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I absolutely screwed myself over in my 20s. My credit was great, but then my eyes got bigger than my bank account and everything went to pot. Quite a few accounts went into collections, of which I eventually paid off. I then swore off credit. Now in my mid 30s, I didn't think about my credit until last summer, when I went to get a car loan and was denied. After pulling my credit report, I realized I was going to have to wait to apply again until some baddies had fallen off.
I applied for a car loan this summer and was approved with a 640ish car FICO score at 5.9%. Not a horrible interest rate but not great either. I'd like to refinance the loan in the next few months, once I take care of a few issues.
FICO scores via credit check total today:
Experian - 644
Equifax - 615
TransUnion - 626
Loans
Student Loan 1 - $6800 Aug '08
Student Loan 2 - $1025 Aug '08
Car Loan - $21K Apr '17
Self Lender - $460 Jun '17
Authorized User Accounts
Lowe's - $189/$8500 Jul '10
Costco Visa - $6937/$10500 Jul '16
Amazon Visa - $548/$3000 Jul '17
Kohl's - $0/$1000 Aug '17
Credit Cards & Lines of Credit
Discount Tire - $31/$400 Aug '15
Capital One - $1921/$2000 May '17
Discover (Secured) - $138/$200 Jun '17
Fingerhut - $0/$300 Jun '17
Lane Bryant - $46/$300 Aug '17
Overstock - $149/$250
Closed, but listed current:
Bank of America $0/$1500 Jun 1998
Federal Loans 1 & 2
Baddies:
- (1) 90 date late on each student loan, August 2015.
- (1) medical collection $803, DOFD May 2012
- (1) medical collection $300 July 2017
Obvious:
- I need to get the balances down. I'm currently at 38% credit use. Lane Bryant and Overstock will be paid off by next billing cycle. I use the Discover a lot, and then pay it off. The Capital One was a dental emergency and it's the next balance I'll be working on. The Costco Visa will be after that.
- Collections. Ugh. The one that popped up in July 2017 should not have gone to my credit report (it was in collections but the CA said they wouldn't report it as long as the OC was paid). I had been paying the OC but not fast enough evidently. I've been told by the OC that the collection will be deleted when the account is paid. I'm hoping to pay it off in the next two months.
The collection from May 2012 is a mystery. I know I went to the hospital but I thought the insurance had taken care of it. I haven't touched it yet but will be sending off a debt verification letter soon. Removal dates are Feb 2019 for Experian, Apr 2019 for TransUnion and May 2019 for Equifax. Weird.
Why are the FICO score so different? Experian has all my accounts and only the one $803 collection. Equifax has both collections showing plus lates on the original federal student loans (they've been sold to someone else). The lates are due to fall off in November 2017 so I'm just leaving them. TransUnion shows both collections, and is missing a credit card (I've called and it should be added back in the next 90 days) with lots of history.
I'll update my scores in a month, hopefully showing an improvement. Thanks for reading!
@Anonymous wrote:
Welcome to the forums, it seems you're on the right path. I'll be looking forward to your post next month. Dv
Thanks for the welcome! I've lurked for a few months and figured it was time to post.
I forgot to add that I tried GW letters for the lates on the student loans in August, but it was a very firm no. I've decided not to try again right now, and instead concentrate on getting the collections taken care of.
@Ardecko wrote:
You might consider losing that Costco AU. It's not old enough to really help you and it's got a high (percentage wise) balance.
I've actually thought about doing that now that I have other lines of credit available. I would eventually needed to be added back though.
Frankly, I'd kill for a 5.9% car loan.