Please Help Me Plot Strategy: What Action Would You Take First?

[trishdadish]

The way that I see it, I've got to do 3 things by mid-August:

1. Move to another apartment (I've been here 15+ years)

2. Buy a new car (mine is > 15 years old)

3. Hopefully, replace my 2 sub-prime, high annual fee CC's with 1 or more new CC's that don't have annual fees and have $1000+ CL's.

I really do want to do all of this within the next 1-2 months, so what should I do first?

Things that you should know about my CC's: The only credit on my accounts is the 2 CC's--I don't have a car buying history on there any longer; GMAC apparently dropped off. The oldest of the 2 cards was opened in Jan. 2007 (limit on it is $420), and the other card was opened in Oct. 2007 (limit on it is $600). AAofA's is therefore 5 years. I keep my utilization at 0-5%, being sure to use it several times a month, but paying off online the day after the debts post. I have never, ever, had a late payment on either of these 2 accounts. Not even a day, or even an hour!

What you should know about the car I'd like to buy: I've decided to get a Honda Fit. I am figuring on trying to get a 15K loan, and paying any other $ myself. If needed, I could apply for just a 10K loan, and swing the rest.

My 2011 federal AGI is $75,000, I've been working at the same place for ~14 years.

Debts? I have 2 collection baddies on my reports. They are small; $140 medical owed to one (drops off next April), and $95 medical owed to the other (drops off in 2015). I actually owe more $ to each of these creditors/CAs that isn't currently reporting on my CR's, so I have been auto paying $50 a pay period to each until I get them paid off, in order to hopefully prevent anything new appearing on my CR's.

I defaulted on my student loans so long ago that they no longer appear on my CR's--I plan to start the rehab process next year--I want to get straight with everyone. For now, I get garnished about $400/month. That has been going on for years and years.

This week, a July 2011 released federal lien was withdrawn from 2/3 of my credit reports (it is still appearing on EQI; I filed an online dispute tonight). There has been no score change since to any of my 3 reports, as far as I can tell so far.

Which of these should I do first? Get the Honda Fit financed (hopefully through a CU, not a dealer)? Then apply for a better credit card(s)? Try to do it all within a 2-week period? If I move first, will this mess up my car loan or credit card app(s)?

BTW, I want to apply for a CC that will get me the highest possible limit, and if I get that, I won't be applying for more credit cards for another 2 years. So any recommendations for that are also welcome.

My scores are EQI 732 (6/1/12, via annualcreditreport.com) / TU 719 (6/19/12, from MYFICO.com) / 652 (6/19/12, from experian.com)

Sorry if this is TMI, but I wasn't sure what info. would be needed to do a proper assessment.

[Crashem]

On iPad so formatting going to stink. In order, car then cards then apartment. Auto as it is most important from costly you in interest. You are likely to get unsecured cards with high credit limits as you have none right now. Apartment is least important as most of them just look for baddies and why take score hit from inquiries. The big thing to do is to work on your baddies. See if you can hipaa or good will the medical ones off. You need to get that tax lien off equifax or really do your research on which cu does not pull equifax for auto. Remember to time your card apps to before auto loan starts reporting but after you get cars.

[trishdadish]

Thank you! I was unsure about the impact of my moving to a brand-new address might have upon the credit card and auto apps...I definitely see your point about being sure to secure the biggest loan (for the car) at the lowest possible interest rate, first. At this point, I am not too worried that EQI won't remove the lien; on their online dispute form, there is an actual category that you can choose as a reason, "the lien has been withdrawn or vacated," so Inwould think that they must routinely get this sort of request, and honor it. For the 2 medical baddies, I am going to try the infamous HIPAA method. Thanks, once again, for your help!

[Crashem]

Trish, since you are paying them for other stuff, you might just want to call and see if they will Pfd or just remove. I find medical collectors reasonable. Ymmv. I did get two off for my wife by asking and paying.

[jamie123]

My opinion...

1. Get the auto loan. Your scores won't be higher in the short term so you want to ensure you get this loan. Get CU financing for SURE! Length of time at current address WILL definitely be a concern when you apply for this loan.

2. Get 2 new credit cards. Length of time at current address WILL be a concern when you apply for these cards.

3. Call your CC for CLI on your current cards. They also will want to see stability in your life. Length of time at current address will matter.

4. Move. Landlords aren't looking at scores as much as they are looking to see if you have defaulted on your rent in the past.

[ummie]

Thanks for replying. I've noticed that there is consensus on this topic, so I definitely plan to follow your advice as outlined. I will provide updates on here as they become available....thanks to all who took time out of their schedules to answer these questions for me,

[webhopper]

I agree with others,  the apartment should be last,

The car should be first.

Apply for two cards after the car.

Move last.

If you get the car loan through a CU, see if they can issue a card using the same credit pull. Many CUs are good about being able to do that.

If you're able to pick up two new cards,  you should consider closing the cards with the AFs

[Anonymous]

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@trishdadish wrote:
Thank you! I was unsure about the impact of my moving to a brand-new address might have upon the credit card and auto apps...I definitely see your point about being sure to secure the biggest loan (for the car) at the lowest possible interest rate, first. At this point, I am not too worried that EQI won't remove the lien; on their online dispute form, there is an actual category that you can choose as a reason, "the lien has been withdrawn or vacated," so Inwould think that they must routinely get this sort of request, and honor it. For the 2 medical baddies, I am going to try the infamous HIPAA method. Thanks, once again, for your help!

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When I moved accross states and changed employers(doing the same type of work), I continued to put I work X amount of years and have lived at the same address X amount of years.  One should not be penalized for moving or changing jobs to better themselves.   So, although I have been with current employer almost two years, I continue to add the years from my previous employer, and list that total on my applications. 

[swpopham]

I do the same thing with apps ;-)