topic Re: Another Credit Builder in Rebuilding Your Credit

Another Credit Builder

topa — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 16:10:25 GMT

I'm reposting here given that it looks I posted in the wrong thread.

Just joined myFICO today.

Here's my deal - I've had a pretty solid credit history for a long time, until very recently. I'm still trying to figure out how this occurred but we didn't pay 2 credit cards for about 4 months. The sad thing is, the balances were negligent (Discover $75 and Toys R US $58), I rarely use these cards and they are basically $0 balance.

Additionally, not knowing that it would impact my score - I kept high balances on 2 credit cards and a line of credit (Citi $8.2k, Chase $5.2k and Citi LOC $1.5k). I also have a Citi card that was closed with a balance remaining and I've been paying well above the minimum payments (3 times the minimum), for $3k. I had been trying to pay off the balances for the last 2 years - which also didn't appear to help much either. One card (Discover $20k) was closed after I paid off the entire balance ($12k). All of these issues have crashed myFICO score to 627. TU is 660, EQ is 659 and EX is 640.

I recently made a large payment to Citi for $4k, and Citi lowered my credit limit from $8.2k to $6k. I also paid off the Chase card ($5.2k) and the Citi line of credit ($1.5k)

I'm not sure how much it'll help - but the only credit card balances remaining are (Citi $4k and Citi $3k) - which I intend to pay off completely within the next month (can't wait!!! ). My credit limit currently sits at a measely $11k - truly amazing IMO. I'm also unsure if the creditors will continue to do balance chasing on me - I hope not.

The worst part? I have never owned a home and am committed to buying this summer (I have a family) - so this crisis has arrived at exactly at the wrong time.

Re: Another Credit Builder

gdale6 — Sat, 08 Mar 2014 03:10:47 GMT

@topa wrote:
I'm reposting here given that it looks I posted in the wrong thread.

Just joined myFICO today.

Here's my deal - I've had a pretty solid credit history for a long time, until very recently. I'm still trying to figure out how this occurred but we didn't pay 2 credit cards for about 4 months. The sad thing is, the balances were negligent (Discover $75 and Toys R US $58), I rarely use these cards and they are basically $0 balance.

Additionally, not knowing that it would impact my score - I kept high balances on 2 credit cards and a line of credit (Citi $8.2k, Chase $5.2k and Citi LOC $1.5k). I also have a Citi card that was closed with a balance remaining and I've been paying well above the minimum payments (3 times the minimum), for $3k. I had been trying to pay off the balances for the last 2 years - which also didn't appear to help much either. One card (Discover $20k) was closed after I paid off the entire balance ($12k). All of these issues have crashed myFICO score to 627. TU is 660, EQ is 659 and EX is 640.

I recently made a large payment to Citi for $4k, and Citi lowered my credit limit from $8.2k to $6k. I also paid off the Chase card ($5.2k) and the Citi line of credit ($1.5k)
I'm not sure how much it'll help - but the only credit card balances remaining are (Citi $4k and Citi $3k) - which I intend to pay off completely within the next month (can't wait!!! ). My credit limit currently sits at a measely $11k - truly amazing IMO. I'm also unsure if the creditors will continue to do balance chasing on me - I hope not.

The worst part? I have never owned a home and am committed to buying this summer (I have a family) - so this crisis has arrived at exactly at the wrong time.

Pay them off dont worry about the balance chasing, once you have paid them off look to less visible lenders, I dont like City, Amex, Chase, BoA, Barclays at all and have 0 cards from them, find some CUs to get in with and get their credit products they rarely do balance chasing and you will be in a better place for having done so. It wont matter if your limits fall if you keep the utilization in check relative to a cards CL. I would GW those 2 late accounts and push hard to get them to do it.

Re: Another Credit Builder

topa — Sat, 08 Mar 2014 15:58:19 GMT

Thanks gdale6!

Yup, I'm doing exactly as you oulined. Will be paying off all balances and will only keep a small balance in one card. I'm also disputing them as well. Fingers crossed as I will need my score to get a mortgage pretty soon.

Re: Another Credit Builder

topa — Sat, 15 Mar 2014 19:10:53 GMT

As I mentioned on my original post, I paid off a CC and brought down the balance from $8,200 to $3,800 last month. Upon receipt of the payment, my CL was lowered to $6,000. The interesting thing is that the lower balance is still not reflected on my account. The creditor reported last month on the 12th. I called to ask when they report to the beaurues and was told at the end of the month. So my balance for that account still shows $8,200.

Another creditor received a payment of $150 - and updated my account. My credit score went up to 633 just for that. I am happy to see that a small payment had such a huge impact and can't wait to see what will happen when I pay off both accounts.

Re: Another Credit Builder

topa — Sat, 15 Mar 2014 18:49:21 GMT

Yoohoo...

Citi updated my balance today and my score went up to 667. That's a 40 point increase from March 7th. Can't wait to pay off the remaining balances - my goal is 750.

Update: Another Credit Builder

topa — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 00:30:51 GMT

So Chase charged $11 dollars in interest/fees for an account which I had paid off last month (about $5000).

Just this dropped my FICO to 663 - 4 whole points. I sent the check immediately after getting the alert.

I'm also waiting for another CC to get added to my report - my wife got 2 new credit cards with total balance of $17000. I already got the alert for one of the accounts ($8400) and am waiting for the other one ($7500). That should help bring my utilization down, currently at 35%.

I'm also making a few moves to pay off the remaining balances on 2 accounts - I'll put up the accounts on a spreadsheet for easier tracking and will post next time.

Finally, I got a letter from Citi who had lowered my CL from $8000 to $6000, stating that they had made the decision because my FICO had hit 600 in January. I was not aware since I had not pulled my credit report since early last year. I'll update my starting score with that score.

Update 1: Another Credit Builder

topa — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 02:22:55 GMT

I got around to creating the table with my current status. As you can see from the below, my utilization came down from 82% in February to 35% this month. This came up when I pulled my credit report March 7th, my utilization was 35%. I had also paid off the credit line ($1500) but had to tap into that for a few unforseen payments. As I mentioned on my previous post, my goal is to pay the Citi Credit Line, the Citi Diamond and the Citi card by next month, bringing my utilzation down to basically 0%.

After that, I will focus on paying off my car loan. With the exception of a mortgage, which I'm hoping to get this year, I am expectiving to be debt free by mid 2015. I have yet to hear back with regards to the good will letters I sent. I may have to keep sending as suggested here.

	Credit Limit	Previous Balance (Feb 2014)	Previous Utilization	Paid	Current Balance (March 2014)	Current Utilization	Status
Chase	5000	4600	92%	4600	0	0%	~~Paid~~
Citi Credit Line	1500	1500	100%	1500	1500	100%	Pending
Citi Diamond	6040	8200	99%	4800	4423	73%	Pending
Citi Card (closed)	0	3000	NA	Paying Monthly	2940	Account Closed	Pending
Kohl's card	400	220	55%	220	0	0%	~~Paid~~
Toys R US Card	250	160.28	64%	160.28	0	0%	~~Paid~~
Discover IT	500	0	0%	0	0	0%	NA
Citi Premier (Wife)	8400	0	NA	0	0	0%	NA
Chase Slate (Wife)	7500	0	NA	0	0	0%	NA
Student Loan	24500	Paying Monthly	Paying Monthly	Paying Monthly	Paying Monthly	Paying Monthly	Pending
Car Loan	5789	Paying Monthly	Paying Monthly	Paying Monthly	Paying Monthly	Paying Monthly	Pending
			82%			35%

Re: Update 1: Another Credit Builder

topa — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 12:46:37 GMT

I just paid off the credit line ($1500), my utilization is now down to 24%.

Toys R US Updated My Credit Report

topa — Sun, 23 Mar 2014 17:21:27 GMT

It appears as if the lates on my Toys R US card have been removed, I got a Credit Alert this morning telling me the status of the account had changed, up from 663 to 670. This is one of the lates I had disputed and had sent GW letters to. I will confirm whether this is the case the next time I re-pull my report, which I will do once I hear back on the remaining 2 GWs.

I also uncovered another late for which I missed sending a GW - a Citi account for which I was late in August. Aside from that, I've never been late in the account since 2008. I have the letter prep'ed and will send it tomorrow.

I'm anxious to get my updates next month which should reflect all the accounts I paid down to zero, and my wife's new accounts. I'm also shooting to have all my credit card balances paid.

Re: Another Credit Builder

0REDSOX7 — Sun, 23 Mar 2014 18:04:29 GMT

Keep up the good work.

Your story should be of inspiration to others that with hard work and patience, it can be done.

Keep us posted.

Re: Another Credit Builder

topa — Sun, 23 Mar 2014 21:31:27 GMT

Thanks!

I'll keep everyone posted.

Quick Update

topa — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 01:35:46 GMT

I'm still waiting for the disputes to complete. The TU site says 1 of 4 is still in pending status, while the other 3 closed. So I decided to call TU today, given that it has taken a while for one of the disputes to complete.

First, I asked the person helping me if my score would temporarily go up while the 4 derog accounts were under dispute and the person said no. I'm crossing my fingers that this is accurate because my score has gone up from 627 prior to the dispute to 674 after the dispute. There were other changes on my report, I paid down a few cards and made some major payments (50%+) on some other accounts. Additionally, I have been added to my 2 of my wife's new cards which should improve my utilization. Nonetheless, I'm still concerned.

Second, I found out that I submitted the disputes incorrectly. According to the person at TU, I was disputing the balance on the accounts. Apparently I selected the wrong option. I told the person that I was not disputing the balances at all, that I intended to dispute the lates in my accounts. I was unable to re-dispute the items as one of the disputes is still in pending status. I was also unable to cancel the dispute as it was older than 15 days. As a result, I will have to wait to resubmit.

I have resubmitted the disputes via Equifax and will also do it via Experian in the mean time.

Re: Another Credit Builder

Anonymous — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 09:43:39 GMT

Love it! I'm excited for you- you score will surpass 750 👏👏

Re: Another Credit Builder

topa — Thu, 27 Mar 2014 00:01:34 GMT

Thanks Jam!

Good luck on your journey as well.

30 Point Drop In Score Due To Dispute

topa — Thu, 27 Mar 2014 00:08:05 GMT

So this morning I got a credit alert, alerting me that my score had changed. When I logged into myFICO, I was shocked to find that my score had dropped from 674 to 645. A 30 point drop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I did a quick search on the boards and found that some people have reported similar issues immediately after disputes were submitted. I'm anxious to see these disputes go into complete - I'm not sure if the fact that I have submitted the disputes via different CRAs makes any difference, but I had initially submitted them via TU. I'm unsure as to what impact that had on my score because I joined myFICO after that - and hence I'm not sure what my score was before I submitted the disputes. If anyone can chime in on that - I'd really appreciate it.

So I'm basically hoping that both, the TU and Equifax disputes, had a negative impact on my score and that the impact will go away once the disputes go into a complete state. I was thinking of submitting the disputes via Experian, but I think I'll wait and see for now. I'm also waiting for responses on the GW letters I sent.

Re: Another Credit Builder

topa — Sat, 29 Mar 2014 12:12:37 GMT

I'm still sitting ugly at 645. A little bit down at the moment. I've done a good deal of diligence to get funds to pay off the cards, but am still waiting for the funds to come in.

I sent the GW letters over 2 weeks ago and haven't received any responses. I went back to the GWs and just noticed that I missed including my email and phone numbers, probably the reason I haven't heard from them. I also noticed that myFICO report has different addresses for my creditors than TU in some cases.I will resend GWs today.

Re: Another Credit Builder

topa — Sat, 29 Mar 2014 15:54:58 GMT

Got an email from Transunioin today, they finally completed the dispute of the 4 accounts. As expected, nothing changed on the accounts (I incorrectly disputed the balance instead of the lates) other than a remark being added. The lates are still showing on the TU report nonetheless. I was thinking of re-disputing via TU but have decided to wait it out. I have another dispute open via EQ and will see what happens with that one. I am also resending GW letters to my creditors today. Re-typed them, added a little more context and included my phone number and email address. Fingers crossed.

I got an alert a few minutes ago and, my fico score went up by 20 points, now at 665.This alert coincided with an email from TU stating that the investigation had completed - as I mentioned above. Changes on the myfico alert were lower balance on a Citi account (by $29 bucks!!! - LOL) and 2 dispute updates (Toys R US and Citi). 2 accounts are still pending to show as closing the dispute.Looks like the closing of the TU dispute did have a positive impact on my score after all. I guess my score may go higher once the other 2 account dispute also reflect completed. We'll see.

Re: Another Credit Builder

Lasardo — Sat, 29 Mar 2014 19:38:58 GMT

Is it an option to take that Citi diamond card and transfer it to another card ( the full amount or a portion )? That would bring down your utilization.

Re: Another Credit Builder

Lasardo — Sat, 29 Mar 2014 19:47:39 GMT

I wanted to give you something to think about since your trying to build credit and save for a house. This account really bumped me scores.
O
If you have any questions let me know..

Lasardo Established Contributor
8/20/12
I have received numerous requests about information about the Credit Builder accounts offered by M&I/BMO bank, Unfortunately M&I is only out of 6 states (Arizona,Florida,Milwaukee,Wisconsin, Indiana and Florida) fortunately several of you have sent me information about the credit builder that is offered by other banks, Credit Unions and websites that provide additional information about the Credit Builder.
To recap:

> You select an amount between $1000 and $5000 that is saved in your name in and interest earning Certificate of Deposit.
> You select the desired length of time to repay the "loan" with regular monthly payments (minimum 24 months maximum 60 months)
> You EARN interest through the CD during the course of the loan and receive the principle and interest when the loan is repaid.
> On time consecutive payments are reported to the credit Bureau, helping you establish a positive repayment history.

* be advised the above info is for M&I/BMO only, it may be different for CU.

For M&I/BMO the payment is .44% of the chosen amount (I went with 2k, my payment is $88 a month)
I was approved with a EX score of 597. It is listed as an "installment loan"

Credit Builder loans are a way to do a couple of things: get something good on your credit report and set aside some money for future use.

I was advised NFCU has a "shared personal secure loan" and if you Google "Credit Builder NY times" there is a great article to read about Credit Builder accounts.

Also, "asmarter choice. Org"provides you with the option to find a credit union in your area that offers the Credit Builder.

Good luck

When I bought my house I pulled my CB out early, I was only penalized $7.

Re: Another Credit Builder

topa — Sun, 30 Mar 2014 16:45:00 GMT

Thanks Lasardo!

I may consider that option if I can't pay in full by the end of April. We'll see.