First timer trying to get his FICO scores up...

[titanofold]

Excellent progress! Keep it up.

[LadyLeah]

Really great progress! Congrats and keep up the great work. 

[MortgageMinded]

Great post, I too have the WF Secured Card and had thought about getting the BoA Secured.  Just curious, how difficult was it to get the BoA or did you just have to have the balance of $300 in one of their Savings Accounts?

Our credit is similar and I too am trying to buy a home.   I look forward to reading your posts in the future.

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys. Its definitely a journey, but im looking forward to it. Just wish i would have done this a few years back.

MMinded - it wasnt difficult for me at all. I simply app'd for it online, submitted the $300 deposit, then waited about two weeks for the card to come. It originally came as a plain secured card. Once i got it, I PC'd it to a secured rewards card...that one came about two weeks ago and i use it like gangbusters; i rarely use my debit card anymore. I simply PIF every week pretty much all the while leaving a small balance. Hope that helps.

[MortgageMinded]

Thanks for the info, I assume once I find out I was approved I should call the CSR and ask for the Rewards Program before they ship it?  

What are the benefits of their rewards program?   Is there an additional fee?

Thanks again.......

[irep88]

"So, i'm assuming that TU jumped because my balance with BB&T fell from $977 to zero. TU also made all of my late payments go to green OK's as well. I'm looking to start paying off all of the baddies within the next two months. I want to get to a savings goal first."

one question, how did u get the bbt balance to fall down to ZERO/?. how did u get to appeared as REDEEMED REPO?

i also have a similliar situation and would like to know how u did this

[Anonymous]

Well, im not sure how the rewards thing works as far as being able to get the rewards card first and foremost. From BofA's site, they dont offer the rewards secured card, but what i would do is call as soon as you app for it and see if they can save time on both ends by sending you the rewards card from the get go.

Other than the annual fee with the card, there are no other fees associated with the rewards. I get 3% on gas, 2% on groceries and 1% on everything else.

With the BB&T issue, my car had been paid off since 2009, because i was slack in checking my report til later part of '13...the open balance of $977 was severly affecting my report, which i had no idea. I called up BB&T, confirmed with them on a zero balance, disputed it via TU, 30 days later, my scores jumped and that note was put on my CR. Now, ive since learned that repo's are scored the same, whether it says repo or redeeemed repo. I just recently sent off a GW to BB&T asking them to graciously take off the repo note since i paid off the repo balance of a few hundred dollars literally the next day from it being repo'd. Hoping they respond here soon to my request. Hope that helps you out.

[irep88]

thats kinda of what happened with me. itwas a lease car. i was late 90 days. they came for the car but in my credit report it doesnt show as repo. it just shows up as 90 days left. i am thinking of callling them to pay off that 90 days late and hopefully they will change it to paid as agreed

[Anonymous]

Yea, i would definitely give the guys a call. If for whatever reason they dont agree with it, keep calling to find the forgiving representative at the company. Obviously in a respectful manner of course.

[notfancy]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Update on my credit rebuilding journal as I’ve gotten steady increases since I truly started getting serious about my credit profile at the first of December of 2013.

My FICO initial scores on 12/3/13 were as follows…

EX – 599

EQ – 615

TU – 599

My FICO scores as of 1/13/14 are as follows…

EX – 609

EQ – 614

TU – 647

With the capital one, wells fargo & bofa inquiry hit, my scores still made an increase and I’m pretty happy. I have just the Wells & Bofa card right now and they are now reporting. Keeping my overall uti under 10% and using them both as a charge card. A long way to go obviously to reach my mid 700 goal across the board come Holiday 2014. I feel like that I can for sure achieve it. I’m working closely with a mortgage broker and we’ve run the numbers here this week for me; either qualifying for a USDA or FHA home loan come spring time of ‘14. Best case scenario for me, I would like to close on a home by spring or the latest mid summer. The sooner the better. I’ve read a ton on these boards these last couple of weeks and continue to be thankful for the advice that I’ve been given along with what I found via the search links.

The good thing about my situation is that my scores have increased since December and I have yet to PFD anything. All of my collections are still present. After speaking with my incredible mortgage broker on the accounts that need to be paid off, I feel great about my credit situation here the next 60 days and look forward to the score increases once they are deleted within the next 60 days. Also, after speaking with every collection agency about PFD, all but one are willing to go ahead with that. The lone one that isn’t willing to do a PFD is Aarons showing a $435 balance. The goal for me now is to save up $2300 (on top of the $$$ that I’ve already saved for the new home) in the next three weeks, then come January 31st, send off/pay one baddie per week til they are all paid off via my salary.

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Congratulations on your successes! For best scoring, make sure one card always reports a 0 balance (pay it off completely) and the other card reports at 1-9 % utilization. Keeping your UTL low is good, but it's best if all of them are 0 and only one reports a balance. Having all accounts, or the majority of your accounts reporting a balance hurts your score... (even if the balance is a small one)