Help with my credit situation

[Anonymous]

Ok. So I got in some credit card trouble a couple years ago. I basically maxed out two cards 5500 each, and was about 150 days late on a personal loan I took out from Bank of America. I had no cluw what to do or what I was doing. So Bank of America closed down one of the credit cards that at one time with late fees and over the limit fees was at 6500. I paid this card off, but not after having them close the account. The other card I closed down and paid off. As for the personal loan, it says charge off on my credit reports...all of them. I have tried calling the bank and they won't budge on changing anything, een though I paid the balance off. My FICO score is at 635 and I really want it to go up. Currently I have a Orchard card with a 700 limit and a Bank of America card that has a 2000 limit. That is it. trying to stay clean and really improve my report. I would like to see if anyone has any suggestions on raising my credit score and possiblly removing the charge off from my report. Someone please help!!! Thanks

[Anonymous]

If the accounts when to Charge Off, but they are PIF, you have Paid Charge Offs. Only slightly better than an Unpaid Charge Off. Are all 3 PIF? Or were they settled for less than the full balance?

If they are PIF, then you could try a GW letter. Got nothing to lose but 41 cents by trying.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=generalcredit&message.id=5933&query.id=1264...

What are the balances and APRs of your Orchard and BOA CCs?

[Anonymous]

All of my accounts were paid in full. As for my credit cards now..... my BofA card was a secured card but they made it unsecured after only 6 months. The credit limit was 1500, but right after they made it unsecured I did a credit increase. They raised it to 2000. The I just called BofA a month ago and negociated a lower interest rate from like 20% to a fixed 14%. Not sure what the APR on the Orchard master card is..... Also I really would like to apply for an auto loan, but I dont know where I should. My Fico score is 635 and my Experian was like 650. Any advice?

[Anonymous]

What are your CC balances?

[Anonymous]

As of right now both are paid off. ALthough on my credit report ir shows that at one time they all had high balences. I have been using them both until they are full or at 90% and paying them off in full every month. Is that a bad thing to do?

[Anonymous]

High balance reporting is OK, unless the high balance exceed the credit limit and then your score might get dinged a little.

Ideally, you want to leave between 1% and 9% utilization on your CCs each month.
On the Orchard with a $700 limit, a balance of between $7 and $63.
On the BOA with a $2000 limit, a balance of between $20 and $180.

What are the DOFDs for your paid chargeoffs?

[Anonymous]

For my credit cards, I have never gone over the limit... I dont think. Actaully I went over on my Orchard card, but only by three dollars, then I paid it down to 0 blaence. that was when the limit was 300. as of now, i havent gone over on either of them for about a year. as for my charge off. i think the date when my charge off occured was on december 2003. final payment on the account to bring it closed was january 2004. the date on the first deliqent payments for the charged off account was sept 2003. thanks for the help......

[Anonymous]

Any recent lates at all? If not great. Avoid them like the plague. One single late can cost one up to 100 FICO points.

With FICOs in the mid 600s, apply for AMEX Green, AMEX Delta Skymiles and AMEX Clear. If you apply same day, at most you'll get one INQ per CRA.

[Anonymous]

Is getting an AMEX that is green, skymiles or clear really going to help with my credit score? I feel like that is another inquiry for not much credit. What about trying to get an auto loan. Thanks again.

[MidnightVoice]

My score gets dinged because of high utilization even though I pay them off every month.  The trick is to find out when the credit card balance is reported to your accountand have it low at that point in time