Not sure where to start

[Milahanna]

We have been working on my husband's credit for a while.  We were able to remove some collections through GW letters and the rest with the exception of one collection (1 year old) have finally fallen off.  Our goal is to get a VA home loan and finally stop paying nearly $2,000/month on rent.  Veteran's united pulled our reports today.  His median score is 660.  Mine is 550.  

My credit is the problem.  It has been neglected.  I have zero tradelines and a few collections that I can afford to pay off.  Unfortunately, one of my collections is Capital One which started reporting last year and I know that it's near impossible to get them to delete.

Our auto loans are only under my husband's name.  Where do I start?  Oh btw, I pulled my Equifax FICO score and it's 490.  I don't know what to do.  I will start by trying to do PFD on my 2 collections.  However, I need tradelines.  Who would approve me for a secure card?

Also, we are looking for a good bank.  We've been with Chase for years.  Have never had any issues.  Have several thousand dollars in savings and we have yet to benefit from any of their services.  Should we be looking for a credit union?

thank you for any advice!!!

[Whitneyy]

Hi and welcome. I would look toward a credit union certainly.

As far as secured cards, I would try capital one and bank of america. I know you said you have a collection with them but I had an account with them that was settled and closed years back and I was approved for secured cards, so were a couple of other people around. I have also heard of SCDFU (I think that's the correct acronym) who doesn't do a hard pull. Since one of you are in the military why not the Navy Federal Secured Card? They report immediately.  

The collections that you can afford to pay off, make sure they DELETE when you do. Who are they exactly? Some of us might be able to offer some insight on them. 

[los_west]

You will probably get lots of great advice from the other gurus here, but here is my 2 cents:

1.  If your husband has a credit card (or cards), have him add you as an authorized user.   If someone else in your family has great credit and long term cards, have them add you as an AU. 

2.  Definitely PFD your collection accounts.

3.  Send GW letters to Capital One anyways.  You have nothing to lose.

4.  Look for secured cards that may accept people with scores on the lower side.  I think the BIG BANKS like Chase or B of A are not likely to approve applicants with low scores.

5.  There are some companies that offer credit to help rebuild credit...I think Fingerhut is one of them.  Not sure what their minimum score is though.

6.  Do not add unneccessary hard inquiries if you don't have to.  That would hurt your score.  Look up threads here in the forum about soft pulls and the shopping cart trick.

[Shogun]

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@los_west wrote:

You will probably get lots of great advice from the other gurus here, but here is my 2 cents:

1.  If your husband has a credit card (or cards), have him add you as an authorized user.   If someone else in your family has great credit and long term cards, have them add you as an AU. 

2.  Definitely PFD your collection accounts.

3.  Send GW letters to Capital One anyways.  You have nothing to lose.

4.  Look for secured cards that may accept people with scores on the lower side.  I think the BIG BANKS like Chase or B of A are not likely to approve applicants with low scores.

5.  There are some companies that offer credit to help rebuild credit...I think Fingerhut is one of them.  Not sure what their minimum score is though.

6.  Do not add unneccessary hard inquiries if you don't have to.  That would hurt your score.  Look up threads here in the forum about soft pulls and the shopping cart trick.

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Hmmm... well then.....  uhm.... ok...... 

Nope,, I've got nothing to add, excellent advice!

[Milahanna]

Thank you so much for the replies!  We never thought about adding me as an authorized user.  What a great idea!  However, Capital One is the only card he has and that is one of my two collections.  My account went into collection just last year.  Is there any danger of this negatively affecting his account?  I know that it won't affect his credit but I have heard stories of Capital One suddenly closing accounts even though the accounts were in perfect standing as his is.  Would hate for this to happen.

My husband is a veteran so unfortunately we don't qualify for NFCU.  Have never heard of the other CU.  Will definitely check them out.

I also came across Sky One.  Does anybody have any experience with this?

[spike69]

First off- WELCOME! The people here are amazing and much good advice has been given to you already.

Cap One in many cases is forgiving. Many here have burned them only to have them open a new card (often secured)- even with active COs on their CR. Concersely, those cards can be hard to "grow" (go beyone "toy" limits) so they are the starting gate. Serach Cap One EO (executive office) for email contact to work on getting that CO paid and any GW they may be willing to give you. Most have no luck with GW or PFD with Cap One but that doesn't mean you should not TRY.

I just finished working through an issue with Cap One and have been on my H's as an AU for more than a year. No affect on his account at all- actually he just got a CLI.

I am ip and down in the recovery and rebuild project but this forum and the great people make me stick it out on my down days.

Best of luck!

[ktl72455]

Credit Cards | State Department Federal Credit Union

They dont pull credit, will approve everyone for the secured card and report to all 3.

[gdale6]

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@Milahanna wrote:

Thank you so much for the replies!  We never thought about adding me as an authorized user.  What a great idea!  However, Capital One is the only card he has and that is one of my two collections.  My account went into collection just last year.  Is there any danger of this negatively affecting his account?  I know that it won't affect his credit but I have heard stories of Capital One suddenly closing accounts even though the accounts were in perfect standing as his is.  Would hate for this to happen.

My husband is a veteran so unfortunately we don't qualify for NFCU.  Have never heard of the other CU.  Will definitely check them out.

I also came across Sky One.  Does anybody have any experience with this?

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An AU is not repsonsible for payment on the card so Cap-1 is not going to stop you from becoming an AU on your husbands account. Before you rush off into PFDs you would want to DV any CAs, they may not even have legal authority to be collecting on the account. A PFD is ones last resort. You only want to poke accounts that are still within states SOL if you have th funds available to immeidately PIF should un intended consequences show up (i.e. a lawsuit). Good luck  you have gotten some great advice on this thread above