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Frustrated at low scores, Ive done everything I read and nothing...

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Anonymous
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Frustrated at low scores, Ive done everything I read and nothing...

So I have never had credit in my life, being  a JR I had my fathers always bad credit always popping up on mine so for the first time in my life at 34 I got my first credit card and even got my first score a few months ago.... My dads things went on my credit so much and often via letters showing up from us having the same name I was never able to get anything on credit... I have since this summer put a stop to it and got my credit as follows:

 

No collections on any of the three reports and I had no score.... So following advice I found on here I got two secured cards, OpenSky and Discover... The open sky was kind of a pain in the ass as the webiste for your account is so generic, long time like 10 days to post ur payment ect but the discover is amazing and they will let you call in daily to send an update to the reports if u want...  and after 7 months they review ur account and if u did it right will unsecure the card and I get cash back bonus for what i spend...SO they are both secured by 200 each.... NOTE: both cards reported in a month to all reports except Transunion which takes like 2 extra months to report anyting with experian always being first for reporting and then about 4-5 days later equifax will report (I pay all three for updated daily reports)

 

Ohh another note on the cards, I keep my utilization at 9% on the cards...

 

I got a finger hut fresh start account $230 limit and had to put 30 down payment on the item i bought...knwoing full well it's a rip off got a cheap 100 item to pay on at 15 a month for 8 months to build score and then graduate to a reg fingerhut account that will show unsecured even tho I wont buy anything else from them rip off artist again.. they charge 30 for shipping on everything it didn't matter what I put in the cart that way ur down payment of 30 is eaten up instantly.... and it took 40 days to get my item... took a month to approve my debit card transaction and then 3 weeks to finaly get hem to print a shipping label, I was so **bleep** frustrated i called to cancel the order and did then the next day the box showed up and was overnight shipped and the order in fact didn't get canceled... so i decided to just keep it and not call them back about the canceled order for the sake of needing a installment account on my report...

 

I got a self lender account on 6/01/17 and it just last night  9/13 went on equifax and experian but as usual transuinion takes two months after the other ones report there super slow and it's frustrating....  Took three months for self lender to show up kinda bummed me out about them and not sure ill use them again for this reason and the ceo keeps saying they ware going to weekly reporting on this date then it never happens and not sure why?!

 

I have a Bridgestone /firestone account... I read on the forums it was an easy one to get with limited credit and got instant 1k approval...

 

 

So 5 accounts... I went from 674 on 2 of them and now after the accounts are all now reporting and ALL OF THEM are ontime ive dropped to 599 across the board..... Equifax went down the most from 699 to 599.... there all under 600 now... what gives?

 

I thought getting the mix of credit accounts and paying on time would make my score go up and now it's worse like I just started even tho all my payments for the last 3 months have been on time...... Very frustrated trying to understand this... I dont have a fico score as I guess it takes 6 months to get one from the date of your first open account...

 

Anyone know how to speed up transuion reporting? there still not updated on things my other reports updated on 2 months ago?!

 

 

Any adivce on what to do know? Should i get another secured card? I get lots of rip off unsecrured card offers with 125 annual fees that i shred, was thinking of a cap one secured card....

 

What should i be doing to raise my score? if someone else was in the same boat please advise!!!!

 

 

Danny

Message 1 of 17
16 REPLIES 16
torry590
Regular Contributor

Re: Frustrated at low scores, Ive done everything I read and nothing...

What are the balances on all of your accounts? For Optimal FICO scoring, you want all of your cards except one to report a 0$ balance. that means paying them down before the statement cuts. Leave one card with a 9% balance. 

 

I think you are seeing a dip in scoring because all of the accounts are brand new and you do not have much history, very thin file it sounds like. Scores will rebound as the accounts age. 

 

How many inquiries do you have? That can affect scoring too. 

As of 5/2021 EX8: 616 | TU8: 665 | EQ8: 662
First Premier $700 | Capital One Secured $500 | Discover It $1,000 (formerly secured)
Capital One Quicksilver $400 | Credit One Platinum $300 | Victoria's Secret $200
Express Next $500 | Williams Sonoma Store $400 | Brylane Home $250 | Chime Credit Builder NPSL
Walmart World Mastercard $300 | Aspire Mastercard $500 | Cerulean Mastercard $750
CFNA Bosch Car Care $800 | First Premier no AF $700 | Avant Mastercard $300 no AF
Message 2 of 17
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Frustrated at low scores, Ive done everything I read and nothing...

I keep total utilization at 9%.. I carry a balance on one at $9 of the 200 limit and the other one make sure the balance is zero before the statement post so it shows $0... I have 15 inquiries on equifax and 5 on exper and 7 on transunion.... I had to apply for credit to get credit and got a few declines till I was able to secure what I have now but Im not applying for nonthing else till all this ages.... CreditKarma says the age of my accounts is a huge factor and the amount of accoutns says I should have 11 or more to be be in the green and I only have 5 total... 2 Credit cards, one store card and two installment (fingerhut/self lender.)

..... SHould i expect to see the scores up a little daily or do they only go up montly now?

Message 3 of 17
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Frustrated at low scores, Ive done everything I read and nothing...


@Anonymous wrote:

I keep total utilization at 9%.. I carry a balance on one at $9 of the 200 limit and the other one make sure the balance is zero before the statement post so it shows $0... I have 15 inquiries on equifax and 5 on exper and 7 on transunion.... I had to apply for credit to get credit and got a few declines till I was able to secure what I have now but Im not applying for nonthing else till all this ages.... CreditKarma says the age of my accounts is a huge factor and the amount of accoutns says I should have 11 or more to be be in the green and I only have 5 total... 2 Credit cards, one store card and two installment (fingerhut/self lender.)

..... SHould i expect to see the scores up a little daily or do they only go up montly now?


Forget what Credit karma tells you. 

Message 4 of 17
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Frustrated at low scores, Ive done everything I read and nothing...

ahh kk... I just knew nothing about credit so I was using them as the source of the rebuild.... that and this forum... So I have the 5 accounts, 2 credit cards both secured for $200 each, my retail card at firestone for 1k, and fingerhut for 110 and self lender for installment...  Now I just make my payments on time and hold a 9% balance on the one CC and $0 on the other and wait for it to go up with ontime payments?

 

Is there any thing I should be doing to get my score up?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is there any tricks or tips?

 

My scores are now Equifax 604, Exp 637 as of two weeks ago not sure what is now as I have no way of checking even subscribing to the experian stuff it doesn't give me a score, and transunion is 599..

 

Danny

Message 5 of 17
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Frustrated at low scores, Ive done everything I read and nothing...


@Anonymous wrote:

ahh kk... I just knew nothing about credit so I was using them as the source of the rebuild.... that and this forum... So I have the 5 accounts, 2 credit cards both secured for $200 each, my retail card at firestone for 1k, and fingerhut for 110 and self lender for installment...  Now I just make my payments on time and hold a 9% balance on the one CC and $0 on the other and wait for it to go up with ontime payments?

 

Is there any thing I should be doing to get my score up?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is there any tricks or tips?

 

My scores are now Equifax 604, Exp 637 as of two weeks ago not sure what is now as I have no way of checking even subscribing to the experian stuff it doesn't give me a score, and transunion is 599..

 

Danny


Credit karma is good for looking over your accounts and inquiries. Sounds like you are doing a good job. 

Message 6 of 17
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Frustrated at low scores, Ive done everything I read and nothing...

You are on the right path and using available credit responsibly. Discover credit scorecard gives the Exp Fico 08 with a monthly update. As others metioned, use CK only for monitoring. As of today my CK TU is exactly 101 pts lower than my Fico 08 and 134 pts lower than Fico 09 pulled from MyFico.
Message 7 of 17
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Frustrated at low scores, Ive done everything I read and nothing...

Pay no attention to Credit Karma scores, they're fakos scores, meaning virtually nobody uses them. Look at your Fico scores to see your progress.

Message 8 of 17
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Frustrated at low scores, Ive done everything I read and nothing...

ahh okay, yeah I wont have a fico score for a few months... I subscribe to all 3 and none have a fico because I haven't had an account open for 6 months or longer to get one..... feels like it takes forever when your wiating.... I check it 10 times a day haha..

Message 9 of 17
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Frustrated at low scores, Ive done everything I read and nothing...

So I subscribe to all 3 and equifax has my score at 604 now, Transunion shows mine at 599 and transunion there site shows there using the same vantascore 3.0 which i dont get I subscribe the them for a real score but doesn't look like Im getting on .... are these scores considered fake too? It's the fico score thats the real one? I thought i was paying for a fico score report daily.... Experian doesn't give me a score with my subscription as it says it's a 6 month wait...... IM confused on what scores to use or go by!!!!!??

Message 10 of 17
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