Started from the bottom! 4 Secured cards! Score 480!

[Anonymous]

You can USE all your cards all you want -- charge them up daily, but you have to pay all of them down before they report, usually statement cut date.  Usually.

Only allow one card to report monthly, and let it report less than 9%.

So say you use a $200 secured card this month.  Charge $150 on it, pay it off immediately when it posts.  Charge another $90, pay it off.  If the statement date is coming close, charge say $60 but you want 9% or less to report (call it $15 to be safe) so if you have $60 posted, pay $45 off, let $15 report at statement date.  Then after it reports, pay the $15 off and do the same cycle next month.

The Alliant SSL loan is easy, and they don't do a hard pull inquiry.  Costs you $510 up front but you get almost all of it back in a week or two so long term it just costs you $44 for 5 years and a little interest (very little).  Just search the forums here for Alliant SSL.

Don't open any more accounts after that for 6-12 months.

[Anonymous]

I really dont get what this secured loan is im sorry.

So I put $510 into savings and I get it back in 2 weeks?

What lol , can anyone explain this in detail?

[Anonymous]

Hi montecillo92, 

Good job on the secured cards. When it comes to collections after BK discharge, it is the luck of the draw as to what will be deleted. Some CAs just won't respond to the CRAs because they can't get anything out of you, and as a result, they are deleted. Some CAs will simply submit a request to update the balance to $0 and add the "Included in Bankruptcy" comment. I hope they all come off for you. 

As far as Bank of America and Citibank, they will not approve you with a bankruptcy reporting - applying is futile. In your situation, I would say allow your secured cards to report for a few months, then, if you choose, try applying for a Capital One unsecured card that has Credit Steps (incremental credit line increases - they are automatic as long as you don't have any lates on that card), and go from there. Right now, attempting more inquires will hurt you more than they will help. 

[Anonymous]

When I had really low scores and terrible things being reported. I was able to get Cap1 to give me one of their unsecured cards. It was like a $300 limit, but it proved to be good!

Right now, I still have that card and the limit is up to $850 right now. But they do have CLI steps that they will make you aware of and if you do what's asked they will up your limit.

As for the secured loan, I assume that it's basically like having a credit builder loan. I had one of these with my bank, RBFCU. It's great because it gives you exposure to them on paying back a loan, it's reported, and the interest/payments are small.

As for how it works, you basically let them know what you want to pledge for the loan. Seems like the base is at least $500 and then you say how long you want to pay it back for and then you just make the monthly payments. Once it's paid off, then you get that money.

Kind of almost like depositing money into your savings account but rather it's a legit loan that is reported and will help build your credit.

Not sure if Alliant secured loans are like that exactly, but I assume they are and why they work so well.

[Anonymous]

If you get an auto loan, you have no need for the secured loan.