Questions about raising score with CC Pt1

[Anonymous]

Hello and thanks for providing this great resource. 

I used to own an aamco transmissions franchise, "doing the Nixon, I am not a crook."  It went under because the franchisor chose a poor location, I knew retail but nothing about auto service and they said the location was a good one.  That was 3-4 years ago, I try not to remember.  Before this my credit score was in the mid 800's.  Seriously, I am not a crook...LOL.  But if you want me to recommend a tranny shop, there are only a few, if any aamco's I would recommend.  Okay, with that short history here are my questions.

My CS had tanked, it was 520 and after a year I have it up to 589.  Not much but I have numerous collection accounts, no open credit and credit utilization (I guess because I owe a ton).  I did not file bankruptcy because everything was in the business.  I just recently opened a checking account and would like to know if opening a checking account raises your score?  I heard once that it did and that opening a savings account also raises your score, eventhough it does not show up on your CR.

Now to raise my score I have been looking at getting secured and CC for bad credit.  Do the scoring techniques look at who the credit card is from?  I know my report once said I had too many accounts from finance companies or something along that line.  If you were to apply for a loan do the underwriters say, "Hey you have a CC from XYZ and they only issue secured cards?

I ask this because when I was checking around some companies only issue secured cards while others also offer unsecured.  Besides making sure that the CCC doesn't report your card as secured is it also important to make sure they also issue unsecured cards?

I am typing this in notepad and have two more questions but I better copy and paste so I know how much space I have left.  Heck I'll just put the other two questions in another post.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

[llecs]

Opening a checking or savings account won't help your FICO score. In fact, if the bank pulled your credit to open an account (most do), then you might see a slight ding for the added inquiry. However, if you needed a checking account, then I wouldn't  sweat a couple of points over the necessesity of a bank account.

A secured CC is a great start. I began rebuilding using a BofA and Orchard CC. Despite the fees, Orchard was consistent and very reliable. FICO doesn't care who issues the card. It doesn't matter if it is prime or subprime, secured or unsecured. All are treated equally. The only difference in treatment would be the type of card. For example, FICO cares about your mix of credit so they like to see revolving (Visa, MC, Discover), store charge cards, charge cards, etc. You can certainly hit the upper 700s with only one revolving CC...assuming baddies are cleared, the new account ages, etc.

Finance companies (e.g. Wells Fargo Financial, Citifinancial, etc.) are frowned upon by FICO. You'll still get that message long after the TL is closed. However, the damage is overrated and if you have one reporting, then don't even think twice. If you are thinking about them, avoid them.

UWs may or may not care about having secured CCs report. I've never ever seen a post in these forums whereby someone was denied due to having a secured TL report. As mentioned my first two CCs were secured and reported as such and never had any issues getting new cards (e.g. Wachovia, PNC, Discover, Amex, etc.).

[MarineVietVet]

Excellent advice llecs.

From a BK years ago to:
9/09 EX pulled by lender 802
3/10 EQ- 800
4/10 TU -772

You can do the same thing with hard work

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