@CreditComeUp wrote:I am currently a Doctoral student getting ready to apply for residency programs. I currently have poor credit and I very determined to turn my score around in the next 2 years. I'v been during research on the credit formulas and strategies to rebuild credit and I believe I have a good foundation for repairing my credit I am just unsure of the best place to begin.
While in undergrad I got 3 CCs and messed them up royally. I am now a lot smarter regarding my funds and I am more knowledable about credit care. I am determined to reach 700!
Stats:
Current score 509
Good Accounts:
Student loans (all deferred until graduation)
Bad accounts:
GE money: Charged off/ I paid the balance in full last year
expected fall off date is 11/2015 GW Letters
Citi bank: Charge off/ I paid the balance in full last year
expected fall off date is 7/2015 GW Letters
Capital: Charge off
balance: 1500$
Expected fall off date: 8/2015 Can try GW Letters
public record: A court document was opened on thier behalf: expected fall off 2/2017
* I wasn't sure if i needed to pay them off or let it fall off. I would like the public record to be removed sooner than 2017 though. Judgment?? If its paid file motion to vacate on grounds its been paid.
I own a home (investment property) and a car I bought cash. So as of now I have no major bills (rent: student housing/doesn't report to the CRA) and no lines of credit open. Just trying to figure out the first step to take. I would love to be able to purchase a home in the next 2 years once I begin full time work as a doctor.
Should I open a secured card? Yes, I would join SDFCU and get their secured card, put the money in your savings then ask for it by phone (no HP if done this way) I have 1000$ I could use as collateral to secure the card.
I was thinking about getting a collateral loan on my investment property (appraised for 60,000$) and financing it. Good idea? Bad idea? NO, instalment loans dont give you much for the buck only help with types of credit mix. You need revolving credit cards the bulk of FICO score is geared towards them.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
After your secured card reports for 6 months you can start apping for unsecured cards and hopefully some of your negatives will be taken care of by then.
Hey there,
Having recently been along this journey myself I can certainly empathize (I was at 570 a year ago and now in the 670s).
The nice thing about your position is that if your goal is a mortgage 2 years from now (2016) almost all of your negative items will be gone (and the remaining one will be 6 years old). So, you don't have to worry as much about trying to fight off negative items, and mainly need to worry about building positive ones.
Getting a secured cc is one great way to start - I'd recommend splitting that 1k you have across 2 secured cc's (ideally with credit lines of 500).
You could also consider a "rebuilder" loan offered by many credit unions. It's essentially a credit-repair product packaged and reported as a loan, where you don't get access to the amount borrowed until you've already paid it back (for example, a $1,000 rebuilder loan results in a loan of $1,000 reported to the bureaus, nothing gets put in your account, and you deposit $100 into an account with the credit union each month for 10 months. At the end of the 10 months you have access to $1,000 (sometimes with a bit of interest) and you have a fully paid-off loan in your name that was never late.
Basically, anything you can do to use the next 24 months to make regular, on-time payments, and expand your amount of credit available, will help a lot. 2 years is plenty of time to get your score mortgage-ready.
Good luck!
Starting score 3/30/13: 570s across the board