Rebuild is moving, but need help for what to do next???

[thezubin1]

Hello.  Sorry for the long post.  I am new to the forums but have been lurking for years.  I was hoping to get advice on what to do next.  I had a business that I owned for 11 years that i had to shut down in 2011 due to a large scale theft.  In any case, I went from having almost a million in revolving credit to settling some accounts, and had several others go into collection/chargeoff(no bk and no public record).  Several baddies remain on my reports that are supposed to start falling off January 2019.  They include:

COs                                          Due to Fall off

Amex: 11K                                     2/19

Mer Benz Fin                                5/19 (was a voluntary surrender with about $4K in lease payments, now reporting $27K balance and changed to charge off!!)

HSBC Premiere MC: $7600       3/20

Merrick: $814                                5/20

Collections

3 with midland funding ($800, 600, 1050)

3 wit port recovery(2100, 1600, 1200)

*All cap 1 OC.  All reporting until summer of 2020

Voluntary Surrender/CO

MB FIn Serv: $27K                     5/19                             

*Was reporting as voluntary surrender with open balance of $27K-30K.  they keep vhanging it back and forth.  I disputed the account several times and recently they changed to CO with open balance.  

In March I started the rebuild journey and what I have so far between fiancee's AU cards and my own:

AU Accounts

BOA CR    1100/24,800    4/98

Chase United    1700/18000      5/16

Discover it    700/16500       5/12

Amex ED     6300/18000 (not reporting yet.  my own apps decline w no pull)      2/18

Amex DSNB   0/7200       3/17

Citi Simplicity    0/12800     5/18

Individual Accounts(limits)

Cap 1 Platinum  $500    3/18

Discover it-secured  $500    4/18

NFCU Amex  $20,000     4/18

US Bank Platinum   $1000    5/18

Installment Account

Self Lender $500 24 month   4/18

My question is what to do next?  Should i garden?  Work with a company to get the baddies removed?  Recon for cli on any of the cards?  any suggestions what to app for?  I would love another nfcu cc.  Would really apprecaite any advice.  My CK fako scores are 718 TU and 697 EQ.  

[Anonymous]

I'm new to this journey as well, so I've no advice to offer. I will say it looks like you've made a good start & that NFCU 20K just jumps off the page -- any more details on how that came to be?

(Note: after reading 100's of threads the last couple of weeks, I opened a checking & savings account with NFCU yesterday to lay the seeds for when it's advisable to apply for a CLOC & CC. I expected that would be several months down the road -- your post has me wondering otherwise.)

Congratulations, Z, on the progress already made. Best wishes to you going forward.

[thezubin1]

Thank you James!  Not sure what stage in te rebuilding process you are in, but i cant say how much i have learned from these forums throughout the years.  With that being the case, i started with my scores in teh high 400s.  The thing that i did not want to do is open up a bunch of accounts from subprime lenders.  I only wanted to work with lenders who I intend to work with long term.  Truthfully, I was content with having cap 1 and secured discover.  Then I learned here that with NFCU, I may have a shot.  I had already been a member since 2012 and one of their reps told me that even if you have no accounts, the length of membership is a factor.  However, I would go ahead and app.  I have seen many approved at the time of establishing membership.  Good luck!!

[Anonymous]

I absolutely suggest running to the garden for at least one year. You have 5 new accounts in a few short months, let them age some. I wouldn't ask for any CLI's either. You have some high limits and low utilization already. Not worth the risk of an HP, imo. After a year, your AMEX, Benz, and MB FIn Serv will have fallen off while your new accounts will have aged and (hopefully) earned some auto CLI's.

Meanwhile, I would tackle the smaller one first. Start with Merrick, then Cap1, then HSBC. The more you accomplish, the more motivated you'll get. Congratulations on taking the first several steps and best of luck!