So Discouraged :( Need Advice

Anonymous · ‎10-31-2015

Hello Everyone

This is my first post but i have been lurking here for months, Thank you so much for sharing your stories and experiences they have been very valuable to me as I started my rebuilding journey 7 months ago. I have made lots of mistakes with my credit and it's really become an obsession now to rebuild it. I filed bk in 2006 and have re-established but I'm not where I should be.

I was able to raise my score approx. maybe 109 points on my ex. file by paying down my reported debt on the 2 cards that I have, getting a CA deleted and settling on another. My last baddie was in March and I have been current until today. As of today I had 46 point drop from 639 to 593 on my ex file. A new collection agency reported for a 6 year old debt they are trying to collect on and my auto loan at gm financial reported a 30 late because I was 37 days late with the sept payment. I just started another loan with gm financial this month so the old account is closed but the last report is 30 days late for Oct.

More steps to try to improve my file I added some new credit.

Besides the new deal with gm I was able to add two more cards to my file. But now I am afraid that this new 30 day late payment will stop me from getting cli on the cards I have (cap 1 quicksilver 1 boa secured cash rewards and macys) I also wanted to try for being considered for early graduation for the boa after 5 to 9 months? Now I may not get increases for the higher limit and better rate cards I am seeking. I have 2 collections and a charged off account to wipe off next year as well as my bankruptcy so i have that to look forward to but all my progess over the last 7 months is gone and the clock restarts to 0 months without a late payment. I tried talking to gm and got nothing but a payment history in the mail and i know I can dispute it with the credit bureau but should I just wait it out until the payment history cures/recovers from the score drop?

I will never get higher credit limits now or at least not for 2 years. Anyone out there that can telll me where to go from here? Besides get my utilization down (it's 23%) to 7% is there anything else I can do? Thank you for reading

Anonymous · ‎10-31-2015

You're in a similar position I was when I began rebuilding. Some collections, recent lates, etc. My best advice is to first stop the bleeding before you start trying to heal. You need to get on a handle on your credit situation before you can move on to the "healing" phase. You should start with as clean a slate as possible, which means taking complete (borderline anal retentive) inventory of what you owe to who and the dings you have on your report.

If you've been late recently, you may have a debt problem. Before you seek higher limits and new credit, get what you have under control. Try to GW that recent late, especially if there was a good reason for it. Get a PFD on that collection, or a settlement if PFD fails. Pay off your credit cards. I know the typical advice is to have 3, 2 reporting $0 and 1 reporting <10%, but when you have a debt problem that advice isn't helpful.

Anonymous · ‎10-31-2015

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello Everyone

This is my first post but i have been lurking here for months, Thank you so much for sharing your stories and experiences they have been very valuable to me as I started my rebuilding journey 7 months ago. I have made lots of mistakes with my credit and it's really become an obsession now to rebuild it. I filed bk in 2006 and have re-established but I'm not where I should be.

I was able to raise my score approx. maybe 109 points on my ex. file by paying down my reported debt on the 2 cards that I have, getting a CA deleted and settling on another. My last baddie was in March and I have been current until today. As of today I had 46 point drop from 639 to 593 on my ex file. A new collection agency reported for a 6 year old debt they are trying to collect on and my auto loan at gm financial reported a 30 late because I was 37 days late with the sept payment. I just started another loan with gm financial this month so the old account is closed but the last report is 30 days late for Oct.

More steps to try to improve my file I added some new credit.
Besides the new deal with gm I was able to add two more cards to my file. But now I am afraid that this new 30 day late payment will stop me from getting cli on the cards I have (cap 1 quicksilver 1 boa secured cash rewards and macys) I also wanted to try for being considered for early graduation for the boa after 5 to 9 months? Now I may not get increases for the higher limit and better rate cards I am seeking. I have 2 collections and a charged off account to wipe off next year as well as my bankruptcy so i have that to look forward to but all my progess over the last 7 months is gone and the clock restarts to 0 months without a late payment. I tried talking to gm and got nothing but a payment history in the mail and i know I can dispute it with the credit bureau but should I just wait it out until the payment history cures/recovers from the score drop?
I will never get higher credit limits now or at least not for 2 years. Anyone out there that can telll me where to go from here? Besides get my utilization down (it's 23%) to 7% is there anything else I can do? Thank you for reading

Capital One will be more concerned with your scores and your history with THEM than they will be with a single 30 day late payment on an account with GM. I got very good increases from them in the last year, and thats with a lot of derogs, lates within the last 1-2 years and jugments in 2013/2014. All of that on top of a BK from 2007.

I would suggest adding a Cap One Platinum card into the mix.

Anonymous · ‎11-01-2015

Thank you so much Iceinjuly for taking the time to read and respond to my post And thanks for sharing your experience. I have never been as diligent as I am now about paying my bills which is why i am so frustrated by the recent reports. The collection will wipe off next year and if I do want to pay it the CA will delete. That's how they knew to add this new account to try to get me to pay before they could not report it anymore. I did a pfd with them a 3 months ago. So that is an option.

All of my accounts are current and have been for 8 months ( except the 37 day late payment on the now closed auto loan). I will try to gw the late payment. Bleeding stopped.

I am down to 23% on the cards and will have them less than 10% when they report for Nov. I had hoped the healing had stopped but i do have more work to do. I'm on it thank you so much for your help

Anonymous · ‎11-01-2015

NormanFH

I am such a fan of your funny and insightful posts and I was so hoping you would respond, Thank you so much !

I upgraded my cap one platinum to the QS1, You suggest getting an additional card? I got an offer for the Barclays Rewards but I'm scared to apply for anything now with this new derog. My file will improve a great deal I am hoping because next year the only 2 collections, one charged off account and my BK from 2006 all wipe off by this time next year. Don't know if I will be in better shape because I have also read that some people had a score drop after the BK wiped off. Keeping my fingers crossed on that.

Glad to see that Cap 1 has been good to you, thanks for sharing that it gives me hope. I'd love those credit limits Congrats on all your work you've done so far

Country_Feller · ‎11-01-2015

Hang in there Ficogal things WILL get better. We all have minor set backs but we have to keep pushing forward. I can tell you this from personal experience, You will look back in the not so far away future and laugh at how small this obstacle was that you overcame and at the same time realize that you are a much stronger and wiser person. Keep up your good work and welcome to the forum!!!!

myFICO=EQ 702, TU 716, EX 743br>EQ=11//TU=15//EX=11/Util 14%. Gardening since 01/02/2017.

Anonymous · ‎11-01-2015

Thanks so much Country_Feller for your kind words and the warm welcome I needed to hear thst !

You've done Awesome work with your scores, congrstulations !!! I have been knocked down a bit but i am going to keep learning and growing with the wonderful help of this forum. To know that things WILL get better gives me something to look forward to. i will be gardening like you until this time next year hoping to see things turn around

Anonymous · ‎11-01-2015

@Anonymous wrote:
NormanFH

I am such a fan of your funny and insightful posts and I was so hoping you would respond, Thank you so much !

I upgraded my cap one platinum to the QS1, You suggest getting an additional card? I got an offer for the Barclays Rewards but I'm scared to apply for anything now with this new derog. My file will improve a great deal I am hoping because next year the only 2 collections, one charged off account and my BK from 2006 all wipe off by this time next year. Don't know if I will be in better shape because I have also read that some people had a score drop after the BK wiped off. Keeping my fingers crossed on that.

Glad to see that Cap 1 has been good to you, thanks for sharing that it gives me hope. I'd love those credit limits Congrats on all your work you've done so far

Yes, definitely get a second Cap One card.

Barclays pulls TU if thats any help. Theyt do like to see a fairly clean recent history (18 months or so) on revolving accounts, but they may let one late on an auto loan slide. You can always apply and if denied, call to recon and explain that the late was because you were trading in and it just took a long time to close the deal and get the payout done.

Anonymous · ‎11-01-2015

Thanks NormanFH

Took your advice on the second cap 1, got the pre-qual but then the 7-10 day message so we'll see about that. Last application will garden until this time next year and see where that puts me. Thanks for the advise I will update when I hear back. Fingers crossed

OMW2_HighAcheiver · ‎11-01-2015

No. No. No fico_gal! NormanFH belongs to me! Hahahahahahaha

Don't you just love the info. My favorite responder by far. Good luck with your journey!