The Beginning to Rebuilding My Credit

[jch_32]

Hello everyone,

I have lurked around this site for a little while, but I decided to start an account and ask some questions. I recently took a new job in Atlanta that pays pretty decent and after really screwing myself in college through plain stupidity, I am ready to begin rebuilding my credit.

So I guess my first question is... Where do I start?

My credit score is around a 533

I am in collection for four different things and a couple other accounts are closed. Most are student loan issues that went to collections. I have been approved for a consolidation process through the William D. Ford Direct Loan process to get this paid off as well as consolidated as opposed to spread out everywhere. I still have have other past due and closed balances including a USAA Credit Card and Bank Account and a Capital One Credit Card. Again, stupid on my part. I also have an auto loan through Credit Acceptance which I have paid on time every month.

So the first thing I'm doing is getting all my debts written down and trying to get an amount the  total I owe on these deliquent and closed accounts. Where do I go from there to knock these balances out? Do I call or write them and try to work a payment plan out or do I just save up myself and pay it off with one lump sum?

Next, as far as cards, I have a debit card through a local bank in my hometown in Louisiana, it is one my sister is the branch manager at. I am on the Early Warning System due to what I messed up with USAA, but this particular bank did not check that. I also have a Walmart prepaid card so if I get a check or something, I can cash it and put it on that card easily in Georgia. I wouldn't mind having a local branch in Georgia (Atlanta) to go to, but the EWS will keep me from getting an account.

Finally I have an American Express Business Green Card with my boss as the primary card holder, clearly, I can't do much of anything with that other than business expenses. So right now, no credit.

Should I look into getting a credit card? I figured an unsecured card is out of the question right now, if not, I'd love to know where I could apply. Is there a recomendation for a secured one?

Wow, lots of typing. So that's my intial plan right now. Anything else that I should keep in mind? What else should I do while I attempt to progress? It feels good to get this out here instead of bottled up and to finally get some help with these matters. I want to eventually propose to my girlfriend of five years, but I refuse to do so until I get these things in my life situated. I refuse to bring her into this type of mess. It's unfair to her. This is important to my future and becoming a better person financially. I appreciate everyone's input.

Thanks everyone.

[choppa02]

Im kinda new to the rebuilding thing myself so its hard for me to tell you what steps you should take but for me opening a secured card at my bank (wells fargo) was my first step then I opened a secured card at merrick bank for their free monthly fico and then I opened up a Walmart card for their monthly free fico score. I've gardened those three cards for about seven months now plus I did some PFD plus some GW and I've seen my scores jump from the low 500s to mid 600s.

[tatianna_8020]

I'm new as well to credit repair. I too screwed up my credit while I was in college, maxing out credit cards, over drawing my bank account. Most of the things that were on my report were soo old that they fell off. I said goodbye to ever using credit cards. My credit has always been on the 500's ( EX and EQ) Trans is in low 600's.

I applied for Cap one Sunday, I was scared to death because I only had one hard inq from a CA that is reporting debt ( a cell phone account).

So far here are some of the steps that I have taken, 

I opted out for the next 5 years

requested all 3 credit reports via mail ( did not want to go through free anual credit report, so yes I paid)

Called each CRA and got all my old addresses deleted ( I heard that this works for old negative and positive accounts reporting on your CR. Great if its bad cause it will get deleted, bad if its a positive reporting account, so beware)

Sent DV letters to CA ( one repsponse so far sayig that they are removing my information from thier files and requesting that the account be removed from my CR)

I have 2 medical collections which I sent a request to the CRA for ore information.

I got  judgment deleted because it was tied to an address I never lived at, guess the CRA requested validation and they couldn't get it. It was from owing a school, but I paid itway before some JDB took it to court FOOLS!!

Well right now I am waiting for a response from the other CA that I sent the DV to and a response from the CRA about my medical debt.

In the meantime I am trying to accure a credit card, Cap one I was hoping will give me one, but they pulled EX which has my lowest score. So I applied for Open Sky secured credit card. After doing some research i was able to find a local credit union that I am able to join. Since I work for a medical provider I am eligible. I am going to first going to open a savings account with $1,000 and apply for a secured cc that has NO annual fee, APR @ 11.9% on purchases, balance transfers and cash advances. No rewards though. They don't use chex systems and they do not run your credit for a secured cc. Not sure if they report as secured or just a cc.

OP, you can rebuild! I have faith in US! It will take research, education, devotion, PATIENCE and more patience and most of all faith! It is an emotional rollcoaster that's for sure but hang in there! The sun will shine after the storm!