So I have applied to some secure cards but haven't been able to get approved. What else is left to do? I have pretty awful credit with a crap ton of collections. I guess to rebuild I have to pay those collections off.
Sorry...
Yeah, it's tough to get approved with a ton of baddies pulling on your credit tail.
Have you tried Open Sky? I believe they offer a secured card that doesn't do a credit check.
It's worth checking out-
Keep posting on the Rebuilding Board, I see you've been there working with folks.
It's a complicated, long arduous process but it will be well worth it, in the end.
Good Luck!!
Have a Happy New Year!! 2019 will be awesome for you if you keep at it!
@Meanmchine wrote:Is First Premire considered a four letter word in this section?
There is an old saying ..... "If you want to dance, sometimes you have to pay the fiddler" I know FP is a preditory lender but on the upside, they will report to all 3 CRBs and you will see a big positive score gain.
Fingethut is another option
Your goal score is too low, Make it 650. You want your goal to be in the midrange of FICO. Work hard but you can do it.
Good luck
Yeah, it's a bad, bad word but sometimes profanity is one's only option..
OpenSky is your answer, as has already been mentioned. That's one secured card.
I happened to sign up with Green Dot Platinum first (I would have gone with OpenSky had I thought of it) but Green Dot is also good. I wrote a review for it here: https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/My-review-of-the-Green-Dot-Platinum-Secured-Credit-Car...
Both Green Dot and OpenSky will approve you with no credit check as long as you have some income. (I have a pretty low income and they accepted me, so obviously the bar is set rather low. 
) I was so used to being rejected (well it was only a few times) but I couldn't believe it when Green Dot accepted me.
Green Dot started reporting to all three credit bureaus right away and so far, I don't have complaints. I pay online with my debit card (though you can also pay—for a fee—at Walmart or other retail stores) and the payment posts quickly. It's easy to keep up on payments to keep the balance low.
So, that's two cards right there that will probably take you and don't have crazy fees or an otherwise predatory reputation. Good luck and keep us posted!
@OP
IMHO, I wouldn’t dispute anything just yet. The reasoning is that it’ll just drive your score down, especially, if some haven’t updated in quite awhile.(no offense to the other poster)
The “1-2” has at some point worked for some and has seriously backfired on others. Especially, if they are still within SOL.
IMHO, I would FIRST, STOP applying, at the moment- pull all 3 of my credit reports(if you haven’t already?) from annualcreditreport.com and see what you have going on! Go through your reports and find ALL your DOFD’s and figure out EXACTLY whether those accounts are still within your state’s SOL. You don’t want to be poking(disputing and waking) any bears until you are sure you’re safe and financially ready to do so. Once your are able to establish that and you are ready to start “wheeling and dealing” then you can(I WOULD) send out DV letters to the CA’s only(you can’t DV OC) so you can hopefully get a response from them if they can validate the debt WITH the correct amount and that it is accurately reporting.
IMHO, I would spend a couple of months cleaning my reports up the BEST THAT YOU CAN, as I did before I app’d for ANYTHING!! My scores were about where yours were. I PIF a cc that would have held my UTL% hostage so I paid that. Put myself on DW Cap1 as AU during that time. I managed to get a few medicals deleted, JUST by DV’g ALONE because they couldn’t validate. Once I cleaned just a few things up my scores jumped into the low 5’s 2 months later, just enough to app for Discover Secured and be approved. I still had many baddies to tackle...AND STILL DO!! Reasons why my scores are still so low. This has been lil over 7 mos.
Again, I would clean somethings up first and see where your scores are?? A couple of months more isn’t going to hurt to wait(unless you are that impatient?) to possibly getting approvals for better cards like Cap1/Discover Secured’s that ACTUALLY graduate. Instead of settling for less. Again, JMHO. YMMV.
Thanks for joining MyFICO Forums!
Glad ya here!!😉
Best of Luck on your journey.👍
😊
IMHO, I wouldn’t dispute anything just yet. The reasoning is that it’ll just drive your score down, especially, if some haven’t updated in quite awhile.(no offense to the other poster)
The “1-2” has at some point worked for some and has seriously backfired on others. Especially, if they are still within SOL.
IMHO, I would FIRST, STOP applying, at the moment- pull all 3 of my credit reports(if you haven’t already?) from annualcreditreport.com and see what you have going on! Go through your reports and find ALL your DOFD’s and figure out EXACTLY whether those accounts are still within your state’s SOL. You don’t want to be poking(disputing and waking) any bears until you are sure you’re safe and financially ready to do so. Once your are able to establish that and you are ready to start “wheeling and dealing” then you can(I WOULD) send out DV letters to the CA’s only(you can’t DV OC) so you can hopefully get a response from them if they can validate the debt WITH the correct amount and that it is accurately reporting.
IMHO, I would spend a couple of months cleaning my reports up the BEST THAT YOU CAN, as I did before I app’d for ANYTHING!! My scores were about where yours were. I PIF a cc that would have held my UTL% hostage so I paid that. Put myself on DW Cap1 as AU during that time. I managed to get a few medicals deleted, JUST by DV’g ALONE because they couldn’t validate. Once I cleaned just a few things up my scores jumped into the low 5’s 2 months later, just enough to app for Discover Secured and be approved. I still had many baddies to tackle...AND STILL DO!! Reasons why my scores are still so low. This has been lil over 7 mos.
Again, I would clean somethings up first and see where your scores are?? A couple of months more isn’t going to hurt to wait(unless you are that impatient?) to possibly getting approvals for better cards like Cap1/Discover Secured’s that ACTUALLY graduate. Instead of settling for less. Again, JMHO. YMMV.
Thanks for joining MyFICO Forums!
Glad ya here!!😉
Best of Luck on your journey.👍
😊
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