Okay so first things first, this is gonna be a little long, I just turned 18 years old in november 2014 and I went credit CRAZY ! My first account is Victoria Secret which i opened in novemeber 2014. my credit limit is 250 with a $149 balance. My next card was capital one opened in december 2014 with credit limit of 300 and balance of $295. My next credit card was US Bank opened in January 2015 which is a secured card with a credit limit of 300 and balance of 299. My next credit is Macys opened in jan 2015 with a credit limit of 600 and balance of 385. and bloomingdales gave me a card, i didnt think they had approved me so i forgot about them next thing i knew a card came in the mail (which i thought was there loyallist rewards card) but when i kept getting coupons to use with my "bloomingdales credit card" i decided to call the number on the back and turns out they gave me a card with a 300 limit in january 2015 and currently there is no balance and i dont plan on using it right now. I have a credit one card opened in jan 2015 with a 300 credit limit and 285 balance. My last thing is i added myself as an authorized user to my grandmothers card in order to gain a longer credit history (her credit is horrible) and it made my credit score plummet for 638 which was my beggining score to 549 ( this is a credit karma score i didnt have all three score at the time). However i left it on there for a while and the credit karma score went up . (this card had a 439 bal 500 CL and all on time payments) then i decided to take the card off (like a week ago) and my Credit Karma score went down 12 points. So im not to sure whats going on. Im pretty bad at this. Right now i bought the 3 credit reports and identity package from here and its showing capital one, credit one, victoria secret, us bank, grandmas capital one as closed, macys. Its not showing bloomingdales. Also the balances on credit karma, although updated this week are all wrong, they show older balances which since have either increased or decreased (the ones above are correct and up-to-date). Oh and lets not forget the inquires >.< i went credit crazy and with the package i bought on here i have 4 on equ , 10 on tu , and 11 on experian. i feel horrible and i just want to get this issue fixed. I pay on time and i am working and i pay 35+ each time the bill comes. I want to build credit, good credit , great credit, FAST !!! ASAP before i turn 19. i need help 
paying off should be easy i just need someone to help me with a fullproof plan. i hope i gave all the info needed and correct info. thanks to whoever took the time to hear me out.
@Anonymous wrote:Okay so first things first, this is gonna be a little long, I just turned 18 years old in november 2014 and I went credit CRAZY ! My first account is Victoria Secret which i opened in novemeber 2014. my credit limit is 250 with a $149 balance. My next card was capital one opened in december 2014 with credit limit of 300 and balance of $295. My next credit card was US Bank opened in January 2015 which is a secured card with a credit limit of 300 and balance of 299. My next credit is Macys opened in jan 2015 with a credit limit of 600 and balance of 385. and bloomingdales gave me a card, i didnt think they had approved me so i forgot about them next thing i knew a card came in the mail (which i thought was there loyallist rewards card) but when i kept getting coupons to use with my "bloomingdales credit card" i decided to call the number on the back and turns out they gave me a card with a 300 limit in january 2015 and currently there is no balance and i dont plan on using it right now. I have a credit one card opened in jan 2015 with a 300 credit limit and 285 balance. My last thing is i added myself as an authorized user to my grandmothers card in order to gain a longer credit history (her credit is horrible) and it made my credit score plummet for 638 which was my beggining score to 549 ( this is a credit karma score i didnt have all three score at the time). However i left it on there for a while and the credit karma score went up . (this card had a 439 bal 500 CL and all on time payments) then i decided to take the card off (like a week ago) and my Credit Karma score went down 12 points. So im not to sure whats going on. Im pretty bad at this. Right now i bought the 3 credit reports and identity package from here and its showing capital one, credit one, victoria secret, us bank, grandmas capital one as closed, macys. Its not showing bloomingdales. Also the balances on credit karma, although updated this week are all wrong, they show older balances which since have either increased or decreased (the ones above are correct and up-to-date). Oh and lets not forget the inquires >.< i went credit crazy and with the package i bought on here i have 4 on equ , 10 on tu , and 11 on experian. i feel horrible and i just want to get this issue fixed. I pay on time and i am working and i pay 35+ each time the bill comes. I want to build credit, good credit , great credit, FAST !!! ASAP before i turn 19. i need help
- The credit scores listed on CK is Fako scores, they are not used by lenders and I would only use CK for monitoring purposes.
- You have high utilization on all your cards. I would put that plan in motion, paying the minimum balance on thre rest of the cards and applying a high amount to one card just to tacke one card at a time. Don't miss any payments.
- DO NOT, DO NOT USE YOUR CARDS and DON'T APPLY FOR ANY MORE CREDIT BECAUSE AT THIS POINT YOU LOOK DESPERATE FOR CREDIT AND YOU DO NOT NEED ANY MORE INQUIRES.
- Your scores took a huge dip as well because you opened up so many cards in a short time frame.
- This process will take time, and your credit scors will bounce back once you begin paying down those cards.
* I hope this information I gave you help your plan to paying down those cards.
@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:1. Put all of your credit cards in a drawer. Do not use them again until every one of them is paid in full.
2. Make a list of each creditor and the amount owed. Then sort the list from the lowest balance to the highest balance card.
3. You are going to pay off each card in full, one by one, while paying the minimum due on the other cards, starting with the lowest balance card.
a) So pay the minimum due on all cards except the one you are paying off.
b) Pay as much as you can on the card you are paying off. Work overtime. Do not buy anything new. Make this your new hobby.
c) When the first card is paid off, do the same thing you did with card number one now only with card number two. Continue not to use any
card until all cards are paid in full.
4. When you have paid off all of your cards, close out all but two of the store cards. Pick two you like, hopefully two that have higher credit limits.
You are not going to use these cards, you are going to keep them so you have at least five revolving cards.
5. Use of your Visa/Mastercards during the month but don't spend any more with it than you can pay in full. Before the statement date pay all but
$2 and let $2 report.
You are young and clearly retail is your weakness. (I was there once too.) You need credit but you don't need debt. You likely don't need any of the stuff you are buying from these retail stores.
Only use your Visa/MC to pay for things you would normally pay for with your bank account -- groceries, utilities, cell phone, auto insurance, Netflix, stuff like that.
You can rotate your remaining Visa/MC's using one in one month and then using a different one the month after and mixing them up.
You want to eventually have five decent Visa/Mastercard/Discover/AMEX type cards. You don't need any store cards.
One you have five of these major credit cards, close out the last two retail cards.
Learn to live within your means. Take pleasure in learning to invest money.
I have filed bankruptcy twice in my life now because I couldn't or wouldn't learn these lessons. You can learn from my mistakes. You are developing bad habits right out of the gate (just like I did!) and once engrained it is very hard to break them.
Get control of our financial life now so you can buy a home in a few years and if you get married or have a partner and then have kids, you won't be stressing about all these debt issues.
Retail addiction is very real and just like other addictions it sort of gives you a fix for the time being and then leaves you feeling empty and hollow and discouraged.
You can't spend your way to happiness.
Good luck. I know you can do it.
+1
Also, please don't rely on Credit Karma at all. The scores are bogus and sometimes there is missing information on your credit report. It's good for GENERAL awareness of new inquiries or accounts, but it is so much better to pull your own reports and use MyFico if you can. Remember you can get free reports (1 for each bureau per year) at annualcreditreport.com.
@TURNERHOOVER wrote:Never spend more than 30% or your limit on any credit card ever. Unless of course you have the means to pay most of it back before interest sets in.
You can spend to the CL every month assuming you have the funds to pay it back, you just dont want more than 30% of the cards CL reporting to the CRAs.
