topic Re: Where do I go from here? (part 2?) in General Credit Topics

Where do I go from here? (part 2?)

The_Rooster — Thu, 16 Jul 2020 20:26:47 GMT

First thread was deleted because it went a bit off the rails (Sorry). Mod said I can re-post. I'm going to add as much possible detail to this post as possible so people don't think i'm being vague, like last time.

Question: Where do I go from here? What are my next steps? Just wait and let time do it's thing? Try to open a new credit card to increase overall credit line amount, thus lowering utilization? Or other? Etc etc

Attempts: No pre-qual offers with Amex. Pre-qual denied with Cap1. Pre-qual denied with Chase. Pre-qual down with Citi.

Scores: 704 exp, 691 eq, 686 TU

Tradelines:

Wells Fargo Mortgage: Loan Mod in 2016/2017 (30 days late). Perfectly paid in the 3 years since then.

Amex Gold: Put $10k on it every month and PIF. Will be 1 year old in September. Applied for Amex BCE and was denied in March.

Affirm Loan: Perfectly Paid. 12 months down. 12 to go. Balance of $1,500. Their website shows i'm pre-approved for a $2,600 loan, if I want it.

Discover: Perfectly Paid. CLI 6 months ago to go from $1,200 to $2,500. $600 balance. Last 4 CLI requests since then have been declined. Will be 1 year in August.

Chase: Burned them for $5k in 2017. They called me in September of 2019 and I agreed to settle for $2,500. Report now shows "Paid In Full for less than full amount" or something along those lines.

Capital One: Three 30-day lates in 2016 turned a $500 credit card (paid off) into a "restricted" card. I'm sure it'll be restricted forever. Tried pre-qual for a different card considering it's 3-4 years later but they are not interested.

Ford Lease: 25 months into a 36 month lease. Perfectly paid. $3,000 balance.

Target Card: Authorized user on my MIL's Target Card for the past 5 years. Doesnt' appear to do anything for me, but it's an 18 year old account with a $64 balance on an $8,500 limit. Perfectly paid.

Local Bank: 3 different installment loans through a local credit union. All Perfectly paid. All closed and paid-off. Mixture of personal and home improvemnt loans.

Care Credit: $2,000 limit. Perfectly Paid. Account Closed by credit grantor.

Acceptance Now: $2,000 loan. Perfectly Paid. Closed account (PIF).

Best Buy: $1,500 limit. Perfectly Paid except for one 30-day late in 2015. Account Closed by credit grantor.

Kay Jewelers: $3,000 limit. Perfectly Paid. Account Closed by credit grantor.

Local Bank: $500 Credit Card. Perfectly Paid. Account Closed by credit grantor.

Lowes Card: $4970 limit. Perfectly Paid. Account Closed by credit grantor.

Inquiries

15 in the last 24 months. 6 of them being mortgage related.

AAOA is about 4 years.

Re: Where do I go from here? (part 2?)

RSX — Thu, 16 Jul 2020 21:50:48 GMT

I would open an account with a local CU - or pickup Navy or Penfed if you can

open a checking and saving account

get some Direct Deposit going in there monthly, and transfer most of it to a Savings account

then once your Inq start to drop off, and Amex turns 1, try for a CC with that CU

keep using your AMEX they way you have been - try for a CLI after it turns 1

then let everything settle for a bit - those 30 day lates will lose some of their bite, as time goes on

Re: Where do I go from here? (part 2?)

The_Rooster — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 01:07:03 GMT

@RSX wrote:
I would open an account with a local CU - or pickup Navy or Penfed if you can
open a checking and saving account
get some Direct Deposit going in there monthly, and transfer most of it to a Savings account

then once your Inq start to drop off, and Amex turns 1, try for a CC with that CU

keep using your AMEX they way you have been - try for a CLI after it turns 1

then let everything settle for a bit - those 30 day lates will lose some of their bite, as time goes on

Thank you.

When you say open an account with a local CU, do you mean a credit card or a checking account?

Re: Where do I go from here? (part 2?)

RSX — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 01:25:41 GMT

Credit Union. Either one local to your state, or Penfed is a good option

get a Checking Acct first to start the membership. And a savings at the same time

Then wait on a CC application until the Amex is over 1 yr old

Re: Where do I go from here? (part 2?)

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 03:09:32 GMT

You have a lot of closed cards on your file. When were they closed? Do those closures coincide with each other? Three 30-lates in 2016 and a Chase burn in 2017 - was that the end of 2016 and beginning of 2017, like you had a bad run for a few months, lost those accounts, and the other lenders followed suit?

It would add up if this were the case, why all of those lenders closed down your accounts out of self-preservation. They're beyond the worst timeframe of two years (which until that point, many events are considered recent), but they're not far in the past yet either.

Given what you have posted, my thought is to bide your time with what you have, keep up on your accounts (no more lates, even by an hour, ever, for any reason), and don't apply for anything until your inquiries are gone or at no more than two. I think that the combination of fairly recent account closures and lates, followed by what would be seen as credit-seeking in the wake of it based on 15 inquiries, is going to keep the doors closed for awhile longer.

Re: Where do I go from here? (part 2?)

jamie123 — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 06:24:48 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
You have a lot of closed cards on your file. When were they closed? Do those closures coincide with each other? Three 30-lates in 2016 and a Chase burn in 2017 - was that the end of 2016 and beginning of 2017, like you had a bad run for a few months, lost those accounts, and the other lenders followed suit?

It would add up if this were the case, why all of those lenders closed down your accounts out of self-preservation. They're beyond the worst timeframe of two years (which until that point, many events are considered recent), but they're not far in the past yet either.

Given what you have posted, my thought is to bide your time with what you have, keep up on your accounts (no more lates, even by an hour, ever, for any reason), and don't apply for anything until your inquiries are gone or at no more than two. I think that the combination of fairly recent account closures and lates, followed by what would be seen as credit-seeking in the wake of it based on 15 inquiries, is going to keep the doors closed for awhile longer.

ImTheDevil has a lot of great questions that if you would answer here would enable us to give you great tailored advice to your situation. I too would really like to know why all those credit cards were closed?

You have some baddies on your reports that can spook some lenders. All those lates are totaly uncalled for in this day and age. You need to set up automatic payments for the minimum amounts to ensure this doesn't happen in the future.

You say that you are spending $10K on your AMEX Gold each month. Is that the amount that you are letting report? Even if you are a high income individual just having that large amount report on a credit card will spook some lenders. Is the $10K business expense or personal spending? Having big dollars report on credit cards is not a good thing for you to do right now IMHO. Pay the balance down before it reports to something that looks more normal like $1000. Then go back and pay it to $0 after it reports.

Once your AMEX Gold is 1 year old I would suggest apping for the BCE again. (You need 90 days between apps with AMEX.)

Re: Where do I go from here? (part 2?)

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 09:07:05 GMT

Yeah you got a cool down for a little while. I would recommend trying to goodwill the credit one delinquencies and the others for that matter, but you’ve got to chill for a while and the advice given upthread is excellent.

Re: Where do I go from here? (part 2?)

The_Rooster — Sat, 18 Jul 2020 02:55:56 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
You have a lot of closed cards on your file. When were they closed? Do those closures coincide with each other? Three 30-lates in 2016 and a Chase burn in 2017 - was that the end of 2016 and beginning of 2017, like you had a bad run for a few months, lost those accounts, and the other lenders followed suit?

It would add up if this were the case, why all of those lenders closed down your accounts out of self-preservation. They're beyond the worst timeframe of two years (which until that point, many events are considered recent), but they're not far in the past yet either.

Given what you have posted, my thought is to bide your time with what you have, keep up on your accounts (no more lates, even by an hour, ever, for any reason), and don't apply for anything until your inquiries are gone or at no more than two. I think that the combination of fairly recent account closures and lates, followed by what would be seen as credit-seeking in the wake of it based on 15 inquiries, is going to keep the doors closed for awhile longer.

Thanks for the detailed response.

Yes, most of this happened in late 2016, early 2017. The "bad" ended around May 2017.

My business was sued and then closed. Money ran out for a time period.

Kay and Care Credit said they closed because I wasn't using the credit, but the others I'm sure were because of a tanking situation.

My Dad is a member of Navy (through my retired military uncle). I was thinking of joining under my Dad as I've heard Navy is lenient on CC's? Maybe not now though, from what you're saying.

Re: Where do I go from here? (part 2?)

The_Rooster — Sat, 18 Jul 2020 02:56:48 GMT

@jamie123 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
You have a lot of closed cards on your file. When were they closed? Do those closures coincide with each other? Three 30-lates in 2016 and a Chase burn in 2017 - was that the end of 2016 and beginning of 2017, like you had a bad run for a few months, lost those accounts, and the other lenders followed suit?

It would add up if this were the case, why all of those lenders closed down your accounts out of self-preservation. They're beyond the worst timeframe of two years (which until that point, many events are considered recent), but they're not far in the past yet either.

Given what you have posted, my thought is to bide your time with what you have, keep up on your accounts (no more lates, even by an hour, ever, for any reason), and don't apply for anything until your inquiries are gone or at no more than two. I think that the combination of fairly recent account closures and lates, followed by what would be seen as credit-seeking in the wake of it based on 15 inquiries, is going to keep the doors closed for awhile longer.
ImTheDevil has a lot of great questions that if you would answer here would enable us to give you great tailored advice to your situation. I too would really like to know why all those credit cards were closed?

You have some baddies on your reports that can spook some lenders. All those lates are totaly uncalled for in this day and age. You need to set up automatic payments for the minimum amounts to ensure this doesn't happen in the future.

You say that you are spending $10K on your AMEX Gold each month. Is that the amount that you are letting report? Even if you are a high income individual just having that large amount report on a credit card will spook some lenders. Is the $10K business expense or personal spending? Having big dollars report on credit cards is not a good thing for you to do right now IMHO. Pay the balance down before it reports to something that looks more normal like $1000. Then go back and pay it to $0 after it reports.

Once your AMEX Gold is 1 year old I would suggest apping for the BCE again. (You need 90 days between apps with AMEX.)

Hi there.

Agreed that the lates are uncalled for. No more lates in the last 36+ months.

The $10k on my Amex Gold is mostly personal spending. I run everything through it to get the points.

Usually around $9k to $10k shows on my Credit because the statement cuts on the 4th but payment isn't due until the 28th. I always PIF ... just not before the statement date. I always assumed it didn't matter because charge cards don't affect utilization?

Re: Where do I go from here? (part 2?)

RSX — Sat, 18 Jul 2020 20:01:30 GMT

Hmmm. This seems like you are 1 month behind...

the payment is due on the 28th. If you pay it, then the statement cut on the 4th should reflect your zero balance

if you are thinking the statement is cutting 24 days Before a payment, you are looking at it all wrong

it is actually cutting 5-7 days After your expected payment

Re: Where do I go from here? (part 2?)

The_Rooster — Sun, 19 Jul 2020 00:48:02 GMT

@RSX wrote:
Hmmm. This seems like you are 1 month behind...

the payment is due on the 28th. If you pay it, then the statement cut on the 4th should reflect your zero balance

if you are thinking the statement is cutting 24 days Before a payment, you are looking at it all wrong

it is actually cutting 5-7 days After your expected payment

100% on-time payments.

Closing date 7/3 and payment due 7/28.

Re: Where do I go from here? (part 2?)

RSX — Sun, 19 Jul 2020 04:09:14 GMT

Ok. Glad you have never been late

i am just saying you should pay it off before the statement is cut. Then you have the low util and a zero reporting.

you can wait until the payment date and not be late. But it will obviously then show a large balance all the time.

whatever works for you.

Re: Where do I go from here? (part 2?)

jamie123 — Sun, 19 Jul 2020 05:41:40 GMT

Hi there.

Agreed that the lates are uncalled for. No more lates in the last 36+ months.

The $10k on my Amex Gold is mostly personal spending. I run everything through it to get the points.

Usually around $9k to $10k shows on my Credit because the statement cuts on the 4th but payment isn't due until the 28th. I always PIF ... just not before the statement date. I always assumed it didn't matter because charge cards don't affect utilization?

Okay, it seems you have a bit of an unusual situation. You had a bad stretch which caused some baddies but you have recovered and have been flying straight for the past 3 years. You are trying to rebuild your credit lines. Hope that sums it up?

You need your credit reports to reflect you in the best possible light to the lenders until you have all the cards that you want with high credit lines. Sure, as long as you follow the rules and pay your balances by the due date your credit will be okay and you won't get any baddies, but you know what you won't get either? More credit with high credit lines!

Your credit cards:

AMEX Gold Charge Card - $9K monthly reporting
Discover IT - $600 balance/2400CL
Cap1 - Restricted (Don't use.)

Lenders don't like to see large balances being reported on credit cards when they are looking at your report and trying to decide if they should issue you one of their cards whether it is a charge card or not. (I'm sure AMEX loves you though!) You were even reporting $600 on your Discover card which was 50% UTI until your recent CLI. It is still $25% after your recent CLI!

You are here to learn how to play the game and we are here to help you play the game. Perhaps others here can chime in with their advice and/or critique my advice.

My advice:

Wait until your AMEX Gold and Discover cards are at least 1 year old before making any other credit moves.
Once those cards are 1 year old, call Discover and ask for a CLI to $5000. Yes, call them, don't try it online.
Pay the Discover to less than $100 before it reports from now on, then go back and pay it to $0 after the new statement cuts.
Keep the reporting balance on the AMEX Gold to below $1000 from here on out. You are spooking lenders when they see large balances on this card. Most normal people don't/can't put that much spend on a card per month and you want to look NORMAL right now.
Wait until the next statement after Discover gives you that $5000 CL before apping for your next card.

You want to appear to lenders that you don't need their credit and they will push it on you. If you appear that you need credit they won't give it to you. Really.

The next choice is which 2 credit cards that you should app for once your Discover and AMEX are about 13 months old. Perhaps some other posters could chime in here?

My suggestions:

AMEX Blue Cash Everyday or their Cash Magnet. You already have a relationship with AMEX so they should give you one of these cards I would imagine.
Bank of America Cash Rewards card. BoA will eventually give you some really high credit lines if you deserve them. You seem to have a big monthly spend and BoA will take care of you once you have some history with them. Call for a CLI every 6 months with BoA and you might be pleasantly surprised. (Always ask for double whatever your current CL is and they will give you what they can.)

I think that if you get your reporting balances down and wait until your cards are 13 months old you will have a good shot at picking up 2 more cards. Then wait a year and get another 2 cards.

Good luck!

Re: Where do I go from here? (part 2?)

The_Rooster — Sun, 19 Jul 2020 13:47:34 GMT

@jamie123 wrote:
Hi there.

Agreed that the lates are uncalled for. No more lates in the last 36+ months.

The $10k on my Amex Gold is mostly personal spending. I run everything through it to get the points.

Usually around $9k to $10k shows on my Credit because the statement cuts on the 4th but payment isn't due until the 28th. I always PIF ... just not before the statement date. I always assumed it didn't matter because charge cards don't affect utilization?
Okay, it seems you have a bit of an unusual situation. You had a bad stretch which caused some baddies but you have recovered and have been flying straight for the past 3 years. You are trying to rebuild your credit lines. Hope that sums it up?

You need your credit reports to reflect you in the best possible light to the lenders until you have all the cards that you want with high credit lines. Sure, as long as you follow the rules and pay your balances by the due date your credit will be okay and you won't get any baddies, but you know what you won't get either? More credit with high credit lines!

Your credit cards:
AMEX Gold Charge Card - $9K monthly reporting
Discover IT - $600 balance/2400CL
Cap1 - Restricted (Don't use.)
Lenders don't like to see large balances being reported on credit cards when they are looking at your report and trying to decide if they should issue you one of their cards whether it is a charge card or not. (I'm sure AMEX loves you though!) You were even reporting $600 on your Discover card which was 50% UTI until your recent CLI. It is still $25% after your recent CLI!

You are here to learn how to play the game and we are here to help you play the game. Perhaps others here can chime in with their advice and/or critique my advice.

My advice:
Wait until your AMEX Gold and Discover cards are at least 1 year old before making any other credit moves.
Once those cards are 1 year old, call Discover and ask for a CLI to $5000. Yes, call them, don't try it online.
Pay the Discover to less than $100 before it reports from now on, then go back and pay it to $0 after the new statement cuts.
Keep the reporting balance on the AMEX Gold to below $1000 from here on out. You are spooking lenders when they see large balances on this card. Most normal people don't/can't put that much spend on a card per month and you want to look NORMAL right now.
Wait until the next statement after Discover gives you that $5000 CL before apping for your next card.
You want to appear to lenders that you don't need their credit and they will push it on you. If you appear that you need credit they won't give it to you. Really.

The next choice is which 2 credit cards that you should app for once your Discover and AMEX are about 13 months old. Perhaps some other posters could chime in here?

My suggestions:
AMEX Blue Cash Everyday or their Cash Magnet. You already have a relationship with AMEX so they should give you one of these cards I would imagine.
Bank of America Cash Rewards card. BoA will eventually give you some really high credit lines if you deserve them. You seem to have a big monthly spend and BoA will take care of you once you have some history with them. Call for a CLI every 6 months with BoA and you might be pleasantly surprised. (Always ask for double whatever your current CL is and they will give you what they can.)
I think that if you get your reporting balances down and wait until your cards are 13 months old you will have a good shot at picking up 2 more cards. Then wait a year and get another 2 cards.

Good luck!

This is gold! Thank you!

Im going to follow this formula you laid out. Only deviation is that I had already applied for a FNBO credit card (it's been pending manual review for a while). I was bummed out by the recent denials and applied for a secured card with a $3k limit. I heard they graduate to non-secured in 11 months. Looking back, I shouldn't have, but it's too late now.

Re: Where do I go from here? (part 2?)

The_Rooster — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 17:24:02 GMT

Just an update.

I was finally approved for the First Bank of Omaha secured card with a $3,500 limit.

After 11 months (with on-time payments), they graduate to a non-secured card with the same (or higher) limit.

Now I'm going to follow the plan prescribed by Jamie123 above.

Re: Where do I go from here? (part 2?)

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 18:03:03 GMT

Excellent congratulations! That’s terrific and sounds like a solid plan from solid advice.

Re: Where do I go from here? (part 2?)

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 18:04:31 GMT

That’s great you got that secured card tho, that’s terrific!! That’s a tremendous benefit congratulations again!!

Re: Where do I go from here? (part 2?)

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 18:07:51 GMT

Another thing you could do is join some credit unions or institutions that you want to get a card with that are relationship oriented like US Bank for instance. You have a better chance if you’ve got an existing account with them in my opinion.

But if you start relationships now, you’ll be better positioned when your youngest Card turns 12 months old.

Re: Where do I go from here? (part 2?)

The_Rooster — Fri, 07 Aug 2020 22:04:50 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
That’s great you got that secured card tho, that’s terrific!! That’s a tremendous benefit congratulations again!!

Thank you. Disco gave me a $500 CLI too, so things are looking up!

Re: Where do I go from here? (part 2?)

Anonymous — Sun, 09 Aug 2020 19:29:39 GMT

Congrats!