Next steps?

[Anonymous]

My hubby and I are new to credit building and I need some advice on what our next steps should be. Here is where we are now...

Hubby: 1 discover secured $400 sl- one month old.
TU shows discover $20/400 5%uti
2 medical collections $506 and $400 both PIF and closed.
EQ shows discover $20/400 5%uti
No baddies 2 hard pulls from Disco
EX shows discover $20/400 5%uti
No baddies

My reports: TU, EQ and EX shows me as an AU on hubbys discover $20/400 5%uti. No baddies one hard pull on EQ for the credit union I recently joined and moved some of my savings to.

Can't get real fico scores from anywhere including here. Myfico said our file is too new/thin to generate an actual score.
I plan to write a goodwill letter for the medical collections but my hopes are not high as its a small local place with only a handful of employees who are rude on the phone.

Any input on next steps would be apreciated. Thanks in advance 😊

[Anonymous]

The folks in the Rebuilding forum will be glad to help you.

[Anonymous]

Thanks creditguy.
Will the forum mods frown on me if I make a second duplicate thread over in that section?

[Anonymous]

I just asked one of the mods to move your thread over there.  Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Thanks Creditguy. Hopefully I'll get some advice over here. ☺

[Anonymous]

Getting collections removed may be difficult since you’ve already paid them, but yes that would be a good start.
It may be a little longer before you generate a score. You being AU is fine for now, but eventually both of you may want your own cards and not just be AUs.
Any loans reporting on your reports?
You mentioned joining a CU recently; if they have a secured card you may want to look at that, or possibly Cap1 secured as it graduates like Discover.
It may be several months before either of you have a score. Stick to your plan of working on the collections and possibly pick up one other card. Take it slow in your building

[Anonymous]

Thank you Tigers09 ☺
To answer your question... we have no instalment loans or anything other than what I listed above.

I'm glad the 2 medical collections only show on TU cause I doubt the collection agency will respond to GW letters.

MyFico said it could be 3 to 6 months before we generate a score and we really don't want to load up on too many subprime cards ( i think that's what they are called).

I feel like I should be doing something more than sitting around waiting, but maybe there is nothing more to do?

[Anonymous]

An installment loan would help. Doing a savings secured loan (shares secured / credit builder) of some help would work. Credit Unions can be good places to pick up a good one. Ideally you’d want to pay it down as low as possible while still keeping as much of the full term of the loan. You can search myFico for tips with this. Either way, not having a car loan, student loan, or other type of installment loan is leaving points out there you could gain.
I would talk with your CU about a secured card and if they offer some type of this loan.
Subprime - stay far far away.
One or two secured cards would be enough to help with growth in the short term; you need three ‘ideally’

[Anonymous]

Thanks again Tigers09

I joined the credit union beginning of Feb and moved my savings and money market over there because they had better rates. First week of next month hubby is taking a day off so we can go in and add him to the Credit union account. They will do a hard pull for him so maybe that's the best time to ask about a personal loan so it can all be done on one HP.
I'll look on their website and see what info I can find on there.