Need tip on credit card and rebuilding credit

[butters149]

Hello,

I have about 6 credit cards, about 3 of them are online (2 paypal and 1 amazon) and 3 that are physical cards (2 chase and 1 bOfa),  They total to about $5400 in credit.  My credit score right now is about 520.  I also have student loans, no rent or mortgage.  What are some tips to build up my credit?  I tried to find some 0% apr credit cards to transfer over but I don't think there are any with a credit score like mine.

I am also looking to purchase a car, I was approved with capital one auto with a co-signer, my interest rate is 17.01% over 72 months with an amount of $26-27k.

Any tip is appreciated.

Thanks!

[guiness56]

Welcome to the forums.

Do you want a thicker file or higher scores, both?

What is your utilization on your 6 CC like?

Any negative information on your CR?

[butters149]

Hi Sorry for the late reply.  The only report I was able to pull was an Equifax, it looks really confusing.  I have had a couple of student loans and a couple of credit card that were late on payments.  I'm not exactly sure how to read this report, maybe I will try a different report.  So far on the credit cards, they are mostly all maxed out.  i am trying to pay them off.  My goal is to get a higher credit score.

After looking at the top, it says I have "potential" 12 negative accounts.  Not sure why so much since I make most of my payments on time.  Could it be because once interest hits it goes over the credit card limit?

I am thinking I should send GW letters to the negative accounts, not sure if I need to do any PDF as I am not sure if anything at a collection agency.

[Gstew]

First you need to pay down all of your cards. maxing out is absolutely killing your fico score.
Try to pay the minimum every month on all your cards except for one.
pay as much as you can on that one and repeat this process until every card is paid off.
Your scores should dramatically increase if your util is around 9% of Your total credit limit.
I would GW later on after you pay down all cards. Then if they are feeling nice they might remove some lates for
You.