topic Re: My credit journey is out of control in General Credit Topics

My credit journey is out of control

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 15:37:02 GMT

Back in 2018 I made the decision to get my credit together so I could have credit cards, be able to purchase a car and eventually a home.

This board has been incredibly helpful and I have been able to do two of the three things I have wanted. But I think now I am hurting myself and am out of control.

I have 18 credit cards( I have NO balances on my credit cards at this time). I will list them below. I have several revolving accounts. And a student loan which just hit my credit and made me lose nearly 20 points for each of my scores.

Before I list a bunch of information below I am asking the board the following:

Which credit cards should I get rid of(if any)?
What steps can I take to get to 700 by December 2021? I need a mortgage and I am tired of renting
Obtain a better American Express card from American express(personal goal but not a requirement)
Any other advice that will allow a more manageable credit card situation and obtain a home loan.

Credit Scores: Experian(641) Equifax(654) Transunion(644)

All of these scores were 20 points higher a week ago until an ancient student loan that I didnt know about hit my credit report(positive rating)

The dollar amounts for each credit card below is the credit limit. I have 0 balances for each(I always pay them off in full if I use them).

Secured Capital One Platinum-$1300 Opened 3/2018
Capital One Quicksilver-$500 Opened 3/2019
Walmart Credit Card-$300 Opened 3/2019
Capital One Platinum cc-$500 Opened 11/2019
BBVA credit card-$8000 Opened 10/2019
BBVA credit card-$2000 Opened 2/2020
Open Sky-$200 Opened 2/2019
Discover-$500. (Started as secured now unsecured) Opened 10/2018
Credit One-$600 Opened 9/2019
Target-$200 Opened 11/2019
Macys-$1000 Opened 12/2019
American Express Delta Skymiles-$1000 Opened 3/2020
Amazon store card-$2300 Opened 6/2020
Synchrony Car Care-$1000 Opened 5/2020
Navy Federal Credit Union Amex-$5000 Opened 6/2020
Navy Federal Credit Union Cash Rewards-$2300 Opened 9/2020
Comenity Credit card-$500(This was a Wayfair account they converted to a credit card) Opened 9/2020
Toyota Credit card-$1000(can be used at dealer only) Opened 6/2019

Revolving accounts

Affirm($600) Opened 11/2020
Genesis credit($2100 balance)(Wayfair furniture) Opened 3/2019
AES(student loan) $62k(Credit report list opened 4/2006)
Navy Federal Credit Union car loan($22k balance) opened 4/2020. It was originally a Capital One car loan but I refinanced it.

I will say I have been afraid to close cards because if I lose a job in this economic climate I might need them(though my job is as secure as one can be nowadays).

Thanks to all who respond.

Re: My credit journey is out of control

TGG_1976 — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 15:55:58 GMT

No a real answer for your question, but why do you think the Delta Skymiles is not a good Amex? I personally love my Delta card. If you think the CLI is too low, maybe try for a CLI?

In general, I have a smilar amount of cards. I just keep them away in a box, lol and do not use them. I only rotate 2 credit cards and one debit card at this point. You could consider closing some of them, maybe just not your oldest account. I like that my cc payments are now easier to manage now that I do not have to keep track of all cards.

Re: My credit journey is out of control

dragontears — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 16:01:24 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Back in 2018 I made the decision to get my credit together so I could have credit cards, be able to purchase a car and eventually a home.

This board has been incredibly helpful and I have been able to do two of the three things I have wanted. But I think now I am hurting myself and am out of control.

I have 18 credit cards( I have NO balances on my credit cards at this time). I will list them below. I have several revolving accounts. And a student loan which just hit my credit and made me lose nearly 20 points for each of my scores.

Before I list a bunch of information below I am asking the board the following:
Which credit cards should I get rid of(if any)?
What steps can I take to get to 700 by December 2021? I need a mortgage and I am tired of renting
Obtain a better American Express card from American express(personal goal but not a requirement)
Any other advice that will allow a more manageable credit card situation and obtain a home loan.

Credit Scores: Experian(641) Equifax(654) Transunion(644)
All of these scores were 20 points higher a week ago until an ancient student loan that I didnt know about hit my credit report(positive rating)

The dollar amounts for each credit card below is the credit limit. I have 0 balances for each(I always pay them off in full if I use them).

Secured Capital One Platinum-$1300 Opened 3/2018
Capital One Quicksilver-$500 Opened 3/2019
Walmart Credit Card-$300 Opened 3/2019
Capital One Platinum cc-$500 Opened 11/2019
BBVA credit card-$8000 Opened 10/2019
BBVA credit card-$2000 Opened 2/2020
Open Sky-$200 Opened 2/2019
Discover-$500. (Started as secured now unsecured) Opened 10/2018
Credit One-$600 Opened 9/2019
Target-$200 Opened 11/2019
Macys-$1000 Opened 12/2019
American Express Delta Skymiles-$1000 Opened 3/2020
Amazon store card-$2300 Opened 6/2020
Synchrony Car Care-$1000 Opened 5/2020
Navy Federal Credit Union Amex-$5000 Opened 6/2020
Navy Federal Credit Union Cash Rewards-$2300 Opened 9/2020
Comenity Credit card-$500(This was a Wayfair account they converted to a credit card) Opened 9/2020
Toyota Credit card-$1000(can be used at dealer only) Opened 6/2019
Revolving accounts
Affirm($600) Opened 11/2020
Genesis credit($2100 balance)(Wayfair furniture) Opened 3/2019
AES(student loan) $62k(Credit report list opened 4/2006)
Navy Federal Credit Union car loan($22k balance) opened 4/2020. It was originally a Capital One car loan but I refinanced it.

I will say I have been afraid to close cards because if I lose a job in this economic climate I might need them(though my job is as secure as one can be nowadays).

Thanks to all who respond.

First terminology clarification: credit cards are revolving accounts and loans are installment accounts.

To answer your questions:

1. Close secured cards and any "rebuilders" with fees.

2. Quit applying for ANYTHING, address what is depressing your scores and don't apply for any new accounts.

3. time and improving your profile

4. If you have too many accounts to manage comfortably close the ones you don't need.

Re: My credit journey is out of control

Girlzilla88 — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 17:29:24 GMT

@Anonymous The thing that caught my eye is that you said you have 0 on all of them, you don't want to keep all your cards at 0 that will cause you a penalty. ^^ But look at which ones you have had the longest, which ones have the highest CL, and which ones you use the most/get the most benefit from to determine which ones you should keep so you don't hurt your Age or UTL to much dropping some

Re: My credit journey is out of control

sarux3 — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 18:14:53 GMT

It's been said already, but priority #1 should be: stop applying for credit. That's a LOT of new accounts opened in the past two years and plenty of inquires to go along with them. Take a seat in the garden for at least a year to let the accounts age up and inquires to start falling off the reports. Are you thinking about applying for a mortgage in the short term, or is that more of a long-term goal?

Regarding your current accounts:

Close the two secured CCs and get your deposits back... you got them to help you qualify for the unsecured cards that you now have, so they're not useful to you anymore. Is that secured CapOne funded entirely by a $1300 deposit you made?
Do whatever you like with the cash you get back from those secured cards, but you might consider putting it all in toward that Genesis Credit balance. No point in paying them so much interest if you can help it, and as a bonus, you'd reduce your utilization on that credit account.
Close Credit One. It's also served its purpose, and it's expensive to keep around even if you just have it in a sock drawer.
Have you been hitting up Discover, Amex Delta, and CapOne for SP CLIs? It looks like you're past the 91-day mark for your first 3x CLI with Amex. Successes here will help with utilization and give you some headroom without adding to your account load.
The student loan situation strikes me as odd -- how does one not know about a $62k loan from 14 years ago, and how has it not shown up on your CRs until now? Are there derogs associated with this account? Have you ever made payments on it in the past, so that it's not showing 0% paid?

Your situation isn't super-bad, especially since you're PIF-ing most of your accounts each month. But it's good that you recognized you were doing a little too much too quickly, so now's the time to cool your jets and focus on managing the accounts that you do have.

Re: My credit journey is out of control

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 19:22:58 GMT

The mortgage is my #1 goal by far.

1. The Capitol One account that has a $1300 dollar limit is my oldest account and is 100% secured by my funds.

2. If closing the Capital One account doesnt not hurt me because it is my oldest account I most certainly will put the $1300 toward Genesis.

3. I have rarely used Credit One. Instead of those fools just charging an annual fee they want to make you pay $8.25 per month.

4.Discover, Amex Delta, and CapOne I have hit up and been denied. Cap One always denies me and they recently only gave me a $100 increase on the Walmart card.

5. I had a bad patch in my life and missed some things and this student loan was one of them. I had been paying a small payment to get into a good status and it appears on my credit report now. The payment status is Current and paid on time.

It sounds like I simply need to stop applying for credit for a year atleast. And try to get CL increases rather than applying for new cards.

Re: My credit journey is out of control

RSX — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 20:41:53 GMT

all good replies so far - here is what i would close out of your list of cards

i don't like closing cards until they are 1 year old, which is why some of them have a date attached

this will take your Total CL from 28,200 -> 25,100 - but you will be able to focus on a smaller number of cards and begin to get CLI's

i would use the Cap1 and Discover for everything for the next 2-3 months - then see if you can get CLI's

then switch to using the 2 NFCU cards for everything for 2-3 months

hope this helps

Secured Capital One Platinum-$1300 Opened 3/2018 - CLOSE and get the cash
Capital One Quicksilver-$500 Opened 3/2019 - Keep this one and have it as your oldest open card - start using it regularly
Walmart Credit Card-$300 Opened 3/2019 - CLOSE
Capital One Platinum cc-$500 Opened 11/2019 - CLOSE in Dec 2020
BBVA credit card-$8000 Opened 10/2019
BBVA credit card-$2000 Opened 2/2020 - CLOSE -March 2021 - see if you can transfer the amount to the older card first
Open Sky-$200 Opened 2/2019 - CLOSE
Discover-$500. (Started as secured now unsecured) Opened 10/2018 - start using this one for monthly charges = streaming
Credit One-$600 Opened 9/2019 - CLOSE
Target-$200 Opened 11/2019 - CLOSE
Macys-$1000 Opened 12/2019 -
American Express Delta Skymiles-$1000 Opened 3/2020
Amazon store card-$2300 Opened 6/2020
Synchrony Car Care-$1000 Opened 5/2020
Navy Federal Credit Union Amex-$5000 Opened 6/2020
Navy Federal Credit Union Cash Rewards-$2300 Opened 9/2020
Comenity Credit card-$500(This was a Wayfair account they converted to a credit card) Opened 9/2020 - CLOSE in Oct 2021
Toyota Credit card-$1000(can be used at dealer only) Opened 6/2019

Re: My credit journey is out of control

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 20:53:56 GMT

RSX how much will it harm me closing my oldest account(the Cap one with a $1300 credit line)?

@RSX wrote:
all good replies so far - here is what i would close out of your list of cards
i don't like closing cards until they are 1 year old, which is why some of them have a date attached
this will take your Total CL from 28,200 -> 25,100 - but you will be able to focus on a smaller number of cards and begin to get CLI's
i would use the Cap1 and Discover for everything for the next 2-3 months - then see if you can get CLI's
then switch to using the 2 NFCU cards for everything for 2-3 months

hope this helps

Secured Capital One Platinum-$1300 Opened 3/2018 - CLOSE and get the cash
Capital One Quicksilver-$500 Opened 3/2019 - Keep this one and have it as your oldest open card - start using it regularly
Walmart Credit Card-$300 Opened 3/2019 - CLOSE
Capital One Platinum cc-$500 Opened 11/2019 - CLOSE in Dec 2020
BBVA credit card-$8000 Opened 10/2019
BBVA credit card-$2000 Opened 2/2020 - CLOSE -March 2021 - see if you can transfer the amount to the older card first
Open Sky-$200 Opened 2/2019 - CLOSE
Discover-$500. (Started as secured now unsecured) Opened 10/2018 - start using this one for monthly charges = streaming
Credit One-$600 Opened 9/2019 - CLOSE
Target-$200 Opened 11/2019 - CLOSE
Macys-$1000 Opened 12/2019 -
American Express Delta Skymiles-$1000 Opened 3/2020
Amazon store card-$2300 Opened 6/2020
Synchrony Car Care-$1000 Opened 5/2020
Navy Federal Credit Union Amex-$5000 Opened 6/2020
Navy Federal Credit Union Cash Rewards-$2300 Opened 9/2020
Comenity Credit card-$500(This was a Wayfair account they converted to a credit card) Opened 9/2020 - CLOSE in Oct 2021
Toyota Credit card-$1000(can be used at dealer only) Opened 6/2019

Re: My credit journey is out of control

RSX — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 21:00:00 GMT

it will stay on your reports for at least 10 years - so there will be no impact

there is one scoring system i have seen that only calculates your OPEN accounts - so that score might drop - but it is not significant

the real FICO scores use all your accounts, both open and closed

it is more important to release that $1300 that is tied up, than to worry about the one scoring model that may drop 2-5 points

i just had a Wells secured card from 2010 drop off - it was my oldest account - no impact, and my next oldest was 8 months newer than it

Re: My credit journey is out of control

omnicron — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 03:04:34 GMT

My two cents is don't use affirm. I found that it reports as a consumer financed accout or somthing like that and was depressing my fico scores.

Re: My credit journey is out of control

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 14:47:08 GMT

Wow Omnicron I didnt know that. I have had a total of five Affirm accounts. All of them are paid off except the one. Is it best to pay this off asap?

Re: My credit journey is out of control

SouthJamaica — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 18:17:03 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
The mortgage is my #1 goal by far.

1. The Capitol One account that has a $1300 dollar limit is my oldest account and is 100% secured by my funds.
2. If closing the Capital One account doesnt not hurt me because it is my oldest account I most certainly will put the $1300 toward Genesis.

Closing it won't hurt you at all. (a) It will probably be on your reports for 10 years or so after it's closed. (b) It's not that much older than some of your other cards.
3. I have rarely used Credit One. Instead of those fools just charging an annual fee they want to make you pay $8.25 per month.
You should definitely be getting rid of that one. Yesterday if not sooner Also, as you have been advised, get rid of Affirm and perhaps some of the other junk.
4.Discover, Amex Delta, and CapOne I have hit up and been denied. Cap One always denies me and they recently only gave me a $100 increase on the Walmart card.
5. I had a bad patch in my life and missed some things and this student loan was one of them. I had been paying a small payment to get into a good status and it appears on my credit report now. The payment status is Current and paid on time.

It sounds like I simply need to stop applying for credit for a year atleast.

True But also follow the advice you have been given to let one bank card report a small balance each month before you pay it off.

And try to get CL increases rather than applying for new cards.

Re: My credit journey is out of control

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 01:03:39 GMT

@sarux3

How did you handle your Dell Preferred account? Is it paid off? The reason I asked is because I got

a SL of $3000 but immediately paid it down $2850 so it only reported $150. Paid my second month

minimum @ $20 dollar but if you pay it off, does the account close or stay open as a revolver? I've

heard multiple discrepencies so I'd like to see your feedback on what the reporting behavior. Thank

you in advance!

Re: My credit journey is out of control

K-in-Boston — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 01:51:30 GMT

The Dell Preferred account is just like any other revolving store card. It's not a loan and paying it to $0 will not close the account unless you go an extremely long time without using it, in which case it may be closed for inactivity. I think I went maybe 9 years without using mine and they didn't close it, but I ended up closing it myself a few years ago.

Re: My credit journey is out of control

sarux3 — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 15:01:10 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@sarux3

How did you handle your Dell Preferred account? Is it paid off? The reason I asked is because I got
a SL of $3000 but immediately paid it down $2850 so it only reported $150. Paid my second month
minimum @ $20 dollar but if you pay it off, does the account close or stay open as a revolver? I've
heard multiple discrepencies so I'd like to see your feedback on what the reporting behavior. Thank
you in advance!

Like the above poster mentioned, it's just a revolving account like any other credit card. In my experience, if you don't have activity for the month then it doesn't report. One interesting peculiarity is that it reports to the bureaus at the end of the month, even though my payment due date is on the 8th of the following month and the statement cuts on the 13th. So that's something to keep in mind if you are carrying a balance. It's currently my oldest active account and miraculously survived my BK7 intact, so I like to keep it happy with occasional small purchases, adequate sunlight, and routine watering

Re: My credit journey is out of control

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 22:30:03 GMT

Thank you both for the information! In that case, I will most likely pay it off and use it for some

fun tech items from time to time. To the other comment regarding reporting, you are absolutely

correct, mine closes and cuts on the 21st but does not report until the 30th/31st.

Re: My credit journey is out of control

Doodlebug30 — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 14:29:34 GMT

You have already gotten some great advice so i just wanted to pop in and say good luck on your rebuild journey. I do think its great that you have the insight to recognize that its time to slow down. I think gardening for 1 solid year could make a world of difference for you. Dont apply for any new credit thats for sure. I did want to echo something previously mentioned tho..You should let a small balance report on 1 credit card bc i believe you may be getting a penalty for being at all zero.

Other than that, i would slash OPEN SKY, CREDIT ONE and atleast a couple cap one cards for sure.