How to rebuild my cousin's credit? Details inside:

[Anonymous]

Hello. My cousin came to the U.S a couple years back, and made a couple mistakes with her credit cards and has some deragatory marks on her credit report. I will give a detailed outline:

Current FICO scores:

Transunion:609

Equifax:646

Experian: 630

She currently closed a First Premiere credit card $400 credit limit( because it was just a really bad card overall)

And she also cancelled Merrick Bank credit card $600 credit limit ( also because it was a no name card)

Current cards open:

Target store card: $700

Pier 1: $1,000

Capirtal One Platinum: $500

Capital One Rewards: $700

First Premiere: $700 ( She is going to close this one next week after she pays off her balance.)

So what she wants is to have at least one card with a bigger limit, in the thousands preferred. We checked her credit report online, and she has some bad marks such as

Paypal CC closed in 2012, reporting for 7 years due to over 120 days late, and also a verizon wireless bill that she didn't know about went into collections, also late payment over 120 days. They both were paid off a while back. ( She didn't know she had to pay anything because she was going internationally back and forth.

She also has a car payment every month, it will be paid off completely in August of this year, no late payments for 3 years since she started. Also has one 30 day late payment on her target card from last year January- she was also in another country, didn't know she had to make a payment.

So her question is, even though we're sure that noone would raise her credit limit, ( already requested capital one to raise it about two months ago, declined) what are some steps she can take to increase her score or make her records look good? At this point, I told her it's better for her to make pay in full every month, but is there anything else she can do? All the other payments besides the ones I explained have been good.

Her goal is also to sign up for a good vacation rewards card...

Thank you. 

[Anonymous]

So because she was in another country she doesn't know she still has to pay her bills? She's a way off from getting a card in the thousands. She needs to first understand when she goes to another country she still has to pay the bills.

[Creditplz]

I believe Donny summed it up quite well, have her set up automatic payments. I don't think any prime lender will give her access to thousands in CL as of now.

[lindsaydruart]

Have to crawl before you walk. She doesn't seem responsible enough for higher limits, even though, if she didn't have all those lates with those scores, she might actually get it from someone like Cap1. She needs to PIF, PFD, and ask for some goodwill deletes of payment but first....she needs to know her life in the US doesn't stop because she leaves....

[Anonymous]

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@lindsaydruart wrote:

Have to crawl before you walk. She doesn't seem responsible enough for higher limits, even though, if she didn't have all those lates with those scores, she might actually get it from someone like Cap1. She needs to PIF, PFD, and ask for some goodwill deletes of payment but first....she needs to know her life in the US doesn't stop because she leaves....

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Lets all assume that she has figured that stuff out, since the derogs are from four years ago and she has done well since. OP, The cap one cards are capable of growing relatively quickly - I grew mine from their starting limits to their current levels in a little more than a year (see my sig). The key is usage and large payments. I changed from having maxed out toy limit cards ($300/$500), making minimum payments each month, to paying them in full each month and using them for all of my monthly expenses. I believe that is the key to growing them.

So what are the balances on her cards, and when were they opened?