Bad Credit Score, need to rebuild, please suggest a good Secured card

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

I am trying to rebuild my credit score, and this time I am gonna let it down. Once upon a time, i had it above 750, but due to some uncertain, unseen circumstances i went into an abyss, and so did the scores.

All the three reporting agencies report my score lower than 580 respectively. I have finally managed to pay all my debts. And today I am debt free. The cards that i owed money, i have paid in full, every single one. I did not fall into the 50% off mumbo jumbo.. instead asked the debt collectors to take the full amount and take it off my report. Some did say they will take it off, while others like Midland promised 1 year.

Anyhow.. Now i am looking forward to build my credit scores again. I cannot get a capital one or credit one card, as i messed up with their card as well, though i have paid it off now.

So I guess My best bet would be to with a secured credit card.

What secured credit card shud i go with, that reports to all the 3 agencies, and would review my standing every few months and increase my limit (if that even happens to people like me).

[medicgrrl]

I think you may get better responses if you have your post moved to the rebuilding forum.

If you have no installment debt, I would start with a secured loan. You can find information on the boards by searching SSL. This is a secured installment debt that you can pay down to less than 9% and then continue making small payments for the remainder of the term. This will assist you in getting a small boost in scores faster. I think once you receive that boost it will help you obtain better secured credit cards.

Have you pulled your reports from annualcreditreport.com? These reports will show you the date of first delinquency (DOFD) on your accounts so you know when the rest of the derogs will drop off. How long ago was Capital One charged off? They are very forgiving. Another one to check out once you bump your score with the SSL is Discover.

[Anonymous]

I charged off two Capital One cards and they let me back in this year with two new cards.  So don't assume they blacklist you -- check their prequalify every 3 months and see.

Discover Secured can be had at 580s -- check their prequalify.

Do the Alliant SSL as mentioned -- see my signature link for info on it.

The most important thing to do today and every day is to build a saving account for real emergencies (job loss, injury) that you only touch if you actually had no income that week/month.  You don't touch emergency savings to pay for vacations or new clothes, though.

Your rebuild should include having a goal of 6 months of emergency savings.  Once you get there, you likely won't fall into the credit-spending trap again!