Need Credit Card For My Job.

[Hubbard]

I will have to start traveling soon for my job. We do not have Corporate Credit Cards so I really need a CC. I pulled my CR from all three CRA and my EQ FICO is 644. I had a $100 collection account from Diversified Adjustments, OC was sprint and an old voluntary repo. removed AFTER pulling my credit report and getting my FICO score.

Length of Credtit History 13 years

6 inquiries last 2 years (one was this month applied for Orchard Bank Visa)

Closed Mortgage Accounts

Chase Mortgage $31,185 account paid less than full balance150 days past due

Chase Mortgage $176,715 closed 120 days past due.

Open Installment Accounts

Capital One Auto $20,241 balance $18,875 pays as agreed never late Opened 7/2010

Closed Accounts

Financial Federal Credit Union $502 unsecured loan. paid never late.

Fifth Third Bank $16,081 paid and closed never late. Auto loan

Fifth Third Bank $30,189 paid and closed never late. Auto lease.

GMAC $32,610 Paid and Closed. 30 days late 12 times.

Open Revolving Accounts

Capital One Credit Card $5,000 bal. $2,323. Went as much as 90 days past due. Have not been late for 22 months.  

Kohl's Capital One $200 bal. $54. current and never late.

Home Depot Citi $3,750 bal. $0 inactive never late

Closed Accounts

Credit Union 1 Credit Card $2,000 bal. $1,301 current never late. Account closed by credit grantor.

Tidewater Finance Company $1,500 paid and closed never late.

Dell Citi $4,500 bal $2,447 went 150 days past due now current have not been late for 22 months.

Public Record

State Tax lien 1/2011 $884

My credit went bad when I could no longer afford my adjustable rate mortgage. I went past due on everything trying to keep up. Finally did a short sale. All of my CC's were closed by credit grantor even the Credit Union 1 Visa that I was never late on. I am now current on everything and have not missed a payment for 22 months. Capital One Auto approved me on an auto loan July 2010 but denied me on a credit card last year. My credit union denied my on a credit card last year. I applied for Orchard Bank CC online but it said could not complete, will here from them in 10-14 days. Doesn't take an Einstein to figure out the answer to that!

The state tax lien was pure ignorance on my part. I procrastinated setting up a payment plan which I have since done.

My questions:

1. Will the removal of the voluntary repo and collection acct. raise my score significantly?

2. Is it possible for me to get a credit card anytime soon?

3. Can I get a better auto loan rate than I currently have (14.99) I had a bankruptcy still showing on my credit when I purchased the car. It fell off last month.

 I have learned my lesson when it comes to credit but if anyone has any tips or advice I am open.

Thanks

[Anonymous]

Hi Hubbard,

Welcome!  Thanks for posting on the forums!

I can answer a few of your questions, and other folks will chime in with their thoughts.

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@Hubbard wrote:

I will have to start traveling soon for my job. We do not have Corporate Credit Cards so I really need a CC.

About how much available credit do you feel you'll need for job related travel?

I pulled my CR from all three CRA and my EQ FICO is 644.

If you pulled scores from the CRA's they are not necessarily FICOs.  Experian and TU don't sell FICO scores on their sites, they sell a FAKO consumer score, (someone correct me if I'm not up to date on that).  EQuifax site sells their own credit scores, and if you dig really hard you can also buy a FICO score there - but it's through a pretty well hidden access.  You can purchase TU and EQuifax FICO scores from this site - which may be where you purchased your score - I just am not clear on that so I thought I'd clarify.

I had a $100 collection account from Diversified Adjustments, OC was sprint and an old voluntary repo. removed AFTER pulling my credit report and getting my FICO score.

Length of Credtit History 13 years

6 inquiries last 2 years (one was this month applied for Orchard Bank Visa)

Closed Mortgage Accounts

Chase Mortgage $31,185 account paid less than full balance150 days past due

Chase Mortgage $176,715 closed 120 days past due.

Open Installment Accounts

Capital One Auto $20,241 balance $18,875 pays as agreed never late Opened 7/2010

Closed Accounts

Financial Federal Credit Union $502 unsecured loan. paid never late.

Fifth Third Bank $16,081 paid and closed never late. Auto loan

Fifth Third Bank $30,189 paid and closed never late. Auto lease.

GMAC $32,610 Paid and Closed. 30 days late 12 times.

Open Revolving Accounts

Capital One Credit Card $5,000 bal. $2,323. Went as much as 90 days past due. Have not been late for 22 months.  Is this card usable for your job?  And are you able to pay down the utilization on this card?  By how much?

Kohl's Capital One $200 bal. $54. current and never late.  Pay this baby down to zero - one less account reporting a balance may give you a little FICO boost.

Home Depot Citi $3,750 bal. $0 inactive never late  Keep this baby active -  you'll benefit from keeping this card open.  A small purchase every couple months and PIF will keep them happy. 

Closed Accounts

Credit Union 1 Credit Card $2,000 bal. $1,301 current never late. Account closed by credit grantor.

Tidewater Finance Company $1,500 paid and closed never late.

Dell Citi $4,500 bal $2,447 went 150 days past due now current have not been late for 22 months.

Public Record

State Tax lien 1/2011 $884

My credit went bad when I could no longer afford my adjustable rate mortgage. I went past due on everything trying to keep up. Finally did a short sale. All of my CC's were closed by credit grantor even the Credit Union 1 Visa that I was never late on. I am now current on everything and have not missed a payment for 22 months. Congrats on that!  Two years (or almost) seems like a nice long period of goodness to those of us who are acting good, but baddies including missed payments will still have an impact - although it does lessen over time.  How many lates do you currently have on your credit report?  How many are 30 days? 60 days? 90 days? or more?  This will make a big difference.  Capital One Auto approved me on an auto loan July 2010 but denied me on a credit card last year. My credit union denied my on a credit card last year. I applied for Orchard Bank CC online but it said could not complete, will here from them in 10-14 days. Doesn't take an Einstein to figure out the answer to that!

The state tax lien was pure ignorance on my part. I procrastinated setting up a payment plan which I have since done.

My questions:

1. Will the removal of the voluntary repo and collection acct. raise my score significantly?

2. Is it possible for me to get a credit card anytime soon? I would shoot for using the Cap One you already have, if possible.  If there's enough available credit, and/or if you can pay the balance down, this would be my knee-jerk solution.  Most folks who are rebuilding are delighted when they receive their first $5,000 CL card - and you already have one.  Might be a workable solution.

3. Can I get a better auto loan rate than I currently have (14.99) I had a bankruptcy still showing on my credit when I purchased the car. It fell off last month.  Hard to tell on that one.  It looks like you have baddies after the BK, and they will impact that as well.  My recent car loan from our local CU was at 3.99% with a BK reporting - maybe check out which local CU does the majority of auto loans in your area.  Walk in with your credit report, ask them if they would review it and give you a feel for what you may be approved for.  They'll still need to pull a report if you do app.

 I have learned my lesson when it comes to credit but if anyone has any tips or advice I am open.  A lot of us are in the same boat.  When you have baddies on your CR, it can be lifesaving to hang out on the "Rebuilding Your Credit" forums here.  Lots of helpful tips and advice from a lot of good folks who have been through it as well.

Thanks

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[Amnesia87]

I agree with most everything above.

The one thing I would like to know is when did the mortgages close, and when did all those lates on GMAC occur.

The timing could have a huge impact.

As for the close credit cards, have you checked your report to verify if they are still reporting their limits and are counting towards your utilization.

I don't think it's likely, but it's possible that the balances are counting towards util but the limits aren't which could have a significant impact on your score due to the way it would affect util.

Looking at all your current cards, it's going to be hard to get anything better than your Cap 1 card.

I also would have avoided applying for orchard first, as they are typically considered sub prime, and that inquiry showing on your report could reflect badly to some of the more strict lenders.

Anyways, you certainly have the potential to get new cards, but I don't know that it would really be your best option right now when you already have a 5k card, same goes for the auto loan, you might be able to get a slightly better rate now, but in 1-2 years you would be far more likely to get a great rate assuming there are no more bumps in your report.

[Anonymous]

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@Amnesia87 wrote:

I also would have avoided applying for orchard first, as they are typically considered sub prime, and that inquiry showing on your report could reflect badly to some of the more strict lenders.

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It's possible that YMMV on this, but IME, I have not found this to be true.  During our mortgage, having an Orchard card was a plus (it's a bank card) not a minus - even on the manual review.  When DH had a $500 CL Orchard and app'd for an Alliant CU card, he was given a $10,000 CL rather than punished for having an Orchard first.  BofA was happy with him as well.  I just don't want OP to fret over something that may very well be (I believe is) a non-issue in today's world.

FICO has reason codes that help us understand what they are lookng for.  FICO Reason Code 3 is "Too Few Bank Revolving Accounts".  FICO only needs to see one to satisfy this Code.  Orchard fills this criteria as well as USBank.  In OP's case, Cap One fits this requirement.

With Cap One and HSBC Orchard turning OP down, it's likely he needs to focus on rebuilding (and paying down utilization) in order to be approved, unless he looks at a secured card.  And in that case, he's probably doing just as well by paying down the Cap One he already has -- that'll give him a little more available credit for trips.

[Hubbard]

Thanks everyone for the quick replys!

I was not clear in my first message. All of the CC's with the exception of the Kohl's card have been closed or inactivated by the credit grantor. When I was struggling to pay my mortgage I had to neglect those obligations. So the Cap One cannot be used. I believe these cards went to collections but I got caught up and they went back to the OC.

The last late on the mortgage is showing 150 days in July of 2009 which is when the short sale took place.

On the GMAC account i went 30 days once in 2006 twice in 2007 and 7 months in a row in 2008 and twice in 2009. I turned in this leased vehicle in April 2010.

First I just need a card. Eventually I will need one with a credit limit around $1,500 to pay for Airline ticket, hotel stay, and rental car.

[Anonymous]

Do you have the cash available for a secured card? 

[tsquad131]

yeah it will be very hard to get approved for an unsecured card, I would look into a secured card and keep it open for a year then ask to unsecure it to get your deposit back.

[john398]

I will say one thing, capital one is pretty forgiving, you could see if you pre qualify for a 2nd capital one card here

http://www.capitalone.com/creditcards/prequalify/index.php

[Hubbard]

I will have the cash next month.

[Hubbard]

It says I pre-qualify for a couple of cards but I hate to apply and get declined and have the inquiries.