What are my next steps in my rebuild process?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
So here is my status as of last week.

1. Share secured loan $500 variable rate opened July paid down down $400
2. Capital one secured 1k credit limit opened in July
3. US Bank Secured card 1k credit limit opened in July
4. Discover It Secured card 2.5k credit limit opened in October
5. Began rehabbing my defaulted student loan I have made 2 payments so far.

I've never carried a balance on my cards only let one card report on a statement of 1% then paid off immediately.

Fico scores have jumped from 485 to EX 589, TU 591, EQ 603

While I work on my negatives, what should I do credit wise? I do not believe I need any new credit cards. But I know I will need to trade my secured Capital One card for an unsecured product in the future.

I'm unsure if I want another Capital One card considering they pull all 3 for the app, but I would like the advice of the experts here. I'm planning on keeping the Discover it and US Bank cards until they graduate.

When is the appropriate time to apply for an unsecured card? When is the appropriate time to close my Cap One secured card? What score range should I be at when I apply? Should I just get another secured card that will graduate? I'd rather not do this considering I have enough money tied up in secured credit and don't want to tie up any more.

I am in no rush, I have to spend a lot of time paying off and negotiating the negatives on my reports. I am just needing to fine-tune my game plan a little.

Thanks for any advice.

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Hi DV.

You're doing good do far and there is nothing else you should do other than take care of your baddies.  Learn from my mistakes.  Stay away from the SCT.  I got a lot of cards in a short period of time and ended up closing half of them; I should have focused on just getting rid of negative information on my reports.  

As for when to apply.  Barclays likes a year of payment history and a TU score of 620-640 should be sufficient for one of their starter cards.  If you've burned Chase and Citi like I did it may be a long wait.  I burned Discover and I believe that is one of the reasons my card hasn't unsecured in 17 months, but that's okay.  It is soon to be on the chopping block in December.

Capital One really is a good option, but since you can only apply once every 6 months now, I would wait and get a prequel and apply for which ever product comes up, preferably a QS1or QS.  

When your scores hit the 650-660ish range, then you're in the range for other approvals.  I have over $130k in unsecured credit now, but I'm at a point of needing to consolidate some cards I have and hopefully replace Discover card with a card from NFCU and then just work on UTI, and start mortgage hunting next summer.

Keep up the good work you've done.

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Hi Kaykay, thanks for the repsonseand for saying that I am doing good so far, it is good to hear that I am on the right track!

The next 12 months are going to be devoted to paying off my derogatory accounts and negotiating removal of payed off collections and co's etc.

I have no desire for any store cards so the SCT holds no interest for me. The only credit card company I have ever burned was Boa and that was ten years ago and I never paid them off, I am sure that they would never let me have another card again, and I don't have a history with chase or citi..

When should I close out this secured Capital One card, 12 or 18 months?

Have you called and talked with Discover about unsecuring your card? I am sure that you have, I am just double checking. You have had it for 17 months so far, I would ride it out for at most another 7 to try to get it unsecured, it would be a shame to wait this long and close it, what is another 7 months really? I would be calling them weekly until they gave in and unsecured it lol.

130k is impressive! I have read some great things about NFCU, I have been kicking around the idea of applying when my scores reach the mid 600's and then using that for my one unsecured card to apply fo.r I just don't know, there are so many options out there. I think that for me, 4 to 6 credit cards is all that I will ever need to have at one time.

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I've called Discover card a few times and each time, I've been told that my account is reviewed when my statement cuts.  I don't see any point in continuing to tie up money with them when I have other options available now.  BCP meets my needs and has become my go to card.  When I started rebuilding, I said that I would only get a few cards and it didn't end up that way, but I only have the cards that I actually use;  that's why I'm at the point of replacing cards with better cards and at some point in time, I'll revisit the issue of store cards,  but since Walmart offers statement credit and Sam's Club cash back, they are definitely keepers; so is Amazon and Lowe's.  The others I decide about later on in time.

Have a great week.

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Makes perfect sense about the discover card, I didn't even stop to think that you would have better cards that were your everyday use cards. I am a walmart and Sams club shopper as well but I have always had this mental block about cards that I can only use in one place. I know that is nuts but ever since I was 18 I always preferred the visa or mastercard because I could use them anywhere.Don't even get me started about Amazon, I think that is probably the only store card that I would ever consider getting lol, thankfuilly I have too many negatives and my scores are too low to apply Have a great week as well.

[Anonymous]

It is extremely difficult to graduate from the US Bank secured card. Some have done it, but most have closed and moved on.  

[Anonymous]

Great point Foss. If after 24 months I haven't unsecured I will close and move on. I knew going in that it was a tough card to unsecure and that I would have to give it 18 to 24 months. At least it has the potential to unsecure and that's why I went with it. I wanted to go with citi secured also but they had an AF at the time.

[stargazer25]

I started my rebuild process about a year ago with just a C1 secured 1k. Waited till my scores were in 630/640 range and apped for platinum and QS1. Just PC'ed platinum to QS and am consolidating to have a CL of 3.5K. Only leaves me with 1 card with C1 but at least I got my money back from the secured and a higher CL. I also got a CC from my CU but my scores are now in the high 600s. 

[Anonymous]

Nice stargazer thanks for sharing your information. I'm probably 6 months away from the 640 range, I'm just now hitting the 600's. That puts me right around 9 months with Capital One and US Bank. So probably around my 12 month mark I can start looking for an unsecured card to apply for and close the Capital One secured. Thanks for your response.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Nice stargazer thanks for sharing your information. I'm probably 6 months away from the 640 range, I'm just now hitting the 600's. That puts me right around 9 months with Capital One and US Bank. So probably around my 12 month mark I can start looking for an unsecured card to apply for and close the Capital One secured. Thanks for your response.

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Sorry DV that I didn't respond about when to close Cap 1.  If you get a prequal with a firm interest rate, then you know it will most likely be an approval.  App for the card then, and once it comes in , then I would close Cap 1; it only took about 10 days for them to send my a check.    By the time that happens, you should have a years payment history and enough derogs gone to consider Barclays and Chase Freedom.  Since Chase has the 5/24 rule it should be one of the next 2 apps you consider.  It is my understanding from reading the forums that Chase Amazon isn't under the 5/24 rule, but have also read that Amazon card with Prime offers better benefits.I've thought about a prime membership but with an annual fee on BCP, Platinum, and Venture, I can't see adding one more annual fee at this time. 

[Anonymous]

Kaykay, thanks for the clarification. I've been reading some interesting things lately on here about barclays, I'll probably skip that one! Chase is the one I'll probably shoot for. Great suggestion.

So game plan - next 12 months will consist of working on clearing up my reports by doing pfds and disputing errors regarding my collection accounts and starting a goodwill campaign on my 2 cos and completing the rehabilitation of my student loan.

When my scores hit 660 range probably in another 12 to 16 months, apply for chase and maybe amex bce or nfcu card haven't decided yet and close out my Capital One secured.

Hopefully my US Bank and Discover it cards have graduated by then.

[Anonymous]

Hi , I'm a vet too and I started my rebuild in 09-15 with a 540 fico ,i got a cap one platinum with a 300 cli , also had a cap one auto loan at 17% . since then my cap one is a qs with $2k , I have discover it with 1.5 k , also I joined penfed and got a 32k auto loan at 6.5%, visa soggy with 8.5 k limit and a penfed defender visa with 5k limit . I also have a nfcu n rewards with a 5k , and a cloc at 5k! all in 1 year , so I would recommend you to join Nfcu and try for one of their cards .

[Anonymous]

Cman, thank you for your service and your post. Looks like you have some good cards. What are your scores now if you don't mind me asking? I will probably try for a NFCU card next year after my scores hit the mid six range and I get some of these collections of my reports. That's my focus for the foreseeable future.

Like kaykay suggested, Chase and/or NFCU. Then maybe a BCE 6 months after those, then a VA home loan. I'm on a 24 month rebuild plan and life long maintenance plan thereafter.

[Anonymous]

Hi vet  my scores now are EX 690, Tu 676 ,EQ 666     i joined penfed in 08-16 and was able to get auto loan & platinum siggy visa with 8.5k limit at same time.

I had been member of nfcu but had only just used checking , got mailer to apply 4 nrewards card ,applied online instant approval for 5k,also applied for cloc instant approval ! this was on 9-20

I was in penfed branch on 10-11 and was asked if i wanted to apply for defender visa ? i said yes if no hard pull , they used original pull from when i joined approved for defender visa 5K! not bad for somone with 550 fico in nov of 2015 !  So use your vet status to get in nfcu & penfed ! I plan on staying in the garden now!