@Anonymous wrote:My credit has sucked for a long time but I'm finally at a point where I can really straighten things out or at least begin to. I have $70,000 in student loan debt (in deferment due to recent unemployment), 5 1/2 years into a mortgage in the amount of $85,000, a few collections 2 years or older, a car financed with Capital One 2 years ago with a balance of $10,414 and three credit cards that until recently were maxed out for the last few years. One is an Orchard Bank/Capital One Mastercard with a $300 limit / $0 balance, the other two are with First Premier (Mastercard and Visa) with a $300 and $350 limit / $0 balance. I will NOT be using any of these cards and my husband suggests we use the Orchard Bank card as an "emergency" card.
My question is this...should I close the two with First Premier? I don't want to continue to pay their monthly servicing fee for $72/yr on each card plus the annual fee. But I also don't want to take any more hits on my credit. I've had all three cards for 7 or 8 years.
I really want to cut the cord with First Premier but I'm wondering if it will have a BIG negative impact.
Any advice?
D-
any card closed in good standing will report as good for 10 years before it falls off your reports.
but you would lose the util. so instead of having total limit of 950 on three cards it would be 300 on one. so letting anything more then 30 dollars would put you over optimal utility.
if money is tight i would just stay away from cc, and like stated use the orchard for emergencies or for stuff you know you have money for (like gas...)
that you know you can pay.
if you can come up with a few extra hundred dollars (possibly from taxes) i would suggest a secured card from boa or something like that (not cap1 since they tripple pull) and boa has been known to graduate cards at a year.
Also, in case I wasn't clear (since I was rambling 
)...all of the cards have been paid off.
@Creditaddict wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Creditaddict wrote:Might you be able to share if you are now back to work, What is left over $ amount AFTER paying all bills and living?
How much longer are the studen loans deferred and what is payment once back? Do you have this amount calculated into the figure above of cash left over?
Have you pulled any reports for credit scores lately or applied for any credit of any kind lately?
I was just laid off in December 2012. I paid all three cards off in January 2013. I actually have a forbearance on the student loans while I am unemployed. I haven't had to pay on the loans yet as I have been in school for the last couple of years. I have pulled my reports but not the scores yet. My scores were in the mid 500s last time I checked. I have about $200-$300 left after bills and living on average.
Sorry, it's tough, hope you don't find yourself still unemployed in 18 months if the state or gov can even pay that long for you!
But since currently laid off while the upside is you have lots of time to call and write and wiggle around with everyone repeatedly to start getting the negatives either corrected or deleted depending what they are and if they are accurate it doesn't help to be unemployed when the resolution to correct or delete = paying in settlement or in full.
But if you have cash back up in savings then go to work with your $200-$300 and pay newest baddies first IF not the highest balance that would take you 1 year to pay vs. paying 6 smaller ones! But if you have no savings... right now you can write and call to try to correct wrong reported information but if you need to pay I would suggest right now you not do that and hold on to that cash dearly, if you find yourself empoyed just down the road then go for it if you are comfortable to use that cash you have been saving to start paying what you couldn't fix with no money.
I say this because I paid some of my baddies last year and year before even and it didn't leave me in the best position at a later point (not all to be blamed on paying past baddies!) LOL... but some.
Good luck and post away for best ways to fix things depending the issue, members chime in quick to help with letters and what not.
Thank you for the tips! Great minds think alike because I have been getting corrections done and working on items that I can afford to pay off. I don't have much in savings because my husband was out of work for a couple of years and we went through what we had. We are doing well now and I just want to get rid of all dead weight and that means cutting off First Premier. I went with them at first to rebuild credit after a bankruptcy but it actually didn't help anything.
I really appreciate you and your advice. You rock!
Enjoy the rest of your evening and I'll be posting again soon with the other info and hopefully some good news!
D