What are the bad items that are showing on your credit reports as of right now? And how old is each one? If you tackle enough of your baddies you might raise your scores enough to qualify for a small unsecured CC from Cap One. They would be your best chance for getting a card that you do not need to put money down to open but you will need to raise your scores a bit before you try them. Tackling some of your baddies might get you there. Do you have any medical collections? Because those are the easiest to get removed using the HIPAA letter program.
There are secured cards you can get for less than $500. I think Discover starts theirs at $200 and some others may as well. Getting a minimum of three cards on your account will probably give you somewhat of a score boost. But you may need to raise your scores a bit to even qualify for these. Believe it or not you can be denied for a secured card. Discover denied me for their secured card two years ago. I have since improved my credit to the point that I was able to get an unsecured Discover this spring.
Open Sky offers a secured card that you can get without them doing a credit check. So they might be where you need to start. I don't know what their deposit minimum is. Maybe someone else can chime in regarding that?
Welcome to My Fico
Here's where you start: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action
Get copies of all three credit reports for free.
You may get access to some online but I would request the hard copies be mailed to you so you can write notes on them.
Come back and people here can help you with date the items will drop off, how to file a dispute, how to make offers of settlement for delete etc...
But those reports are where you begin.
It will be ok.. Bad credit can be fixed- it takes some time and effort.
CHEERS
Agreed with stopping the bleeding first. It sounds like right now your life consumes every dime you bring in. I’m going to make some assumptions below - feel free to correct them but know that I’m mainly saying what I say to make a point.
First thing I would do is cut the unnecessary items out. If you have cable, shut it off. See if you can cut down on your phone plan. Kick Netflix to the curb. Things like that seem important but very quickly you learn to get by. Removing those bills can free up money that will start to give you breathing room. Add up these things and divide by four to see what you can save each week by eliminating them.
Second, for the next week continue your daily routines...but get a receipt for everything you buy and put it in an envelope. Do not change your patterns and norms if you see where I’m going with this. If you stop at Dunkin’ for a coffee every morning, keep doing it for the next week. If Wednesday is the night you order Chinese, order it. Save every receipt for every purchase. Then, after a week, go through all of them and add up everything you bought that isn’t a necessity. See what you spend each week on things that are not necessities. That’s your next area of cutting. Add this to your weekly savings figure from part one.
You can plan your meals ahead of time so that you know what to get at the store and aren’t winging it. Make a list and stick to it. It’ll save money.
If you can make some sacrifices this way, you may find the finances aren’t as dire as they appear. Adapt to the new spending habits and you will start to see a balance left in your account each week that’ll start growing.
As mentioned above, get your credit reports. See where you stand and let us know what’s on there that’s bad. There are things you can do and address that cost you nothing more than some time and effort and that can make a real difference in your score. This will help you start climbing out of the credit pit so that when the finances are better, you’ll be able to tackle the past due balances and work on moving from the 400s to the 700s.
Remember, many of us have been there and done that, or are still doing it. We get it, we don’t judge, but we will help you in any way we can to fix the past issues and move forward
First thing I would do is cut the unnecessary items out. If you have cable, shut it off. See if you can cut down on your phone plan. Kick Netflix to the curb. Things like that seem important but very quickly you learn to get by. Removing those bills can free up money that will start to give you breathing room. Add up these things and divide by four to see what you can save each week by eliminating them.
Second, for the next week continue your daily routines...but get a receipt for everything you buy and put it in an envelope. Do not change your patterns and norms if you see where I’m going with this. If you stop at Dunkin’ for a coffee every morning, keep doing it for the next week. If Wednesday is the night you order Chinese, order it. Save every receipt for every purchase. Then, after a week, go through all of them and add up everything you bought that isn’t a necessity. See what you spend each week on things that are not necessities. That’s your next area of cutting. Add this to your weekly savings figure from part one.
You can plan your meals ahead of time so that you know what to get at the store and aren’t winging it. Make a list and stick to it. It’ll save money.
If you can make some sacrifices this way, you may find the finances aren’t as dire as they appear. Adapt to the new spending habits and you will start to see a balance left in your account each week that’ll start growing.
As mentioned above, get your credit reports. See where you stand and let us know what’s on there that’s bad. There are things you can do and address that cost you nothing more than some time and effort and that can make a real difference in your score. This will help you start climbing out of the credit pit so that when the finances are better, you’ll be able to tackle the past due balances and work on moving from the 400s to the 700s.
Remember, many of us have been there and done that, or are still doing it. We get it, we don’t judge, but we will help you in any way we can to fix the past issues and move forward
@Anonymous wrote:
Thank you for your prompt reply! So appreciated! Majority of my bad credit is medical and student loans aside from the repossession. What is the HIPAA letter program!?
HIPAA is a medical privacy law that makes it hard for anyone (collection agency or original creditor) to verify any information that would support the medical collections that are showing on your credit reports. So then the credit reporting agencies are forced to remove these items from your reports.
The HIPAA letter program was developed by a man who does not want it posted on this forum. So you will need to go to his website in order to read all the instructions on how to do it. You can find his website by googling "HIPAA program credit confusion". He also answers questions on another forum that is linked on his website.
@Pikaboo-icu wrote:Welcome to My Fico
Here's where you start: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action
Get copies of all three credit reports for free.
You may get access to some online but I would request the hard copies be mailed to you so you can write notes on them.
Come back and people here can help you with date the items will drop off, how to file a dispute, how to make offers of settlement for delete etc...
But those reports are where you begin.
It will be ok.. Bad credit can be fixed- it takes some time and effort.
CHEERS
+1
@Anonymous wrote:
Agreed with stopping the bleeding first. It sounds like right now your life consumes every dime you bring in. I’m going to make some assumptions below - feel free to correct them but know that I’m mainly saying what I say to make a point.
First thing I would do is cut the unnecessary items out. If you have cable, shut it off. See if you can cut down on your phone plan. Kick Netflix to the curb. Things like that seem important but very quickly you learn to get by. Removing those bills can free up money that will start to give you breathing room. Add up these things and divide by four to see what you can save each week by eliminating them.
Second, for the next week continue your daily routines...but get a receipt for everything you buy and put it in an envelope. Do not change your patterns and norms if you see where I’m going with this. If you stop at Dunkin’ for a coffee every morning, keep doing it for the next week. If Wednesday is the night you order Chinese, order it. Save every receipt for every purchase. Then, after a week, go through all of them and add up everything you bought that isn’t a necessity. See what you spend each week on things that are not necessities. That’s your next area of cutting. Add this to your weekly savings figure from part one.
You can plan your meals ahead of time so that you know what to get at the store and aren’t winging it. Make a list and stick to it. It’ll save money.
If you can make some sacrifices this way, you may find the finances aren’t as dire as they appear. Adapt to the new spending habits and you will start to see a balance left in your account each week that’ll start growing.
As mentioned above, get your credit reports. See where you stand and let us know what’s on there that’s bad. There are things you can do and address that cost you nothing more than some time and effort and that can make a real difference in your score. This will help you start climbing out of the credit pit so that when the finances are better, you’ll be able to tackle the past due balances and work on moving from the 400s to the 700s.
Remember, many of us have been there and done that, or are still doing it. We get it, we don’t judge, but we will help you in any way we can to fix the past issues and move forward
+5,000....
Well said, ImTheDevil!