guidance needed for my journey out of the credit cellar

[Anonymous]

Afternoon folks,

So my scores have been all over the place, high 600's to the high 400's. Its a journey which slow and steady wins the race.

So here are my current scores:

Equifax: 537

Transunion: 584

Experian: 553

Current CC Accounts:

BarclayCard : 0/1000 - just paid this to $0 yesterday (4/17/17) so wont update for awhile

Capital One Quicksilver One : 0/950 - just paid this to $0 yesterday (4/17/17) so wont update for awhile

Capital One Quicksilver One - 1350/1750 - 

Kohls Charge - 285/300 - Shows a 30/60 day late payment in middle of 2016 -> will they do a good will removal?

Amazon Store card: 830/800 - 

We also had to purchase 2 vehicles due to one of them dying and needing a larger vehicle for my wife for the kids.

Honda Financial - $43000 -  4.3% includes roll over from what I owed on my last Accord vs what the car was worth

Capital One Auto - $14000 - horrible interest rate its like 20+ % i believe. I need to get my scores up to refiance this asap.

Now all the negatives:

Kohls Charge card - Showing 30/60 lates from middle of 2016 - Will they do a good will removal of the lates?

Discover Secured card - long story short was in an accident and unable to pay anything, shows 30/60/90 day lates and closed by creditor...although I paid it off once I was back on my feet. 

Child support - shows I'm behind which is true due to the large amount they ordered and what I make....still currently battling this out in court

Time Payment Corp - To be honest I'm not even sure what this is. reported middle of 2016 - $1900 - 180s + late

2 student loans - US Dept of Ed - thought these were in forebarance however they were not, at one point were 120 days late. I have tried to work with the obudsman about getting these lates removed- - work in progress.

ARS - $56 Collection for medical bill

Enhances recovery - $188 Collection for Time Warner

Amcol - $115 Collection for medical bill

Choice Recovery - $13 Collection!!! are you kidding me? $13 I work in hospital billing and cant believe this got sent out, it costs more mail out.

PcB - $112 Collection medical bill

ARS - $91 Collection medical bill

Now I know I have disputed the student loans so I'm not sure if that changes my actual score???

We are going to be buying a house hopefully next summer so I'm trying to get my ducks in a row before then.

My recent inquires are high obviously due to the auto stuff.

13, 17, 6 - however the most of these are auto all pulled on the same day so shouldn't these count as one pull?

I'm just curious everyones thoughts on a plan of attack to get my score into the high 600's low 700's

I have been ontime for all my CC payments but somehow I can not get a CLI from CapOne or BarclayCard to save my life -its been almost a year for CapOne.

[rmduhon]

First, unless it's a typo, get the Amazon account down under the limit. Pay off 2 of your cards and get the last one under 9% for optimal scoring. That'll help your scores. GW the Kohl's and Discover. Try for PFD on the collections, if unable to get a PFD pay/settle them. Don't worry about the child support affecting your scores, it's not counted for that.

[Anonymous]

The amazon is correct - interest charges is what put it over the limit.

Do the store cards count differently than a standard CC that you can use anywhere???

I wasnt sure if it would be best to pay off the store cards first then the larger Cap One or the Cap One completely then make little improvements with the two store cards.

The Collections for the medical I am trying to get recalled due to having charity care which was never applied. if not I will look into the HIPAA way to remove them. The others all PFD

[rmduhon]

Store cards are counted the same as regular credit cards in regards to scores so you can take care of those first if you want to.

[Anonymous]

Well, you're not in a terrible place, in terms of starting out. So that's a good thing.

As has been said, you need to get that Amazon back under your limit. You also need to get your overall utilization down. Doing those things should boost your scores to over 600 I would think. I would pay down the Amazon, pay off the Kohls, leave the $950 QS1 alone (DO NOT USE IT) and leave the Barclay card alone as well. 

Next, what I would do, is put all but one of those cards in my sock drawer. I would probably leave the $1750 QS1 in my wallet but again, you need to get this back to a zero balance. If you're paying interest on these cards, you're doing it wrong. My rule is, if it's not something we can't pay off within the month, it's not in our budget. You need to first get a handle on your budget and your cards, and carrying balances on cards shows you're not living within your means. You need to get that QS1 down to a point where you're not paying interest (assuming you are). 

The rest ... well, get your typing/calling fingers ready. Work on good wills and pay for deletes. It's not easy and it takes time, but building credit is a balancing act of dealing with past problems and building new credit. You have the new credit part in hand, you just need to manage it a bit better. It's the past issues you have to deal with now. 

Lastly, you MUST make ALL payments over the next 12-18 months. No lates. None. If you're serious about getting a mortgage, you need to make every payment.

I'm sorry if it sounds harsh, but I do mean to be blunt. I went from high 400s/low 500s last January, to closing on a house this January. I'm now solidly in the mid-600s and just got approved for an AMEX Blue Cash Everyday. If I can do it, you can too, but you have to be serious, diligent and do the work Good luck! 

[Anonymous]

Slight update everyone,

Got the Amazon card down to 699/800

put together some good will letters and need to send those out soon.

Still working on finding some extra money to pay the other cards down....however with attorney and custody issues its proving difficult