I have been working on trying to get my FICO score up for the last year or so. I need some advice about my current situation. With my current FICO score of 640, this site shows that I could apply for a Capitol One No Hassle Cash Rewards card. My goal is to apply for a United Mileage Plus card for the bonus miles. I travel to Europe once or twice a year and have been accumulating miles with the dream of someday traveling first class. I assume the United card will require a FICO score of 720+ so I don't want to apply for that and get a rejection, with the inquiry affecting my FICO score.
situation:
TU score: 640
credit report looks like this...
Hurting:
-- 2 collections (both with AFNI, both from Verizon $409, $213, both bills that were paid but I have no proof.) I sent a pay for deletion letter a month ago, with no response. Not sure what to do next. Scheduled to remain on my report until 2014.
-- recent collection on the report (related to the AFNI accounts I assume).
-- No recent activity on your revolving accounts. (Experian shows 2 credit card accounts, one closed and one active, both in good standing, $1218 balance on report and $2800 limit on the active one but I just paid it to $0. I am only an authorized user on this account. TransUnion and Equifax reports do not show these accounts [can I ask to have them added?] Other than that, I do not have any credit cards of my own.) So I assume it means no activity because I have no cards of my own.
-- You have a short credit history. (Oldest account was opened 10 years and 5 months ago which refers to the credit card account that is close and schedule to come off the report December of 2012). Average age of accounts is 3 years.
Helping:
-- You have no missed payments on your credit accounts.
-- You've limited the use of your available credit. (I assume this refers to my credit/debt ratio)
In 2006 I went to my bank and put $1500 into a CD, used the CD as collateral and was issued a $1500 personal loan which I paid monthly on-time, effectively paying the bank interest on my own money, with the intent of hoping it would positively effect my FICO score. This loan still shows on my report as Individiual responsibility, installment loan, Paid, Closed, Never late.
Other things on my credit report include student loans.
$1587 Department of Education/Neltnet Paid, Closed, Never late.
$3500 Wells Fargo Educational Finance Closed, Never late, Purchased by another lender.
$6000 Wells Fargo Educational Finance Open, Never late, Deferred until 2013
$326 Wells Fargo Educational Finance Open, Never late, Deferred until 2010
$6000 Wells Fargo Educational Finance Open, Never late, Deferred until 2010
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$13,913 -- is this what is calculated as available credit? It does not include the closed account. Those numbers above are the Credit Limit/Original amounts. The balances of all the above loans combined shows as $5,561, although I just paid all these student loans in full so I guess next month they should all show $0 balance, probably also showing as closed.
To be honest, when I bought my FICO score yesterday, I was expecting it to be higher. I guess the AFNI collections accounts are really hurting it. I tried sending them a pay for delete letter about a month ago but I have received no response. I am afraid to call them for fear of re-aging the account. What should I do next if they don't respond to my settlement offer?
Also I had a $540 DirecTV collections on my account that I sent a pay for delete letter to, but all 3 reporting agencies just removed it from my report in response to disputes I initiated last month on it, and the two AFNI accounts. Unfortunately all 3 reporting agencies did not remove the AFNI accounts but updated them saying they were verified and updated July 2010. Still scheduled to come off the report in 2014.
With a 640 FICO score, should I go ahead and apply for the Capitol One No Hassle Cash Rewards card? Will it help or hurt my FICO in the next few months if I am really wanting the United Mileage Plus card? Do I need to 'save' my FICO points for the Mileage Plus card? I'm not sure if I can find a way to have AFNI delete the 2 collections on my account, but if they do get removed, I guess my FICO score still wouldn't be high enough to qualify for the United Mileage Plus card. Would getting the Capitol One card help? But what if I am denied for the Capitol One card, won't that be even worse? I'm trying to move forward, not backward. Not really sure what to do right now.
I really appreciate any insights, ideas, and comments.
Starting Score: 524
Did they give you the no hassel cash rewards card? I know different products require different credit scores.
And yeah, I'm worried about those 2 collections being there, but I'm also curious to hear from the credit masters around here if they think I should wait until I get those deleted from my report (It will happen one way or another) and then go for the United Mileage plus card instead.
My mind is full of what if's.
yes I understand that card is issued by a completely different creditor. I was just asking which of the Capitol One cards he was issued with his credit situation. My eventual goal is the Mileage plus card, but I was considering the CO No Hassle Cash rewards card to help build my credit score to achieve a high enough score to qualify for the United card.
Yesterday I called the application line for the United Mileage Plus card to ask some questions, they referred me to the customer service phone for their cards. The guy at customer service responded that it would take about 670-675 FICO score to qualify. Mine being 640 currently, I decided to go ahead and try for the Capitol Once card and applied yesterday. I should find out in about 10 days if I was approved.
In the mean time, back to battling with AFNI about the 2 bogus collections on my report.
