No idea where to begin to build my credit

[eonxblue]

I had a few bad months late last year. I'm a recent college graduate who didn't exactly dive in and get way too much credit, but didn't handle what I had going on responsibly, either. I had two revolving accounts, BOA student card & Nordstrom retail which were both CLOSED by grantor in 11/12.

Around that time, my balances were:

BOA- $2,187 on a 2k limit. I was 90 days late before I caught up with my payments in Jan 2013.

Nordstrom - $759 on a 1k limit. I was 90 days late, too, before I caught up in Jan 2013.

Since then, I found employment and I've been making large, regular payments. As of right now, my balances on both closed accounts are:

BOA - $963.58

Nordstrom - $ 117.21

I felt good about my progress so after I've made my 6th payment to Nordstrom recently I gave them a call to have my account possibly reopened. Well, that didn't go well. I was denied and was told the following information: my Equifax score is 587 and I have "serious delinquency, a number of accounts with delinquency, and proportion of balances to limits was too high."

Now, I don't feel quite so good, of course. A hard inquiry was placed on my Equifax report, now and I have no idea where to go from here. I am going to keep making payments, of course, but now I don't know if I can at least have my Nordstrom account reopened eventually. I don't want to try again too soon but I have no idea how much longer I should wait before I try. I know BOA won't consider reopening my account, I've spoken to reps on the phone and they seemed pretty adamant on the 90 day past closing deadline.

On top of paying everything off, should I give up on reviving my Nordstrom account and just go for a secured card? How long should I wait before I take the leap and risk have a hard pull on my reports again? I really don't want to be declined again.

Hope I can get some insight from you guys. I don't want to have this let-down damper my mood too much. I want to hold onto some hope that I can get myself out of this mess.

[bmblbg]

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@eonxblue wrote:

I had a few bad months late last year. I'm a recent college graduate who didn't exactly dive in and get way too much credit, but didn't handle what I had going on responsibly, either. I had two revolving accounts, BOA student card & Nordstrom retail which were both CLOSED by grantor in 11/12.

Around that time, my balances were:

BOA- $2,187 on a 2k limit. I was 90 days late before I caught up with my payments in Jan 2013.

Nordstrom - $759 on a 1k limit. I was 90 days late, too, before I caught up in Jan 2013.

Since then, I found employment and I've been making large, regular payments. As of right now, my balances on both closed accounts are:

BOA - $963.58

Nordstrom - $ 117.21

I felt good about my progress so after I've made my 6th payment to Nordstrom recently I gave them a call to have my account possibly reopened. Well, that didn't go well. I was denied and was told the following information: my Equifax score is 587 and I have "serious delinquency, a number of accounts with delinquency, and proportion of balances to limits was too high."

Now, I don't feel quite so good, of course. A hard inquiry was placed on my Equifax report, now and I have no idea where to go from here. I am going to keep making payments, of course, but now I don't know if I can at least have my Nordstrom account reopened eventually. I don't want to try again too soon but I have no idea how much longer I should wait before I try. I know BOA won't consider reopening my account, I've spoken to reps on the phone and they seemed pretty adamant on the 90 day past closing deadline.

On top of paying everything off, should I give up on reviving my Nordstrom account and just go for a secured card? How long should I wait before I take the leap and risk have a hard pull on my reports again? I really don't want to be declined again.

Hope I can get some insight from you guys. I don't want to have this let-down damper my mood too much. I want to hold onto some hope that I can get myself out of this mess.

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You're doing great paying those balances down.  Have you considered trying to GW the lates?  Or perhaps even a PFD, since you plan on PIF anyway? Are those your only 2 baddies?

[eonxblue]

I have considered GW, but I thought it would be too soon to try since my delinquencies were only as recent as 6 months ago. Does it not matter?

I was under the impression that PFD works better with CA's but I'm still working with BOA/FIA with that account and I never considered that for Nordstrom since I want to reopen my account (and getting rid of those baddies with GW's).

These are my ONLY two accounts on my report. This is my whole report, which is why I feel so lost. I've had these accounts for 5 years, going on 6, and I hoped to at least keep my Nordstrom so my age of credit doesn't get screwed up entirely.

[bmblbg]

My experience has been that when I established a good payment history again I could GW the late payments.  I have never tried it with a closed account though, and am unsure how that would work. 

I can understand not wanting the PFD, though.  You definitely don't want your entire credit history to go away!

Hopefully someone WAY more knowledgeable than I am can shed more insight.  Good luck!

[eonxblue]

Bump...any advice on how to tackle this?

[alexl22]

I am a noob as well, I would maybe open a secured card and start a positive payment history, the other thing a secure card would do ( pleas someone correct me if im wrong) would go towards your overall utilization, which I believe the balance of those two closed cards are included in. Just charge like a tank of gas and pif before they report to the CRA. That's what I did back in Feb and my scores have increased significantly.

[guiness56]

I normally advocate a clean report to AAoA but in your case I would keep the 2 TL.  If you had them deleted you would not have a score.

It appears that neither card was charged off or went to collections.  That is a plus.  Each late payment will come off your report 7 years from the date of occurence.  When the last one is gone the accounts will turn positive again and stay for up to 10 years from date closed.  It may seem like an eternity but they will be your oldest accounts.

I would try to get a secured card, either through your bank or Cap 1.  They work just like an unsecured CC.

Any time is a good time for a GW.  If they say no, keep trying.  Find someone else to send it to.  They can say no 100 times but it only takes 1 yes.

As mentioned, those 2 closed cards, if they report a balance and CL are factored in to your utilization.  Once paid to 0 the CL will be excluded and no longer hurt your score.  Your score should go up with each payment you make.

Wait until you have them paid off before asking about reopening them. 

[eonxblue]

Would I be approved for a secured card this soon? Should I wait a bit first? I don't want to be denied.

Help please??

[Countingpennies]

Instead of putting money toward a secured card now, put that money on your accounts and get them paid off. How soon do you expect to have them paid?

[eonxblue]

I can actually pay it off within the next week or two. I paid off Nordstrom already. I wonder if my score will have a slight boost if I wait until I paid off my BOA CC and have that statement reported to the CB's. I'm subscribed to SW, but I don't know if my score got a boost when I paid off Nordstrom. No alerts yet. My balance is around $500 for BOA right now.