@Anonymous wrote:I recently started my credit repair journey at age 29. I ruined it early. I got a car loan in 2013, paid it on time and finished that. I never checked my credit reports for years as I knew it was loaded with bad stuff. I went in for a car loan in July, and to my shock was told "your credit isnt too bad" and got a $10,000 car with no money down and a good interest rate.
This got my attention, so I applied for a Cap 1 Platinum card, and about fell over when it got a $300 instant approval. A month later, I applied for the Quicksilver MC, got an instant $500. Ran a lot of money thru those, and made daily payments. Got the Plat CLI to $800 shortly after, and recently got the Quicksilver to $1500. These dont even include the incoming Credit Step CLIs, so I am stoked. Utilization is a little high on those now, but working on it.
I also got the following (please dont badger me too badly, I realized I probably got too many)
Amazon Store Card $600
OverStock Store Card $500 (did 2 CLI on site now at $950)
Discover IT Secured Card $200 (graduates at 12 month point)
Macy's Store $100 (lol)
Fingerhut $500 (have not used)
Trek Store $4000 (have not used)
PacSun $300
Pier 1 $500
Gander Mountain $450
Express $500
Kohls $300
Buckle $300
A&F $250
J Crew $450
Restoration Hardware $4000
Wal Mart Store $500
Clearly a lot, however I felt this was a great way to show my abilty to handle credit. I make payments on time (not always in full).
My scores are in the low 630s across the board (was 565 when I started this, and was as low as 470 before), with obviously a crap ton of inquiries now (got some denials, have roughly 28 INQ). AoAA is shot right now. I understand this is the time to go "gardening". I even tried Recon on a Chase denial and a Barclays Rewards denial. Was told my inquiries and # of new accounts is too high and no one is comfortable giving me any credit now. I would like to next year add a few major bank cards, with some respectable limits.
My question is, based on this info given, what is a good time frame to let this stuff age? My UTL % across the board is like 25% or so. Will be paying these down. I know I should get my 2 CAP 1 cards decent raises soon when the credit steps kicks in (even tho the % of use is HIGH on these now due to some unexpected financal issues).
What advice can you guys give to someone in my boat to get shots at the big name cards sooner rather than later?
And I do thank everyone, I have learned a lot lurking this site before I joined today.
You should wait at least a year. So that there will be zero inquiries, and so that your average age of accounts will be better.
@Anonymous wrote:Would I hurt my situation by cancelling a couple of the commenity ones now? There are a couple I dont use.
I don't think you should cancel anything at this point.
Let it all age.
