cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

My Rebuild aka Recovery from 20s Stupidity

tag
Adkins
Legendary Contributor

Re: My Rebuild aka Recovery from 20s Stupidity


@Anonymous wrote:

You really don't have that much in CC balances to warrant getting a personal loan. Just buckle down and pay it off ASAP.  The need for a personal loan to pay off CCs is more often than not the need to fix your budget.

 

Send a goodwill letter on that student loan late every month or two. Sometimes they get tired of you asking and will remove it.

 

Nice job so far and good luck!


I know ithe credit card debt is nota huge amount (let's just say $10K for the sake of an even number). But I'd rather pay less than 10% in interest on the $10K instead of the 15%-24% that I'm paying now. I can still make larger and better payments, paying it off faster, without paying extra in the interest. 

 

I don't think the good will letter will work on the student loans since they're federal loans and not a private ones. My first attempt was a very firm no, and I thought I read on another thread that beings it's federal there's nothing I can do but wait for it to age off.

 

Thanks for the encouraging words though, they're appreciated!


Last HP 08-07-2023



Message 21 of 34
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: My Rebuild aka Recovery from 20s Stupidity


@Adkins wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

You really don't have that much in CC balances to warrant getting a personal loan. Just buckle down and pay it off ASAP.  The need for a personal loan to pay off CCs is more often than not the need to fix your budget.

 

Send a goodwill letter on that student loan late every month or two. Sometimes they get tired of you asking and will remove it.

 

Nice job so far and good luck!


I know ithe credit card debt is nota huge amount (let's just say $10K for the sake of an even number). But I'd rather pay less than 10% in interest on the $10K instead of the 15%-24% that I'm paying now. I can still make larger and better payments, paying it off faster, without paying extra in the interest. 

 

I don't think the good will letter will work on the student loans since they're federal loans and not a private ones. My first attempt was a very firm no, and I thought I read on another thread that beings it's federal there's nothing I can do but wait for it to age off.

 

Thanks for the encouraging words though, they're appreciated!


$10k? Are you including your AU accounts? I only saw like $2k in the CC balances in your OP.

 

I think you might be right on the Federal loans/goodwill . . believe I've read that before.

 

btw . . i'm unsure whether or not your current profile is going to support a 10% personal loan. if it does, great! if the interest is barely any different (the likely scenario with your scores) don't bother with it.

Message 22 of 34
Adkins
Legendary Contributor

Re: My Rebuild aka Recovery from 20s Stupidity


@Anonymous wrote:

@Adkins wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

You really don't have that much in CC balances to warrant getting a personal loan. Just buckle down and pay it off ASAP.  The need for a personal loan to pay off CCs is more often than not the need to fix your budget.

 

Send a goodwill letter on that student loan late every month or two. Sometimes they get tired of you asking and will remove it.

 

Nice job so far and good luck!


I know ithe credit card debt is nota huge amount (let's just say $10K for the sake of an even number). But I'd rather pay less than 10% in interest on the $10K instead of the 15%-24% that I'm paying now. I can still make larger and better payments, paying it off faster, without paying extra in the interest. 

 

I don't think the good will letter will work on the student loans since they're federal loans and not a private ones. My first attempt was a very firm no, and I thought I read on another thread that beings it's federal there's nothing I can do but wait for it to age off.

 

Thanks for the encouraging words though, they're appreciated!


$10k? Are you including your AU accounts? I only saw like $2k in the CC balances in your OP.

 

I think you might be right on the Federal loans/goodwill . . believe I've read that before.

 

btw . . i'm unsure whether or not your current profile is going to support a 10% personal loan. if it does, great! if the interest is barely any different (the likely scenario with your scores) don't bother with it.


Yes, I'm including the AU accounts because part of them is my spend - not all of it, though. The DH has around a 775, give or take 10 points, FICO score. I plan to either have him cosign for a better rate (since it's partly his spend, too) or we'll do a joint loan together. Or he'll do it alone and add me. Whichever works best. I just threw the 10% out there because it's a lower percentage and an even number to look at. No idea what rate we'd get, but when it happens I'll post here. 


Last HP 08-07-2023



Message 23 of 34
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: My Rebuild aka Recovery from 20s Stupidity



@Anonymous wrote:

You really don't have that much in CC balances to warrant getting a personal loan. Just buckle down and pay it off ASAP.  The need for a personal loan to pay off CCs is more often than not the need to fix your budget.

 

Send a goodwill letter on that student loan late every month or two. Sometimes they get tired of you asking and will remove it.

 

Nice job so far and good luck!


 i call it the andy dufresne technique

Message 24 of 34
Adkins
Legendary Contributor

Re: My Rebuild aka Recovery from 20s Stupidity

Updated scores today:

 

Experian - 680 (no change)

Equifax - 672 (up from 669)

TransUnion - 680 (up from 657)

 

TransUnion is still reporting the medical collection and is still missing my discount tire account. NFCU card has been added to all three CRAs, but the Target red card hasn't reported yet. 


Last HP 08-07-2023



Message 25 of 34
Adkins
Legendary Contributor

Re: My Rebuild aka Recovery from 20s Stupidity

UPDATE!

 

FICO scores via myFICO today:

 

Experian - 699 (starting 644)

Equifax - 668 (starting 615)

TransUnion - 680 (starting 626)

 

Loans

Student Loan 1 - $6560 left Aug '08

Student Loan 2 - $993 left Aug '08

Car Loan - $21K left Apr '17

Self Lender - $372 left Jun '17

 

Authorized User Accounts

Lowe's - $0/$8500 Jul '10

Costco Visa - $7126/$10500 Jul '16

Amazon Visa - $946/$3000 Jul '17

Kohl's - $150/$1000 Aug '17

 

Credit Cards & Lines of Credit

Discount Tire - $0/$400 Aug '15

Capital One - $1621/$2000 May '17

Discover (Secured) - $54/$200 Jun '17

Fingerhut - $0/$700 Jun '17

Lane Bryant - $0/$300 Aug '17

Overstock - $0/$250 Aug '17

NFCO Cash Rewards - $1100/$2800 Oct '17

PayPal 2% MC - $0/$2000 Nov '17

Amazon Prime Store Card - $0/$200 Nov '17

 

New: (and not reporting yet)

Target Red Card - $0/500

 

Closed, but listed current:

Bank of America $0/$1500 Jun 1998

Federal Loans 1 & 2

 

Baddies:

- (1) 90 date late on each student loan, August 2015. 

 

Current balances don'tn reflect pending payments on some accounts, especially the NFCU & Amazon Chase Visa. The PayPal card was on my list, and then I got greedy and tried for the Amazon card. I knew I should have waited. I applied for a refinance for my vehicle,band was approved for the loan, but I declined taking it - the terms weren't as favorable as my original loan. I'm going to tough it out and pay off the car loan with the original lender. I'm gardening for six months, then I'll re-evaluate all my cards then. Some of my builder cards will be over a year old, so I'll see which one(s) I might cut. (I'm looking at you, Fingerhut!)


Last HP 08-07-2023



Message 26 of 34
Adkins
Legendary Contributor

Re: My Rebuild aka Recovery from 20s Stupidity

UPDATE!

 

FICO scores via myFICO today:

 

Experian - 696 (starting 644)

Equifax - 668 (starting 615)

TransUnion - 678 (starting 626)

 

Loans

Student Loan 1 - $6482 left Aug '08

Student Loan 2 - $977 left Aug '08

Car Loan - $21K left Apr '17

Self Lender - $326 left Jun '17

 

Authorized User Accounts

Lowe's - $63/$8500 Jul '10

Costco Visa - $7042/$10500 Jul '16

Amazon Visa - $996/$3000 Jul '17

Kohl's - $150/$1000 Aug '17

 

Credit Cards & Lines of Credit

Discount Tire - $0/$400 Aug '15

Capital One - $1748/$2500 May '17

Discover (Secured) - $102/$200 Jun '17

Fingerhut - $0/$700 Jun '17

Lane Bryant - $81/$300 Aug '17

Overstock - $0/$250 Aug '17

NFCO Cash Rewards - $1400/$2800 Oct '17

PayPal 2% MC - $800/$2000 Nov '17

Amazon Prime Store Card - $89/$200 Nov '17

Target Red Card - $396/$500

 

New: (and not reporting yet)

Blispay - $56/$4200

 

Closed, but listed current:

Bank of America $0/$1500 Jun 1998

Federal Loans 1 & 2

 

Baddies:

- (1) 90 date late on each student loan, August 2015. 

 

Last collection finally dropped from TransUnion this week. Target inititally reporting high hurt my scores but utilization is something that can be fixed easily. Unfortunately balances have gone up slightly with holiday spend, but most of them are already back down and they just haven't reported yet. Took a chance and applied for Blispay, as I was looking for finance options for my SUV tires and I don't think I'm ever going to get a CLI out of synchrony's Discount Tire card. Biggest SL ever, too bad it only reports to Experian. I'm headed for applying for the personal loan this week or next, of which I'm going to use the DH as a cosigner. Why? 1. He's got a better credit rating, 2. He has no loans reporting at all now. By the time he's ready to finance another used truck, he'll have nice loan history showing. 


Last HP 08-07-2023



Message 27 of 34
Adkins
Legendary Contributor

Re: My Rebuild aka Recovery from 20s Stupidity

UPDATE!

 

FICO scores via myFICO today:

 

Experian - 696 (starting 644)

Equifax - 672 (starting 615)

TransUnion - 678 (starting 626)

 

Loans

Student Loan 1 - $6482 left Aug '08

Student Loan 2 - $977 left Aug '08

Car Loan - $21K left Apr '17

Self Lender - $326 left Jun '17

Personal - $12K left Dec '17

 

Authorized User Accounts

Lowe's - $0/$8500 Jul '10

Costco Visa - $0/$10500 Jul '16

Amazon Visa - $0/$3000 Jul '17

Kohl's - $0/$1000 Aug '17

 

Credit Cards & Lines of Credit

Discount Tire - $0/$400 Aug '15

Capital One - $1648/$2500 May '17

Discover (Secured) - $102/$200 Jun '17

Fingerhut - $0/$700 Jun '17

Lane Bryant - $0/$400 Aug '17

Overstock - $0/$250 Aug '17

NFCO Cash Rewards - $0/$2800 Oct '17

PayPal 2% MC - $800/$2000 Nov '17

Amazon Prime Store Card - $89/$200 Nov '17

Target Red Card - $396/$500

 

New: (and not reporting yet)

Blispay - $26/$4200

RBFCU Cash Back MC - $0/$4900

 

Closed, but listed current:

Bank of America $0/$1500 Jun 1998

Federal Loans 1 & 2

 

Baddies:

- (1) 90 date late on each student loan, August 2015. 

 

Personal loan secured, 10.9% for 60 months. I could have gotten a lower apr for 48 months instead but I wanted a smaller payment for now. I can pay extra later since there's no prepayment penalties. The loan came with a bonus credit card, since we were pre-approved and already had the HP for it. I'm only using $11K of the loan, so my first payment will be $1K. New credit card has a good balance transfer offer on top of a 10.9% interest rate, so I'll be transferring my capital one balance asap to it. There's nothing to do but wait for the new loan, two new cards and the zero balances to hit my credit reports  I'm gardening for the next six months since I have no plans to app for anything else. (I am waiting to hear about my banco do Brasil app I did last week though!)


Last HP 08-07-2023



Message 28 of 34
Adkins
Legendary Contributor

Re: My Rebuild aka Recovery from 20s Stupidity

UPDATE!

 

FICO scores via myFICO today:

 

Experian - 712 (starting 644)

Equifax - 682 (starting 615)

TransUnion - 690 (starting 626)

 

Loans

Student Loan 1 - $6386 left Aug '08

Student Loan 2 - $962 left Aug '08

Car Loan - $20K left Apr '17

Self Lender - $290 left Jun '17

Personal - $12K left Dec '17

 

Authorized User Accounts

Lowe's - $0/$8500 Jul '10

Costco Visa - $158/$10500 Jul '16

Amazon Visa - $21/$3000 Jul '17

Kohl's - $0/$1000 Aug '17

 

Joint Account

RBFCU Cashback MC - $0/$4900

 

Credit Cards & Lines of Credit

Discount Tire - $0/$400 Aug '15

Capital One - $0/$2500 May '17

Discover (Secured) - $49/$200 Jun '17

Fingerhut - $0/$700 Jun '17

Lane Bryant - $0/$400 Aug '17

Overstock - $0/$1050 Aug '17

NFCO Cash Rewards - $2650/$2800 Oct '17

PayPal 2% MC - $0/$2000 Nov '17

Amazon Prime Store Card - $0/$200 Nov '17

Target Red Card - $138/$500 Oct '17

Blispay - $389/$4200 Nov '17

 

New: (and not reporting yet)

RBFCU Cash Back MC - $0/$4900 Dec '17

 

Closed, but listed current:

Bank of America $0/$1500 Jun 1998

Federal Loans 1 & 2

 

Baddies:

- (1) 90 date late on each student loan, August 2015. 

 

 

I gained points once my higher balances were paid using the personal loan and are now reported at zero. Blispay has a financed item on it that'll be paid before the six months is up. I did a cash advance on the RBFCU card (no fees or penalties) to clear out both the Capital One card and the PayPal credit. I've since done a 0% (and no fees) balance transfer from the RBFCU card to the NFCU card. I didn't get approved for a CLI or a new card at NFCU, so paying this down so it's not maxed out is the priority. Any other balances will be PIF each month. I'm considering paying down & off my lower student loan after the self lender is done so I don't have so many loans open. 

 

I'm now gardening for six months and I'll update this thread again at that point. 


Last HP 08-07-2023



Message 29 of 34
Adkins
Legendary Contributor

Re: My Rebuild aka Recovery from 20s Stupidity

 

UPDATE!

 

FICO scores via myFICO today:

 

Experian - 711 (starting 623)

Equifax - 690 (starting 589)

TransUnion - 701 (starting 600)

 

Loans

Student Loan 1 - $6151 left Aug '08

Student Loan 2 - $926 left Aug '08

Car Loan - $20K left Apr '17

Self Lender - $144 left Jun '17

Personal - $11K left Dec '17

 

Authorized User Accounts

Lowe's - $360/$8500 Jul '10

Costco Visa - $1200/$13500 Jul '16

Amazon Visa - $162/$3000 Jul '17

Kohl's - $158/$2000 Aug '17

 

Joint Account

RBFCU Cashback MC - $1000/$4900

 

Credit Cards & Lines of Credit

Discount Tire - $300/$4000 Aug '15

Capital One - $225/$2500 May '17

Discover - $98/$500 Jun '17

Fingerhut - $0/$700 Jun '17 CANCELLED

Lane Bryant - $0/$400 Aug '17 CANCELLED

Overstock - $56/$4850 Aug '17

NFCO Cash Rewards - $2250/$8400 Oct '17

PayPal 2% MC - $56/$7500 Nov '17

Amazon Prime Store Card - $96/$3500 Nov '17

Target Red Card - $183/$500 Oct '17

Blispay - $889/$4200 Nov '17

 

New: (and not reporting yet)

Amex PRG - $32/no limit Mar '18

 

Closed, but listed current:

Bank of America $0/$1500 Jun 1998

Federal Loans 1 & 2

 

Baddies:

- (1) 90 date late on each student loan, August 2015. 

 

I've cancelled the Fingerhut as I've grown beyond the card. I could not get a CLI on the Lane Bryant card so I cancelled them as well. A card must serve a purpose for me to keep it. I finally got a CLI on my Discount tire card, a long with the rest of my synchrony cards. I won't ask for any more CLIs on them as I'm worried about my synchrony exposure. Took a HP to get my NFCU card increased 3X. CLI on Kohl's card and overstock card. My Discover finally unsecured and I got a CLI but no dice on another one right now. The Citi Costco card gave a cli of $3500 without asking. We didn't say no. 

 

Card balances are as of today. The Blispay, Discount tire card and Lowe's all have a financing amount on them. Everything else has been or will be PIF once the statement cuts. NFCU card has a balance transfer at 0% until next year. I'm not concerned about AZEO right now. 

 

I joined and apped at penfed, but got shot down for a CC due to inquires. I also apped with someone else who said the same thing. I've had amex pre-approvals for a free months, so I applied for the PRG and got approved. Unless Amex offers me a revolver, I'm in the Garden until June 2019, once Chase will look at me again. At this point I have cards that work for me and I don't really need anymore credit. It's a matter of on time payments and bringing my loan balances down. 

 

I'm 99% done with my rebuild and will be at 100% done once those student loan lates fall off. 


Last HP 08-07-2023



Message 30 of 34
Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site are from third party advertisers from whom FICO receives compensation.