know what my credit score is. (equifax didn't have one for me)

 

I know I have a few negatives in my report though. (old medical bill, utilities bill and comcast from a few years ago, not paid off yet)

I also defaulted on a student loan from going to college in 2006, I tried to rehab the loan last year but it still shows that it was 120+ delinquent for a while. I finally got it out of the hands of the collection company, and got back in good standing with dept of education.

 

Now I am back in college full time and my current student loans are payment deferred due to in-school status.

 

So I'm not sure if that's considered a thin file or not? I have a few collections and my student loans past and current.

 

I am trying to figure out the best way to use this card to finally be on my way to good credit.

From everything I've read I think i should:

 

Charge 30% of the credit limit per month ($60)

Pay it all off except for a few dollars leaving under 10% (under $20)

Repeat for a few months

 

And then apply for the Capital One Journey student card.

 

After 1 year, apply for USBank secured or BOA secured

 

Is this a good plan?

 

I know I can add money to the card to increase my credit line, should I :

 

Add $200 every month to the credit line till it reaches max ($3000)  or

Make one large increase or

Just let it stay a low credit limit??

 

Does increasing your credit line too fast look bad?

 

I am going to be getting an iphone soon and signing up with att wireless, I think they do a hard pull inquiry.

 

My ultimate goal with credit is to be able to qualify to buy a home, not sure how long that will take..especially in lower income bracket.

 

Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

Smiley Happy Thank you

 

Have a great day!

 

 



If you get the second card, the student card,  don't open another secured card, should be set for unsecured cards at 6 months, especially with some clean up, PFD (pay for delete),  just paying them off does little good. you want to get them off your reports. 

 

Don't wait to apply for a second secured card if you have the funds. two cards reporting for 6 months will do wonders for your score. And should get you in with capone, or hsbc master cards, or many of GE store cards. Get your scores up to 650, with one year of credit history, no lates on any credit card you may be in line for AMEX zync. 

 

 

Cards: Chase Southwest 20k & CSR 17k & CSP 10k & FNBO 30k Oregon Duck 5k, & AMEX BCP 32.5k & Amex Magnet 15k&amg; Hilton Surpass 7.5k & Delta Gold 12k & Zync NPSL, Fidelity AMEX 17k Commerce5.9k & Cash Forward 7.5k & Sams Club MC 20k, Paypal Extras MC 10k, Paypal Credit 7.25k CapOne Venture 15k, QS 2.5k, QS 750, Amazon 10k, Walmart 10k, Citi Simplicity 18k, Discover IT 23k and a nice stack of store cards.
Landmarkcu Personal Loan 10k
Message 5 of 13
tinuviel
Moderator Emeritus

Re: First Post, First Credit Card!! Advice?


@LS2982 wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

Hi All!

I am so excited, I was approved for the Capital One Secured Mastercard with a $200 limit !! It's a pretty big deal for me, as I've never had a credit card.

I don't know what my credit score is. (equifax didn't have one for me)

 

I know I have a few negatives in my report though. (old medical bill, utilities bill and comcast from a few years ago, not paid off yet)

I also defaulted on a student loan from going to college in 2006, I tried to rehab the loan last year but it still shows that it was 120+ delinquent for a while. I finally got it out of the hands of the collection company, and got back in good standing with dept of education.

 

Now I am back in college full time and my current student loans are payment deferred due to in-school status.

 

So I'm not sure if that's considered a thin file or not? I have a few collections and my student loans past and current.

 

I am trying to figure out the best way to use this card to finally be on my way to good credit.

From everything I've read I think i should:

 

Charge 30% of the credit limit per month ($60)

Pay it all off except for a few dollars leaving under 10% (under $20)

Repeat for a few months

 

And then apply for the Capital One Journey student card.

 

After 1 year, apply for USBank secured or BOA secured

 

Is this a good plan?

 

I know I can add money to the card to increase my credit line, should I :

 

Add $200 every month to the credit line till it reaches max ($3000)  or

Make one large increase or

Just let it stay a low credit limit??

 

Does increasing your credit line too fast look bad?

 

I am going to be getting an iphone soon and signing up with att wireless, I think they do a hard pull inquiry.

 

My ultimate goal with credit is to be able to qualify to buy a home, not sure how long that will take..especially in lower income bracket.

 

Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

Smiley Happy Thank you

 

Have a great day!

 

 


Welcome to the forums and congrats on your new CC!!!!

 

First thing I would do is pull your credit reports here and see your EQ and TU FICO's. From there, you should focus on gardening this card while monthly making deposits to increase your CL. While in garden mode, work on resolving your bad debts by way of PFD.

 

If you have success with removals, than in a year you should be good for the Cap1 journey. But the key is deposits/work on baddies!


 

Yes, welcome to the forums, and congrats!

 

I agree with what LS posted. The one thing that I would add is that at this point, it sounds as if you're being hurt by delinquencies more than anything. So, you can add more to your secured card to get a bigger limit, but I would only worry about doing so if you find that the limit is too restrictive and you'd like to be able to use the card more frequently. On the bright side, Cap 1 will allow you to make more than one payment per month, so you could always do so if you want to use the card frequently but need to stay under your CL. Just make sure that you pay almost all of the balance off BEFORE the statement cuts, so that you show a low balance on your reports. But, regardless of whether you stick with a small CL or increase it, the number one most important thing for you at this point is to never, ever be late with paying it. You need to establish a good history of on time payments. This will be a big help to your score in the long run.


Current Scores: EQ 775 (03/04/2014), EX 756 (03/01/2014), TU 760 (03/01/2014)
Ruby Spade Garden Club Member - Last App: 03/04/2013 - No apps until 2014
Cards: Cap1 Venture 6.4k, Cap1 Quicksilver MC 1.75k, BankAmericard 1-2-3 Visa Signature - UCF Alumni Association 5k, Discover 7k, Citi Diamond Preferred MC 10.35k, Wells Fargo Rewards Visa 7k, Chase Freedom 5k, Chase Ink 7.5k, Amex Green NPSL, Dillard's Amex 7.5k, JC Penney 7.5k, Kay Jeweler's 5.1k
Message 6 of 13
bichonmom
Senior Contributor

Re: First Post, First Credit Card!! Advice?


@Anonymous wrote:

Hi All!

I am so excited, I was approved for the Capital One Secured Mastercard with a $200 limit !! It's a pretty big deal for me, as I've never had a credit card.

I don't know what my credit score is. (equifax didn't have one for me)

 

I know I have a few negatives in my report though. (old medical bill, utilities bill and comcast from a few years ago, not paid off yet)

I also defaulted on a student loan from going to college in 2006, I tried to rehab the loan last year but it still shows that it was 120+ delinquent for a while. I finally got it out of the hands of the collection company, and got back in good standing with dept of education.

 

Now I am back in college full time and my current student loans are payment deferred due to in-school status.

 

So I'm not sure if that's considered a thin file or not? I have a few collections and my student loans past and current.

 

I am trying to figure out the best way to use this card to finally be on my way to good credit.

From everything I've read I think i should:

 

Charge 30% of the credit limit per month ($60)

Pay it all off except for a few dollars leaving under 10% (under $20)

Repeat for a few months

 

And then apply for the Capital One Journey student card.

 

After 1 year, apply for USBank secured or BOA secured

 

Is this a good plan?

 

I know I can add money to the card to increase my credit line, should I :

 

Add $200 every month to the credit line till it reaches max ($3000)  or

Make one large increase or

Just let it stay a low credit limit??

 

Does increasing your credit line too fast look bad?

 

I am going to be getting an iphone soon and signing up with att wireless, I think they do a hard pull inquiry.

 

My ultimate goal with credit is to be able to qualify to buy a home, not sure how long that will take..especially in lower income bracket.

 

Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

Smiley Happy Thank you

 

Have a great day!

 

 


Welcome to the forums!

 

You can charge up to your limit and pay it off *before* your statement  cuts, or leave a bal of <9% reporting. But you do NOT need to carry a balance and pay interest to build your credit.

 

You can actually make multiple payments throughout the month, if you want. So you can charge $150 week one, pay in full. Then charge another $175 in week 2, PIF; and repeat weekly. You don't *need* to do this, but it is an option if you want to use the card a lot and have a low CL.

 

Regarding your CL, it will help you to get higher CL CCs in the future if they see a larger limit card reporting. If you have the funds available, it would be better just to increase the limit all at once. I'm not quite sure why you want to add $200 a month. It sounds like it's cash flow, but not sure. I don't think it looks bad, but it's kind of hard to keep track of. Maybe add quarterly if you don't have the money up front.

 

For the baddies, you can PFD. If you search the forum, you should see some info about it. Basically, you send a letter to negotiate with the CA or OC to remove the CA from your CR if you PIF. A paid collection is just as bad for your score as unpaid, so it's really better if you can negotiate the removal BEFORE you pay it. (Just be sure you have the funds to PIF *before* you negotiate, so you can pay asap after they agree.)

 

One thing you might consider to add a second TL is to get a secured installment loan. You need to call some banks and CUs. They don't all do this the same. Basically, you deposit funds with them and they hold the funds and then loan you the money. Sometimes they will only loan up to 90% of the deposit amount. In any case, this gives you an added TL to report positive history while NOT adversely affecting your cash flow. You can then take the money they loan you and use that to add to your secured CC. BTW, they don't always report these to the CRBs, so you may need to request that they do this for you.)

 

I wouldn't necessarily add a second secured CC. It would probably be better to increase the CL on your existing card and add the secured loan for a 2nd TL. Smiley Happy

 

Good luck!

 

 

 

EQ FICO 750 | TU FICO 761 (Walmart) | EX FAKO 767 | Goal: 800+

Edits, funky spacing and spelling due to my iPad not getting along with the forum editor!

Message 7 of 13
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: First Post, First Credit Card!! Advice?

Hi All,

Thanks for the welcoming and the advice!

Looks like  i still have a lot to learn about credit...

Just found out my TU score is 553. I'm gonna have to really work at this to get it up higher.

 

Received the approval letter from capital one, they said my card will be here in 2 to 3 weeks.

Can hardly wait!

 

Smiley Happy

Message 8 of 13
Creditaddict
Legendary Contributor

Re: First Post, First Credit Card!! Advice?

I would NOT apply for another Capital One Card.... When fixing and working on bad credit and slowly raising score and as score goes up you need to get new credit and slowly work away from secured, away from rebuilders and into prime cards.  The last thing you want is 6 INQ from 1 bank to only obtain 2 credit cards with limits of $300 or less!

 

Now lets look at baddies:

1. As other said, part of rehab on student loans is after they are rehabbed and go back to original they should be deleting the negatives, I have done this for a friend and it was all deleted.

2. Start working on "Pay for Delete" with other companies.... Cable etc are probably going to be a real pain but it just doesn't really do you any good just to pay if they won't delete... I mean a little bit but not a whole lot especially if it's already 2-3 years old.

 

Work on the negatives and sit with this Cap1 for 6 months and then pull scores again...

Message 9 of 13
LS2982
Mega Contributor

Re: First Post, First Credit Card!! Advice?


@Creditaddict wrote:

I would NOT apply for another Capital One Card.... When fixing and working on bad credit and slowly raising score and as score goes up you need to get new credit and slowly work away from secured, away from rebuilders and into prime cards.  The last thing you want is 6 INQ from 1 bank to only obtain 2 credit cards with limits of $300 or less!

 

Now lets look at baddies:

1. As other said, part of rehab on student loans is after they are rehabbed and go back to original they should be deleting the negatives, I have done this for a friend and it was all deleted.

2. Start working on "Pay for Delete" with other companies.... Cable etc are probably going to be a real pain but it just doesn't really do you any good just to pay if they won't delete... I mean a little bit but not a whole lot especially if it's already 2-3 years old.

 

Work on the negatives and sit with this Cap1 for 6 months and then pull scores again...


+1




EQ FICO 548 3/3/16
Message 10 of 13
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