topic Re: Newbie here, just saying hello! in Credit Cards

Newbie here, just saying hello!

Anonymous — Tue, 07 May 2013 12:13:25 GMT

Hello, gardeners and drappers and credit score addicts, I'm new around here. I didn't know I'd been gardening, but I guess I have. My last hard pull was in December 2007!

In the last eight years at least, I really didn't think about my credit at all until last month. I checked on April 6, I saw that utilization was at 74%.

Overall I'm in a decent position score/report-wise with TU @ 752 and EQ @ 722. My AAOA is 9 years, and my only truly negative things are utilization (now about 35%, though reports still reflect about 45%), and one 6-year-old 30 day late (Cap1).

Aside from paying down my bills (I think I owe another $5800 owed to credit cards), I'm not sure there's a lot to be done to optimize my score except waiting. My credit reports suggest that I owe too much in "non-mortgage installment loans." (I have $70k of student loans.) They aren't going away any time soon, so I can't expect a score boost from there.

I really came to the site at the beginning of April because it looks like I'll have to buy a car this summer, so I need to clean up my credit asap. Now that I've been lurking here, I've learned that I probably should go out for some "prime cards" while I'm at it. lol

Anyway, I just thought I'd say hello! I hope that my rambling message made sense.

Re: Newbie here, just saying hello!

dodfire — Tue, 07 May 2013 12:15:54 GMT

Welcome to the Forums!!!!

Re: Newbie here, just saying hello!

BrokaToe — Tue, 07 May 2013 12:17:55 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello, gardeners and drappers and credit score addicts, I'm new around here. I didn't know I'd been gardening, but I guess I have. My last hard pull was in December 2007!

In the last eight years at least, I really didn't think about my credit at all until last month. I checked on April 6, I saw that utilization was at 74%.

@Overall I'm in a decent position score/report-wise with TU @ 752 and EQ @ 722. My AAOA is 9 years, and my only truly negative things are utilization (now about 35%, though reports still reflect about 45%), and one 6-year-old 30 day late (Cap1).

Aside from paying down my bills (I think I owe another $5800 owed to credit cards), I'm not sure there's a lot to be done to optimize my score except waiting. My credit reports suggest that I owe too much in "non-mortgage installment loans." (I have $70k of student loans.) They aren't going away any time soon, so I can't expect a score boost from there.

I really came to the site at the beginning of April because it looks like I'll have to buy a car this summer, so I need to clean up my credit asap. Now that I've been lurking here, I've learned that I probably should go out for some "prime cards" while I'm at it. lol

Anyway, I just thought I'd say hello! I hope that my rambling message made sense.

Hi !!! And welcome to the myFICO family! Sounds like you've already got a great start in managing your credit, just hang in there and get that UTIL down and you should be fine for an auto loan when ready. The late payement may yield a bit higher interest rate, but over all I think you're golden. Normally student loans aren't weighed super heavy when apping for credit, at least in my experience.

I wish you all the best in your credit journey!

Thanks for the welcome! Now I have decided to join Navy F...

Anonymous — Tue, 07 May 2013 12:19:23 GMT

Thanks for the welcome! Now I have decided to join Navy Federal so I can apply for one of their car loans. They look pretty good from what I've seen here.

Re: Thanks for the welcome! Now I have decided to join Navy F...

dodfire — Tue, 07 May 2013 12:20:03 GMT

NFCU is the BOMB!!!!

Re: Newbie here, just saying hello!

Anonymous — Tue, 07 May 2013 12:23:24 GMT

Thanks. My (paid) car loan had no lates, so hopefully that will count in my favor.

That darn Cap1 won't remove the late from my credit card even though they know why I was late in May 07, and even though their records reflect that I made two large payments that month. They've offered to put a note on my credit report explaining it, but I don't want a note. I want it removed! Lol

Re: Newbie here, just saying hello!

Rhaeny — Tue, 07 May 2013 12:56:00 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks. My (paid) car loan had no lates, so hopefully that will count in my favor.

That darn Cap1 won't remove the late from my credit card even though they know why I was late in May 07, and even though their records reflect that I made two large payments that month. They've offered to put a note on my credit report explaining it, but I don't want a note. I want it removed! Lol

That late is 6 years old and shouldn't weigh that much if any in your scores. You have a spotless history with the exception of that one blip so you will be fine apping for a prime card. I have 2 baddies that are over 6 years old and it hasn't prevented me from getting any prime cards with nice CL's such as Chase or Discover. Let us know how it goes and welcome to the forum!

Re: Newbie here, just saying hello!

SpecFile — Tue, 07 May 2013 13:17:53 GMT

Welcome!!

Re: Newbie here, just saying hello!

parakleet — Tue, 07 May 2013 13:55:52 GMT

Welcome! I wouldn't worry too much about the amount of your student loans. I have SLs in six figures 😳 but I've had no trouble getting prime CCs. I think they affect you negatively if you have baddies associated with the SLs. If you get your util down, you'll be set. It's amazing what an impact the util has on your score. Good luck!

Re: Newbie here, just saying hello!

Anonymous — Tue, 07 May 2013 15:23:00 GMT

Thanks, everyone. I sort of was joking about "prime" cards, but I'm thinking it makes sense to find cards that work better for me. I do have two cards that are likely subprime bc I got them when I was young and had little positive credit history, but the limits are decent (cap1 $4500 and chase $3000). The only other non store card I have is an ABA Amex from BoA. The limit is $5k. My other cards are Saks and Nordstrom with $4k limit. My interest rates are ok: 10-13%, except Chase, which rate jacked me to 29.99% interest when the card was converted from WaMu. When I complained about the interest rate and the static credit limit, they suggested I open another card with them bc the CSR was "confident" that I'd get better terms on a new card. As such, I hate Chase. Lol.

What intrigues me about "prime cards" is getting better rewards or cash back. My BoA worldpoints rewards are pretty impressively terrible. The other cards have no rewards, and it seems are geared toward balance transfers, not actual use.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Re: utilization - going from 74% to 43% gave me 10 points on each tu and eq. The score estimator was dead on. It thinks that paying another $1k will make a big difference, but we'll see.

Re: Newbie here, just saying hello!

Revelate — Tue, 07 May 2013 17:16:15 GMT

For detailed advice, post what your typical spending is and we can suggest specific cards based on rewards.

As others have suggested, you're fine; actually you're better than that, you're in an incredibly good spot honestly. Also your current tradelines don't suck: I'd be way more than happy with current Chase/C1 tradelines north of 3K, non-trivial number of things which can be done with those as far as to changing to a product which might suit you better.

Continue to pay down your utilization, pickup a sweetheart auto loan (if you can get into NFCU, take the membership), and then select a few cards which fit your spending habits and apply and likely be approved assuming your income is peachy for the type of cards you will have a shot at with your profile.

Re: Newbie here, just saying hello!

myjourney — Tue, 07 May 2013 17:18:56 GMT

Welcome to the forum

You hit the nail on the head chose the card or cards that best fits your spending habits and rewards you for those purchases

@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks, everyone. I sort of was joking about "prime" cards, but I'm thinking it makes sense to find cards that work better for me. I do have two cards that are likely subprime bc I got them when I was young and had little positive credit history, but the limits are decent (cap1 $4500 and chase $3000). The only other non store card I have is an ABA Amex from BoA. The limit is $5k. My other cards are Saks and Nordstrom with $4k limit. My interest rates are ok: 10-13%, except Chase, which rate jacked me to 29.99% interest when the card was converted from WaMu. When I complained about the interest rate and the static credit limit, they suggested I open another card with them bc the CSR was "confident" that I'd get better terms on a new card. As such, I hate Chase. Lol.

What intrigues me about "prime cards" is getting better rewards or cash back. My BoA worldpoints rewards are pretty impressively terrible. The other cards have no rewards, and it seems are geared toward balance transfers, not actual use.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Re: utilization - going from 74% to 43% gave me 10 points on each tu and eq. The score estimator was dead on. It thinks that paying another $1k will make a big difference, but we'll see.

Re: Newbie here, just saying hello!

Anonymous — Tue, 07 May 2013 18:44:31 GMT

Welcome! One thing I can tell you is that you can call in to convert that BoA card to a better cashback card. It will result in a hp, but your worldpoints should convert to much more cash. It did for me.

Re: Newbie here, just saying hello!

asphaltcowboy — Tue, 07 May 2013 18:56:40 GMT

Welcome to the forum

Re: Newbie here, just saying hello!

Anonymous — Tue, 07 May 2013 19:05:56 GMT

Oh, thanks for that info, @elcamino.

Oh, I'm now the newest member of navy federal. Lol just logged in for the first time.

Re: Newbie here, just saying hello!

Supermama75 — Tue, 07 May 2013 20:22:04 GMT

Welcome- I'm a newbie too. Was in a bad car accident back in 2007 and have been working on cleaning up/rebuilding my credit. My TU is sitting at 696 as of today from a start of about 560 so I'm making some headway. In the garden for now. Good luck to you on your journey : )

Re: Newbie here, just saying hello!

myjourney — Tue, 07 May 2013 20:25:48 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Oh, thanks for that info, @Anonymous.

Oh, I'm now the newest member of navy federal. Lol just logged in for the first time.

Congrats again

Re: Newbie here, just saying hello!

Anonymous — Tue, 07 May 2013 20:26:29 GMT

I'm sorry to hear of your car accident @supermama75! Sounds like you're well on your way! Good luck to you too.

Re: Newbie here, just saying hello!

Anonymous — Tue, 07 May 2013 20:49:17 GMT

I would suggest you wait until after the auto loan to app for credit cards.