Newbie here, just saying hello!

[Anonymous]

Hello, gardeners and drappers and credit score addicts, I'm new around here. I didn't know I'd been gardening, but I guess I have. My last hard pull was in December 2007!

In the last eight years at least, I really didn't think about my credit at all until last month. I checked on April 6, I saw that utilization was at 74%.

Overall I'm in a decent position score/report-wise with TU @ 752 and EQ @ 722. My AAOA is 9 years, and my only truly negative things are utilization (now about 35%, though reports still reflect about 45%), and one 6-year-old 30 day late (Cap1).

Aside from paying down my bills (I think I owe another $5800 owed to credit cards), I'm not sure there's a lot to be done to optimize my score except waiting. My credit reports suggest that I owe too much in "non-mortgage installment loans." (I have $70k of student loans.) They aren't going away any time soon, so I can't expect a score boost from there.

I really came to the site at the beginning of April because it looks like I'll have to buy a car this summer, so I need to clean up my credit asap. Now that I've been lurking here, I've learned that I probably should go out for some "prime cards" while I'm at it. lol

Anyway, I just thought I'd say hello! I hope that my rambling message made sense.

[dodfire]

Welcome to the Forums!!!!

[BrokaToe]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello, gardeners and drappers and credit score addicts, I'm new around here. I didn't know I'd been gardening, but I guess I have. My last hard pull was in December 2007!

In the last eight years at least, I really didn't think about my credit at all until last month. I checked on April 6, I saw that utilization was at 74%.

@Overall I'm in a decent position score/report-wise with TU @ 752 and EQ @ 722. My AAOA is 9 years, and my only truly negative things are utilization (now about 35%, though reports still reflect about 45%), and one 6-year-old 30 day late (Cap1).

Aside from paying down my bills (I think I owe another $5800 owed to credit cards), I'm not sure there's a lot to be done to optimize my score except waiting. My credit reports suggest that I owe too much in "non-mortgage installment loans." (I have $70k of student loans.) They aren't going away any time soon, so I can't expect a score boost from there.

I really came to the site at the beginning of April because it looks like I'll have to buy a car this summer, so I need to clean up my credit asap. Now that I've been lurking here, I've learned that I probably should go out for some "prime cards" while I'm at it. lol

Anyway, I just thought I'd say hello! I hope that my rambling message made sense.

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Hi !!!  And welcome to the myFICO family! Sounds like you've already got a great start in managing your credit, just hang in there and get that UTIL down and you should be fine for an auto loan when ready. The late payement may yield a bit higher interest rate, but over all I think you're golden. Normally student loans aren't weighed super heavy when apping for credit, at least in my experience.

I wish you all the best in your credit journey!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the welcome! Now I have decided to join Navy Federal so I can apply for one of their car loans. They look pretty good from what I've seen here.

[dodfire]

NFCU is the BOMB!!!! 

[Anonymous]

Thanks. My (paid) car loan had no lates, so hopefully that will count in my favor.

That darn Cap1 won't remove the late from my credit card even though they know why I was late in May 07, and even though their records reflect that I made two large payments that month. They've offered to put a note on my credit report explaining it, but I don't want a note. I want it removed! Lol

[Rhaeny]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks. My (paid) car loan had no lates, so hopefully that will count in my favor.

That darn Cap1 won't remove the late from my credit card even though they know why I was late in May 07, and even though their records reflect that I made two large payments that month. They've offered to put a note on my credit report explaining it, but I don't want a note. I want it removed! Lol

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That late is 6 years old and shouldn't weigh that much if any in your scores.  You have a spotless history with the exception of that one blip so you will be fine apping for a prime card.  I have 2 baddies that are over 6 years old and it hasn't prevented me from getting any prime cards with nice CL's such as Chase or Discover.  Let us know how it goes and welcome to the forum!

[SpecFile]

Welcome!!

[parakleet]

Welcome! I wouldn't worry too much about the amount of your student loans. I have SLs in six figures 😳 but I've had no trouble getting prime CCs. I think they affect you negatively if you have baddies associated with the SLs. If you get your util down, you'll be set. It's amazing what an impact the util has on your score. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Thanks, everyone. I sort of was joking about "prime" cards, but I'm thinking it makes sense to find cards that work better for me. I do have two cards that are likely subprime bc I got them when I was young and had little positive credit history, but the limits are decent (cap1 $4500 and chase $3000). The only other non store card I have is an ABA Amex from BoA. The limit is $5k. My other cards are Saks and Nordstrom with $4k limit. My interest rates are ok: 10-13%, except Chase, which rate jacked me to 29.99% interest when the card was converted from WaMu. When I complained about the interest rate and the static credit limit, they suggested I open another card with them bc the CSR was "confident" that I'd get better terms on a new card. As such, I hate Chase. Lol.

What intrigues me about "prime cards" is getting better rewards or cash back. My BoA worldpoints rewards are pretty impressively terrible. The other cards have no rewards, and it seems are geared toward balance transfers, not actual use.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Re: utilization - going from 74% to 43% gave me 10 points on each tu and eq. The score estimator was dead on. It thinks that paying another $1k will make a big difference, but we'll see.