@Anonymous wrote:So my CH.7 BK was up in 2014. Done. Good scores now, got some new credit. Working past some of the following.
750-790 on all three with Experian monitoring...
1) "No recent non-mortage balance information."
2) "Too few accounts currently paid as agreed."
3) "Lack of recent retail account information."
4) "Length of time revolving accounts have been established."
How do I get past these?
Also...
I was on another thread and mentioned MAYBE chosing to pay back a creditor in order to come off the blacklist and get a card....(AMEX).
A few folks chimed in and said that (AMEX) and subsequently any other creditor includedin BK would take that as a sign to start up collections again.
"if you pay one, you have to pay them all"
Has this ever happened?
I thought it was illegal to for any creditor to come back on that debt after a BK was filed....EVER.
Anyone have experience with that?
1) Not carrying a balance counts against you. You want 1 card reporting a 1-9% balance with the rest at $0 for optimum FICO scoring. Speaking of that, do you know your FICO scores... not the FAKO scores from EX?
2) Do you have any old IIB accounts reporting late payments? Is your report free and clear? Do you have any lates now?
3) You don't have a store CC account? 3 revolving CC accounts would help your scores.
4) Your non-secured accounts are new. You need to let them age.
Credit rebuilding is a marathon... not a race. 18 months ago I started with a single $1000 CapOne card... and now I have $40k in cards.
@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:Once a debt is discharged through bankruptcy, those indviidual creditors have no ability to collect. You no longer owe the debt - period.
That said, you are welcome to pay back any creditor that you wish -- for any reason that you wish -- and this is usually done to get back in with that creditor, and especially AMEX who offers lots of perks including backdating new account dates of opening, which helps youar averae age of accounts. Another one often repaid is Navy FCU since they are so good to BK'd people and will let you back in if they are repaid. I am surprised all creditors don't do this, but they not all of them do.
Some people have been known to simply pay back some or all creditors for personal reasons -- peraps to clear their conscience -- but this is a 100% voluntary move on their part.
Hmmm. I didn't reaffirm my mortgage and it shows up in my CR as one of the "badies", IIB, $0 bal. due. But I've never been late & will refi in Feb. when I'm 4 years post discharge. With the refi they will be repaid in full, so maybe I'll call them and try to sweet talk them into removing that IIB reporting, worth a try I guess. But if any of my other creditors are listening I'm most definitely not interested in repaying anyone else. 
@Anonymous wrote:Equifax is 740. Transunion is 772. Experian is 792.
$1500 secured 2007
$6500 Unsecured Dec. 2014
$10k LOC Dec. 2014
ZERO balances.
Looking for the slow burn. I know it can't be fixed in a month.
Still:
1) "No recent non-mortage balance information."
2) "Too few accounts currently paid as agreed."
3) "Lack of recent retail account information."
4) "Length of time revolving accounts have been established."
Considering:
1) Cards like Barclay Arrival+, Chase Sapphire Preferred, Discover IT.
2) Carrying <20% balance on something.
3) Giving myself a small installment loan and pay back over 6 months.
4) Giving myself a small revolving loan from my LOC.
5) Must I really get a retail credit card to increase my score?
Any advise is appreciated.
What are your goals? Your credit scores are high enough to get best terms on most credit cards. Why is your Equifax score so much lower than the others? What baddies are on your reports, and where did you get each of those scores from?
Exactly what credit cards do you have? You want to keep the secured card from 2007, but you don't want it secured anymore. Finding a good card with no annual fee that you can request to have that card changed to, is the way to go there if possible.
You're always going to get a list of reasons why your credit score isn't better. That doesn't necesarily mean you need to improve your score. If you are planning to get a morgage they usually say you need at least 3 credit cards. A pair of active installment loans can increase your score, but I still want to know what your goals are...
You don't want zero balances, you want one card to report 1% - 9% or so, and the rest zero, to optimize fico scoring. You still pay everything off before the due date.
@Anonymous wrote:Scores from Equifax Complete Advantage Plan.
I don't know why one is lower than the others. My annual credit report looked the same.
If they are all clean and accurate, shouldn't the scores be similar? That was 6+ months ago.
I guess I could check again. But can I trust those scores at all....
* Looking back...I mistyped the product I was using. I said "Experion"...it's actually Equifax.
I'd be happy to change to something more accurate today. Not a problem. Not married to the Equifax product.
(edit)
Equifax score went up to 756 as of today. Can't see the other scores now since initial purchase (fail..misleading info)
Definetly need to go with an Experian product that can see all three FICOs.
Right. I hate annual fees. Except where I might be taking advantage of the perks. Like...airline clubs, etc.
How can I turn that secured card into an unsecure and maintain my credit life from 2007? It's PNC Bank. Think they'd turn it around for me?
My cards are
PNCBANK $1500 secured ($3/month fee)
PenFed Visa Sig $6500 unsecured
Penfed LOC $10k
(edit)
* Since I have new cards I can take the limit on the secured card down to $500 or $250 and give myself a little cash.
I've confirmed PNC won't migrate my 2007 start date to a newer unsecured card with them. Ugh
Goals.
I'd like to get a mortage within the next 3-5 years. Perhaps sooner.
I'd like the perks of a couple of nice cards with really high limits (Airlines points/miles). I like to travel.
I'd like a great rate on a mortage.
I'd like a superior relationship with a bank or two with a high limit 25-50k on LOCs. (phone call...money) You get the idea...
A really fantastic credit score. 820+ Which I think is eaily attainable with time.
I do not want to credit-churn or do extreme-manufactured-spending for points...bothersome/time consuming/mental real estate.
I do not want or need 800 credit cards. I only want to pay one or two annual fees for some really nice cards with super high limits and great perks
The rest I'll garden and increase over time. 3-6 cards total. High limits, no annual fees.
$3 a month fee is rediculous, if they won't PC to another card I would just close it. It will still appear on your credit reports for another 10 years. I can see where they wouldn't want to PC to another card, since they got you to pay that fee all these years and they got to keep your money on top of it. They're hoping you will keep it open, as that is pure profit for them. They don't appear to offer any good credit cards, so I would close it and look elsewhere.
You cannot trust the scores you are paying for, since they don't say they are FICO scores. When you are just buying an Equifax Credit Score, or Transunion Credit Score, those are just educational scores that the company created as a guesstimate of what your score is, and they are willing to let you pay for the guess. and a guess can be wildly inaccurate. Frankly I wouldn't pay for the scores, since you can get real fico scores just by having credit cards from certain banks, with more banks slowly adding that benefit. You can get a Transunion FICO from Barclays or Discover credit card, a Equifax FICO from a DCU savings account, or CITI credit card, and a Experian FICO from First National Bank of Omaha. American Express is experimenting with giving free FICO scores, so they may decide to offer that to all in the near future.
American Express is a good place to get a high credit limit card. My Blue Cash Everyday started at $2000, and is now at $23,000 17 months later by asking for 3X increases with no hard credit pulls for the increases. Of course American Express has lots of travel cards too, I just don't travel so I won't suggest one. Citi Double Cash will get you 2% cash back on all purchases. Quite a few of us like the Sallie Mae Mastercard issued by Barclays, it hs low spending caps but even so the earnings is higher than the american Express BCE (at the very least it would be a good card to use when you buy gasoline) https://www.salliemae.com/credit-cards/sallie-mae-card/
So those cards would get you some of what you're looking for.