topic Re: So Frustrated! Help?! in Credit Card Applications

So Frustrated! Help?!

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Jul 2019 15:04:52 GMT

BRIEF OVERVIEW:

Started in June 2018 - across the board 415-450. Took care of 4 collections, leaving 1. Self lender + fingerhut. Experian for tracking and monitoring.

Aug '18 - 569 FICO8

Nov '18 - Carmax auto loan @ 8.5% / $18k > FICO 594

Jan '19 - Kohls $400 limit, kept $100 revolving > FICO 601

Mar'19 - Mortgage approval > 622 FICO

April to Present '19 - Kohls CLI to $700, still 1 baddie, credit one $400 limit, Utilization at 33%, paid off selflender > FICO 637

I only do pre-quals that don't effect and only have had 6 inquiries since Jan, including the mortgage pulls. 2 are mortgage, 1 is credit one, 1 is carecredit and 1 is discover.

I cannot seem to get pre quals or pre approvals for ANYTHING! Ex 637, Trans 611, Eq 630 .... from where I was a year ago i think thats pretty darn good!

Discover came back as not enough history, care credit (chase) wont seem to give me an answer (still waiting on the mail), and I was obviously approved for the mortgage and credit one (i KNOW this isnt a great option).

I'm at a loss, confused and frustrated! Do i have ANY options?!

Re: So Frustrated! Help?!

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Jul 2019 15:13:21 GMT

First and quickest is to pay your cards down so that only one bank card (not store card) has a balance, and that balance is less than 8.9% of its limit. This is called AZEO and should be worth 10-15 points on your thin file. Next, keep on the prequals as you are doing, but don’t app for anything for the next six months.

Get that last collection handled - PFD if possible, paid if not. Try goodwill letters to remove all the paid collections that you can.

Do these things and your score should come up nicely and I bet those prequals start showing promise.

Re: So Frustrated! Help?!

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Jul 2019 15:17:20 GMT

TIME.... while you're doing well so far Credit Time takes forever it seems to catch up.

Stop applying for stuff and let things age a bit.

Considering it's been less than a year since you started working on things getting a mortgage is an amazing accomplishment!!

BTW Care Credit isn't Chase it's Synchrony.... big difference in UW standards.

Let your current accounts hit 12 months before attempting to apply for something else. After they hit a year some more options will open up like knocking down that Auto Loan under 5%. Kohl's can grow to about $3K. Credit One isn't the best but, it does count as a bank card vs retail like Kohl's.

Re: So Frustrated! Help?!

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Jul 2019 15:29:23 GMT

Preapprovals are gonna slowly start to trickle in. You are on the right path. I was at a 600 FICO last year and never had any preapprovals apart from a Cap1 Platinum back in December 2018. Since then, I still don’t have many preapprovals. I received a SavorOne mailer yesterday and I jumped for joy. Discover has been my true organic preapproval. AMEX let me in without a preapproval, but usually chargers are easy to get. After you have a relationship with AMEX though, they approve based on your usage mainly.

I would give it a little bit longer. Start trying to bark at AMEX for some of the simple cards unless you have burned them. Discover will pop at one point.

Re: So Frustrated! Help?!

CreditInspired — Sun, 28 Jul 2019 15:55:34 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
BRIEF OVERVIEW:
Started in June 2018 - across the board 415-450. Took care of 4 collections, leaving 1. Self lender + fingerhut. Experian for tracking and monitoring.
Aug '18 - 569 FICO8
Nov '18 - Carmax auto loan @ 8.5% / $18k > FICO 594
Jan '19 - Kohls $400 limit, kept $100 revolving > FICO 601
Mar'19 - Mortgage approval > 622 FICO
April to Present '19 - Kohls CLI to $700, still 1 baddie, credit one $400 limit, Utilization at 33%, paid off selflender > FICO 637

I only do pre-quals that don't effect and only have had 6 inquiries since Jan, including the mortgage pulls. 2 are mortgage, 1 is credit one, 1 is carecredit and 1 is discover.
I cannot seem to get pre quals or pre approvals for ANYTHING! Ex 637, Trans 611, Eq 630 .... from where I was a year ago i think thats pretty darn good!
Discover came back as not enough history, care credit (chase) wont seem to give me an answer (still waiting on the mail), and I was obviously approved for the mortgage and credit one (i KNOW this isnt a great option).

I'm at a loss, confused and frustrated! Do i have ANY options?!

Hi and welcome

When did you close on your home?