New to myFICO. I am well on my way to rebuilding, but need to know what's next for a breakthrough

[Anonymous]

Hello myFICO community!

I have long browsed these forums for credit advice and most recently used info from here to get approved for an IKEA visa rewards card and get a CLI on my Express cards account! This is going to be quite a long post and I don't want to just post my whole credit report on here but want to provide enough relevant info for you to be able to make solid recommendations. I will start with what has happened and what I am looking to achieve and then I will list my accounts, collections, etc.

First, I had a credit implosion in 2013 and 2014 resulting in my defaulting on two large scummy installment loans and several major credit cards. I was able to pay off a $9000 US Bank card which went past due enough to close, but you will see the rest of the damage below.
My initial plan was to declare bankruptcy, but as you will see, I was able to slowly work my way back up through a combo of small cards and car loans.

My next goal is to raise my credit high enough to be able to qualify for major car manufacturer incentives through Toyota of America and the like that require you to buy through their bank and often require 660+ credit scores. My wife's van needs replacing in the next 6 or so months. I am definitely on the right path with utilization down, but because of who I have defaulted with, I am probably blacklisted by Chase, Discover, Citi, and Amex. I was also just shut down by US Bank because of the collections/charge offs. The problem is that most or all are past SOL in my state and many are nearing 7 years.

See what I have open below. I don't know that just waiting is going to do it. I probably need one major card to get me there or may need and further may need to pay a collection in order to get off a blacklist and perhaps score a decent card at some point through someone like Chase. I have already tried CLI with both cap one's with no luck and succesfully tripled my express limit. Please let me know if you need more info!

Here are the details, I won't include closed positive stuff:
Open Auto-

2 car loans totalling about 25k

Open Loans-
50k in student loans(Currently in a Master's prog so they are deferred)

Open Revolving -
Gettington: 0 balance, $400 limit, Open since March

Ikea Rewards Visa: 0 balance, $1500 limit, Open this week

Capital One Platinum: 126/500 limit, Apr 2017
Capital One QS: 0 /500 limit, Aug 2016
Amazon Store Card: 1362/1380, Dec 2012
Express Store Card: 0/750, Jan 2009

Closed Negative Revolving-
Discover: $8345 balance, first went late Nov 2013, Reported May 2019
Target Card:  $1473, Mar 2014, May 2019
Merrick: $735, Dec 2013, May 2019
Amex: $1259, Dec 2013, Sep 2015

Chase: $7240, Aug 2013, Mar 2015
Closed Negative Installment-
Cashcall: $9996, Aug 2013, Feb 2014

Collections-
Calvary(Citibank): $5148, Collection opened Jun 2016, but I defaulted early 2014, Reported Apr 2019

I also have closed accounts for Credit One and a fairly large AVANT loan($3500) that were past due but now are just closed with 0 balance.

I know this is a ton to look through but this is really tricky because I don't want to be totally blackballed and I don't want to extend SOL or turn back the clock on the 7 year limit either unless paying something is going to help significantly. Thanks so much for reading and any recommendation you can give!!!

[FireMedic1]

Lets work on the good. First hit up the Amazon card. Your over 89% which considered maxed out. All the negs. Your over 25k in debt not including the student loan debt. Total 75k. I really dont have an answer. Whats your income and what can you budget to pay these debts off before they file judgements and come after you. Hitting the 660 or more mark. It will be tough to get approved with the baddies listed. I'll just say not knowing income. You could have higher scores after a fresh start than the time it would take to pay all that off. Get my drift? Welcome to the forums and others will chime in. You got 2 loans already for cars. Fix your debts and credit before applying for anything else. Best of luck!

[Anonymous]

Hey there!

Income is 67000. I have used quite a bit of savings driving down me and my wife's utilization and will be paying down the Amazon over the next 3 months. As for the car loans, I intend to trade one in in 6 months which is why I want to get to 660. I get the drift and my only concern is that preventing me from getting a major when the time is right since I may remain blacklisted even after 7 years. I thought maybe I could pick one that is having the biggest impact and is most likely to give me chance again and settle with them, but maybe I just wait it out.

My plan at this point unless I get any solid direction is to pay down amazon and try to get further CLI's when the time is right and just hope for the best unless I get some sort of surprise major prequal. The lower utilization, IKEA card, and CLI just happened recently so maybe letting that age is enough to get me to 660+.

edit: I think I am getting your drift better at this point and I feel it is too late for a "fresh start" since I am past statute of limitations on ALL the negs and within one to two years of all of them falling off. Maybe someone can make a compelling argument for BK, but I am not sure.

[KJinNC]

You want to refinance a car loan to get a lower payment, is that right? Or do you mean you want to trade/sell a car and get a new car in six months? Either way, I think your best path for now is paying down debts. That should increase your scores but I don't know if that will get them to 660 before the negative items fall off in 1-2 years. But worst case, a subprime car loan for 1-2 years might be something survivable. I am not an expert, but my guess is that a bankruptcy is not worth it if that stuff will be gone in two years. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

No my car loans now are manageable. They are both 9% which isn't great by any means. What I want to do is trade in one of the cars and do a lot better on the rate on the new car. Probably need at least 660+ for that to happen. I think I am just going to pay down amazon, try for CLI's after a bit, and just wait on 660. I can probably also take care of some of the interest accrued on my student loans.

[gdale6]

After you take care of the Amazon card and have only one CC reporting a small balance each month you would want to work on taking out any CO or CA that is updating monthly as that is causing your Fico to remain depressed as those items look brand new in its eyes even though they happened years ago. I would begin requesting EE on anything that is scheduled to drop in the next 6 months with TU and 1-3 months in advance with the other 2 CRAs. Welcome to myFico