Hi everyone, its been a while since I posted here. I came to this forum several years ago with credit scores in the low 6's and a BK13 still hanging on my score. Time and following the advice here took me up to the high 7s and low 800s. Last year I was diagnosed with what could be a terminal illness. I got a little crazy and decided to burn up my 70K in credit card limits with the thought I would just let my credit fall. Still have the wife's scores and she was in the low 800s too. After the last time with credit ruined, we kept all our loans and cards separate so one of us would have credit if needed.
Well, I got about 47K charged on the cards all going towards work on the house. I got some trees cut and a driveway put in. With the thought the improvements would help the wife sell the house if it came to that. I started getting adverse actions with Amex, Wells Fargo, and Discover both taking my limited down to just above the balances. This brought my utilization up to pretty much max on some of the cards.
Well, of course, it turns out I'm a lot better with my health than I was last year and I thought might maintain my credit. The utilization was the only thing hitting me, no lates or other baddies, so I knew if I could move around the utilization my scores would rebound. So I applied and received a personal loan from Best Egg. Since my scores had dipped to the 600-650's, I got a 10% interest rate and had to pay a hefty loan origination fee. Since they were the only ones to approve me. So I took the loan. I needed 47K to take care of all the cards, but they would only approve 37K. I paid down the cards I really care about like Amex and Discover and paid down all the rest to either 0 or at least halfway. The Wells Fargo and Capital One have about 56% utilization on them and my overall utilization is 25%. I waited until everything posted although I did not account for interest on the Amex and Discover so niether of them reported 0 just a small amount on each, so I only got 3 of my 7 cards reporting 0.
Checked my scores this morning and they are all between 717 and 746. I am getting dinged for the Best Egg account that was reported before the month was up. When I took this loan, the plan was to have my CC's report reduced utilization and allow me to get a better rate with another company. So right now my youngest account is 1 month and that is dinging me.
So now to my questions. Would you wait a couple of months and let the Best Egg age to the 3-month mark and then try for a better rate card or would you go ahead and apply for another one now? I also thought of trying for CLI's from the cards that are 0 now to further lower my utilization or should I just let sleeping dogs lie and not try to get any of the limits I lost back to help with utilization which should get my scores back up to above 750?
Hopefully, this is clear. What are your thoughts on how I should handle this? I can make all my payments as is right now so not worrying about default or late unless I get back sick. I don't like a 10% interest rate especially since they are likely going up the rest of the year as the Fed tightens.
I think I may need to get a few 0 months in on the cards before trying the CLI's. I decided to just hit Discover up to see if they would bump me back up some. I was at 26K limit on that card and now it's down to 7500. Got the denial and wait 5-7 days. I'm sure its the not enough experience with current limit denial.
@dynamicvb wrote:Hi everyone, its been a while since I posted here. I came to this forum several years ago with credit scores in the low 6's and a BK13 still hanging on my score. Time and following the advice here took me up to the high 7s and low 800s. Last year I was diagnosed with what could be a terminal illness. I got a little crazy and decided to burn up my 70K in credit card limits with the thought I would just let my credit fall. Still have the wife's scores and she was in the low 800s too. After the last time with credit ruined, we kept all our loans and cards separate so one of us would have credit if needed.
Well, I got about 47K charged on the cards all going towards work on the house. I got some trees cut and a driveway put in. With the thought the improvements would help the wife sell the house if it came to that. I started getting adverse actions with Amex, Wells Fargo, and Discover both taking my limited down to just above the balances. This brought my utilization up to pretty much max on some of the cards.
Well, of course, it turns out I'm a lot better with my health than I was last year and I thought might maintain my credit. The utilization was the only thing hitting me, no lates or other baddies, so I knew if I could move around the utilization my scores would rebound. So I applied and received a personal loan from Best Egg. Since my scores had dipped to the 600-650's, I got a 10% interest rate and had to pay a hefty loan origination fee. Since they were the only ones to approve me. So I took the loan. I needed 47K to take care of all the cards, but they would only approve 37K. I paid down the cards I really care about like Amex and Discover and paid down all the rest to either 0 or at least halfway. The Wells Fargo and Capital One have about 56% utilization on them and my overall utilization is 25%. I waited until everything posted although I did not account for interest on the Amex and Discover so niether of them reported 0 just a small amount on each, so I only got 3 of my 7 cards reporting 0.
Checked my scores this morning and they are all between 717 and 746. I am getting dinged for the Best Egg account that was reported before the month was up. When I took this loan, the plan was to have my CC's report reduced utilization and allow me to get a better rate with another company. So right now my youngest account is 1 month and that is dinging me.
So now to my questions. Would you wait a couple of months and let the Best Egg age to the 3-month mark and then try for a better rate card or would you go ahead and apply for another one now? I also thought of trying for CLI's from the cards that are 0 now to further lower my utilization or should I just let sleeping dogs lie and not try to get any of the limits I lost back to help with utilization which should get my scores back up to above 750?
Hopefully, this is clear. What are your thoughts on how I should handle this? I can make all my payments as is right now so not worrying about default or late unless I get back sick. I don't like a 10% interest rate especially since they are likely going up the rest of the year as the Fed tightens.
The most important thing that jumps out at me is the number "56%". If I were you I would get those accounts to 48% or less, and then reevaluate your situation after those have reported.
Thanks Jamaica, had not thought of that as a potential points location. I think I can move both those below 48% this month or next
@dynamicvb wrote:Thanks Jamaica, had not thought of that as a potential points location. I think I can move both those below 48% this month or next
My experience has been that getting individual accounts which are above 50% down below 50% can pick up some real points.
@SouthJamaica, so just been letting these sit for now. Question on Amex, since they decreased my limit, I would think this would constitute a credit reason and thus would mean I need to wait at least 6 months before trying for a CLI with them, correct? Thoughts? Scores are back up lowest 726 on EX highest 754 on EQ
@dynamicvb wrote:@SouthJamaica, so just been letting these sit for now. Question on Amex, since they decreased my limit, I would think this would constitute a credit reason and thus would mean I need to wait at least 6 months before trying for a CLI with them, correct? Thoughts? Scores are back up lowest 726 on EX highest 754 on EQ
I don't really know anything about Amex's CLI practices. I haven't asked them for anything in quite a few years. I do know that some folks have called up when CLD'd, and gotten the CL restored.