so i started checking out this forum a couple months ago right when i got approved for a $200 cap1 secured cc i had 3 baddies and want to have great credit (to me that means 680+ atm) by the end of the year. heres my situation ill start with the baddies then ccs then my credit monitoring service which i have a few questions about.
1- the baddies
i had 3 baddies 2 moths ago when i applied for my cc and started thinking about getting good credit. in dec i had one come out of nowhere and was a little angry bc i was just getting to figure out how to clean up my report. thankfully bc that one was due to a snafu by att it is paidf and the ca's said they had been called by att and requested to delete them (they ended up at 2 ca's!). my ex and i broke up in jan and she wanted to be the primary account holder on our att account bc we had my internet and her iphone through them. since the dsl was only 20 a month and her phone was 1-200 a month. so i agreed and att then made two prorated bills for that month but both went to her name. she paid only the most recent and didnt pay the first prorated one. i never got a bill and didnt hear from att ever about it just a ca, then another one. anyway after 2 calls to att for 2 hrs each bc of hold times. they agreed it was bc of their error so my ex paid them $71 and they called the ca's to request removal. GREAT! they are listed as paid and still on the report but the ca's said it would take up to 30 days before they are removed. i will monitor this to make sure it happens. so now im back to my origional 3
first one- a cable bill that has some strange innacuracies on it. i wont go into detail, but i told the ca that the info was incorrect and they didnt really budge even though i offered a pfd on the actual amount of $94 (the cable co confirmed it was $94 but the ca says its around $400) anyway the last payment date on that account was feb 2nd 2006 so on feb 2nd it will be 7 years from last payment. i heard that you can just call the credit bureaus and have them delete it by law. can someone confirm this for me?
second one- a cable bill again but this one i believe is legit in the amounts and everything same ca (enhanced recovery) i told them i'd pay this in full after confirming the amount and everything with the oc (twcable) it says last payment was nov of 2006. the CA said they wont delete even if i pay in full. if they refuse i wouldnt mind waiting it out till november and doing the same thing. 7 years since last payment so call the bureaus and have them delete it. i will check with them again a couple times before nov. and again offer to pay in full for deletion but if they refuse to delete id rather wait till nopvember than have it stated as paid in full on my report for 7 years from now. is this the best approach. it seems logical to me as waiting 10 months for a deletion seems better than a paid in full on my report for 7 years.
thrid one.- this one is legit its from a couple years ago my wife just had our baby and cut off my cable and was having very hard time month to moth so let it slip. different CA (cba colletion bureau). assuming baddies #1-2 drop off in feb and nov (or they agree to pfd for the nov one) this will be my only collections left. i dont believe i have called them yet as want to make sure i approach this correctly first. what should i do about this one? any suggestions? is there a big difference between a cr that has only 1 collections thats listed as paid in full for 7 years and a cr that has zero baddies?
section 2 ccs
first sec. cc- cap 1 got a $200 limit paid $100 dep. they seem great so far! i used it up to about $160 and had it payed down to $7 by the statement date. they said it may take 30-90 days to show up on my cr. it took only 4 days!!! my first revolving account with one month history (yay!) reported as i assumed 4% utilization $200 limit so on... after reading this forum a bunch it will be pretty straightforward to have this report as low utilization from here on out. my fako from equifax advantage only went up 5 pts to 590 but w/e.
second cc?- i want to get a second sec cc this month and want to make sure it reports as a unsecured like cap1 does i heard first progress does this. is this my best option for my second secured cc? any suggestions of other cards for my situation?
third section - my credit monitoring service
i signed up for the $5 one month trial with eq advantage after realizing i could get a monitoring service here until i have a 6 month history with eq. so i may sign up here in 5 or so months but they wont let me right now. i called to cancel my advantage yesterday 1 daq before the trial was up and they offered me a free extra month so i have them for one more month. i guess i dont even have a real fico score until 6 months of history? so i can only get fako scores. i was listed origionally when i signed up last month as 595 eq fako, 725 t/u fako (just found out why yesterday), and 600 exp fako. the higher TU fako i just discovered is bc back in 1991 my sister signed me on her amex as a autherized user so i have 20 years history with tu (thx sis!) thought it was a strange error but just found out this news yesterday.
i cant wait to get some real fico scores but this service is alright it listed the collections i have and bc of it i got the alert about the new collection from att that will be getting deleted this month. i will only use them this month bc they offered it free and cancel before they charge. basicallly i can update for free as much as i want which means i will see that att thing drop off at some point for free. i may also see what my second month of cap1 statement does to my fako i will keep it at 1% uti this time. $2...haha
anyone got any tips on what i should do this month? is there anything im approaching wrong in my collections section? is first progress a good idea and do they report as unsecured? i will gradually raise my cl's with seposits ove the next 6 months and get my cards between 500-1k each. on top of that is there anything else im missing or overlooked? thanks in advance.
scores 9/25/2020 between 670-685
cap1 QUICKSILVER $1,100 DISCOVER $1,100 CSP $7,900 FREEDOM FLEX $8,100
