Complete Noob, starting this week with a 580 FICO. Help!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the kind welcome! Just to clarify, are you saying that you use more than 9% of your limit, but you pay it off and only let 9% post to the statement? If so, does it matter how much of the credit you use as long as the statement shows low utilization? 

I'm so clueless, so I may not be saying that right, but here's an example: 

I have $550 CL

! use $300 of that over the course of the month in small transactions

I pay each small transaction off within a few days and only allow $50 (under 9%) to post to the statement

Does that work out the same as if I had only put $50 on the card all month?

I'm definitely not trying to do something like that, I don't plan to tempt myself, I'm just curious to understand the process.

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u can max your card out everyday, u just want to pay it down under 10% before your statement cuts. when i started out my secured cards with low limit, i had to pay it down almost every week.

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  ^^^^^ +1

YES. Exactly. When I started really "using" my capital one cards in december, I began charging one card with ALL of my everyday spending, and when it got to the limit, I would switch to the other card until all of the charges were posted on the first card and I would PIF on Cap One's account management page. Then when the second card was 'full', I would switch back to the first one and repeat the process. I was (and still am) running $1500 minimum through them each month with limits of $300/$500. After a couple of months of doing that, Cap One raised my limits to $800/$1500. If you read some of Cap One's FAQ pages they actually tell you to use your cards this way if you want your limits increased.

You just want to make sure you stop using the card a few days before the statement closing date so all the charges get cleared and posted, and then PIF before the statement date, and on one of your cards pay all but $10-$20 or so.

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Whoa! New strategy for sure! It's kind of amazing how I know practically nothing about this stuff. You guys are all awesome. 

[Anonymous]

Dont worry about if it reports secured on unsecured. Makes no difference. State dept federal cu has a nice one tho. Share secured loan and card combo secured by 500 dollar savings account. 2 of my secured cards report as secured, 3 dont. No difference for score purposes. And in a few months they will unsecure. If you look at my posts, by clicking on my name i reviewed each of my secured cards so you can kind of get an idea of what works best for you. I wish i had known about the sdfcu deal before i did what  i did, but im not unhappy with the decisions i made. BOA discover and us bank have all been great and cap1 and first progress have been fine. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Dont worry about if it reports secured on unsecured. Makes no difference. State dept federal cu has a nice one tho. Share secured loan and card combo secured by 500 dollar savings account. 2 of my secured cards report as secured, 3 dont. No difference for score purposes. And in a few months they will unsecure. If you look at my posts, by clicking on my name i reviewed each of my secured cards so you can kind of get an idea of what works best for you. I wish i had known about the sdfcu deal before i did what  i did, but im not unhappy with the decisions i made. BOA discover and us bank have all been great and cap1 and first progress have been fine. 

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So much great info here, thank you! That was a really helpful write-up. I applied for the BofA card and was told they will return a decision by mail. 

Just to clarify an earlier comment you made, for the bills I currently have in collections, I should attempt to pay them off over time rather than settle them quickly for a lower amount?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Dont worry about if it reports secured on unsecured. Makes no difference. State dept federal cu has a nice one tho. Share secured loan and card combo secured by 500 dollar savings account. 2 of my secured cards report as secured, 3 dont. No difference for score purposes. And in a few months they will unsecure. If you look at my posts, by clicking on my name i reviewed each of my secured cards so you can kind of get an idea of what works best for you. I wish i had known about the sdfcu deal before i did what  i did, but im not unhappy with the decisions i made. BOA discover and us bank have all been great and cap1 and first progress have been fine. 

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So much great info here, thank you! That was a really helpful write-up. I applied for the BofA card and was told they will return a decision by mail. 

Just to clarify an earlier comment you made, for the bills I currently have in collections, I should attempt to pay them off over time rather than settle them quickly for a lower amount?

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No. I would do my absolute best to get them to agree to delete for payment in full. paying them whether all at once or on payments won't make a bit of difference. A negative is a negative whether it shows a balance or 0. for example, my last negative was a paid collection. Paid in full, and only showing on experian. my scores at the time were 720 TU 744 EQ 640 EX. as soon as it aged off my EX went to 730. Thats why getting them to delete is so important, a 7 yr old 0 dollar collection was costing me 80 plus points.