To Whom It May Concern (please read).....

[_NERD]

My Credit Situation

Bank of America Secured (AU on DW’s act)

• $300 Limit
• $248 Balance
• Opened 3/18/2013
• Never late

Capital One Secured

• $326 Limit
• $317.50 Balance
• Opened 5/13/2015
• Never late

Walmart SyncB (not MC)

• $600 Limit
• $561.67 Balance
• Opened 5/22/2015
• Never late

FEB-Retail / Genesis Credit (Ashley Furniture)

• $6,000 Limit
• $3,752 Balance
• Opened 6/9/2015
• Never late

Capital One QS1

• $500 Limit
• $498.34 Balance
• Opened 6/24/2015
• Never late

Jared (Galleria of Jewelry)

• $1,901 Limit
• $366.19 Balance
• Opened 6/24/2015
• Never late

Kay’s Jewelers 

• $2100 Limit
• $565 Balance
• Opened 6/24/2015
• Never late

Credit Debt: $5,621

Total Credit: $11,427 

Installment Account

CA Republic Bank

• $11,071 Original loan amount (auto)
• $10,755 Balance
• Opened 5/29/2015

One late, 16 months old (last pmt on a credit builder loan at a CU).

No charge offs

No collection accounts

No BK

No PR's

No other derogatory

Fico 8 Scores from CCT (generated 8/2/2015)

EX 599

TU 595

EQ 601

Inquiries (all since 4/2015)

EX 13

TU 5

EQ 7

Story

Started my journey late April this year.  I only had the BofA AU acct, nothing else. I learned everything I know from MyFico since April, and went on an app spree since I obtained the Cap1 Secured card in May.  I was transfixed on my CK FAKO’s from the beginning and just learned how to obtain my FICO’s over the weekend.  I’m just realizing I’m doing an awful job managing my new credit.  I paid cash for everything I wanted since 2008-ish. I had lots of baddies on my CR's (30 accounts all bad) that have already fallen off my CR's. April was when I found myself with one tradeline, a couple satisfactory closed accounts, one late payment from early 2014, and a sudden desire to build credit. 

I didn’t know the importance of keeping my utilization LOW and PIF if I needed to spend more, and repeat, until this past weekend. I basically explored MyFico threads silently & tried to do this on my own matter-of-factly, reading the experiences of some members and assumed it would work for me. I applied for the Cap1 QS1 because CK said my odds were GOOD.  I guess I had good odds from the start in April when my EX Fico was 655. I have no idea what possessed me to get a secured CC, but I thought as long as I paid my accounts in full each time I made a payment, that was sufficient. 

Anyway, I’ve officially been interacting in the forum since this weekend and learned a great deal by simply asking questions. I understand my utilization is ridiculous and I’m unsure what to pay off first, or how to spread out the payments.  Both of my jewelry accounts are from the same creditor (Sterling). I just found out I can close one of the accounts, and the entire 4k credit limit will show up on one acct instead of spread out across 2 trade lines. Now I understand why my QS1 was approved for only $500 while my other cards were maxed out.  Now I understand what "you've made heavy use of your credit" means.  Thankfully I can start fresh when I pay my accounts off, because now I'm aware that utilization has no memory once I have zero or low balance (the situation I'm in today won't haunt me next month if I pay stuff down). 

I felt it’s time to start a “my situation” thread to lay it all out in one post.  I’m asking for advice and pointers.  What do I do first to clean up the mess I’ve started to make?

Goals

• 700 Club
• Get high CLI’s on my existing acts
• Get a decent CC limit (new or existing)
• Get a store card with high limit (Lowes, Barneys)
• Healthy overall total credit limit
• Purchase my first home

No timetable on a home purchase. That can wait a year or two. I’m happy in every other aspect of my life. I just want to get on the level many of you are already on. I don’t want to be in toy hell anymore with these cheesy credit limits/accounts. I’m done charging stuff on credit and buying unneeded stuff for now. I just want to do minimum spending until my FICO scores are optimized, as I'm becoming disciplined mentally for the long haul. Ask all the questions you want, and I'll provide additional information pertaining to whatever is relevant to this post.

Please and thank you. 

~ inexperienced credit user

[takeshi74]

You seem to be aware that revolving utilization is your issue.  It helps to look at utilization for each account as well as overall. 

248/300 = 83%

317.50/326 = 97%

561/67/600 = 94%

3752/6000 = 63%

498.34/500 = 100%

366.19/1901 = 19%

565/2100 = 27%

Overall: 6308.70/11727 = 54%

General advice is do not exceed 30%.  Lower is generally better as long as you don't have all zeros reporting.  Optimal -- i.e. when applying and you want to eke out every possible point -- is to allow only one balance to report at 10% or less.  According to some allowing only $2 report on that account is truly optimal.

Tackle the higher utilization accounts first.  Utilization isn't just a scoring factor but a risk factor as well.  Short term high utilization generally isn't an issue but prologned high utilization can lead to adverse action such as credit limit decreases, balance chasing and even account closure.  At this stage, score is the least of your concerns.  Avoiding AA is your top priority and you want to to do so getting maxed (over 90%) accounts down ASAP.  Get all accounts under 50% and then work on getting them under 30%.  Get to where you're paid in full and paying in full each month.

If you're not budgeting then do so and stick to it so you're not accruing debt, subject to interest, and increasing your revolving utilization.

Look into addressing that late as well.  Payment History and Amounts Owed are the two biggest factors

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

so definitely work on the late and getting your revolvin utilization in check.

[_NERD]

takeshi74: thank you for taking the time to read & reply.  

[Anonymous]

Wow! An end table and a nice ring and you'd be completely maxed out. Seriously get those amounts down! First, try to get reduce those above 90% and work on getting them all down overall. There are some good threads on MyFICO on different techniques. Getting the lowest out of the way first to reduce the number. Ie snowballing the payment onto the next.
Or paying them down by percentages etc.
Do some research on the forum and remember there are a lot of great people here that are good to get some solid advice from. Just ask.

[_NERD]

Ya it's ugly, but I'm not overwhelmed.  Now I'm confident.  I just typed up a spiffy GW letter in re: to the late payment.  I also typed up 7 letters to have 9 inquiries deleted just now. All 7 of these inq del letters are going to PO boxes.  

Does anyone know if CMRRR is possible on a PO box? I want to be able to use those in a future dispute with the CB's if they don't act within 30 days.

Thanks.

[tufa4311]

I suggest consideration of a consolidation loan to clearout your credit card balances as this provides a number of positives:

- brings your UTIL straight down to zero

- lowers the interest you will be paying (credit card APR vs installment loan interest rate)

- raises credit score due to the huge UTIL drop

- creates a more manageable, structured, debt reduction plan - with credit cards you must only meet the minimum payments which are not set based on decreasing the amount of interest the consumer will pay. An installment loan has set montly payments that keep you focused on paying off the debt

That said, caution is required, you must have the fortitude to not run those cards back up as then you will have the loan debt as well as more credit card debt.

[_NERD]

Thanks. I'll look into it. I have several spare vehicles I no longer use and been meaning to sell. It won't be difficult to clean up my mess.

[NY2014]

Hey Buddy Welcome to the forum, what (takeshi74) a very good path to follow only think I and other would add: Patience!! It takes time, rebuilding Credit is not a race !

That being said, There is lots of support and knowledge here. from my experience over a yr ago wasn't that far off until I found myfico.com family forum . 

Good luck, stay with it .. and congrats on your steps 

[Anonymous]

---

@takeshi74 wrote:

You seem to be aware that revolving utilization is your issue.  It helps to look at utilization for each account as well as overall. 

248/300 = 83%

317.50/326 = 97%

561/67/600 = 94%

3752/6000 = 63%

498.34/500 = 100%

366.19/1901 = 19%

565/2100 = 27%

Overall: 6308.70/11727 = 54%

General advice is do not exceed 30%.  Lower is generally better as long as you don't have all zeros reporting.  Optimal -- i.e. when applying and you want to eke out every possible point -- is to allow only one balance to report at 10% or less.  According to some allowing only $2 report on that account is truly optimal.

Tackle the higher utilization accounts first.  Utilization isn't just a scoring factor but a risk factor as well.  Short term high utilization generally isn't an issue but prologned high utilization can lead to adverse action such as credit limit decreases, balance chasing and even account closure.  At this stage, score is the least of your concerns.  Avoiding AA is your top priority and you want to to do so getting maxed (over 90%) accounts down ASAP.  Get all accounts under 50% and then work on getting them under 30%.  Get to where you're paid in full and paying in full each month.

If you're not budgeting then do so and stick to it so you're not accruing debt, subject to interest, and increasing your revolving utilization.

Look into addressing that late as well.  Payment History and Amounts Owed are the two biggest factors

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

so definitely work on the late and getting your revolvin utilization in check.

---

+1 - very good advice!

[Anonymous]

Good luck, you can do it. ^_^