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Starting to rebuild my credit, need some help!!!

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Starting to rebuild my credit, need some help!!!

Ok, so I have taken the first step in rebuilding my credit.  I have lots of questions because I want to do this right.  I made the first step and signed up for Lexington Law for help.   Now I wanted to see if anyone can guide me to the best one stop shop for all three credit reports and scores.  Thats my first of many questions.   I feel like there is no hope but after reading tonight i feel motivated and now have hope!!!   I have only successfully discovered two scores.  EQ is 460  and EX 525 .. ..  Yes you can stop laughing now...   So here is what I have also done, I just got a Discover Matrix Secured card for 300.00.   My father added me to his discover credit card account as well which has a 750.00 limit.  Now I read that added as an authorized user is completly legal and ethical.  Please if anyone has anyone insight on that I would appreciate that.  I have 13-15 negative marks on my credit and one judgement from 1999.   Is there hope?   I am looking to see if I can get any secured/unsecured retail or gas cards  to build some diiversity.  I am going to my local credit union this week to open that account.   I would like to see if anyone can guide me or just be a support and cheer me on in this maration.  Thanks 

 

BREAKTHECYCLE 2012

Message 1 of 5
4 REPLIES 4
ceejx
Established Contributor

Re: Starting to rebuild my credit, need some help!!!


@BreakTheCycle2012 wrote:

 Now I wanted to see if anyone can guide me to the best one stop shop for all three credit reports and scores.


I can answer this question, while you can go a little while using free trials (making sure you cancel before the time expires!!), USAA is the best place to get your 3 reports. They also include FAKO scores (which are wholly inaccurate), and alerts that are pretty right on. But every night at midnight you can order a new report, and keep an eye on the prize. The only issue with them that is a pain during rebuilding is they only show 24 months of payment history, so if your negatives fall outside of that it's hard to keep an eye on them.

 

As far as FICOs, the place to get them is either here for EQ and TU98, or EQ directly for theirs. You can sign up for scorewatch here, which is $14.95/mo, which gives you 2 EQ credit reports for free, and 30% off ($13-something I think?) afterwards. but you get the benefit of score alerts each time your score changes, and you don't have to constantly pay for the full score each time.

 

Good luck on your journey!! Just remain patient, it takes time to move along each step. Sometimes you have to make your move and then forget about it for a while as it works it's magic, otherwise dwelling on it daily, or even hourly, like I do now can consume you Smiley Happy Just remember, never get discouraged, and babysteps add up really quickly.

Message 2 of 5

Re: Starting to rebuild my credit, need some help!!!

Thank you for your diligent response.  Would you mind giving me the link for USAA?  Thank you and if you have anymore tips, they are greatly appreciated.  Thank you 

Message 3 of 5
tboy1977
Regular Contributor

Re: Starting to rebuild my credit, need some help!!!

DROP THAT Matrix secured card as soon as possible.  You want a reputable secured card, not bottom feeders.  Companies like Matrix, Applied, First Premier, and Credit One suck the life out of you with monthly fees, annual fees and NOSEBLEED HIGH interest.  Find a card issuer that also occurs cards for average to excellent credit.  If you have First PRemier on you report for ex., anybody that sees it will know you that you at least HAD credit issues.  Good secured card issuers include CapOne (low $200 deposit), PNC (have to go into a branch, not offered online or over phone but as long as you didn't burn PNC, your credit score could be 333 and they will say YES!!  Bring the deposit into the branch) BofA (I hate them, loathe them, but they ARE excellent on a report), and if you can get them, Navy Federal or USAA.  Try to get the limit to at least $2K and after two years, you will start to see improvements to your credit.

Starting scores: EQ 420, EX 421, TU 405 (Jan 2011)
Bk Ch 7 Discharged Mar 2011
Current scores: Julty 2019: TU - 655, EX - 619, EQ - 640
FICO Dream Scores: EQ 700+, EX 700+, TU 700+

Credit accounts: 22% APR auto loan (Mar 2017), Secured [Coke (4000), Discover (1000)], Unsecured [CreditOne $1500, Walmart $150, Target $200], World Finance: $1500, Courtesy Finance: $700, Speedy Finance: $1200 (charged-off)
Message 4 of 5
ceejx
Established Contributor

Re: Starting to rebuild my credit, need some help!!!


@BreakTheCycle2012 wrote:

Thank you for your diligent response.  Would you mind giving me the link for USAA?  Thank you and if you have anymore tips, they are greatly appreciated.  Thank you 


https://www.usaa.com/inet/pages/creditcheck_monitoring_main?wa_ref=pub_global_products_bank_creditmo... 

 

You will join as a partial member, if your parents happen to be veterans you can piggy back off them to become full members and get more benefits from the service. But as partial, you get their CMS, which is basically experian's credit monitoring service, but branded as USAA and cheaper.

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