Hey everyone, new to the forums. I've been reading around for a week or two and I am really liking this place.
I've had bad credit for a bit now. I turned 27 this year and it's been a massive year of growth for me in all major categories of my life. One of my main goals this year is to try to get as close to 700 on all reports in the FICO 8 as possible.
Right now I am sitting at 630 through the Creditwise app from Capital One (I have yet to check the true FICO score). This is going to update in four days and will be going down for the following reasons, but it still really shocked me because I have been in the low-mid 500's for quite some time.
I went on a bit of an app spree over these past few days. I've had the Capital One Secured Platinum Card for 3 years and 3 months to date with a credit limit of $200. I missed four payments back when I first got it, so my on-time payments are sitting at 87%. This weekend I was approved for the Captial One Quicksilver One Card at $300, the Best Buy Visa Gold Card for $1k, and the Overstock Store Card for $250. I was denied for the Amazon card and Paypal card. The Overstock was an SP from what I can tell, but those 4 HP's will have me take a hit, as well as the big hit on the AAOA.
I used the 18-month interest-free financing on the BestBuy card to get some Xmas gifts for a total of $515, but I'll be paying that off no later than the 21st of December. I plan on then using that card as my main card, keeping my utilization around the 8% mark. I'll be putting Spotify and gas purchases on the QS1 but paying off as soon as I charge, just so I can have some activity on that account so it can get a CLI in five months.
Finally, I have two baddies on my report. One for $214 that I will be trying a PFD on in Jan, and a medical debt for $1,046 that has an age of 5 years, 4 months.
Alright, so with all that out of the way here is what I am thinking: Stay in the garden for the next 8-13 months, work on CLI's for the QS1 and maybe the Overstock card, and destroy the $214 baddie ASAP.
My main credit goal outside of getting around 700 is to get one of the Chase Sapphire cards. I realize that may take more than the next 13 months, but that's my other big target. I read a lot of threads here after sending a bunch of apps and in hindsight, I think I would have skipped on the Overstock card, but it is what it is now. I am just happy to have some more credit and get things moving in the right direction.
Any tips or things you would change/start doing? Should I let the medical debt ride out the next 16 months and fall off, or try a PFD with a settlement of around $400 or so? Should I get some kind of installment loan sometime mid next year, such as Selflender? Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks.
