What was your score when you started applying for new credit

[spike69]

Hi Rebuilders/ Rebuilders support folks

What was your FICO/FAKO when you started to apply for new credit lines? What kind of credit did you apply for? Had you fully addressed all baddies on your CR before takling this step?

I am rebuilding. Have had three baddies removed. In process with four others that would leave me with just two COs that drop early 2015. That said my file is super thin. Thanks in advance for your thoughts

[spike69]

Anyone?

[couponcrazy619]

my fico/fako were in the mid 500's as low as 524 now they are just a few points from crossing over to the 600 club. But i started doing the shopping cart tricks on the stores i wanted....VS and Express. That helped avoid HP's. Then i saved the HP's for secured card. 

Hope that helped...

[Ragelog]

I went the secured card route really before I fully decided what I was doing but the way I figured I need a credit card to rent a car, emergencies etc. I also figured when everything falls off having a card in good standing that you used during the 1, 2 ,3 years etc it takes for all negatives fall off will be much more positive than no positive revolving trade lines. I've had that card now for nearly 2 years (Opened in July 2012 Capital One Secured).

I have since opened a Fingerhut (Mainly for the limit and it helps lower Utilization, Walmart Store Card, First Premier Unsecured, BOA Secured Rewards Card, US Bank Secured Card. I am now done applying for anything until my FICO hits 650 on EQ (To refi my car loan through DCU) or until 2015 at least.

So not saying my route is perfect I know Fingerhut and First Premier are questionable but I knew that going in and accepted it as part of the cost of past mistakes I will use them for their purpose and close them as soon as I secure more favorable tradelines.

My advice get at least one revolving tradeline asap because if you wait until all baddies fall off and have no positive tradelines then you have no credit I believe. Depending on your score you could do secured Capital One pretty easy to get not too crazy annual fee and you can increase your limit with additional deposits anytime very easily. The other I would suggest is the Harley Davidson Secured Card from US Bank $0 Annual Fee so that is nice. 

Good job so far and keep it up.

[Jamex]

Hey there,

Three weeks ago I applied for my first new cc after a year or so of rebuilding. I applied for the Barclay's Rewards Mastercard for Average Credit, was initially approved for $1,000 and after calling a couple days later was able to get that bumped up to $3,000. At the time I applied I had 3 open accounts in good standing (a Citi card with $2500 limit, a car loan with 2 years of perfect payments, and a student loan with one year of perfect history. I had 1 closed account in good standing (a student loan originated in 05). I also had 4 negative items: a 60-day late on the Citi card from 2007, a bunch of lates on another student loan (which now reports with a 0 balance - most recent late was from 2009), a paid CO with Verizon from 2010, and an unpaid auto loan CO for 19k. (That last one was clearly the worst of the bunch).

My TU score when I applied was showing on myFICO as 679 (My EX was 654 and EQ was 668, and I knew Barclays only pulls TU). The $1k approval was instant with no questions asked. The analyst did ask a bit about what led to the auto loan CO (had a legit reasonable explanation - family hardship), and also asked about my Citi card, but then said he was happy to bump it up to be comparable with my Citi TL.

I haven't applied for anything else since, and I'm still not 100% confident I'll get approved for even basic things, but it felt good to get one win. Next on my list is refinancing my current auto loan (which I got at 19% interest because I had a 545 when I applied 2 years ago). I think I have a decent shot at getting a better deal through a credit union, but I'll still be holding my breath. That said, I would say you don't need to be clear of all baddies to start adding new accounts.

[spike69]

Thank you for all of the responses. I will continue to hold off for just a litl bit longer to see the two pending baddies removed and what impact that has.