Hello all, I've been reading religiously for about a month, thanks to all the great help and advice here. Short story, I was irresponsible when I was younger with credit and student loans, had lots of baddies and a few collections but in the past year + I have stopped burying my head in the sand and committed to taking control of my finances and credit situation. I pulled scores a little over a year ago (16 months) and was between 540-570 ish. Embarrassing but seeing what people have done here I know I can do it too.
So got a couple secured cards then but didn't do much else. Finally checked two weeks ago, myfico was 609. Since then, here's what I've done and plan to do:
Negatives- most are paid or transferred student loans that had some lates interspersed. Going to send GW letters and hope for some changes. 3 collections on my reports from old utility bills are paid, have written letters/emails asking for deletion. 1 student loan (private) is reporting as charged off and sent to a collection agency, however that agency is not reporting anything on my credit reports, but the OC is. Still figuring out exactly how to deal with this one but I have the budget for a repayment plan.
Positives-
Cap 1 Secured $800
Cap1 Quicksilver (converted from Orchard Bank Card) $500
both 2yrs old
AU on Alaska Airlines Visa (BofA) $11500 (1yr old)
New cards (all around 9/1/13)
Wells Fargo Secured $1000
Walmart $500
J Crew $250
Current myfico score 9/6/13
622
I plan to use these cards each month, pay them off and let 1 report a low balance to maximize my score. With a few new cards I plan to garden for min 6 mos while I work on cleaning up the negatives on my credit reports. I am confident my plan will work. My 6 month goal is above 650 and 1yr goal to get my score to 700 and plan for home ownership. I'm confident I can do it because of all the geat stuff I have found and read here.
So, anything else I should / should not be doing? Am I on the right path? Thanks everyone!
