Starting out SC questions

Anonymous · ‎10-22-2018

I am getting a secured card with a SL of 300 . Should I keep a balance revolving every month ,or should I pay in full. I intend on only utilizing about 60 or so, every month. What recommendations does anyone have as I am new to this CC game . I would like use the best practice for building as much positive every month. The interest is at 11 % from my local CU. I am an AU on a discover card with 700 CL and 430 balance also. Not sure if I should gain some history and ditch the AU or keep on it and lower the revolving balance. ( Discover has 10 years of perfect payment history too ).

Anonymous · ‎10-22-2018

Do you have any needs for credit in the next year or two? E.g. a car loan or a home loan? If so, when?

With respect to the secured card in your name, make a small purchase each month, let it report on the next statement, and then pay that amount in full a few days after the statement prints. Then do it again. The amount that reports should be under 8.99% of the credit limit. So in your case less than $27.

In the case of the AU card, would the owner of the account be willing to keep the reported balance much lower? That would help his score and yours. We can explain how he could spend a lot on the Discover card while keeping his reported balance very low (or even zero).

Do you have any lates, collections, charegeoffs, any other derogs like that?

Have you pulled your three FICO 8 scores? You can do that for a buck at Credit Check Total.

Anonymous · ‎10-23-2018

Been pretty steady and there are several more posts from me on here. I have included all the details but I will repost for you .

Anonymous · ‎10-23-2018

Current stats are :
Flagship Financial (installment auto) Opened July 2018 , 20 % interest, 22k balance @72 mo , no lates. We just traded in and financed another car for 18% , @66 months, 20k balance, 45 days until payment is due with Flagship as well.
Regional Acceptance- opened in 2014 - 17k Balance, 18 % interest, 7 lates reported since opening (took a chance and sent first GW letter for removals, probably a long shot but tried anyways).
Discover- AU since September, opened in 2008, no lates since opening- revolving balance is 430, CL is 700.

The baddies:
Gm Financial- Opened in 2011, CO in 2014- Balance after sale - 11k

Marine One- Opened in 2011, CO in 2014 - Balance aftet sale - 7700- Settlement offer of 3000

Santander- Opened in 2015, CO in July 2018, - Balance is 15k- Settlement offer of 6k

COLLECTIONS
Fingerhut- CO in 2013 - Balance is 94.00
Progressive Insurance- CO in 2016- Balance is 400
Misc Medical - CO in 2016- balance is 300

Inquiries-
TU- 66
EQ- 62
EX -??

I am planning on opening a secured credit card with my local CU that is 11% and no annual fee .

With a credit mix of 1 CC and 2 Installments , is there a good chance that the positive will start to outweigh the negative in a FICO perspective? Should I make it priority to settle the large chargeoffs ? Open another secured card? Or all of the above? If the 2 older installment charge offs aging do not have much affect on my scores now, I will let them age off and work on building new, positive history, any opinions on this approach?

Since the Santander account is still new, I have a plan of settling this one , and GW afterwards to delete, since they wont do it at this point.
Any advice on the items mentioned, and steps to maximize the most financially effective/ efficient use of my money is greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Anonymous · ‎10-23-2018

In the case of the AU card, would the owner of the account be willing to keep the reported balance much lower? That would help his score and yours. We can explain how he could spend a lot on the Discover card while keeping his reported balance very low (or even zero).

Anonymous · ‎10-23-2018

I believe it will get paid down a lower balance before long and give is both an advantage. I have another question..
I am getting ready to make another investment and need advice on what I should do first that will have the greatest benefit. Here goes:
1.Go to my local CU and put up my 300 dollar deposit for a SC, then work on paying off the remaining collections :
399.00 (settled for 199 or PIF for delete) from 2016
94.00 FingerHut from 2014, OR.....
515.00 Medical collection from 2017.
Or.....
Pay the settlement for 199 and the 94 for Fingerhut.
Or........ PIF the 399
Or........settle with the 515 medical for probably 1/2.
My issue is whether or not my money would be better spent right now on these collections, or go ahead and get my secured card going to start with a revolver credit line. This may seem like a silly situation and probably common sense to some, but I am at odds trying to figure out what my forst move should be now.TIA

Anonymous · ‎10-24-2018

Good news regarding regarding the card on which you are an AU (the Discover). That person needs to pay it zero as soon as he comfortably can. That move will help both of you a lot.

An important test you should engage in as his balance begins to come down is to pay the only card in your name (a secured card) to zero. If your score drops it means that FICO 8 is not counting that AU card in its scoring. It is very important to know whether FICO 8 is counting it or now.

Regarding your most recent question, I would wait until his balance is getting lower (which I think you believe will happen soon). While you are waiting, research your options to find a secured card which has no annual fee and which also has a good chance of the issuer "graduating" it to an unsecured card.

In general I lean toward getting yourself equipped with 2-3 no annual fee cards as a higher priority than attempting to pay off collections or other bad debts.

Anonymous · ‎10-24-2018

Thank you for the response. I will work on doing just that. My first SC is actually zero annual and will grad to an unsecured. It is a CU card. I figured it may be time to start adding some positive info rather than focusing on all old collections.

Anonymous · ‎10-24-2018

Here's how I'd think about it. You can:

(a) Pay off all bad debts first and then add a card.

(b) Add a card and then pay off all debts.

I don't think (A) will get your report clean any faster (partly because you may be unable to negotiate Pay For Delete agreements).

But with (A) when your second card finally appears it has no history or age, whereas with (B) it does. Just do your best to find a card that can graduate to unsecured and which has no fees. That way you'll be able to keep that tradeline open forever.

And of course, stop applying for credit aside from the extra secured card. The 60+ inquiries on your report is crazy high.

PS. Why is it that you don't know how many inquiries are in your EX report? If you have not pulled your EX report you should head over to creditscore.com -- which will give you a free EX report and FICO 8 every month.

Anonymous · ‎10-24-2018

83 inq in the last 2 years with 18 set to fall off this year. This is what happens when you go on a retarded apping spree trying to get something financed with bad credit. I , sir, have learned my lesson on apping because it is pretty bad when your denial letters include "too many inquiries " . I will not be applying for any new credit for at least 12 months ,unless one of them involves re financing a high interest auto loan with my CU or graduation from the SC to unsecured in about 6 months.