Should I get another credit card?

[Tmac7631]

I have a unsecured credit card now that I have had reporting for 13 months with no late history. My limit on this card is only $250. I was wondering if I should get a secured credit card or not? Will this other card help me right now or should I just let my current card age more.

[fused]

Probably yes.

Do you know your FICO scores?

Are your reports clean? If not, what are the bad items and how old are they?

How long is your credit history?

[JayRizzo]

Fuse provided some very informative links that is a good start, but exactly what is it that you're trying to acomplish?  Establish or re-establish credit?  Increase your scores for the sport of it?  Planning on purchasing a house or car in the future?

This forum is a very big family of members who can give you advice based on their own personal experiences; tested the waters; established, failed, and re-established credit.  Use these resources to gain as much knowledge as you possibly can and in no-time, you'll be providing good advice to someone in a similar situation.

[Tmac7631]

Yeah I know my equifax score and it is not very good. I am at 523. The biggest problem I have as of late was a 90 day late posted in December 2010 on a school loan by Nelnet. I asked if they would remove and they will not do it. I was never notified of these loans after my deferment ended. These loans by Nelnet are currently in forbearance right now. I also have 2 collection accounts totaling $295. One account is from 2008 and the other one is from 2009. My credit history is around 13 years I beleive.

[vish1]

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@Tmac7631 wrote:

Yeah I know my equifax score and it is not very good. I am at 523. The biggest problem I have as of late was a 90 day late posted in December 2010 on a school loan by Nelnet. I asked if they would remove and they will not do it. I was never notified of these loans after my deferment ended. These loans by Nelnet are currently in forbearance right now. I also have 2 collection accounts totaling $295. One account is from 2008 and the other one is from 2009. My credit history is around 13 years I beleive.

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At your scores and baddies, it's virtually impossible to get any prime lender to get you a card.

My thought is that util % may also be hitting your scores hard. Its very easy to get to 50-60% or even higher util on 250 CL.

You should try to see if you can get a CLI with your current card (may be with some collateral). If not, try to talk to a local CU to see what they have on offer for you (I wont mind secured card with NO AF). By all means stay away from Orchard / Cap 1 (not too bad a card, just that it costs you 3 inquiries).

The other benefit of credit unions is that they are generally OK to unsecure your card faster. Most of them don't have any minimum period before they unsecure.

[Tmac7631]

Yeah my utilization is high right now. I am paying this card off in full on the 11th of this month which should help raise my score hopefully. I want to try and buy a home but not for at least another 2 years.

[vish1]

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@Tmac7631 wrote:

Yeah my utilization is high right now. I am paying this card off in full on the 11th of this month which should help raise my score hopefully. I want to try and buy a home but not for at least another 2 years.

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Then I believe my comments above should be good. Wait for payment to post, get 1-2 cards now (CU + store) and don't apply anything for a year. Add 1-2 good cards abt 9-10 months from now and then no apps before your mortgage (0 inquiries in 1 year is considered great and gets your scores high). If you treat your credit well from this point, you stand a should easily have enough score to get great terms on your mortgage.

[JayRizzo]

Vish1, in this case I wouldn't promote the OP applying for any credit card.  Step one is to get your current house in order (clean-up).  It doesn't make much sense to get a new credit card while you still have RECENT outstanding debts knocking at your door and not really concentrating on how to clean that up but more focused on acquiring the next debt.

Let's get this member on the right track first.  Check out the "Rebuilding Credit" forum on how to negotiate and talk to these companies to get things back on track.