As the title states, I am in the process of recovering from a rough 12-18 months. To give a brief introduction, I am 26 years old and a college grad with some decent student loan debt. I have one active CC with BOA (my former employer actually), an open car loan, and unfortunately a few derrog/collections on my credit report. My woes began almost two years ago, around a year after I lost my mother to lung cancer. Not only was her passing a huge emotional loss but it was a financial loss as well because she was the head of my family household. My father being on social security and forced into retirement due to his own health issues, didn't have much of a 401K or savings. What he did have was spent on medical bills for himself and putting two kids through college.
When I graduated college I got a job with BOA as a personal banker which paid an ok salary for a recent grad but nothing to write home about (35-40K). With my mother gone, my brother starting college, and my father being left with all of the living expenses; of course being a good son and a big family man I pitched in. However I made some ill-advised choices along the way and bit off more than I could chew. To make a very long story short, I ended up with two car payments I couldn't afford which eventually lead to one of them being reposessed about 6 mos ago. I also had to move out of my apartment and back in with my father to help cover his living expenses and help with putting my brother through school. During this time I did have two CC's with BOA, one being the Cash Rewards and the other the BankAmericard. Since I was an employee I had special APR's on the cards and extended intro APR's rates of 15 mos on both. I was carrying high balances on both and was late on the CR card eventually causing it to be closed. I tried to have the CR card re-opened but was told since it was closed for longer than two mos I had to re apply which I knew I would be declined for.
Right now I have the BankAmericard still open but it only has a 1000k limit, the CR had a 1500k limit but obviously it is closed but the balance of that card is now paid off. As of the last two months things have taken a turn for the better. I started a new job in Sept. of last year with a very big company and worked extremely hard and performed well enough to earn a nice promotion after 8 mos. which really gave me a big bump in pay. With my annual income
being around 80-100K including incentives I really want to begin rebuilding my credit. One drawback to my new job is that I only get paid once a month. For obvious cashflow reasons I would like to have most of my monthly expenses on my credit card which would be paid down either completely or to at least 10% each month. Having a 1000k limit though makes that impossible as my monthly expenses including rent are about 2400-2500. I have a decent understanding of credit but I would love any guidance from people coming out of a similar situation. My first immediate need/want would be a CLI on my BOA CC. Or would I be better off applying for a new card with a new lender/bank? I also would like to buy a house in the next 3-5 years. My TU and EQ are 611 and 605 respectively. I do have a corporate AMEX, which I know doesn't report on my credit but I did notice the inquiry made my scores go up a few points.
I know this was a long first post but I appreciate any help/guidance. I have been lurking in these forums since my repo happened this year and have soaked up a lot of knowledge. My scores were all in the low-mid 500's just a few months ago so I have made decent progress just by bring most of my accounts current and paying off some debts. So I mainly need help with what credit cards should I apply for next and is it worth requesting a CLI with BOA now that I have substantially higher income?
