Success after rebuilding.. time to garden!

[Anonymous]

For those of you rebuilding, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  Im relatively young (27) and I made pretty poor credit decisions til about 3 years ago.  I had so many collections on my account.  I disputed and got rid of all of them and I only have one left (Verizon) some of you know that story. I hope to get that off of my credit report soon.  My score in 2009 was 545.  Currently all three of my fico scores are middle 600's and CK is 698.  My score wont go up much more until all my sallie mae lates fall off in ~4more years.

In 2009 I opened 3 cards FP (2) and orchard.  I started off with $300 CL on one card, then by the years end I had  $1000CL on 3 cards.  Currently I have  $1300CL on all three.  I have always paid in full and ontime.  Ive finally decided to try to get some real cards in the last week with a lot of information from here and CK.  

Capital One Cash Rewards  2000CL

Amex Zync                                denied

Chase Freedom                      2000CL initially 2300CL after recon immediately following approval

Citi Forward    denied called and was re-evaluated, declined again. lol

Barclays Rewards                   denied via web, recon: called and rec'd approval w/ 500CL

NFCU Cash Rewards           10000CL

This is pretty much how my last week has gone.  I definetely am done for a while! Probably forever, unless I decided to finally get some sort of AMEX love some years down the road.  I went from no credit cards to 3 years worth of sub-prime rebuilder cards to $14800CL over 4 cards.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel! 

Do balance transfers count as transactions that are eligible for rewards?   Im trying to find out whether I should transfer my balances on the rebuilder cards before I pay them off and close them, or should I just pay for them normally via my debit card and then close them.  

Thanks everyone! and goodluck in your credit journey!

[Repo-ed]

That's pretty amazing.

What was amex reason for denial?

[Anonymous]

I actually dont have the letter with me, but it was basically a laundry list.  It said my EX score was 664, I had previously been late on obligations (sallie mae),  collection accounts listed, credit lenders that are associated with high risk consumers,  high original loan amt to amt owed.  Thats pretty much what I can remember right now.  I called to recon and they basically just read me my rights and sent me on my way.  Seeing that I cant even get a $200 Zync is a sad case IMO.

[Repo-ed]

No problem with gardening on what you have.  I guess you could try again in 6 months, so long as you do not app for anything else.

[Anonymous]

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@Repo-ed wrote:

No problem with gardening on what you have.  I guess you could try again in 6 months, so long as you do not app for anything else.

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Oh I forgot high utilization (29%) and too many inquiries (2) at the time.  Im not sure if 6 months will save me in the eyes of AMEX.  Judging from that rap sheet they sent me Ill probably have to sacrifice a lamb.

[Repo-ed]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Repo-ed wrote:

No problem with gardening on what you have.  I guess you could try again in 6 months, so long as you do not app for anything else.

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Oh I forgot high utilization (29%) and too many inquiries (2) at the time.  Im not sure if 6 months will save me in the eyes of AMEX.  Judging from that rap sheet they sent me Ill probably have to sacrifice a lamb.

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I like the fact they give a roadmap to what needs to be repaired.  I'm guessing you address those concerns of theirs (through deletion or time) and you'll have no problem with most/any prime cards.

[tntexans72]

Big Congrats...I too was there at one point in my life. We all live and learned from our mistakes. This gives others hope !!

[android01]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I actually dont have the letter with me, but it was basically a laundry list.  It said my EX score was 664, I had previously been late on obligations (sallie mae),  collection accounts listed, credit lenders that are associated with high risk consumers,  high original loan amt to amt owed.  Thats pretty much what I can remember right now.  I called to recon and they basically just read me my rights and sent me on my way.  Seeing that I cant even get a $200 Zync is a sad case IMO.

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I'm pointing this out only because I think that its an overlooked part of credit applications, manual review (aka recon) can be detrimental if you have First Premiere, Credit One, or payday lenders listed on your reports.  "Consumer Finance"  companies are not good either.  Household Finance comes to mind.  I would even speculate that some of the computer generated approval/denials look for questionable lenders, particularly with AMEX.  

[Anonymous]

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@android01 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I actually dont have the letter with me, but it was basically a laundry list.  It said my EX score was 664, I had previously been late on obligations (sallie mae),  collection accounts listed, credit lenders that are associated with high risk consumers,  high original loan amt to amt owed.  Thats pretty much what I can remember right now.  I called to recon and they basically just read me my rights and sent me on my way.  Seeing that I cant even get a $200 Zync is a sad case IMO.

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I'm pointing this out only because I think that its an overlooked part of credit applications, manual review (aka recon) can be detrimental if you have First Premiere, Credit One, or payday lenders listed on your reports.  "Consumer Finance"  companies are not good either.  Household Finance comes to mind.  I would even speculate that some of the computer generated approval/denials look for questionable lenders, particularly with AMEX.  

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I thoroughly agree and, this is one of the reasons when choosing our secured credit cards for building our credit we were VERY careful.  We DO have a Capital One card but, the USAA and US Bank cards are not considered sub-prime so, hopefully, we will be able to move on and apply for an AMEX card in the future without the stigma of using lower-end credit card companies throughout our building phase.   I do believe it makes a difference, not FICO® wise of course, but with prime lenders -- yes.

[quest208]

i dont think its a good idea to app with collections on your repot (for amex)

if you apply with collections, you have to balance it out with 720+ scores and other "goodies", probably no lates in past 24 months, etc.  probably not a good idea to app in less than 6 months from now.

to be honest with you i think you have some impressive cards to start!!!  you have 4 very very good cards, i'd get rid of the "questionable" accounts that might be holding you back (no idea what those are)

forget about amex for now, life is good with what you have.  and if you really want an amex, get the Travelocity amex from Barclays like i did.  i will probably apply for amex this year, but i went without amex for over 6 years, i didnt even think of applying for amex.

be happy with what you have, because its pretty darn good, pay on time for a year and watch those scores take off