feeling frustrated

[Anonymous]

In the process of building my credit but not sure where to go from here.

I was in the low 400s earlier this year and now at a 595 equifax. I have paid and removed 11 collections with two left (under $800 total). I have an open auto loan with 11 late payments in 5 years and a new secured credit card (1000).

I need to buy a new car but not sure how else to bump my score up. I have 22 inquiries and all but 3 will fall off next April. Any ideas?

[Anonymous]

What is your credit card utilization?

[Anonymous]

Try to find Credit Union near you. Join them, they are usually very friendly and helpful. They might even approve you for unsecured CC with small SL or, if not approved, secured CC is another option.Try to apply for car loan with them as well, same pull is usually used for several credit apps.

Big banks? Forget it, they are only good when we the tax payers bail them out, because they are too big to fail...

Good luck. Let us know your progress

[Anonymous]

What southeast80 said - check your card utilization. If you have high a balance reporting, you can get a signficant bump by paying it down. If the card is really new, like a month or two old, you may still have a bump coming from it when it counts as a current account(which generally happens on the 1st of the month after the second *full* statement cuts).

Beyond that, you could obtain 2 or 3 more secured cards from places that don't do credit checks. SDFCU is a good one, another one people mention is OpenSky(I've never used it so don't know much about it). Local credit unions often offer no credit check secured cards as well, although some credit unions will require a credit check just to join so call around. Be sure to ask if they report to all 3 credit bureaus as well. Obtaining these cards will likely bump your score a good bit, but might take 2 to 3 months to fully see the initial bump.

[Anonymous]

Somehow locked myself out of my original account and cannot get back in.

My utilization is at 8% on the card. My only concern with applying for more loans /credit is with 22 inquiries I'm hesitant to add more. I'll definitely try one of the credit unions that don't do a credit check. My secured card is with a local credit union and I was immediately notified of the hard pull.

[Anonymous]

Welcome to the myFico forums!

The Fico scoring system looks for at least 3 CCs.  It doesnt matter if they are secured or unsecured, just that they are in good standing and report to all 3 CRAs.

You will get the best scoring bump if they all report at zero except one, and that reports at 9% or less.

If you can wait for the car, the INQs fall off after 24 months.

If you cant wait, I would suggest getting financing before car shopping to avoid multiple INQs while the dealer tries to shop for a rate.   He will try to get you to choose one that he gets a  percentage in.

If you can get your scores up a little, I would suggest looking at places like DCU.

HTH

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:
Somehow locked myself out of my original account and cannot get back in.

My utilization is at 8% on the card. My only concern with applying for more loans /credit is with 22 inquiries I'm hesitant to add more. I'll definitely try one of the credit unions that don't do a credit check. My secured card is with a local credit union and I was immediately notified of the hard pull.

---

If it was recent HP, they might use it for a car loan as well, just ask. And it seems that you should be in pretty good shape after next April after most inquiries will fall off. They are overrated anyway, UTi ratio is much more important

[Anonymous]

Thanks all!

Hopefully things will be much improved after I resolve those last two collections. I'd like to be able to get the car with under 5% interest.

My current loan is at 2.59% and I really don't want too much higher. I will be glad when my credit is "healed". Thankfully I'll never be young and dumb again. Lesson learned.