New Credit, High Scores with Judgments?

[goldenyears]

I am working on my plan for getting more good credit while I continue to repair previous baddies.  I currently have two secured cards and would like to add a third, preferrably moving to unsecured.  I would also like to get lower interest on my home and car once I hit 660.  My home loan has been around a while, it is on auto pay now but there are lates, and a restructure, from my unemployed days.  My car payment has been paid on time for full year of the loan so far and has been paid one month ahead for most of that time.

I have three judgments on my report still; two paid and one on a payment plan.  I'm working on getting them vacated, but it is not looking good.  They will be there for a long time (one paid is a tax lien that stays for 10 years).  Is it possible to get approved for a non-secured credit card with judgments?  How about getting approved to refinance my home or car?  

Finally, What are the odds of getting my score over 700 with a judgment or three?

[Jutz]

Most of what you ask depends on how old the judgements were.  Either way, push hard to get them vacated, it may cost you some money to make it work, but it will be worth it. 

As far as the unsecured CC: you shouldn't have a problem getting a low tier CC, but I would caution against getting a standard unsecured card, and point you in the direction of a GE backed store card.  Walmart is generally most helpful for people, but there's a lot out there. The only universal unsecured card you could qualify for right now would be a rebuilder card from Cap1, First premier, credit one, etc. they'll be toy limits and won't grow with you, and many will have stupid fees. A GE backed store card will give you very good increases down the road and are normally pretty easy to get.

Your car refi would depend on how much you owe and what the car is worth.  You don't mention your APR but at ~630 you're probably looking at anywhere from low double digits to high teens depending on lender, age of car, value of car, etc.  At 660, you can generall refi at a low-mid tier at most credit unions. Depending on the age of the car you could be looking at 5-9! possibly even lower but again YMMV

[rckstrscott]

---

@goldenyears wrote:

I am working on my plan for getting more good credit while I continue to repair previous baddies.  I currently have two secured cards and would like to add a third, preferrably moving to unsecured.  I would also like to get lower interest on my home and car once I hit 660.  My home loan has been around a while, it is on auto pay now but there are lates, and a restructure, from my unemployed days.  My car payment has been paid on time for full year of the loan so far and has been paid one month ahead for most of that time.

I have three judgments on my report still; two paid and one on a payment plan.  I'm working on getting them vacated, but it is not looking good.  They will be there for a long time (one paid is a tax lien that stays for 10 years).  Is it possible to get approved for a non-secured credit card with judgments?  How about getting approved to refinance my home or car?  

Finally, What are the odds of getting my score over 700 with a judgment or three?

---

I have a 722 w/ TU and two of my three are over 700 with paid judgment and paid tax lien showing, and 2 collection account still showing..

None newer than 4 years.

-scott

[Ravensfan2001]

---

@goldenyears wrote:

I am working on my plan for getting more good credit while I continue to repair previous baddies.  I currently have two secured cards and would like to add a third, preferrably moving to unsecured.  I would also like to get lower interest on my home and car once I hit 660.  My home loan has been around a while, it is on auto pay now but there are lates, and a restructure, from my unemployed days.  My car payment has been paid on time for full year of the loan so far and has been paid one month ahead for most of that time.

I have three judgments on my report still; two paid and one on a payment plan.  I'm working on getting them vacated, but it is not looking good.  They will be there for a long time (one paid is a tax lien that stays for 10 years).  Is it possible to get approved for a non-secured credit card with judgments?  How about getting approved to refinance my home or car?  

Finally, What are the odds of getting my score over 700 with a judgment or three?

---

I recently got approved for an unsecured Visa from my credit union with 2 unpaid medical judgments from 2010. My scores are in the low 600's. So your bank/credit union is a good place to start for a card.

[diabla]

I have two tax liens - one paid, and 1 dismissed BK13 and 1 discharged BK7.  I WAS knocking on the door to 700 but recent disputes and inquiries pushed me back down to around 670 across the board, however, that's still not bad for 4 PRs.  I don't feel too bad about them anymore but I'm working to get rid of them.  They're all 2006 so that may help in the weight factor.

[RobertEG]

As a general principle, it is usually best to work on removal of derogs prior to apping for new credit, as it improves both your chance of approval and the quality of the credit that will be offered.  Until chances of approval are good, apps can add to frustration and reduce your score by additon of inquiries.  Unless you need the new credit for real use, I would wait.  Until you actually need your score, it is primarily just an academic number.

Creditors dont like to see judgments.  It is a statement that prior creditors had to resort to legal action to collect on indebetness.

Regardless of your three-digit FICO, they alone can be a show-stopper.

[goldenyears]

Thanks, everyone for sharing your experiences and recommendations.  I'll definitely keep working on removal of my judgements, they are between 2 and 4 years old, so still hurting quite a bit.  Fortunately, the most recent one I have finally managed to get someone to respond to my communications and hope that will go somewhere positive.  I have no idea how to broach the subject with the law firm holding my judgment still in repayment, though.

Glad to know that continuing to pay the cards and bills I have will help my scores keep increasing.  I am worried about a setback if I have all judgments removed resulting in my getting rebucketed.  That worry, I'm sure, is in my distant future.