No credit card required
Browse credit cards from a variety of issuers to see if there's a better card for you.
Hi, I'm new to this site, but I got sent here by Life After Bankruptcy to get my REAL scores... Even though they primarily help those to recover their scores after BK, the advice they give applies to ANYONE trying to raise scores. You wrote you were going to pay them anyways, and someone wrote to you about closing accounts, I have to tell you (and if someone already has I apologize), in most scenarios, both of those can actually hurt... their advise on which lenders do what, how Fair Isaac REALLY gets affected (the main guy is trained annually by them), all of it, has raised my middle score from a 540 to a 695 in less than a year, and MyFico's "calculator" says that in another 6 month, I could go as high as 720-740!! Granted, every case is different, but the advice they give is dead on.
One last note: The stuff (books, etc.) they sell you is fine if you have the money, but I didn't, I did this all with their free advice...
Hope that helps!
ninjaroo wrote:
BellaLet me apoligize first, i wasn't trying to attack . I was speaking because your original post alarm bells were ringing in my head.I did speak from experience and your situation of having 6 collection agencies to pay off screamed that you had made some big mistakes in the past and I do realize you are trying to correct those.I speak from the point of view of someone who didn't understand credit and abused it in the past. Although i never got to the point of collection agencies calling me. I did suffer under the default charges jacking my interest rates to 30%. I did miss some payments by accident and am eagerly awating those to leave my record. I am a slave to my fico to a point.I still use credit , I have a mortgage, My next car will be financed (although with a much higher down payment) I use an amex for some purchases but pay the bill immediately usually with in 48 hours.So my statement of all credit = debt came from my past where I would transfer balances then rack up new debt never actually paying down my debts because of the aformention 30% rates. I was spiraling out of control. Also i had a girlfriend in london and the travel costs were all on my credit cards so thats where warning about traveling came from.I started listening to dave Ramsey and applied his snowball method as a start. Prior to that I had consolidated a couple of cards to a line a credit from BOA . I would still be paying the stuff off using Ramsey's method if I hadn't received an inheritance. All that taught me a very valuable lesson and I will never have credit card debt again.I now have just 2 cards(only use 1 0 balance)(keep 1 because it was my first card) and I still have the line of credit although no intention of ever using it again. I still owe student loans and a mortgage (pay nearly double on that)the result is I now have Ficos in high 700's and 1 822 .In my case having available credit was bad and its a daily battle having the available credit i do have nearly 46000 worth and to not use it.So I apoligize for what came across as an attack but to the the others who called me a troller or ignorant I do know what I am talking about.Use credit responsibly and you can live with out the stress of overwheming debtgood luck
NYGOIL1954 wrote:
One of the things it took me 3 years to turnaround (on my own report) is the negative statement of "Too much revolving credit."
Hey NYGOIL If I were you I would try to open those cards back up. Sounds like your uti is way too high and having those 4 cards with 0 balances is going to help your scores out. Those 2 cards must be over 50% of your available credit, that's not good
NYGOIL1954 wrote:BellaYou have to get yourself in the "Wants versus Needs" Mindset. I noticed most of the cards you went on a 'spree' to get have astronomical APR's too. Not good. As others have said, you need to cease and desist. Shred all apps coming in the mail, and don't apply for any more cards for at least 2 years. Give your credit history time to 'settle.' Pay all bills on time. Even if you can only afford to pay $10 or $20 over the minimum payment due. FICO loves when you pay bills in a timely manner, and hates it when you have delinquincies!It does affect your FICO score if you go on a 'run' and are applying like crazy. One of the things it took me 3 years to turnaround (on my own report) is the negative statement of "Too much revolving credit." And I only had 6 cards total. I got rid of all but 2 cards. I also went on the website bankrate.com (another one you would like) and applied for and got a Visa with the lowest FIXED APR in the United States. That enabled me to close down one that had an APR of 12.15%. (and that's considered a pretty good APR)You can do it. Just keep chipping away at it. It's changing the way you view money. And this is definitely a "Process and not an Event." Do not to expect to see results over nite.I'm sending positive thoughts your way!