@Anonymous wrote:Newbie here. Over the last week, I have been immersed in these forums as I’m looking for guidance and suggestions as to how I can rebuild my creditworthiness. Like many people of a certain era, I was offered credit cards in the mail when I graduated from *high school.* (This was in the 1990s.) I think I got more credit cards than I got college acceptances. I remember turning 18 and getting pre-approval for the green charge card from American Express. "Sure! Why not?” I said to myself. “The card is green, cash is green, so by the transitive property, it’s just like cash!” I say that hyperbolically, as I wasn’t that naive. But then again, my spending habits and credit irresponsibility over the next decade or two reflected an ethos of, “I’m gonna live hard and die young anyway, so scr_w the creditors!”
Well, here I am going into the fourth decade of my life, and guess what? I’ve lived hard but didn’t die.And the creditors, well, they’re still here too. (I’ve managed to pay my credit cards on time over the years, but then decided to go all-cash five or ten years ago. But I also got very irresponsible with student loan repayments.)So over the last three weeks I’ve decided to clean up my credit, establish new credit sources and, for the first time in my life, to be responsible and act like an ad_lt. (Sorry for the profanity.) I wanted to say thank you to everyone here and on the Student Loans board for sharing their stories. It’s not just the real-world advice, which I have been able to use, but the camaraderie and support. I blame no one else but me for the pickle that I’m, but it makes it so much easier when I read success stories. Thank you.Over the last two weeks, I’ve been approved for the Discover it card (unsecured), the Cap One secured card, and the BoA secured card. I have also been put on as an AU on my father’s Discover card from 1989, and his Chase card from 2000. (One has a $12K tradeline, the other $15K, no balances, never late once.) I know I will get dinged for three inquiries but I don’t have any revolving TL at all right now. (At least solely owned by me.) I plan on being meticulous about gardening the new cards to maximize util. ratios, and since I’ve been living on cash for the last ten years or so, I can just game the closing date/billing date payments so I never carry a balance. (The secured card limits are so low that it’s not worth going over 10%.) You have the minimum bankcards one should have, after 3-6 months of history report on them you want to open at minimum 1 store card and it should be one you will actually use. This will help in the Credit Mix category of Fico.I have two Direct Loan derogatories from several 120-lates from 2011. Default! I successfully rehabbed them in 2012 and then they were picked up by Navient. As of last week, March 22, Direct Loans was still reporting them as “In Collections,” so I disputed. I talked to a rep at TU who told me that they came off within 24 hours, but the status hasn’t been changed on the report since those disputes were part of pool of other disputes that are still ongoing. They said the entire account is gone, including the historical data showing the lates. The entire record, all of it.)In the seven years of ongoing repayment to Navient, I have one 90-day late ding, and I’ve written GW letters to their executive suite.I have two (closed, paid-in-full) private student loans opened in 1990 that both have 3x 90-lates on them. I am not sure whether to dispute them because I was probably on a deferral for graduate school, but I can’t prove this with documentation. The listed creditor is Citizens Bank, but the phone number listed on the report is a dead line. What’s funny though, is although the creditor is listed as Citizens Bank, the address listed was the PO Box for AES, the servicer. (AES is not listed as a creditor in the same way my Navient loans are listed, which is: “US Dept of Ed/Navient.”) I called AES today and the rep had to go into the archives to find my records and she said as far as she can see, the payment history doesn’t show lates. If you are going to dispute I would not do so at the CRA level, I would prepare a Section 623 Direct DIspute to send to the creditor. http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Direct-dispute/td-p/2309095My TU score today, March 27, is 678. I haven’t gotten around to getting the other scores yet. How will this number fare with the recent open credit lines versus the 2 collections being taken off? Will the aged AU accounts help? AU will help with AAoA and utilization, I hope this AU card is reporting a 0 or low balance in relation to its CL. TYpically you would see a Fico boost for opening the first 3 revolvers, you may see some points from the CAs dropping as well. The biggest Fico bump comes when the last derog is removed from your file.What I’d like to do soon, when my numbers can support it, is to try for another AMEX and have them backdate to my original “Member since 1991” date. What numbers would I have to get, and when should I try for this? (AMEX actually cancelled my green charge card in 2009 during the credit crunch. I guess my risk profile wasn’t good enough for them back then.) Will this TL dated to 1991 significantly help and help enough to offset another inquiry? Good choice, let your 3 new cards report for at least 6 months before trying Amex. All Amex cards you open should revert to the original MSD. Continue cleaning up your report the cleaner you are the better chance of Amex approval. Welcome to the My Fico familyAgain, I’d like to say thank you to everyone who contributes here. It makes trying to be an ad_lt much easier.
