Rebuilding

[MrsRowe]

Okay. So i am working on my credit and I have come a long way.  With my tax returns I paid off most of my credit bills. Only thing remaining are my car and an old car debt that i defaulted on and I am now making monthly payments on.  I don't know how to add the items below but currently my scores are

Transunion - 658

Equifax - 641

Experian - 645? - locked myself out and cannot recall correctly.

I do have one public file on my account which i am disputing. Hopefully it's removed. That file only shows on transunion. I also have a secured Discover It card and making sure my payments are on time. I was thinking of applying for a walmart card but I am afraid. I did the preapproval for Bank of AMerica and got a couple of offers but I am terrified of applying and being denied as with walmart.  Not sure which way to go now. I know that i need to add something else and water it. 

[Anonymous]

I would probably just let that Discover Secured age a bit and potentially graduate in 6 months. Discover is really good to their cardholders.

I'm not experienced with applying to cards with baddies on your record, so I can't speak to how your odds of a Walmart card are. However, I will say that I don't like the Walmart card as a card. There are far better options, honestly not sure why people get the Walmart card. The card only offers 1% back at Walmart/Everywhere, but 3% back at Walmart.com. Unless you shop online at Walmart.com a lot, I'd say to just try to apply for a better 1.5-2% card in 6 months. 

Best of luck!

[HeavenOhio]

I'm not in a position to suggest what you should and shouldn't apply for. But I'll suggest that you keep your scores in order by doing a couple of things.

Allow the Discover card to report a small statement balance each month. This balance should come from a new charge rather than carrying anything from the previous balance.

Continue to pay down your current car loan. Anything under 9% of the original loan amount will be great for your score. But don't pay it off completely. Drag it out as long as you can as losing the active loan will ding your score noticeably. If it comes time that the car loan has to end, you can replace it at little cost. You'd want to set up the new loan and get it reporting before fully paying off the current loan.