topic Re: Need some personalized advice please in Credit Cards

Need some personalized advice please

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 01:10:41 GMT

Hi there, hoping I can get some advice on how to continue elevating my score based on my specific situation. Long story short, a few years back I had credit trouble. Some cap 1 credit cards went to collections, had a few credit union cards with quite a few 30 day lates and a few 60 day. on top of that I had some medical collections. Fast forward to February 2019;

I kicked ass and took names and paid off $30k in collections and debt. Wiped the slate just about clean. At the same time I put myself on 3 of my wife’s cards as authorized user (she has decent credit). After paying everything off I went to work on disputing the paids and while I was successful in a lot, unfortunately the credit cards (even though they say closed and paid off) are still there. I was at a low 505 FICO credit score and was able to bring my scores to around 615 now. After doing all this work I wanted to apply for a card and was denied. I called to ask why and they said we can see you have paid things off but you are only an authorized user and we want to see you having your own credit with on time payments. So 4 months ago I gave discover $1,000 and got a secured discover card. Last month my wife and I got a joint auto loan. So currently my account seems to have topped off and it’s a grind getting my account higher. With 1 open credit card of my own and 1 auto loan. Not sure of the authorized user accounts are helping me much. But I am busy each month playing the game of putting a little bit on each card and paying them off. Sometimes leaving small balances. Currently FICO is showing my “accounts always paid as agrees” as 43%, 43%, and 47%. Its reading all of those old closed accounts now paid off and even though some went a year in charge off status the CO reported monthly marking it as a hit.

I have 1 collection on 1 or my credit reports which is paid off and a credit card, so it’s technically on my report 2 times. As the account and collection even though paid off. I tried to dispute it multiple times with no success. There’s 1 other $97 medical collection that is paid off and I’m still hoping I can dispute to remove that one, it’s on the other 2 credit bureaus. My revolving debt typically stays around 25-30% by design. It’s tough sometimes with only 1 credit card with a $1,000 limit. My avg age of accounts is almost 7 years with the oldest being almost 11, it’s counting the negative closed ones. My credit mix is good and my hard inquiries is low. 3-4 per account with some being the same one across the board.

My question is would you recommend I get another credit card to help build up my score faster or just keep at it in the garden? My goal was to get to the point where I could get a good reward card but I’m not there yet. I applied for the Apple Card because it’s only a soft pull and was not qualified. I don’t want to go capital one but ultimately I will if it will help. What do you all think I should do at this point?

Re: Need some personalized advice please

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 01:17:58 GMT

First off, pay down your debt on the cards. Having multiple cards with a balance and holding at 25-30% is hurting you. Allow one card to report a small balance around $10 and all the others to report zero. This will maximize your scores with respect to utilization.

As for the account reported twice, that is actually legal and proper. You have a report from the original lender which should read as a chargeoff/sold debt, and an entry from the collection agency showing a zero balance since it’s paid. This is the proper way it should report. Don’t dispute it - each time you do and it comes back validated, it refreshes the reporting and further suppresses your scores.

I would stay on as an AU only if her accounts have significant age and very low or zero utilization. You have some decent age to the accounts on your report, so unless her cards reach far beyond that age and carry very low to no balance, remove yourself as they’re either hurting or doing little for you.

Handle the balances first, see where your scores land after they update, and retry Discover. If it’s still a No, look back at CapOne or possibly OpenSky. Ultimately a loan and three revolvers is all you need to build your profile.

Re: Need some personalized advice please

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 01:35:14 GMT

Thank you for the reply. When I say 25% utilization I’ts very low debt as I only have 1 card with a $1,000 limit. It’s a discover with 2% gas so I’ve been using it as my gas card. My wife’s cards all have really Low balances 10-15%. In fact I’m an authorized on her target card and we just got a letter from them saying they would close it if we didn’t use it so we put $50 on it. I will work to get my discover only at around $10-$20 at statement cut off. Also, the 3 cards of hers I am on are all 4-5 years old.

Re: Need some personalized advice please

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 01:35:42 GMT

And I pay it off each statement fully

Re: Need some personalized advice please

AllZero — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 01:48:28 GMT

Agreed with ImTheDevil.

How old are the derogatories and delinquencies? If they are nearing the 7 year mark, ask for EE Early Exclusion:
TU 6 months
EX 3 months
EQ 1 month. I would not recommend requesting EE.

Re: Need some personalized advice please

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 01:50:56 GMT

Ok good, as long as you only allow one to report, that’ll max your scoring for utilization when the one reporting card is in that $10 range. We call this AZEO, All Zero Except One.

At this point I’d apply and get yourself to a total of three cards of your own, and maintain AZEO. Let time help heal your scores, make every payment faithfully, and at least $5 over the min so it doesn’t flag your payment history as making only minimum payments, and work on the derogs. What collection agency/agencies are on your reports? What original creditors are on there with derogatory remarks? Some may be willing to make adjustments based on a Goodwill letter campaign. Read this thread for a vast amount of info on this topic - it takes time and effort but they lay-off can be fantastic.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/The-Saturation-Technique-Best-GW-adjustment-odds/m-p/4727098#M504189

Re: Need some personalized advice please

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 02:04:45 GMT

I just removed myself from my wife’s Best Buy Card as an authorized user. I thought it would help because it has a high $5,700 limit and only a couple hundred on it. But one 30 day late from April 2018. So I just removed it. The other 2 authorized are target which we just put $50 on it and it has a $2,500 cli. Never late, and a chase freedom card with a $1,500 limit and $0 balance and never late. Should I remove myself from those?

In terms of my own 3 cards, If I have 1 discover card secured with a $1,000 limit, what do you recommend I use for the other 2?

For my old derogs the 2 paid off collections are trans world systems originally owing was $96 and the other is from verity credit union from a credit card that is now paid off as of Feb of this year.

The other derogs are 3 capital one cards (one was a business card with me as personal guarantor) Macy’s, Kay jewelers, verity credit union, a paid off car loan with some 30 day lates from 2014-2015, and the verity credit union card that went to charge off but I paid it off.

Re: Need some personalized advice please

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 02:18:18 GMT

And the dates of derogs range from 2024 to 1.5 years ago. What is EE?

Re: Need some personalized advice please

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 02:18:47 GMT

Oh I see, early exclusion.

Re: Need some personalized advice please

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 02:29:31 GMT

Hold on!!!!!

You've taken on the world when it comes to debt and accomplished what many haven't.

I give you an A++ for ambition but, the speed of credit is molasses. Slow down and get your bearings again before you start jumping into another issue that will prevent recovering from the lates and charge offs.

1 card/loan in your name is enough to build your profile back up... it just takes time. Lots of time with those kind of dings on your report.

Focus on the dings and dirt for the time being. Try hitting up the OC's and seeing if they'll send an update to the CRA's for removal or recode the payments as PIF at this point since you remedied the issues in full. If that doesn't work then hit up the CA's for the same removal of the collection since it's now PIF. Some will, some won't.

Make sure you have autopay setup and put a small monthly bill on the Disco to keep it active monthly thus unsecuring on time as your score comes up with the activity.

Once you gain some traction again with your profile and get your scores up things will happen more naturally. Don't mess around with the AU's too much or it might mess up your reports as well. Leave the 2 AU accounts and keep the balances low if possible.

Let time heal the issues now that they have been taken care of. It might take a little while but, be patient and don't get twitchy with ramping things up in a short period of time or it will backfire.

Re: Need some personalized advice please

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 02:45:18 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hold on!!!!!

You've taken on the world when it comes to debt and accomplished what many haven't.

I give you an A++ for ambition but, the speed of credit is molasses. Slow down and get your bearings again before you start jumping into another issue that will prevent recovering from the lates and charge offs.

1 card/loan in your name is enough to build your profile back up... it just takes time. Lots of time with those kind of dings on your report.

Focus on the dings and dirt for the time being. Try hitting up the OC's and seeing if they'll send an update to the CRA's for removal or recode the payments as PIF at this point since you remedied the issues in full. If that doesn't work then hit up the CA's for the same removal of the collection since it's now PIF. Some will, some won't.

Make sure you have autopay setup and put a small monthly bill on the Disco to keep it active monthly thus unsecuring on time as your score comes up with the activity.

Once you gain some traction again with your profile and get your scores up things will happen more naturally. Don't mess around with the AU's too much or it might mess up your reports as well. Leave the 2 AU accounts and keep the balances low if possible.

Let time heal the issues now that they have been taken care of. It might take a little while but, be patient and don't get twitchy with ramping things up in a short period of time or it will backfire.

Understood. When we got the auto loan jointly the lady at the bank told me that the way some of those old accounts were reported was negatively hurting my score even though paid off. Also I looked I have 2 hard inquiries on 2 bureaus and 3 on another. So with the goal of attacking those old accounts. I've been disputing and it hasn't helped. Should I call them or send letters? Both?

Re: Need some personalized advice please

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 02:48:51 GMT

If you write them go certified w/ return receipt.

Calling can work as well. Calling might be faster if they agree but, if they don't then go the mail route.

Don't worry about the INQ's since you're not going to apply for anything for awhile until other things get resolved. Until things get resolved applying isn't going to get you anywhere faster.

Re: Need some personalized advice please

AllZero — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 02:59:09 GMT

So your derogatories are not that old.

Do you know the DOFD Date Of First Delinquency? That is the date that will be used in the EE request.

If you haven't done so, you can get your credit report at annualcreditreport.com

If you want 3 bureaus FICO scores go to creditchecktotal.com for $1 (part of Experian). Cancel in 7 days or less to avoid reoccurring charge.

Re: Need some personalized advice please

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 03:02:19 GMT

@AllZero wrote:
So your derogatories are not that old.

Do you know the DOFD Date Of First Delinquency? That is the date that will be used in the EE request.

If you haven't done so, you can get your credit report at annualcreditreport.com

If you want 3 bureaus FICO scores go to creditchecktotal.com for $1 (part of Experian). Cancel in 7 days or less to avoid reoccurring charge.

I pay for my fico 3 score monitoring but I'm having trouble finding that info. For example the Macy's was opened in dec 2011 and went to charge off in 2013. On fico equifax states last activity was 2013, while transunion says 2019 when I paid it off. Some of the inconsistencies between these are so different. It's confusing. One of them still says charged off to 1 bureau while the other 2 say payment after charge off.

Re: Need some personalized advice please

AllZero — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 03:10:08 GMT

Go get your report at annualcreditreport.com

I think it has more detail. It's free but no score.

Re: Need some personalized advice please

AllZero — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 03:12:33 GMT

If the Macy's charge off was around 2013, you're close. Find the DOFD.

Re: Need some personalized advice please

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 03:20:37 GMT

Ok here's what I found;

cap 1 closed - date of first delinquency 06/14

Macy's - charged off in 2014. Sat with no activity until Jan 2019. When I paid it off for a "negotiated price" they marked it paid and in Jan 2-19 put a 90 day late on my experience at the same time.

Seattle credit union auto loan - has 3 30 day lates end of 2015, 2 60 day lates beginning of 2016. Everything else is paid on time and the auto loan was paid off in April 2017.

Cap 1 closed - paid off, showing 2 30 day lates in 2014 and 1 60 day late in 2014

BECU - in 2014 went 60 days late. Card was closed by credit union. Continued to pay it off until February 2019 paid in full. Made monthly payments for 5 years on it. Had 2 30 day lates in 2018.

Kay jewelers - had 30 day and 60 day late in 2014. They closed acct. sent me a settlement letter for about 50% of bill. I paid it in 2014 I believe. Maybe 2015.

seattle credit union credit card 30 day late in dec 2017, then 60 then 90. Went CO and reported CO monthly on EQ and EX until I paid it off in January 2019.

Verity credit union CC - went 30 in Jan 2018, then 60 then 90. Then CO monthly on EX until I paid it off in Jan 2019.

those are all my negative items.

Re: Need some personalized advice please

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 03:30:14 GMT

Ok more info; i cant do annual credit report as it hasn't been a year but i pulled it in January before paying everything off. Here are dofd dates;

macys - sep 1 2013

Seattle credit union cc says Jan 1 2018

Cap 1 - sep 1 2018

Verity cc - feb 2018

Those are the only dates on equifax

Re: Need some personalized advice please

AllZero — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 03:53:33 GMT

As mentioned up thread, start a good will writing campaign. If all your collections and charge offs have been addressed, the better.

Make yourself a spreadsheet or similar. Compile all your notes. Mark your calender for the estimated drop off dates.

For Transunion, it's been posted they are easy to work with. All you have to do is call. If the front line csr is not able to do it, politely ask to speak to the supervisor. They can handle it.

You're looking at around March 2020 for Macy's and 2021 for the 4 others if I'm counting correctly. How many Cap 1 card did you have, 2?

It'll be a long process but the cleaner you get your report, the more attractive you will be to lenders.

You'll see some score gains when your derogatories and delinquencies age beyond 2 years. The severity will diminish slightly. However, they will still impact your score. You just have to let the dust settle and see where you are at that point.

Congratulations for tackling that collections and debt.

Re: Need some personalized advice please

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 03:58:12 GMT

There are 2 cap 1's on my acct. after paying off the business cap 1 i disputed it and recently it was removed.