Seeking opinions on tightening up my profile and growing

[Anonymous]

Thanks for taking the time to read my situation and provide any input. I'll try to treat this like bedside report and get to the point.

PMH: discharged BK7 January 2017 and the only remaining account was a $750 student loan in deferment from 2014-2015 and didn't touch my credit for 6 months. No savings, and after graduating college currently making 100k year income with a clean slate to work off of with no baddies besides the BK7 showing as a public record.

+ 5/2017 Fico noted baseline scores of 605 EX 631 TU 611 EQ

+ 7/2017 applied and received Capital One secured card with 500 SL and revolved a single digit UTL since then with a few mishaps recently that was swiftly rewarded with deductions (learned my lesson).

+ 9/2017 my score upgraded to 645 EX 666 TU 644 EQ.  I went into a new car dealership and with the help of a motivated finance manager and good income was approved for a 27k auto loan with an APR of 6.74%

+ 11/2017 with pretty much same scores applied for Kay (commenity) to buy things for the wife. SL of $4k and 0% for 12 months on first purchase. Made a $600 purchase and have been paying on time with $115 left to pay off.

+ From 9/2017 to 2/2018 I've paid on time on my auto loan and paid a year ahead. It's about time for me to start back up making regular payments and I took this time to start saving and get other affairs in order. I currently owe 20k of the initial 27k.

+ 5/2018 paid off my $600 student loan and received swift negative fluctuations but I was tired of carrying that being out of deferment. 

+ Total of 3 inquiries in 2/2018 and 6/2018 for CU auto loan refi and care credit that I didn't take. The CU wanted to approve but I'm a contract worker and I'm never with a hospital more than 13 weeks so for that reason I looked risky even though my income is six figures. According to my current file, I have 3 inquiries one on each agency so I have been gardening since 6/2018.

Current scores/situation:

+ 708 EX 700 TU 703 EQ

+ Cash on hand 50k

+ Cap 1 card graduated 6 months ago with an increase from $500 to $800 and requested a CLI one month ago and granted to $1300 not sure if this will be a bucket or not. UTL 11% (thoughts?)

+ Kay card (commenity) UTL 2.5%

Goals:

+ Ultimately clean 760 + scores across the board and to increase my credit card mix.

+(Priority 1) Would love to refinance my 2017 vehicle to a lower interest rate and take advantage of new principal balance

+ (Priority 2) Would love to acquire Jet Blue Plus Barclays card.

+ Would like to acquire a third card with a good grocery store/gas rewards plan.

+ Mtg/renovation loan 2020 for a Katrina New Orleans property purchase and renovation.

+ I'm very apprehensive to apply for another card with my relatively thin but productive file and would like feedback on potentially applying for the Jet Blue plus card. I presume later on down the line once I acquire the jet blue or rewards card the other card will come easier. My other concern I don't want my thin file and BK7 hold me back from getting a sizeable SL. I'd be happy with 5k on all my credit cards just for UTL purposes.

Please add input if you feel my priority items should occur in a different order for favorable approval. This is just how I want things done in my mind but I am pliable.

[Anonymous]

Is this the wrong section of the forum to ask this question?

[sjt]

You posted in the right forum.

Congrats on building a nice savings and credit score.

Here are some of my recommendations:

1. Shop around for auto refinance, contact various credit unions, go to Credit Karma and see their offers.
2. I would think about joining another credit union, like Pen Fed. They have decent credt cards and auto refinance.
3. Keep your current credit card under 8.9% utilization, 1% would be best.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the feedback! I've been apprehensive about applying for the refinance because I was already denied with my current employment situation with a relatively similar credit score. The only difference today is cash on hand and 10 month older file. I think I'm going to get back on board paying and get it down to 15k balance and try for that refi around end of first quarter 2019. I'll check out penfed and dcu but I'm not moving my DDA over. I'd be ok with having secondary checking and savings as part of the relationship.

I'll definitely stay below 8.9% I tried that before and had no increases on my score but I think I need to be more patient and get a better credit card mix. The one card and one store card isn't cutting it.

Do you think Barclays would approve me? I read that barclays is TU and my score is only 700.

[Anonymous]

Definitely try PenFed and get your auto loan refinanced through them.
As far as Barclay's, have you tried to prequal with them just to get a feel for where you may stand with them? Your scores are great but I believe they like a few months rebuild history after a BK.

[sjt]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for the feedback! I've been apprehensive about applying for the refinance because I was already denied with my current employment situation with a relatively similar credit score. The only difference today is cash on hand and 10 month older file. I think I'm going to get back on board paying and get it down to 15k balance and try for that refi around end of first quarter 2019. I'll check out penfed and dcu but I'm not moving my DDA over. I'd be ok with having secondary checking and savings as part of the relationship.

I'll definitely stay below 8.9% I tried that before and had no increases on my score but I think I need to be more patient and get a better credit card mix. The one card and one store card isn't cutting it.

Do you think Barclays would approve me? I read that barclays is TU and my score is only 700.

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I belong to PenFed, but I have my DDA at a local CU. I got a great rate on my auto loan with PenFed.

At this point, I think Barclay's is 50/50. I would wait a few more months and make sure your card balances are at the 1% utilization level.

[Anonymous]

Thanks starting over (I don't know how to quote a post) I'll check penfed out. I read barclays doesn't prequal. My FICO TU is 714 for credit cards. I think I'm going to take SJT advice and garden some more plus when I start making auto loan payments again in January I should get a boost. Thanks for both of your responses.

[sjt]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks starting over (I don't know how to quote a post) I'll check penfed out. I read barclays doesn't prequal. My FICO TU is 714 for credit cards. I think I'm going to take SJT advice and garden some more plus when I start making auto loan payments again in January I should get a boost. Thanks for both of your responses.

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1. You are right, Barclays no longer offers Pre Quals.
2. To use "Quotes", there is a "Quote" button on the upper right side of the message box. Press that button to quote.
3. Regarding your employment situation, are you a W-2 or an Independent Contractor. Do you get your jobs through an staffing agency? If that is the case, then you can use the staffing agency as the employer. You can also provide tax returns to show stable income.
4. Regarding Auto refinance, Pen Fed rates are 2.49 to 4.24 depending on your credit and terms. So you have to crunch the numbers to see if the savings is worth it. Also, keep in mind that if you go for Auto refinacing you will take a hit on your credit score for clsoing the current loan and opening up a new loan, as well as high utilization.

[Anonymous]

@sjt Ahh, I see. I use the forum from my smart phone so it doesn't seem to give me the quote option. I'll try on my laptop later. You bring up some very good points. I certainly don't want to take any more hits just to save a few bucks on interest. I rather just hustle and pay the whole car off in 2019. My auto finance company doesn't charge fees for early termination or payoff. Will I take a hit on my credit for paying it off too fast? That happened to me when I paid off my student loan. In hindsight, I should have paid a dollar a month until my credit file thickened.

I do receive a w2 from the agency/contractor but most of my pay is tax free. On 1700 dollars of net pay I'm only taxed like 52 dollars. I'm not 1099'd it's just the nature of travel nursing and tax free stipends. So my tax returns don't look super hot but when I send in my bank statements it shows a stark difference.

I'm going to start chipping away at the car loan and I've noticed that my creditors have been slacking on reporting my last 3 months so I don't have a full year of revolving on some of my accounts. I'll keep gardening and hopefully by April barclays will grant me a plus card.

Thanks again for the thought provoking input.

[sjt]

FYI- When there is no activity in the month the creditors tend  to skip reporting.