Should I use the credit cards I have?

[Anonymous]

As part of avoiding bankruptcy, I used a program which left me debt free but with:

1)      delinquency+public records

2)      bad payment history

3)      recent public record

Only time will fix those things.  I closed all accounts as part of the deal. However, I have been debt free for about a year and score:

EQU 688  TRA 706  EXP 718

Now I sit on two credit cards with a limit of $4400 and a Christmas balance of $1200 which will be pd in full on time.  Intentionally-- I got those cards.  Intentionally I run them up each month and then pay in full.

Want to buy a house in 15months.  Should I:

a) Stop using the cards altogether

b) Run them high for a year (paying in full each month)

c) Use them lightly ($1-200 a month)?

[Anonymous]

You having only 2 cards that is not maxed out should not affect whether or not you can buy a house. \

They always say when getting ready to purchase a new house do not app for anything within 6 months, your cards look good to me.

I would suggest you try to have some of those baddies removed, as they might look at that. Have you tried GW's or dispute? That is one of the disadvantages of dealling with DC's.

Congrats anyway because your scores are still a lot better than a lot people's. Mortgage companies tend to use your mid score and yours is 706 which is good to most.

What is that you are trying to achieve by the way? You seem to be fairly well. At least you have 15 months, I am sure what ever it is you have enough time to do it. I say don't worry.

BTW, welcome!!

I am sure someone else will have some input shortly. You also might want to go to the mortgage section here, you might be able to get more responses.  

[dizzier]

just like jaybee said. you look to be doing fine.

it won't hurt you to use your CCs but don't forget to play the game. charge as much on them as you choose, but make sure that the balance reported to the CRA is only 1-9% of your CLs (this might require that you pay earlier then usual or it might mean that you change nothing. it really depends.)

as for your baddies, congrats on getting everything paid and squared away. judging from your scores, these baddies probably aren't affecting you much. you could send GW to get the baddies removed, but be careful. These bad account are probably helping you as far as the age of accounts is concerned. deleting then could actually hurt your scores.

when you apply for the mortgage will you have 2 years of positive payment history? if the answer is yes, then I'd say continue to do what you are doing now. your scores are high enough for you to get good interest rates on your mortgage, and you can always explain about past bad behavior and use the 2 years of good history to argue that you are a much different credit risk now.

[pattycake]

Hey FATDUMBHAPPY - check out the mortgage forums - Shane the Mortgage Guy says you need three good trade lines with at least 2 years' good payment record. Your scores are great, so you look like you are on your way!!!

[orl2185]

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pattycake wrote:
Hey FATDUMBHAPPY - check out the mortgage forums - Shane the Mortgage Guy says you need three good trade lines with at least 2 years' good payment record. Your scores are great, so you look like you are on your way!!!

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Great advice there pattycake. BTW when you finish dealing with these great folks roomie, you sn may need to change. I suggest new sn leansmartelated... Welcome aboard

[Anonymous]

Well, I guess my numbers are better than I expected.  They must have improved over the last few months as it really was a pain getting a credit card again, and when I did, they gave me very low CLs.  The solution ended-up being Travelocity (Barclay's) with the $4000 CL, which allowed me to close two of the teaser type cards.  I found Orchard, in particular to be a business that clearly did not even pretend to have my best interest in mind.

Keeping the cards active but under 9% of the line makes good sense.  I was able to get-bye for 3 years using cash and debit cards.  I like putting gas on credit, but could survive without plastic, but it seems I should have some.

Trying to achieve:  As close to 760 as I can get.  I'll browse the mortgage forum.  Thanks.

[Anonymous]

dizzier--

Okay, so I've made a plan to charge 6% max of my combine CL per month.  How do I know when they report?  My billing dates are the 11th and the 27th.  No problem paying a week or so early.

[haulingthescoreup]

Most but not all cards report on the statement date. Not on the due date, but the statement date, which is usually 2 1/2 - 3 weeks beforehand. This is the date printed at the top of your paper statement, and on your on-line statement, it's the date that you click to bring up the current or past statements. The card that's due on the 11th might have a statement date somewhere around the 20th of the previous month, and the other might have its statement date around the first. HSBC cards report at the end of the month, and some are just plain weird.

If you have a credit monitoring service, see if they display report dates as mm/dd/yyyy. TrueCredit shows the full dates on the EX and TU reports, but not on EQ.

Finally, you can call and ask --my CCC's were perfectly happy to tell me, but other posters have been given incorrect info.

Once you know the report date, pay online 4-5 days beforehand, and that way, you will control what util shows on all three CRA's! I'm getting some amazing score improvements by only allowing 1 card to report at any given time, and the rest PIF'd.

[Anonymous]

I don't have a monitoring svc, but will call the vendors directly.  What I'm planning on doing is using 1 card for three months, and then switching to the other card, and so forth.  I know Travelocity(Barclays) only allows 1 payment per month, and they are the guys due on the 11th, with a bill date of 21st, so I can pay them on the 17th or before.

Both banks only allow auto payemts to be set to the "due data", so  I guess I won't do that, but will continue to pay online.

Thanks.

Message Edited by FATDUMBHAPPY on 12-16-2007 09:58 AM

[Anonymous]

I know Travelocity(Barclays) only allows 1 payment per month, and they are the guys due on the 11th, with a bill date of 21st, so I can pay them on the 17th or before.

I have a couple of Barclay's cards.  -(Edited to add These cards I have from Barclay's are in the deep freeze until they decide they really want me as a customer and start acting like it)-  You can actually pay them more than once a month online, you just have to wait 5 days between payments.  They will accept several payments a month.

Just wanted to let you know that as it might help you out.

Van

Message Edited by Vanyel on 12-17-2007 08:13 AM