topic Re: Orchard Bank Secured Credit Card in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Orchard Bank Secured Credit Card

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:30:23 GMT

I want to help build my credit from a 599 equifax score. I'm trying to figure out how much to put on the card. On the score simulator it shows if i put 1000 i could lose 10 points or go up to 609....If i only put 200 in the card i could stay at 599 or go up as much as 629...wouldn't a larger credit limit help me? At 200 i really can probably only buy a stick of bubble gum a month to stay under the 30% credit usage...as i intended to put 2000 and only use it for gas??? should i just put the 200 and use only 50 dollars a month? and gradually put 100 dollars in my credit limit each month? Or should i just put in the 2000 and use it just for gas... both instances not using more than 30% of the available credit on the card? is the score simulator accurate? It has been in the past as moves i've made took me from a 561 to a 599 thanks for any advice

Re: Orchard Bank Secured Credit Card

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:53:45 GMT

why was my thread moved?

Re: Orchard Bank Secured Credit Card

haulingthescoreup — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:58:11 GMT

I didn't move it, but I'd say because it pertains to how the manner in which you use a card affects your score, which is the focus of this forum.

Re: Orchard Bank Secured Credit Card

haulingthescoreup — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:02:19 GMT

I'm having a little trouble with the numbers.

First of all, what's your credit limit on the card? It sounds like you're talking about the balances that might report on your card, not the credit limits.

Scores are strongly driven by utilization of credit ("util"), which is the amount of the balance reported, divided by the total credit limit. So $200 balance on a $2000 CL card is 10% util, $500 on a $2000 card is 25% util, and so forth.

Re: Orchard Bank Secured Credit Card

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:11:09 GMT

I say go ahead and do the $1000 or $2000 CL, and use between 1% and 9% of its balance monthly. In time, your score should increase. But, something important...you never mentioned why your score is so low. Is it insufficient history, or, do you have derogs? If derogs, then, things could change significantly. Still, I'd recommend at least a $1000 CL. The simulator is not always right...

Re: Orchard Bank Secured Credit Card

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:13:32 GMT

i meant the 200 and 2000 figures as my credit limit which would be the amount i would deposit into the savings account. Which would work better for me the 200 and only using like 50 dollars a month on the card or putting in 2000 and using 200 dollars a month...both would be under the 30% utilization the score simulator says i could hurt my score by having a 2000 dollar credit limit while a 200 limit could raise my score to 629 and yes this place seems more fitting for my thread thank you

Re: Orchard Bank Secured Credit Card

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:17:47 GMT

i've had some old accounts that went into collection...all of them have been paid off and my credit history is 6 years with an average of 4 yrs of account use...my credit started at like 17 and i miscalculated how much i would make at my old bartending job when i was in college. I'm good now though and i want to rebuild my credit now that i am more fiscally responsible and out of college

Re: Orchard Bank Secured Credit Card

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:35:46 GMT

also should i only use 1-9% of my available credit on this card? i heard 30 but on these forums i've been reading 1-9%

Re: Orchard Bank Secured Credit Card

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:43:08 GMT

When was your last CO paid? If more than two years ago, you should be pretty good. Just remember to try and PFD them, instead of just paying and letting it stay on your file. As for the 1-9% thing, I'll explain. 30% is a very good area to be...you definitely do not want it to be more than 50%, or your score will start going down, I know this from personal experience with one card just hardly touching 50%, and my score went down 18 points! Anyhow, $0 is good, but, your score won't go but so high because they wanna see you're a responsible bill payer, and not charging to a card doesn't prove such. 1-9% is best, because it shows you actually use the credit and make your payments, yet, do not heavily rely on it. 30% is a great area to be in if you need your cards, and you won't take a hit for being at 30%. However, for optimal results, it's 1-9%.

Re: Orchard Bank Secured Credit Card

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 23:59:42 GMT

They were all paid last year that's when i began being fiscally responsible...they were usually small things like no more than 150 but there was like 4 of them and they were all from like 2002 and 2003 when i really didn't know much about credit...so i guess next year they will be gone from my file hopefully. that should probably help my score hopefully and what is pfd if i may ask.

Re: Orchard Bank Secured Credit Card

Anonymous — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:07:19 GMT

Man, way too bad you didn't do a PFD, because they were likely OOS and you couldn't have been sued to pay, so, the CA would likely been more than willing to delete them for payment. Oh well... But yes, after next year, they should be good to go. Also, perhaps you can even call/write and ask if they'd be so kind to delete them. It probably won't work, but, will be worth the try, eh? Best if you speak to the same person, and when you do it, tell them you won't mind paying any deletion fees, if necessary. This usually works well, and they make more money off you from that anyhow, so, it's more motivation to delete. My sister paid $25 extra to have some items deleted and it was worth it to her; one simple collection took her credit score from `752 to 684!

Re: Orchard Bank Secured Credit Card

Anonymous — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:33:11 GMT

so i can call equifax and ask them to delete them and they might do it if i offer to pay deletion fees...awesome. what are pfd's?

Re: Orchard Bank Secured Credit Card

Anonymous — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:41:56 GMT

No...call the collectors and ask if they'll delete. Definitely do not call Equifax, because it'd be illegal for them to just take it off just because you paid it! PFD is "pay for delete". Meaning, you tell the collector, "hey, I'll agree to pay this if you delete it off my credit file!". Get it in writing, pay, and what do you know...it never happened

Re: Orchard Bank Secured Credit Card

haulingthescoreup — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 21:01:37 GMT

chevydude, there are many popular threads stickied at the top of each forum, and they contain a lot of collected experience and wisdom. Take a look at this thread, or at least the first post:

Credit Scoring 101

You should also explore through this one:

Frequently Requested Threads

There's lots of good info in there that will help you realize your options.

Edited to repair CS101 link

Message Edited by llecs on 11-26-2008 04:01 PM

Re: Orchard Bank Secured Credit Card

Anonymous — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 15:54:27 GMT

thanks for all the advice guys its greatly appreciated. on my score though there is only one collection left that is already paid for. and on my accounts it shows old accounts already closed and paid off but with late payments in the past. i just got the secured card and plan to use only 1-9% of it...my question is should it be payed off every month in total or should i just leave a few bucks as a balance?