This ended up bit wordy, lol.
First post, but I've done a bit of reading here as of late and learned a lot, so I wanted to start off by saying thanks to all the contributors on this forum. I'll tell you my story and you can tell me what else I can do to help my situation out.
A while back I didn't care much about my credit. I had 2 credit cards that I maxed and didn't bother paying. One had a $250 limit and is listed by Experian only as "Unpaid balance, reported as a lossby credit grantor." That was reported as 90+ late 25 times until the last one in Dec 2011. The other was a $400 limit that went to collections and was re-aged in 2010 by the collector and is now listed as a $1664 balance on TU and Experian. This says date assigned Apr 15th 2010. Would I be correct in assuming these will fall off my report 12/18 and 04/17 respectively? Is it better to just let that happen instead of contacting them and working out a payment? I also have a tax lein from 2010 that I believe is listed incorrectly. I started a business and it made no money so I never did anything witrh it. Not realizing I still needed to file taxes for it with no income generated. About 4 years went by and I got a letter stating that I owed 10k in takes based on estimated income. I had an accountant take care of this for me and I only ended up paying $250 in late fees/penalties. But I have a tax lein on my report for $1141 with a date paid of 03/30/2011 which I never paid that amount to anyone. This is only on my TU report.
I was pre-approved for a mortgage back in July of 2015 and had looked for houses for a while finding nothing I liked. In march of this year I just took a new job in a completely un-related field, so I have reset the 2 year timer on being able to purchase a house. My plan is to apply for a mortgage again in march of 2018 and I would like my credit to be the best I possibly can get it by that time, so I'm looking for suggestions on what I should or should not do about those negatives listed on my report.
As of now my scores are 662EQ 653TU 628EX. I foolishly near maxed both of my only credit cards a couple months ago and I believe my scores took a hit. I've since paid them both down to 10% and had the limit on them both raised after doing some research on this website. I have a Cap One Quicksilver that I got 14 months ago that started at $1000 and now has a $3300 limit, and an Amazon store card through sync bankthat I got 5 months ago that started at $1000 and is now a $1400 limit.
I also went on a bit of an apply frenzy recently which I regret a bit because of the 5-6 HP's I acquired because of. I was approved for a Chase Slate with a $2000 limit and a Citi Double Cash with a $1500 limit. I was denied for an AMEX, a Barclay, and a Chase Sapphire. The Sapphire I called the backdoor number and tried to appeal, but the woman I spoke with didn't like the two derogatory marks about the unpaid credit cards I have and wouldn't overturn the decision. Should I bother trying to call and get a CLI on my Slate card seeing as how the backdoor number denied me the sapphire card? What about the Citi?
My plan as of now is to keep the 4 cards I have under 10% utilization and paid on time and just let them age until I apply for the mortgage. I've also been thinking of taking out a small personal or auto loan and paying it back as agreed or maybe a little early to bump up my credit by giving it a mix. What are your thoughts on that? As of now, I only have one other type of credit on my report and it's an auto loan that started back in 2004 and ended in 2008 which was paid in full and on time. Everything else on my credit is either the 3 bad marks, and the 2 credit cards. The other two I just applied for was just this past week. Shoud I apply for a couple more cards now, or just stick with the 4 I have and run with it? I would like to see 720+ or more ideally 750+ by March of 2018.
