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Any general advice?

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Darksyde25
Valued Member

Any general advice?

Soo...I decided to join the forums.  I need MAJOR credit help. 

 

First of all, I have terrible credit scores (and I always make them worse with inquiries).  At the moment I have a mortgage loan, car loan, and way too many CapOne credit cards. (Platinum VISA, Platinum MC Rewards, BestBuy MC(from HSBC), Household (from HSBC), and SonyCard) and one Barclay Rewards for Avg Credit)

 

Im pretty sure I have roughly 20+ inquiries on my report right now on TU (6 were from obtaining a car loan last year)

 

I have a bunch of late payments (some on the mortgage, some from old car loans (paid + closed), none from CCs however)  I have gotten better on paying them on time, new car payment has no lates, its tough sometimes my wife doesnt really work (some subbing) because shes working on her Masters for teaching, and my income isn't that great.

 

I have some old accounts that went to collections, one was BoA that Cach LLC has now (think this will hit SOL next month), one was Merrick charge-off (TU shows scheduled to drop off 4/2014), and also a judgement which was paid and TU shows a drop off date of early next yr.

 

All of my credit cards except SonyCard and Barclay have $500 limits (typical CapOne it seems) and are at probably 85% util...  Sony is $750, and Barclay $1300. neither have balances... Both of which I just got approved for which crappy credit scores somehow.

 

I want to get my credit score to 700 and then higher as quick as possible.  is it possible and what do I need to do?  I'd like to have much better cards and get rid of my CapOne cards sometime (would like a SW Air Chase, better limits etc)

 

I feel like I'll never get anywhere, but I know...STOP APPLYING!  done!

Starting/Current Score: TU:sub 600 EQ: sub 600 EX: sub 600
Message 1 of 2
1 REPLY 1
thom02099
Valued Contributor

Re: Any general advice?


@Darksyde25 wrote:

Soo...I decided to join the forums.  I need MAJOR credit help. 

 

First of all, I have terrible credit scores (and I always make them worse with inquiries).  At the moment I have a mortgage loan, car loan, and way too many CapOne credit cards. (Platinum VISA, Platinum MC Rewards, BestBuy MC(from HSBC), Household (from HSBC), and SonyCard) and one Barclay Rewards for Avg Credit)

 

Im pretty sure I have roughly 20+ inquiries on my report right now on TU (6 were from obtaining a car loan last year)

 

I have a bunch of late payments (some on the mortgage, some from old car loans (paid + closed), none from CCs however)  I have gotten better on paying them on time, new car payment has no lates, its tough sometimes my wife doesnt really work (some subbing) because shes working on her Masters for teaching, and my income isn't that great.

 

I have some old accounts that went to collections, one was BoA that Cach LLC has now (think this will hit SOL next month), one was Merrick charge-off (TU shows scheduled to drop off 4/2014), and also a judgement which was paid and TU shows a drop off date of early next yr.

 

All of my credit cards except SonyCard and Barclay have $500 limits (typical CapOne it seems) and are at probably 85% util...  Sony is $750, and Barclay $1300. neither have balances... Both of which I just got approved for which crappy credit scores somehow.

 

I want to get my credit score to 700 and then higher as quick as possible.  is it possible and what do I need to do?  I'd like to have much better cards and get rid of my CapOne cards sometime (would like a SW Air Chase, better limits etc)

 

I feel like I'll never get anywhere, but I know...STOP APPLYING!  done!


If I were you, the FIRST thing I would do would be to freeze TU/EX/EQ.  You know that you should "STOP APPLYING".  A freeze will make sure you do, and will make it more difficult to apply for anything, since you'd have to unfreeze and pay for it. 

 

2nd - Pay down those cards with the high util.  That's killing you, especially since you've got low limits.  Keeping your total util at <9% will be very beneficial.

 

3rd - Pay on time!  Lates on a mortgage is bad juujuu for credit rehab.  And speaking of rehab, you might want to go over to that forum here for more advice. 

 

Lastly - Live within your means.  You say your salary isn't that great and your wife doesn't (currently) have a steady income stream.  I would suggest some belt tightening, get your bills under control and slowly but surely, if you do these things, you'll see score increases.  And look on the (hopefully) bright side -- once your wife gets that teaching Masters, you're joint income should increase and you can put more toward resolving payment issues and THEN at that point, consider unfreezing your accounts and applying for more credit.  But for now...GARDEN!!!

 

ONWARD AND UPWARD !

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