@booshaL wrote:My current scores: 591 Equifax, 534 Transunion, 623 Experian
I'm looking for some guidance on rebuilding my credit. I’ve been letting my credit age, which has helped some, but now I’m ready to get more proactive. The main negative marks I’m dealing with are:
- A lease from 2015. I never missed a payment on it, but after the engine blew a month before the lease ended, I planned to buy the car instead of trading it in. I procrastinated and didn’t go into the dealership by the lease end date August 2018, which led to a repossession in September 2018
- A charged-off car loan from 2020 for 38k. It went 90 days late in 2022 due to a family emergency and lack of work during the pandemic. Luckily, I was able to resolve the balance and keep the car, and I’ve been making consistent payments since then, I only owe $4200 until the loan is paid off and I receive the title which should be May of next year.
- A $1.2k Capital One card charge-off from that same time frame in 2022. I’ve tried multiple times to do a pay-for-delete (PFD) with no luck. At this point, I’m thinking it’s probably best to just pay it off so it shows as "Paid in full" instead of an unpaid balance
- A dirtbike loan from early 2021 with a 90-day late mark (no charge-off). I resolved the balance and paid off the loan in February 2023, but that late mark is still reporting. I’ve tried getting the tradeline removed, but no success so far.
My parents added me as an authorized user on their Platinum Amex and Apple Card (perfect payment history since 2020), which is definitely helping a bit. I just opened a secured Discover card last week with a $2500 limit and am also considering a savings secured loan from Navy Federal Credit Union.
Do you think that would help? I’m open to any other strategies to create a solid game plan for boosting my credit.
With the car loan from 2020 still open, an SSL right now wouldn't help you. You'd actually lose points for the new account. The score benefit comes when you only have one open installment loan and the balance goes down to 9% or less. Look at the SSL when the car loan is about to be paid off.
The Cap One charge off with a remaining balance is being scored at 100% utilization until the balance is zero. Paying it off would benefit your scores.
The AU Amex Charge card is doing little, to nothing for you.
Nothing you can do about the 90 day late and other derogatories except wait for time to pass.
@booshaL wrote:Thanks for the response! Yeah, I’ve decided I’m just going to pay it off instead of waiting around hoping for a PFD. I’ll update back in about a month or so once it reflects on my report as paid in full with the lower utilization. As for the SSL, are you sure it wouldn’t help? Since the car loan is charged off, it’s listed under closed accounts now, not as an active one.
If you have no open installment loan then yes, the SSL would provide a score boost, but only once it's paid down to 9% or under of the original balance.
@booshaL wrote:How much would you recommend I start with? I've got around $15k in savings with Chase—any thoughts on how much of that I should use? Also, I just got a great call about an hour ago from Capital One after I sent them a goodwill request email last week. They said they're willing to work with me on the charged off account, and if I pay off the full balance, they'll actually remove the tradeline from my credit. So hopefully that helps with my credit quite a bit, I have my fingers crossed.
If you're doing the SSL with NFCU, the minimum for a 5 year term is $3001. There's no need to use any more than that, keep the rest in a HYSA. Lots of threads here about SSLs. Here's one such post if you haven't seen it already.
