Getting out of my mess the fastest route? Wished I had read the forums before I started!

[Anonymous]

Okay, got me a mess to clean up. My current scores are in the signature. Wanting to get score high enough to consolodate high interest car and personal loan. I have a cap one auto loan at 22% and a one main financial loan at 30% or close to it. I have 3 cards. Cannot wait to be an active garden member reporting when I think my next credit spree will be. I messed up not reading anything and going by my knowledge only. I did not know what hard pulls did, I just thought everyone looked at your credit then decided if they would loan money or not. I have many hard pulls (dont know exactly but more than 12 for the year). From what I get from the forum I just need to sit back for now. Wait out a year to get the hard pulls from counting then worry about refinance situations, all the while being a good boy with the credit I have and pay down the debts. Keep every card near 10% or so, etc. I maxxed out the cards when I got them also to then go and ask for CLI's, hmmm that don't work either. LOL, any more advice would be greatly appreciated.

[coldnmn]

Having one card reporting from 1%-9% each month is optimal for credit scoring. If you have not done so pull your credit reports from either here or your free credit report from annualcreditreport.com to make sure everything is accurate. Unfortunately credit is no fast easy fix it takes time. Remember going forward only apply for credit you need (rewards etc) not just because you want it. Some make the mistake and use the shopping cart trick and get credit cards they will never use. This brings down your AAoA and hurts your credit long term. In my opinion use the search the board on this site before applying for anything. If you can't find what your looking for post your specific question and people should be willing to answer. Welcome to the forum.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the information and the welcome to the board.

[Middleswarth]

Hard pulls alone will not put your scores in the 500's.  There is much more going on here.  Pull your reports and head over to the rebuilding forum and ask for help.  List all the accounts (both good and bad) and follow their advice.  

[Anonymous]

thanks for the advice, will check out the rebuild forum too.

[takeshi74]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I did not know what hard pulls did, I just thought everyone looked at your credit then decided if they would loan money or not.

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They do look at your credit and decide.  Hard pulls are just one of the factors considered (New Credit in the link below).  See also:

http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/whatsinyourscore.aspx

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@Anonymous wrote:

I maxxed out the cards when I got them also to then go and ask for CLI's, hmmm that don't work either.

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Yup.  See the second biggest slice in the link -- Amounts Owed?  That's utilization.  Maxing is a double hit as you're penalized for both high utilization and mxing out your cards.  Get your utilization down ASAP to avoid adverse action.  You'll be in much worse shape if creditors start to balance chase you or close accounts with balances.

Your credit is also considered for CLI's.  High utilization will not only kill your odds of approvals, lower APR's and higher limits but will also impact your odds of getting CLI's.

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@Middleswarth wrote:

Hard pulls alone will not put your scores in the 500's.  There is much more going on here.

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This.  Payment History is the biggest slice.  If you have any derogs then you're taking hits there and need to visit Rebuilding to see what you can do to address those derogs.

[CreditDunce]

It doesn't look like you are in that bad of shape.  You are just starting out is all.  You only have $600 in unsecured CL's.   That shouldn't be hard to pay down.  The worst I see is the CreditOne CC.   You will want to close that as soon as you can get something better.

[Anonymous]

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@CreditDunce wrote:

It doesn't look like you are in that bad of shape.  You are just starting out is all.  You only have $600 in unsecured CL's.   That shouldn't be hard to pay down.  The worst I see is the CreditOne CC.   You will want to close that as soon as you can get something better.

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   CreditOne CC's that bad? I do plan on closing it as soon as I can get something better though. The only thing I have heard about creditone is they hardly will give a credit line increase.

[CreditDunce]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@CreditDunce wrote:

It doesn't look like you are in that bad of shape.  You are just starting out is all.  You only have $600 in unsecured CL's.   That shouldn't be hard to pay down.  The worst I see is the CreditOne CC.   You will want to close that as soon as you can get something better.

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   CreditOne CC's that bad? I do plan on closing it as soon as I can get something better though. The only thing I have heard about creditone is they hardly will give a credit line increase.

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CreditOne may be a necessary evit after a BK.  But for building from scratch, you have better options.  I have never had CreditOne, FirstPremier, etc.  To be honest all of the subprime lenders blend together for me.   I may be mixing up CreditOne with other subprimes (but they are all bad). 

I believe the things to watch out for are:

1) AF charged each month.  You must pay the bill every month

2) There is a fee for paying your bill (if you choose the express payment option... the one where they credit your balance right away)

3) %fee for CLI

4) Half your CLI can be eaten up by fees when you first get the card

5) very high interest rate

I don't think they are one of the subprimes that don't give you a grace period for purchases (but I could be wrong).

Honestly, if I was starting fresh, I would save up money for a secured CC from BoA.  Maybe SDFCU, etc, but they don't graduate their cards.  I just think CreditOne charges too many fees to be considered unless you can't even get Cap1 or a secured card from someone else.

[Anonymous]

Cool, understood. I got it paid for the year so will keep it a bit. Probably get to get rid of it when the creditsteps program kicks in for the quicksilver. Dec will be the Auto-CLI for the quicksilver for me.