Rebuilding and already great news!

[RA26]

First off I have to say thank you to everyone who has asked questions and everyone who has anwsered them. I've been reading and reading these forums, always searching the forums for anything that could help.

I've been fixing things on and off. Still have a quite a bit to go. Mainly medical collections, saving up for PIFs and PFDs (I hope!)

I took the advice and had gotten a Capital One Secured card. I did it on a whim thinking there would be no way they would take me because I have burnt the bridge with them but they liked me, sorta, I had to put 99 down. Still I was approved for it, got it last week and have used it, paid it, used it and paid it.I have been getting pre-approval offers from them but to my maiden name. I called about it to see if I could still apply and the lady was very nice and said I could and they would fix my name once it all went through but since I just applied for a cap'1 card at the beginning of October and it might be within 30 days I decided to wait. Well I decided to check out the pre-qualified check on their site. (I've done it before and nothing came up until this last time.) 

I have been approved for a Quicksilver One. I am so happy!  It seems so little but yet it seems great to me because my scores still seem low.  Now I just have to actually put into practice all the utlization information I have read on!

So my next questions is I will have 2 cards but lot of people have said three cards is the way to go. Since I have been approved for a non secured card should I try for another unsecured card or should I go with another secured card? Who else should I look at?  Walmart, Credit One are out, we aren't on friendly terms right now.  Or should I just keep these cards for a while before going for a third? 

Scores are as follow TU - 579  Equifax - 589 Creditsesame - 610 (I know the CS is not Fico Scores but TU as of last month and Equifax as of September before two things were deleted off  both reports) 

Thanks again! 

UPDATE: I'm just doing a basic list here and at a later post you can see more indepth information in case your curious. This is more for my accountability. Turning it into more of an actual rebuilding thread for me. 

According to TU 

Satisfactory Accounts: 4 ,

Adverse Accounts : 10 (5 I am caught up on, just have lates)

Collections : 12 (2 paid) 

Equifax - there set up is different. 

Collections : 11

Installment Loans: 7 (2 perfect credit history, 5 have lates)

Satisfactory Accounts : 5 (2 s.l)

Negitive Accounts : 10 (5 s.l)

Experian: 

Happy Accounts: 5

Negitive : 10

Collections: 13

*2 brand new credit cards haven't started reporting yet. 

[junebug225]

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@RA26 wrote:

First off I have to say thank you to everyone who has asked questions and everyone who has anwsered them. I've been reading and reading these forums, always searching the forums for anything that could help.

I've been fixing things on and off. Still have a quite a bit to go. Mainly medical collections, saving up for PIFs and PFDs (I hope!)

I took the advice and had gotten a Capital One Secured card. I did it on a whim thinking there would be no way they would take me because I have burnt the bridge with them but they liked me, sorta, I had to put 99 down. Still I was approved for it, got it last week and have used it, paid it, used it and paid it.I have been getting pre-approval offers from them but to my maiden name. I called about it to see if I could still apply and the lady was very nice and said I could and they would fix my name once it all went through but since I just applied for a cap'1 card at the beginning of October and it might be within 30 days I decided to wait. Well I decided to check out the pre-qualified check on their site. (I've done it before and nothing came up until this last time.) 

I have been approved for a Quicksilver One. I am so happy!  It seems so little but yet it seems great to me because my scores still seem low.  Now I just have to actually put into practice all the utlization information I have read on!

So my next questions is I will have 2 cards but lot of people have said three cards is the way to go. Since I have been approved for a non secured card should I try for another unsecured card or should I go with another secured card? Who else should I look at?  Walmart, Credit One are out, we aren't on friendly terms right now.  Or should I just keep these cards for a while before going for a third? 

Scores are as follow TU - 579  Equifax - 589 Creditsesame - 610 (I know the CS is not Fico Scores but TU as of last month and Equifax as of September before two things were deleted off  both reports) 

Thanks again! 

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I would say go into the garden for about six months and let those two cards grow with responsible usage.

[Anonymous]

I agree with Junebug, go into the garden.  Credit companies like to see at least 6 months on a credit card.

Low chance of success if your new credit card has already started reporting.

If Walmart doesn't like you, then stay away from the GE/Synchrony backed cards.

You could do the shopping cart trick to get some tradelines without hard pulls... low quality cards but good if you have a thin credit file and just need tradelines.

Another option if you are going into the Garden is get a Share Secured Loan for yourself for $500.  It will lower you for 6 months but if you are going into the Garden, that's ok...you'll come out of the garden with a higher quality credit mix

[RA26]

Gardening sounds good. I have three more paid baddies falling off in the next couple months. 1 charge off and 2 collections. 

By the time 6 months comes around I should past 1 year of on-time payments again. (I was late on school loans. We had moved across country at the time and I thought I had applied for deferment/forbarence, turns out I never did. It was very hetic). Hopefully I will be in  a much better boat with scoring come 6 months from now. 

Can I ask what a Shared Secured Loan is and where I could possible obtain one?

Thanks 

[LIGHTNIN]

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@RA26 wrote:

Can I ask what a Shared Secured Loan is and where I could possible obtain one?

Thanks 

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HI RA26,

From my understanding, Shared Secured Loans are offered thru Credit Unions. Thats all I know about them, sorry.

Since this is a loan question, I believe you will see more replies by posting your question on the Personal Finance board. 

I hope this info helps you.

[scubaqueen]

I have a credit builder loan with my credit union,  Basically I took out a $500.00 loan and the money is on hold in my savings account.  I pay the bank 89.00 a month for 6 months after the six months of on time payments I get the 500.00 plus interest.  I only had to pay the bank a total of 30.00 for the loan.  

[Anonymous]

"Share" as in a stock share or Credit Union Share.

A Share Secured Loan is basically a $500 (or whatever amount) loan you give to yourself with the Credit Union acting as the middle man.  

If you have a Secured Credit card, it is similar, you deposit $500 and you get a $500 loan.  The main difference is:

• You get your money back right away (unlike a secured card that holds your entire deposit until you close account)
• It reports as an "installment loan" instead of a credit card. Installment loans are good for improving your credit mix

The downside is if you havent already joined a Credit Union, you will have to join getting another 1 HP inquiry hit.  Certain CU's might pull you another time for the loan itself resulting in 2 HP's. peop

The upside is you add an "installment" loan that will continue reporting active for 5 years and another 10 years after that.  Many have reported 10-20 point increases just for having an installment loan for a year.  And the price is really just about $30 and having the initial $500 which you will of course have to pay back if you spend it instead of leaving it there

Alliant is pretty popular for the $500 Share Secured loan trick thing as they are the only one that will loan you money for 5 years on only $500 even though interest is higher.

Total interest paid on a 5 year Share Seured Loan is something like <$30 total

[RA26]

Thanks for the info. 

I had no idea that CU did HPs. I haven't joined one yet aroud here but we were looking at going next week to talk to someone at the CU we are planning on setting up at. I'll have to call and ask them about it. It has been a few years since I have been a member of a CU. Now when I go in I won't be as blindsided. Hopefully they can give me some information. I'll have to look around at the loans see who all around here does them. 

[Anonymous]

Sorry for the noob question, but what does "going into the garden" mean? 

[Anonymous]

"Going into the garden" or "gardening" means hold on on new applications. Let your current accounts age, and let your on time payments be reported. Per instance:

I have 2 Secured Cards, I need to garden for 6 months and then apply in 6 months for an unsecured, that way I have already built some positive history. Hope this helps!!