topic Re: Best way to begin Rebuilding? in Rebuilding Your Credit

Best way to begin Rebuilding?

Chezy1025 — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 16:28:28 GMT

Okay, I have decided to begin to rebuild my credit and have already recieved a great amount of advice from this forum! I have a question about which cards would be best to use for me to start the rebuilding process? I currently have a Capitol One secured and a Credit union secured card, both I just got this month. I would like to add more positive credit to my report, so I am wondering what other cards do you recommend for rebuilding? I was pre-approved for a credit one card and a bank of america secured card.

Re: Best way to begin Rebuilding?

Whitneyy — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 21:14:24 GMT

You already have your two revolving lines of credit, so now I would let them age a bit and work on the rest of my file. Capital one will take about two to three months to actually post the tradeline on your report. I don't know about your credit union.

Do you have any baddies?

Re: Best way to begin Rebuilding?

erinbean28 — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 15:36:27 GMT

Do NOT get a Credit One card. My husband accepted one of their pre-approved offers over a year ago and we HIGHLY regret it. They call and harrass you starting 10 days before your due date, thats right BEFORE your due date. I am talking 4-6 calls a day reminding us that we need to pay $50 minimum payment in 10 days. Ontop of the harrassing phone calls, they charge you $9 everytime you pay your bill as a "transaction fee." What a joke. We currently have to $0 ballance on that card and are just leaving it open to not further hurt our credit scores. Horrible company.

Re: Best way to begin Rebuilding?

ACG23 — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 16:16:25 GMT

@Chezy1025 wrote:
Okay, I have decided to begin to rebuild my credit and have already recieved a great amount of advice from this forum! I have a question about which cards would be best to use for me to start the rebuilding process? I currently have a Capitol One secured and a Credit union secured card, both I just got this month. I would like to add more positive credit to my report, so I am wondering what other cards do you recommend for rebuilding? I was pre-approved for a credit one card and a bank of america secured card.

Two positive TLs is a great start. Just let them age a bit, for God's sake don't miss a payment, and if you have any baddies, consider PFD or goodwill.

Re: Best way to begin Rebuilding?

elim — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 16:49:51 GMT

@Chezy1025 wrote:
Okay, I have decided to begin to rebuild my credit and have already recieved a great amount of advice from this forum! I have a question about which cards would be best to use for me to start the rebuilding process? I currently have a Capitol One secured and a Credit union secured card, both I just got this month. I would like to add more positive credit to my report, so I am wondering what other cards do you recommend for rebuilding? I was pre-approved for a credit one card and a bank of america secured card.

if you don't have any installment loans, you can talk to your credit union about a "share secured loan" for an installment loan / credit mix. that way it will age with your revolving credit and help a bit more. i took one out at my CU. you deposit $500 or $1000 in a savings and they write the loan and hand you back a check. so i started a 1k loan for 1 year, i deposited $1,000 and they handed me a check for $1,000. the interest was $84 total and they report to all 3 CRA's. every monthly payment you make free's up that much cash from the savings account so you are never really "out" any cash through the whole thing. my GF say's "jeeesh, that looks like credit laundering" lol, best of luck!

Re: Best way to begin Rebuilding?

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 19:08:59 GMT

The experts on this board say that 3 revolving lines will give you the best FICO impact. Since you were preapproved for a BoA secured card I would add that one. It is one of the better secured cards to get.

Additionally, I would add the secured loan. I know that several people will say that the impact the installment loans have on your CR is fairly small and it isn't worth the hit to AAoA. That is something that you need to decide for yourself. For me, I decided the small amount that I would pay in interest was worth adding that to my mix of credit and helping me build a credit file thick with a good mix & # of positive tradelines. If you do want to do add the secured loan, both SDFCU and Alliant will do secured loans without a HP. SDFCU you can do 60 month terms and Alliant is 48 months (if I remember correctly).

Then you need to get into the garden and let these new tradelines grow. Take excellent care of them and work on any "baddies" on your credit report and I think you will be on a great path to rebuilding your credit.