Post Identity theft Credit rebuild

[Anonymous]

Back in 2015 I was living overseas and using ideas from this forum I build my overall credit score from 400 to around 750. While still living in Taiwan and working for a US company there I began to notice transactions that did not belong to me. I notified capital one at the time and that is when everything collapsed credit-wise. They canceled all of my credit cards for fraud, and this set off a chain reaction where Citi, BOA, and others all the way to JC Pennys began to shut down one by one. The debt owed was not mine and the cards were canceled, and I began the long road to credit repair again and I didn't even have a BK or a judgment. Now the cards never came after me for the debt due to the fraud but they did sell this to a collection agency who basically would never work with me unless I hired an expensive attorney. It's now 2021 and these are beginning to fall off. I have around $6000 in credit limit and a car loan of around 15K. My student loans drag down my credit age but I was able to get an AU for capital one at $3000 that is now helping.

So my question is what cards or loans should I apply for in the rebuilding effort. I have added my updated scores and cards in my bio, and would appreciate any ideas.

[Bradac56]

Your scores isn't bad and you have some of the better mid tier cards (Chase/CapOne).  It really depends on your spending habits and what type of perks you want/need and stick to a PIF plan with them.  I'm a bit conservative so personally I wouldn't go on a app spree, I would figure out what I want and work toward the goal.  To me it's not about the amount of credit you can build up it's about the quality of the cards based on your life style.

I would work on getting Chase to change the straight Freedom to the Unlimited for the overall perks - 3% dinning, 3% drug store, 1.5% everything.  At some point after you break 750 getting the CSP is a consideration to pair with the Unlimited. 

Is the Ollo a Rewards or Plat ?  If it's a Rewards (if not work to get it changed) that would pair well with a Amex BSP for the 6% Groceries/Streaming, 3% Gas/Transit but that card is at least a 730 across the board before you really want to apply.

Those are two quality cards to use as a perk base.  Not the fanciest things out there but solid.

In the short term I would think about opening one store card (don't go crazy at the start) depending on what you actually purchase.  For me it's Menards and Dell.  I run a decent amount of money through those two store cards but it's real spend not just a CI. 

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the reply. I do have a Khols card that I use for the family, will try to get CL to increase. I was able to keep my Chase card during the whole period of time, and that really helped preserve what credit was left. I fairly good at getting nasty stuff from my report but it is very time-consuming.  So I will always win in the long run. I have the Ollo rewards card but I don't use the card much yet.

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much for the department store reminder since I just raised the Kohls card limit from $300 to $700.

[Bradac56]

The Amazon store card is another one to look at if you have a Prime Sub.  It's through Synchrony bank so you have to be a bit carefull with it but usually the starting CI is generious (depends on your profile).

I use it for my Amazon subscriptions only (cat food/kitty litter/tolet paper/paper towels/canned food) and auto PIF it every month.  My CI is $5k I never run more than a few hundread though it a month but Sync has been happy with it for years and I don't see a reason for a CLI as I use my Amazon CC for everything else now.

The trick to keep Sync from closing accounts at least for me has been auto revolving the accounts.  I have the amazon and papyal cards and the wife has CareCredit (pet dr visits/dental) and we auto revolve those monthly while putting real spend on them.