topic Re: Next steps - Looking for suggestions in Rebuilding Your Credit

Next steps - Looking for suggestions

Mcx990 — Sun, 09 Jun 2019 17:32:48 GMT

Hi, this is my first post here.

A year ago with scores in the mid 500s I got a Credit One unsecured card to help rebuild. Inital line was $300, and they bumped it to $450 a month later. That has been my only open account. Paid in full every month, I think my highest utilization was 29%, average utilization over the year has been around 15%.

Current scores as reported by CK are TU-596, EQ-588. Experian through Credit One reports 628.

No inquiries on TU or EQ, but EX reports 2.

Discover prequal today gave me a 622 FICO (they did not offer me any cards mainly due to BK 13 dismissed in 2015).

I'm wondering what would be most helpful in continuing my rebuild while limiting hard pulls. My goal is an unsecured card with a limit around $1000 or more. Here are things I'm considering:

TD Cash Secured (there's a TD branch near me)
Apple FCU: apply for an unsecured VISA
Affinity FCU secured card (they allow you to add money to your collateral savings account and request CLI from that, according to their site)
Get a Self Lender loan (puts an installment line into the mix)

Do secured cards still require a hard pull?

Re: Next steps - Looking for suggestions

Remedios — Sun, 09 Jun 2019 17:45:19 GMT

@Mcx990 wrote:
Hi, this is my first post here.

A year ago with scores in the mid 500s I got a Credit One unsecured card to help rebuild. Inital line was $300, and they bumped it to $450 a month later. That has been my only open account. Paid in full every month, I think my highest utilization was 29%, average utilization over the year has been around 15%.
Current scores as reported by CK are TU-596, EQ-588. Experian through Credit One reports 628.
No inquiries on TU or EQ, but EX reports 2.
Discover prequal today gave me a 622 FICO (they did not offer me any cards mainly due to BK 13 dismissed in 2015).
I'm wondering what would be most helpful in continuing my rebuild while limiting hard pulls. My goal is an unsecured card with a limit around $1000 or more. Here are things I'm considering:

TD Cash Secured (there's a TD branch near me)
Apple FCU: apply for an unsecured VISA
Affinity FCU secured card (they allow you to add money to your collateral savings account and request CLI from that, according to their site)
Get a Self Lender loan (puts an installment line into the mix)
Do secured cards still require a hard pull?

Hello and welcome to the forums!

Hard pull for most cards. I think Open Sky does not perform a HP, though.

With your scores, as they are right now, unsecured cards may pose a bit of a challenge. A loan showing positive payment history, in addition to credit mix, would help.

Yo can try credit unions for CC lending, but dont be surprised if they come back with secured cards. Grab one or two and let them age.

You would benefit the most from working on whatever is keeping your scores on low end, even with BK present.

Re: Next steps - Looking for suggestions

Jannelo — Mon, 10 Jun 2019 13:09:56 GMT

With those scores, 628, if you didn't mind three hard pulls, I'm pretty sure you could get a Quicksilver 1 with 1.5 cash back at $1,000 CL. I got that with charge-offs with them and scores in the 580s. It's a credit step card, so after five months, I get a $500 CLI, giving me a $1,500 CL. But a poster on here, who started at $500 CL, and was due to get a CLI of $250 after five months, ended up getting a huge CLI. I can't remember the amount, but up to a credit limit of 3,000, I believe. Of course, that's not the norm. It has a $39 AF. You might check on their site and input you are interested in a cashback card and see what they offer as a preqaul. I know you said you wanted to limit your hard pulls, but I thought I would throw that out there. Sometimes it's just nice to see what you prequalify for to gauge where you are in your credit-building process. Since it's soft pulls on prequal sites, there's no harm. I go on Discover every so offen to see. Only secured offered so far.

I received an offer in the mail from Merrick Bank, their double your credit line Visa offer. No one seems to have anything bad to say about them as far as it being one of the better rebuilding cards, not predatory. They usually have upfront fees or an AF, I think, but this offer had zero fees. The offer to me was $700, doubling that in seven months to $1400. I've read on here after that you get automatic CLIs every two or three months without even asking. I think it stated that in the offer sent to me also. Your credit score is higher than mine, so your offer would probably be a higher starting limit. They only pull from Transunion. They have a pre-qualifying option on their site. You might check that out. But when I did that, it still had a fee, so didn't accept. But I guess that put me in their system, and a month later I received the invitation offer with no upfront fees or AF. But if you tend to carry balances, it has a high interest rate.

Re: Next steps - Looking for suggestions

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Jun 2019 15:04:44 GMT

Have you looked into NFCU? They have a secured product that might benefit you. Was Discover or Capital One included in your BK? Both have good secured products and excellent websites. I would try to migrate away from Credit One eventually, as their fees will mitigate their benefit to you.

Re: Next steps - Looking for suggestions

jons998877 — Mon, 10 Jun 2019 15:29:30 GMT

@Jannelo wrote:
With those scores, 628, if you didn't mind three hard pulls, I'm pretty sure you could get a Quicksilver 1 with 1.5 cash back at $1,000 CL. I got that with charge-offs with them and scores in the 580s. It's a credit step card, so after five months, I get a $500 CLI, giving me a $1,500 CL. But a poster on here, who started at $500 CL, and was due to get a CLI of $250 after five months, ended up getting a huge CLI. I can't remember the amount, but up to a credit limit of 3,000, I believe. Of course, that's not the norm.

That was me, went from $500 to $3500 after 5 months..

Re: Next steps - Looking for suggestions

Batsamandrobin — Mon, 10 Jun 2019 15:40:09 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Have you looked into NFCU? They have a secured product that might benefit you. Was Discover or Capital One included in your BK? Both have good secured products and excellent websites. I would try to migrate away from Credit One eventually, as their fees will mitigate their benefit to you.

I'll second the NFCU recommendation, if you meet the membership requirement. A great credit union, and known for treating those who build a lasting relationship with them very well. Their secured card often graduates in between 5 months and a year, which would help you meet your goal of getting an unsecured card.

Re: Next steps - Looking for suggestions

Mcx990 — Mon, 10 Jun 2019 22:34:22 GMT

I don't qualify for NFCU unfortunately. Prequals don't get me anything from Discover or Cap1 yet and I'll probably wait a few months before using hard pulls for those if prequals continue to disappoint, score can only get better as bad things age off and payment history/credit age continues.