topic Re: New Member Wanting Advice in Credit Cards

New Member Wanting Advice

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 17:01:43 GMT

Hi guys! I recently came across this forum and I must say that I have enjoyed reading a lot of the stories people have posted here. I've seen and read a lot of great advice and seen people improve their credit scores daily. I just wanted to post my situation and just see what advice could be given to me to make sure I'm on the right track.

Here goes mine.....

Until about 6 months ago I didn't have any credit cards at all. I basically have been old fashioned I suppose and just never really thought about working on credit stuff. Only thing I had showing up on my credit report was my care credit that me and my dad got together. It started with like a $3000 limit and I think they moved it up to 4 or 5k. Currently still making payments for my invisalign that I got at my dentist office. ( think I have a balance remaining of $700 down from $2,000)

The beginning of February will mark 6 months since I applied and got a capital one platinum card with a $300 balance. All payments on time and never charged more than $45 on it and paid it in full each time. Should be coming up on CLI with it too. In Decemeber I decided to apply for the Capital One Quiksilver One and got approved for $500. Been using it the same way and making payments as usual. My credit scores showing from credit karma for both equifax and trans show 637 currently (though through credit tracker on capital one my trans shows 657). My fiko/experian score as I just signed up for their trial on their website shows 624.

Im just curious on what I should be doing or continue to do moving forward. Those are the only 2 cards that I have along with my care credit. Should I look into another card? Should I look into a store card or 2? I know I don't have but 3 accounts and to me that doesn't look that good. I'm able to make payments with no problem but just feel like I've waited too long to get started. Any advice is appreciated!

-Ryan

Re: New Member Wanting Advice

NRB525 — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 17:30:44 GMT

Congratulations on getting the two CC, and paying down the CareCredit!

Those steps are actually keys to getting your scores to improve: Just keep using those two credit cards regularly, paying them monthly, don't worry too much about utilization percentage as long as it does not go over the limit.

At your stage of credit development, every month you add with good payment history is probably the biggest boost you will see in your scores. As you continue to make on-time payments, that will continue to improve your score. Staying away from apping for a while keeps those HP off your report, and each one of those will be a temporary setback.

There may be some other cards that you could apply for, but probably not immediately, so you want to take some time to see what the best next step is. While you are researching options for the next step, your score will continue to increase.

Good luck!

Re: New Member Wanting Advice

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 17:36:19 GMT

You can probably convert your capital one platinum into a Quicksilver by emailing the EO . Do you have any negatives ? If not , I would garden for 6-8 months and then go for an Amex or Chase or Discover . You can probably get one of those cards earlier but the longer you garden the better chance you have at a decent CL .

Re: New Member Wanting Advice

1GaDawg85 — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 17:49:59 GMT

Contact Cap1 via Facebook and them call you. But other than that, hang out in the GC

Re: New Member Wanting Advice

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 17:52:30 GMT

Thanks NRB for the response! Yea I wasn't sure what I need to focus on with such little credit history. I will be getting a CLI on the CO platinum next month i assume so I'm not sure if that helps my score or hurts me. Btw, when I posted my scores do you know if there is a credit score and a Fico score u get from experian? Reason I ask is I signed up for the 7 day trial on their website to get the score all I see is my Fico score from them

Re: New Member Wanting Advice

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 18:00:17 GMT

Thanks refugee! Well since I just got the Quiksilver One from them in December, can I still swap to the other Quiksilver card?

also here is the only negative I've ever had and dunno what to do with it.... I had a best buy credit card with$500 limit back in sept 07. Was my first credit card ever, Made my first prolly 5 payments on time and then messed up. It was charged off in sept 09 with $829 balance showing... bought by someone called midland in dec 2011.

Read that midland was awful so wasnt sure if I try to wait and let it drop off or what. I Think it only shows on 2 of my credit reports though but would have to double check.

But That's literally the only thing I've ever had bad and that's was years ago.

Re: New Member Wanting Advice

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 18:02:00 GMT

GDawg what is GC? I'm sure I need to go read up on the lingo here!

Re: New Member Wanting Advice

happypill — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 18:23:52 GMT

The Best Buy CO is a huge drag on your credit. When is it scheduled to fall off your reports? If it is a ways out, you could try going for a pay for dismissal. Check out the rebuilding forum for advice.

Re: New Member Wanting Advice

happypill — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 18:24:33 GMT

Sorry, meant to type pay for delete.

Re: New Member Wanting Advice

Josh2942 — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 18:28:23 GMT

I would pay down care credit to zero and wait till the 13 month mark and apply for one card that you will use the most. It appears that you dont care for credit cards as much as we do YET. I would get the Chase Freedom so you cant wet your beak with UR. Or I would get the SPG Amex and build up your starwoods points because once you understand the points game I beileve they are the most vaulable points for transfering to partners but UR from chase are great for cash back

Re: New Member Wanting Advice

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 18:34:36 GMT

HappyPill- Well I was thinking that things drop off after 7 years so if the account was closed off in September 09 then I'm guess next Sept it would drop off.

Re: New Member Wanting Advice

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 18:40:22 GMT

Josh- I thought having the care credit balance was a good thing to show a revolving credit since I only had 2 other credit cards currently. I've made about a year and a half of on time payments with them to get to where it is now.

As far as credit goes, I just hate that I have waited this long to actually take it serious and build up a score. I just wanna do what is best for now so I can see higher scores in the next year or so. After reading many stories on here it's amazing how far some people have come!

As far as Chase goes, I know credit karma shows I have a good chance to get the chase freedom card but I don't exactly believe most of the stuff there.

Re: New Member Wanting Advice

Dimanchi — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 19:24:59 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Josh- I thought having the care credit balance was a good thing to show a revolving credit since I only had 2 other credit cards currently. I've made about a year and a half of on time payments with them to get to where it is now.

As far as credit goes, I just hate that I have waited this long to actually take it serious and build up a score. I just wanna do what is best for now so I can see higher scores in the next year or so. After reading many stories on here it's amazing how far some people have come!

As far as Chase goes, I know credit karma shows I have a good chance to get the chase freedom card but I don't exactly believe most of the stuff there.

Don't rely on Credit Karma for anything! their approval rating system is not linked to any bank. For Chase just go to their site and see if you are pre-approve for the Freedom, if not don't apply until the BB CO comes off

https://creditcards.chase.com/prequalified-offers?F42G=FH24R8&CELL=63WS&jp_ltg=masthead&list=4,2,1

Re: New Member Wanting Advice

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 21:16:53 GMT

Dimanchi- Thanks alot ! Yea I figured the credit karma stuff was mostly a guess.

Re: New Member Wanting Advice

Jerry45 — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 22:26:08 GMT

You are doing great. Just let everything age some more, and you will be all set

Re: New Member Wanting Advice

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Jan 2015 01:11:51 GMT

Thanks Jerry! I'm trying to make sure I'm doing everything right so I'm asking the forums to help me!

Re: New Member Wanting Advice

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Jan 2015 01:33:38 GMT

An installment loan of some type will give you a boost as well. If you are planning to buy a home or auto with your building credit score, a share secured loan at a CU is a good easy way to round out your mix of credit. You deposit 500 bucks into an account, which they put a hold on so you cant spend it. They then loan you 500 dollars and pull the payments out of the held money.

Alliant CU is a good one for share secured loans, I have a 500 dollar one with them, for 4years. The total cost to me is about 23 dollars. Borrow 500, pay back 11 dollars a month for 48 months. With a reatively thin file like yours it could provide a significant score boost. Most local credit unions also do these. I picked up 20 some points when the loan started reporting.

This is not hugely vital, but it gives a way to extend your file, at a nominal cost. Mix of credit is not a huge factor, but it does play a role in your score. Plus the loan payments give you an extra payment checkmark every month.

Re: New Member Wanting Advice

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Jan 2015 02:02:35 GMT

Pfarro- Thanks for the info. I can check with some of the local credit Unions here and see what all they offer. I had originally thought about getting a small bank loan (have a consigner if needed) and pay the amount back over like 6-8 months. Just wasn't sure if it would help a lot of not.

Re: New Member Wanting Advice

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Jan 2015 05:00:11 GMT

I decided to get my 3 Fico scores from this site and they are 610/605/615. Knew they would be low but didn't think that low. I did the trial through experian website the other day and it said my Fico was 624. Did the trial on transunion earlier today and while it wasn't a Fico it said my score was 707.

Def confused on all of the numbers and what to do. Guess I need to just keep making payments on what I currently have because I doubt I'd be able to get much else.

Re: New Member Wanting Advice

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Jan 2015 07:21:06 GMT

One thing to remember, utilization is a big part of your score. And that care credit is taking a pretty good bite out of your overall utilization. When you get that down a bit more you will see your scores climb probably fairly significantly. And next september or whenever that baddy goes away you will move up quite a bit. My last bad mark came off my transunion report last week and i went from 668 to 713. Make your payments on time for now. Maybe start the share secured loan. And when that bad mark comes off you will have 18 plus months of solid history, no bad marks and i would wager a score in the mid 700s. At that point you can get just about anything you want. Especially if you have no inquiries on your report.