New here and needing advice--

[Anonymous]

Hi all--I'm new here although I've been reading some of the posts here for almost a week.  I'm trying to improve my credit score to  purchase a home as soon as possible.  I'll probably ask lots of questions since I'm not familiar with how credit works but I hope everyone will have patience with me and help me on my way to a clear credit report and a great FICO score. 

I have three Capital One cards--one is a Sony (started with $500 limit and just got a $1000 increase to $1500).  I also have the Platinum with that started with a $750 limit ($1000 credit limit increase last month to $1750) and also have the Quiksilver One (started at $500 and got an increase last month to $750).  I have been using the cards and then paying my balances down steadily.  I had also been hitting the Cap One luv buttons like crazy before they finally gave me the increases, although the cards are fairly new.  I got the oldest one in November 2014.

I also have a Credit One account that started at $400 and was increased to $600 a couple of months ago.  The interest on this one is murder and I can't wait to close it when I get better cards. I got this when I first started trying to improve my credit and couldn't seem to get anything else.  During that time I also got several accounts using the shopping cart trick--Overstock.com ($2200), HSN.com $750), Jessica London ($500), Walmart ($500)--all store cards.  I was denied for all the Mastercards and Visas at these stores and could never get the popup for Sportsmans Guide or Total Rewards, though I guess my scores aren't good enough for those.  I have a checking account with Bank of America and they gave me a $300 secured card but I don't qualify for anything else so far.

Hate to be so long-winded but I need some help on where to go from here.  I come to this forum each day (sometimes multiple times!) and would appreciate any suggestions.  Thanks in advance!

[spike69]

Welcome to the Boards.

You have been hard a work establishing positive lines of credit- to maximize that impact keep your Utilization below 10% each month if you can- this means that what is reporting each minth is less than 10% of your total credit available. I would also say- you have a bunch of new accounts- do you have any "old" reporting accounts- if not hyou will want to hold off on applying for more credit and allow your accounts to age so you can build you AAoA- average age of accounts.

With your scores low (per below)- do you have any negative accounts reporting? If so, what are they? People will be able to offer more advice when they have more informaiton about what is on your credit report.

Finally, if you have not- be sure to get your credit reports and go over them one by one to understand what is on there. If you can afford it, consider credit monitoring via my Fico or another site (not all sites have true FICO scores so be aware of that).

Best to you in your rebuild. I was in the mid 500s at this time last year- now I have two scores over 700 and one hovering at 688. I was just approved for a 28k car loan at the lowest rate offerred and have build by total revolving credit file from 1000 to 27.5k. You can do this but it will take time.

[Anonymous]

No need to wait to close that Credit One account. You've got three other accounts established, plus the secured BofA card. Thats more than enough for rebuilding.

Don't go nuts with the SCT, you really only need a couple of store cards. Basically just keep a couple that you will actually use.

As far as balances go, its best to have all cards report a $0 balance (just PIF well before the due date) except for one, and let that one card only show a balance of 9% or less of its limit. That will give you the maximum score for UTI%.

[Jerry45]

Yeah, you need over 700 at Equifax to get the Sportsman's pop up. Sorry, good luck in the credit journey

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the help.  I can't get all accounts to less than 10% right away but I'm trying to pay as much as possible whenever I can.  I always pay more than the minimum and send quite a bit more pretty often.  My utilization is at 48% from Transunion and Equifax (Credit Karma info).  I want to enroll in some kind of real FICO monitoring but don't know which site to try.  Any suggestions?

As for negatives, I have around $8000 in student loans that are in deferment right and one medical collection for $703.  My oldest open account age is 4 years and 9 months. 

I'm really excited about this but want to start out right.  Any help will be greatly appreciated. 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the suggestion to close Credit One.  I guess I'll work on getting that done soon.  When I pay the balance down to zero, do I need to call them to close the account or just let it sit there at zero?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion to close Credit One.  I guess I'll work on getting that done soon.  When I pay the balance down to zero, do I need to call them to close the account or just let it sit there at zero?

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If you UTI% is high, I would suggest paying it down and letting it sit until your others are paid down, then close it.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the help.  I can't get all accounts to less than 10% right away but I'm trying to pay as much as possible whenever I can.  I always pay more than the minimum and send quite a bit more pretty often.  My utilization is at 48% from Transunion and Equifax (Credit Karma info).  I want to enroll in some kind of real FICO monitoring but don't know which site to try.  Any suggestions? Yes, go with the three bureau monitoring from this site. You'll get all FICO scores, no FAKO crap.

As for negatives, I have around $8000 in student loans that are in deferment right and one medical collection for $703.  My oldest open account age is 4 years and 9 months. 

I'm really excited about this but want to start out right.  Any help will be greatly appreciated. 

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