First CC to start rebuilding but so lost!

[Anonymous]

I originally posted this in the credit card section but I found this forum so I'm reposting. Mod can delete the one in credit cards if you want.

Hiii newbie here! In the past couple months I've been reading a lot of posts here which have been very helpful I just haven't posted.

I've been learning about credit repair for a while but finally took the plunge and actually applied for a card after using credit sesame. I got into a lot of trouble 5 years ago at 20 years old ... 3 charge off account and bad student loans. CO fall off in a few years. I've always assumed my credit was god awful because of those, but credit sesame showed it not being as bad as I imagined.. it shows 640. I guess because it's all so old it doesn't impact it as much, but having no credit for the past 5 years isn't helping. When I checked my discover score card a month or two ago it was like 540... big difference! So I didn't bother applying for cards since I saw a 540 score.

So once Credit Sesame showed I had a high approval chance, I applied and got the Capital One platnimum card with a $1,000 limit. Now I have no idea what to do with it to help my scores before I eventually go for an auto loan. I planned on just paying in full once I put the charges so I don't have debt but I'm learning I should leave a balance so it reports 1% utilization. I technically have no credit cards or open credit at all, but I am an authorized user on my moms card so on credit sesame it shows a 1% utilization I suppose from the authorized user card. Should I open more cards now while I already have an inquiry on this report ? Or just focus on my new card ? And the interest is very high so I'm not sure if leaving a small balance is smart or not.

Any guidance on what I should do with my first card to help rebuild my credit would be amazing ! Thank you so much!

[Anonymous]

Read ABCD's 11 rules it has a lot of info there.
Welcome to the forums
Get your scores from credit check total for 1 dollar and cancel right after otherwise it will charge you full price.
After you get the reports amd true score please give more info so people can help

[Anonymous]

How do I get them for $1? Through MyFico? That was what I was wondering how to get all 3 accurate scores ... not CR but scores

[radfam]

Through a different website called Credit Check Total. The score you saw on Credit Sesame (or credit karma or any “free” sites like that) isn’t an actual fico score. They are called FAKO scores on here, as they use Vantage scores, not Fico scoring models.

The $1 is a trial week, so make sure you call back and cancel or it will auto charge you $30 a month.

[Anonymous]

You can get a free monthly FICO8 score from EX at www.creditscorecard.com -- monthly pulls, no credit card needed.

Don't trust any websites that "suggest" your approval odds because they get paid to suggest cards to you and you can still be declined!  I'd try the bank's actual prequalification pages -- Chase, Citi, BofA, US Bank, Discover, Capital One, Amex, etc.  These pages are guarantees, but if you get some offers keep the tab open and post the details here and we can tell you how likely approval is!

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much! I ended up doing the $5 trial month from Experian and got all my fico scores.
They're soooo off from credit karma! They're around 540 & CK said 640. I'm absolutely puzzled how I was approved for capital one with a $1k limit with a 540 score & a charged off capital one card that's in collections lol. I'm a total mess it's so confusing to me!

I really don't have too much debt. It's around $5k in charge offs. A lot of them aren't reporting anymore and I'm torn as to pay or leave them to fall off.

I've read Macy's won't do PFD so I'm thinking about paying the $400 just to get them to report a $0. Since all my debt is so old do you think having them report $0 will improve my score a lot? I believe it's really hurting me because it's putting my credit usage over 100% (since I have no other cards besides this new one that hasn't reported).

I'm hoping that if I pay it off (even if for a settled amount) the $0 balance will help my score bc of the utilization even if it stays on my report. But if I do pay it off it'll still come offf 7 years from the DOFD right ?

Tyssssm for all your help. I appreciate it more than you'll ever know!

[Anonymous]

Yea before i started my own journey i didnt know how off ck is from actual fico scores. Haha
Regarding the charge offs and rebuild read ABCD rules for rebuilding. I think he replied to your post so just go up its in his sig.
First step will be get your finances in order to make sure you wont go back to this situation again.

Second read on these forums and dont forget that its not a sprint its a marathon.
I started around 6 months ago with scores in the 400s i was denied secured cards! The only card i was able to get was open sky. Now my scores are starting to reach 600s and hoping for high 600 in about 6 months