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Newbie here looking to rebuild

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Newbie here looking to rebuild

Hey Everyone!

 

 

I am a newbie here on the quest for a better credit score! In the past I made a few really dumb financial mistakes and I was on the verge of getting back on track until COVID-19 hit which affected my payment history due to income loss. Because of that I had 2 accounts go into collections which I paid and both were deleted (no score increase) and had 13 late payments as well as 3 maxed out cards. I was doing really well with keeping a minimum balance until COVID-19 forced me out of my bartending job and it affected the income of my day job (sales). On top of all that my daughters mom signed my daughter up for private preschool which on top of child support I was paying quite a bit for. I also have quite a few inquiries because I was shopping for consolidation loans in a panick to get all of my debt squared away. At the time I was around a 610 fico and on my way up where no I am at 545-585 depending on bureu.

 

I am currently making good money now and working on getting those balances paid down. 

The late payments were for, commedity bank (express card needed new clothes for my job), 2 first premier cards and a capital one platinum card. My first concern is inquiries and then the late payments but what are your suggestions for getting those removed or at least some of them.

 

I don't have any crazy goals to get to a 700 in 6 months mainly my goal now is to get it back to where it was because I am confident it will only go up from there.

 

Thank you!

Message 1 of 11
10 REPLIES 10
Sandman771
Valued Contributor

Re: Newbie here looking to rebuild

What you just posted minus the private school part would make a great template for goodwill letters to all those lenders. Maybe they would take care of the lates..never hurts to ask. 

Starting Score: EQ497/TU496/EX 499
Currently: EQ 620 TU 654 EX 627
in the garden since 6/16/2021
Message 2 of 11
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Newbie here looking to rebuild

That's what I am hoping! Yeah the private preschool part was a drag but her mom and I both work and the other school was shut down due to covid-19 so that was an extra 500 a month that wasn't expected. Unfortunately it was don't work or pay the 500.

Message 3 of 11
Sandman771
Valued Contributor

Re: Newbie here looking to rebuild

Oh I totally get it. I just am not sure other folks you are trying to get to feel sorry for you would was the point I was trying to make. But it sounds like you need to mail those bad boys out over the weekend. Research goodwill on the forums here there are templates (although just your honest story sounds terrific maybe some addresses and good luck!

Starting Score: EQ497/TU496/EX 499
Currently: EQ 620 TU 654 EX 627
in the garden since 6/16/2021
Message 4 of 11
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Newbie here looking to rebuild

Also for the maxed out cards how should I handle them? I can afford to throw 1k a month towards paying them down so I figure I pay off 2 cards each month without having a balance on them to have a fresh slate. Once paid off I just alternate using them and pay them off each month.

Message 5 of 11
Nikita2008
Regular Contributor

Re: Newbie here looking to rebuild

I went from 597 in December 2020 to 689 April 2021. I targeted my cards with the highest utilization first, as 3 were over the limit due to fees etc. I got my utilization down from about 110% to 28%. I have not had any lates in the last 6 months.

 

I have First Premeir as well, I would get rid of that at all costs, 36% interest, and a monthly fee on top of that. They are the worst of the worst.  There are a few others not far behind. I was at a point that was all I could get. I plan on axing all of the subprime cards one by one. With the score improvement, I've been able to get Navy FCU, Discover and Amex.

 

Goodwill what you can, you might get somewhere with Capital One ( they removed all of my lates, I had 12). First Premeir no luck whatsoever, and they are the worst all around to deal with.

 

Focus on the things you can control - paying on time, and your utilization. As for inquiries, I'm not sure about getting them removed. I know they have far less impact then payment history and utilization. Those stay on you report for 2 years. I talked to the lending department at my local credit union that holds my auto loan, ( I had talked to them about credit cards), they said that many lenders really only care about the last 12 months. ) Try not to generate any new ones for a bit.

Message 6 of 11
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Newbie here looking to rebuild

Thank you!

 

cap one did delete the missed payments and I forgot to mention my fiancé and I have a savior card with them as well (she has a 780 score so I was a user on it). We bought something with it and paid it off last month so utilization went to 7%, the collections were removed and my debt went down yet my score somehow went from a 587 to a 488 on lending tree. Maybe an error?

Message 7 of 11
Sandman771
Valued Contributor

Re: Newbie here looking to rebuild

as to the score I wouln't put a lot of stock in it. There are several moving pieces in the algorythm. Balance reported (maybe they didn't like it?) lates removed (we know they like that)... It may take another month's cycle to have everything come through I had total revolving amount go down and score went down 2 points. 

Starting Score: EQ497/TU496/EX 499
Currently: EQ 620 TU 654 EX 627
in the garden since 6/16/2021
Message 8 of 11
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Newbie here looking to rebuild

Yeah it was weird. I was added as a user to help rebuild but we bought flooring for our home and slowly paid it down with large payments. 8k used on a 15k limit. We finally just paid the remaining 6k off and boom almost a hundred point drop.

 

Will this normally correct?

Message 9 of 11
Sandman771
Valued Contributor

Re: Newbie here looking to rebuild

Time is certainly going to help. I don't know why it went that low unless a deletion hurt your age of accounts? Like I said there are so many variables. Just be patient and hopefully someone else will jump in

Starting Score: EQ497/TU496/EX 499
Currently: EQ 620 TU 654 EX 627
in the garden since 6/16/2021
Message 10 of 11
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