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Hey, I am a noob who has been working on my credit since March with the goal of buying a house in 2 years. Unfortunately, I have been out of the credit scene for several years so I am starting from scratch. I currently have the following accounts:
Wells Fargo Auto Loan - $20k, 1 month old
Capital One Unsecured - $300 - 1 month old
DiscoverIt! Secured - $500 - 5 months old
I also have 2 previous closed/paid auto loans with many late payments, most 30 day but one 60 day, the most recent late payment was November 2016.
I also have 7 collections accounts, one which will be removed by the creditor next month after paying it off, and 2 which I believe are being removed as a result of hiring Lexington Law (I no longer see them on my Experian or Transunion reports). I am planning on keeping Lex as long as possible to try and get my late payments removed.
Finally, I have 8 inquiries, (across all 3 reports) all from June or July of this year, 5 from my auto loan (all within 30 days), one from Capital One, one from Discover and one from an ill-advised debt consolidation attempt but all they would approve me for is secured so I didnt go for it (I know, dumb on my part).
I'm also getting added as an authorized user to my sister's 10 year old high-limit card which reports AU's to all 3 bureaus, that should hit next month.
SO my question is - advice? I keep my cards under 10% utilization and pay them off every month. I am paying all my bills on time. Should I get another card when my score goes up a little or just let everything marinate until I get the mortgage? I just dont know if I have enough credit to get to my goal of 700 in 2 years.
Also, should I try to get the 2 closed auto accounts off of my credit report? Does it look worse with all those late payments than no accounts at all? I do have a positive VW credit account from 2006.
Any advice you guys can give would be great!
Keep one card at less than 9% useage reporting each month. So $300 card never let it report more than $26 on a statement. The other keep it PIF each statement or don't use it at all. The Cap One seems to be a credit steps card so after six months you can ask for a CLI (I think it is 6 months maybe 5). But you have an auto loan so that is your installment loan. If you could pick up another card at some point that would be great. FICO likes to see three cards, two showing a zero balance and one less than 9%. Remember they always round up so 9.01% utilization would put you in the 10% group. It is tricky but manageable. Just harder with smaller limits.
Sorry for rambling and I hope this helps.