Newbie here...I need HELP!

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone, glad to be here.

I am trying to repair my credit and it's been a difficult journey so far to know exactly what to do or how to do it.

Currently as my score stands, my myFICO score is a 568. My Credit Karma score is a 568 as well.

I have a goal of reaching 700 at least.

Currently, I have the following cards:

Capital One Secured Mastercard - CL$230

Victorias Secret Credit Card - $250 CL

Express Credit Card - $250 CL

Roaman's Credit Card - $250 CL

According to Credit Karma, as of June I have 3 hard credit inquiries. One was from applying for a Walmart CC in December 2013, and the other is from the same bank although Im not sure what for. The other hard credit inquiry is not listed.

Mostly,  my score has gone to crap over student loans (I owe over $30,000+) because of Kaplan University making me false promises of guaranteed employment after graduation. Well, after graduating in 2009, I wasn't offered any jobs at all - and when I contacted the career counselor line, they told me they never make these kinds of promises and that the career center charges a fee for their services, which I also wasn't informed of. So I was lied to and deceived.

It took me almost 3 years to find a job as a Paralegal, and it was short lived due to the fact that the attorney couldn't afford to pay me more than $13 an hour and the work was extremely part time - like 6 hours a week. Yeah, I know. So I had to look for employment elsewhere - and I found a job thankfully but not as a Paralegal.

So, ultimitely the degree is sitting collecting dust as I now work as a Writer. I have my payments in deferrment. I am trying to just get by right now enough to pay for bills, my house (renting) and for my kids to get back to school in August.

I want to have good credit and I want to be able to buy a house within the next two years. I am sick of feeling like a 30 year old failure to my family and my children.

I need advice on what I should do. I want to make th best decisions to improve my credit and do everything right. Can anybody offer me any advice or suggestions? I would really appreciate it. Oh and as a sidenote - I recently (just this month) got the three above store cards through the shopping trick with the score I posted above. I did it because I thought it would allow me to improve my credit score. If they approved me for these cards, is this a good sign that my credit is increasing and doing better?

Thanks everyone for listening and chiming in.

[coldnmn]

Your new cards as they age will definitely help your credit report as long as you pay on time. For best scoring only have one card report a balance of 1% to 9% never completely pay to 0% as your credit score will be lower. Unfortunately credit is a journey and not a race. Don't get cards that you want get cards you need (rewards etc) because getting cards you want (because you can get them) you may not get the cards you need.  You seem to be on the right track. Good Luck! 

[Stylez]

Are you behind on your student loans? If so then you

[Dalanar]

It seems like you are the right track.  Have you looked at the Rebuilding forum? There are a lot of stories and great tips there that are specific to rebuilding. One thing to think about is reaching out to the banks that are reporting the bad items and see if they can make a goodwill adjustment to help you out.  Although I haven't been successful personally with goodwill letters, many in the Rebuilding forum have.  Good luck!