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Am I missing anything? (Rebuild Strategy)

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DSBABC
Established Member

Am I missing anything? (Rebuild Strategy)

I am attempting to rebuild, and I would appreciate any suggestions of what I might be missing, or what might need to be adjusted/done to reach my goal.

 

As many of you seem to be quite knowledgeable, I seek your input:


Thus far, I have

 

Credit Builder Products:

• Kikoff Credit (Jan. 2022) -- to report paid-in-full (0% utilization)

• Kikoff Credit Builder (Mar. 2022) -- to report paid-in-full (closed).

• Credit Strong Build-1K (Apr. 2022) -- to report paid-in-full (closed)

• SeedFi Credit Builder Prime (Aug. 2022)

 

Update (8/8/2022):

Closed CreditStrong + Kikof Credit + Kikoff Builder; all will report paid-in-full


Credit Accounts:

• Auto Loan (Mar. 2022)

• NFCU nRewards Card (Secured) (Apr. 2022)

• Petal 1 Card (Unsecured) (May 2022)

• Sable Card (Secured) (May 2022)


Credit Utilization: 1%

Payment History: 100% (All Auto-Pay)

Hard Inquiries: EQ (6), EX (9) TU (6) 

Derogatory: 1 (Aug. 2016)

Current Scores: 660 to 680


Credit Monitoring:

• Credit Karma (Vantage Score 3.0)(TU, EQ)

• CreditSesame(Vantage Score 3.0)(TU)

• WalletHub (Vantage Score 3.0)(TU)

• Experian (FICO 8)


Next Goal: 700+

Long-Term Goal: Return to 800+ (once upon a time, long long ago...)

 

Considering the accounts are so new, I assume that with increased account age, and continued payments, my scores may naturally increase, but I was hoping to help it along as much as possible.

 

So, am I missing anything; or is there anything that might be suggested?

 

 

Message 1 of 13
12 REPLIES 12
TheKid2
Frequent Contributor

Re: Am I missing anything? (Rebuild Strategy)

Based on your information I don't see much to call a rebuild. If you only have 1 6 year old derog and your credit utilization is 1% I'm not sure why your scores would be so low. I guess newness and letting the acounts age.

 

You don't say where you get your scores or how you monitor your credit, though. What is that 1 derog? You're actually getting close to where you can EE.

 

I'd just sit and garden for the time being! Your scores will go up over time with continued on time payments.

 

JOINED 4/2020


FICO 8 = 582, 620, 589 / Mortgage = 633, 526, 581


CURRENT PEAK *Thanks to the MF Community!


FICO 8 = 715, 711, 720 / Mortgage = 688, 696, 681

Message 2 of 13
gdale6
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Am I missing anything? (Rebuild Strategy)

The derog and the newness of your new credit is why the Fico is where its at. What is the derog?

Message 3 of 13
DSBABC
Established Member

Re: Am I missing anything? (Rebuild Strategy)


@TheKid2 wrote:

Based on your information I don't see much to call a rebuild. If you only have 1 6 year old derog and your credit utilization is 1% I'm not sure why your scores would be so low. I guess newness and letting the acounts age.

 

You don't say where you get your scores or how you monitor your credit, though. What is that 1 derog? You're actually getting close to where you can EE.

 

I'd just sit and garden for the time being! Your scores will go up over time with continued on time payments.

 



I monitor through Credit Karma, Experian, etc.

 

Past credit card/student loan charge offs, dragged the score down; and those were only eliminated from Credit Reports around the start (Jan/Feb) of 2022, so fairly recently. No Bankruptcy, No Repo, No Foreclosure... just credit cards, and student loans, after a bit of catastrophe around 10 years ago.

 

The current derogatory is a past landlord/property manager who (directly) sent to collections an unknown claim of additional money owed -- several months after I moved.-- which I never owed, and they refuse to explain the debt they claim to be owed, or any legitimate basis for that supposed debt.  I was up to date and nothing was owed when I moved; but they want me to pay an extra $3k without telling me the reason. They never contacted me, and they only sent it directly to collections, with no explanation, and they refuse to explain it, beyond just saying that it is "owed" (umm...for what?). That has been incredibly frustrating. I have been trying to get it removed all along, but each Credit Report dispute just confirms the debt with the Collection Agency (who claims it is owed); and no further information has ever been provided -- which it (obviously) should be clarified, but nothing is ever clarified or explained. Thus, I continue trying to dispute, and wait for it to drop off. 

 

So, as of early 2022, my credit report looked empty, after everything dropped off, which created other issues of not having trade-lines open, which itself hindered opening new credit accounts -- hence why I've stacked up on Credit Building products, to add credit accounts, to have something (anything) reporting positive activity.

 

Everything is fairly new (6 months or less), from effectively having nothing being reported (other than past derogatory); and so, I presume it will increase as the accounts age, but I was hoping to setup as much as possible, to at least help it grow most/fastest with time.

 

Years ago, my credit was pretty solid, but a bit of catastrophe destroyed that, and only recently were things removed, and able to try to build back up.

 

While I know it takes time, my impatience is largely due to not seeing much score movement at all in the last couple months, and so I was thinking about what else I might do to help it along.

 

Message 4 of 13
mfinsmi1
Established Contributor

Re: Am I missing anything? (Rebuild Strategy)

@DSBABC im not sure what these credit builder products are and how they report so what im about to say may not apply if these products cover this

 

.... but you need more diversity in your credit mix - my suggestion is do a secured savings loan (will add another installment account to your credit mix in addition to your auto loan) - also adding positive UNSECURED lines of creidt over time will also help boost your score. Seeing as you have several new accounts reporting i wouldnt suggest doing this part just yet - let your accounts age and down the line add some unsecured lines of creidt. But definitly look into adding an additonal installment loan to diverisfy your credit profile unless these credit repair products report as installment loans

Personal Cards (Over $100k):

Business Cards:

Rebuilding Starting Scores - December 2021

FICO SCORE 8/9 - Current 1/6/23

Stats: : 3/6; 8/12; 17/24 --- AAoA 3 YRS, 8 MO --- INQ: EX-6/TU-7/EQ-2
Message 5 of 13
DSBABC
Established Member

Re: Am I missing anything? (Rebuild Strategy)


@mfinsmi1 wrote:

@DSBABC im not sure what these credit builder products are and how they report so what im about to say may not apply if these products cover this

 

.... but you need more diversity in your credit mix - my suggestion is do a secured savings loan (will add another installment account to your credit mix in addition to your auto loan) - also adding positive UNSECURED lines of creidt over time will also help boost your score. Seeing as you have several new accounts reporting i wouldnt suggest doing this part just yet - let your accounts age and down the line add some unsecured lines of creidt. But definitly look into adding an additonal installment loan to diverisfy your credit profile unless these credit repair products report as installment loans


You make good points.

 

Initially, I had nothing reporting, so I was just trying to jumpstart it a bit. 

 

From what I saw initially, there didn't seem to be many available options of what could be added.

 

However, I'm starting to see how that my scores seem to be around the range where at least some options are starting to open to me -- and my goal is to achieve a mix, but I'm not sure what else to add.

 

(I'm thinking that another unsecured card + time, will likely help it).

 

As for those credit builder products:

 

Credit Builder Products:

 

• Kikoff Credit (Jan. 2022) -- reports as revolving credit / charge card.

 

• Kikoff Credit Builder (Mar. 2022) -- reports as a secured loan.

 

• Credit Strong Build-1K (Apr. 2022) -- reports as a secured loan.

 

• SeedFi Credit Builder Prime (Aug. 2022) -- reports as a secured credit line.

 

Message 6 of 13
FireMedic1
Community Leader
Mega Contributor

Re: Am I missing anything? (Rebuild Strategy)


@mfinsmi1 wrote:

@DSBABC im not sure what these credit builder products are and how they report so what im about to say may not apply if these products cover this

 

.... but you need more diversity in your credit mix - my suggestion is do a secured savings loan (will add another installment account to your credit mix in addition to your auto loan) - also adding positive UNSECURED lines of creidt over time will also help boost your score. Seeing as you have several new accounts reporting i wouldnt suggest doing this part just yet - let your accounts age and down the line add some unsecured lines of creidt. But definitly look into adding an additonal installment loan to diverisfy your credit profile unless these credit repair products report as installment loans


Little correction. Those rebuilder loans are installment loans. Only 1 is needed @DSBABC . More loans dont mean higher scores. You can close 3 of them if you want and can. Three cards and 1 loan get the ball rolling. Go from there.


Message 7 of 13
mfinsmi1
Established Contributor

Re: Am I missing anything? (Rebuild Strategy)

@FireMedic1 @DSBABC yes as i thought since these products are savings backed installment loans - what i said is indeed pointless lol 

Personal Cards (Over $100k):

Business Cards:

Rebuilding Starting Scores - December 2021

FICO SCORE 8/9 - Current 1/6/23

Stats: : 3/6; 8/12; 17/24 --- AAoA 3 YRS, 8 MO --- INQ: EX-6/TU-7/EQ-2
Message 8 of 13
DSBABC
Established Member

Re: Am I missing anything? (Rebuild Strategy)

Good point. Initially, I opened each credit builder account just to add accounts reporting, but after considering the redundancy, and the way it reports having additional debt; I realized that it wouldn't really benefit me, in light of other accounts reporting.

 

Update: I closed the Kikoff Credit, Kikoff Credit Builder, and Credit Strong products, and each will report paid-in-full.

Message 9 of 13
FireMedic1
Community Leader
Mega Contributor

Re: Am I missing anything? (Rebuild Strategy)


@DSBABC wrote:

Good point. Initially, I opened each credit builder account just to add accounts reporting, but after considering the redundancy, and the way it reports having additional debt; I realized that it wouldn't really benefit me, in light of other accounts reporting.

 

Update: I closed the Kikoff Credit, Kikoff Credit Builder, and Credit Strong products, and each will report paid-in-full.


Nice. 3 less headaches to keep up with.


Message 10 of 13
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