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What am I doing wrong?

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tboy1977
Regular Contributor

What am I doing wrong?

I finally filed for bk ch 7 Dec 2010.  It was discharged Mar 2011.  It was and is the best move I ever made.  I rounded up $1500 and got a secured loan and used the proceeds to get a Cap One secured card.  When I got the CapOne card, I got a cash advance and got a PNC secured card.  When I got my tax refund, I upped the limit on the CapOne card to 2K.  I paid on the cards and never late, which wasn't easy being unemployed for a couple of months.  By this year, I upped the limited to 3K (max for CapOne), PNC is at 1300, and I have a Navy Fed Secured MC at 800.  I started working for Coke, got their secured credit card, mostly because it is Coke and I want their mortgage and a rep suggested the card could improve my chances with the credit union.   That card is at 2500.  I was planning on taking that up to 10K, but I will stop at 5K.  But my credit score is 509!!  I have an auto loan six months old.  Nothing is late.  Sixteen months of total good payment history and 509 is the best we can do?  It doesn't seem fair?  I admit right now my utilization is a tad high because of the cost of relocating for this job, but when my utilizations were at 20%, my score was 529.  So I only lost twenty points for upping my util from 20% to 65%?   I thought secured credit cards were to help rebuild your credit score.  Am I missing something here?  Four secured credit cards (3K, 1300, 800, 2500), an installment loan (savings secured) nearly paid off and an auto loan and no lates and 509 is all we can do.  And according to Equifax, even if I get my util to 10%, my score will only be around 535!!  This credit is a game and I have no clue how to play.

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 1 of 4
3 REPLIES 3
tboy1977
Regular Contributor

Re: What am I doing wrong?

i forgot: i have a $200 unsecured Target carf.  Equifax says a low limit card hurts your score?  i opened it April 2012.  could this be depressing my score?

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 2 of 4
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: What am I doing wrong?

Im no expert, but from what I know there are a number of things that are negatively affecting your score. Please see below:

 

1) You filed for Bankrupcy recently. A bankrupcy is a factor that will affect you credit score very negatively and will stay on your report for 10 years from the time of filing. It will affect your score less and less as you move further away from the bankrupcy, but right now it is going to have a major impact on your score.  

 

2) If you have opened all of your lines of credit the Target, CapOne, Navy Fed Secured,  the Coke and a car loan in the past two years that is a lot of hard inquiries into your credit score which will lower your score as well. The more inquiries you have into your credit the more it impacts your score. This is A LOT of credit to get inquiries on. 

 

3) Overall utilization makes up 30% of your score. 65% is getting up there and unless you lower your overall utlilization then your score will be lower. 

 

The lesson here is that you do not need all of these credit cards.  The more credit you have does not mean better credit score, expecially if they are all opened in a short time period. Stick to one or two cards and paying off the FULL balance in full every month. Lastly, the Bankrupcy is going to affect your credit score for a while. Theres just no way around it. 

 

Message 3 of 4
kimmiller112
Frequent Contributor

Re: What am I doing wrong?

You have to wait it out.  That bankruptcy stays on your record for 10 years.  Mine is 8 years old and it is keeping me from getting Citi or AMEX, no matter what card, even Zync, and with recons.  You have a lot of inquiries too.  You need to stop apping and pay all your current cards down - ideally, you want to have one card having between 1 to 9% utilization with the others at 0.  That will show financial responsibility.  Every at least 6 months or so, see if you are eligible for a CLI but go for the ones that don't do hard pulls first.  Do this for 2 years when the current inquiries are gone and the BK is a little older, then app for a prime card or two - both Discover and Chase worked with me on my bankruptcy when I reconned and asked a couple questions about it.  But standards can change, so keep up with the current standards during that time to see which ones you would have a better chance with.

Barclays USAir World MC $8300 - DCU $7500 - USAA World MC $7000 - PayPal Extras MC (GE) $5500 - Chase Saphire Preferred $5000 - Discover It $6000 - Barclays Sallie May $2700 - Chase Freedom $1000 - Capital One $8500 (business) - store cards ranging from $500-$9500
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