@Anonymous wrote:So, I suppose my situation is a bit different than most, although I'm sure the overall 'mechanics' are the same. Just wondering if anyone has any advice, based upon my situation, that might be able to help me increase my limits, to ease the burden of keeping up with (essentially) weekly (or more) payments...
I've been a business owner since i was 19. In fact, I've never had a 'real job' (in my adult life). I've started, from scratch, multiple different businesses, some that were fairly successful, some that were not. I had no financial backing, from the start. In fact, I started my first company with $42, in my garage.
The long story short, is that, over the years, I've taken a ding or two on my report, and because of that, I got into the habit of just paying for things with cash, when I needed them. That's good, since I managing working debt has never been a big problem for me. When I needed something, I simply purchased it.
@Over the past 2-ish years, I've decided to focus on building (or re-building) my credit. I took out a car loan (started at $35k, paid down in 1 year to $20k @ 11% interest), although I could have purchased it with cash. I applied for (and was accepted) for a Chase Freedom card (1.5% cash back) with a $5,500.00 limit. I also took out a secured card with Capital One ($3,300 secured), as well as a Synchrony Bank store card (Amazon Prime Store card) with a $6,000.00 limit. I've had them all 2 (or very close) years, never missed a payment, never been late. Generally, they are all paid to a zero balance at the close of the statement, monthly.
Despite that, I can never seem to get my score above 700 (it fluctuates between 635-690, with Equifax generally being the highest, and Experian being the lowest).
The frustrating part is that currently (in an effort to maximize the cash-back) I typically spend about $15k-20k per MONTH on the Chase card (some months as high as $35k). Which means I'm currently paying it off AT LEAST once a week (or more). Luckily, they credit my balance the next business day, whenever I make a payment. I suppose it works, but it would be REALLY nice to not have to be paying it off so frequently, not to mention, that it would be nice to have a card with better benefits (travel, etc). I've applied for a few over the past 6 months, and have been denied each time. I'm hesitant to apply for more, because of the number of inquiries.
I've got a Judgement for $260k on my personal credit, due to a disagreement with a client, from about 2011, as well as an old tax lien from 2010. The interesting thing is that those items ONLY show on my Experian report (they aren't on my Transunion or Equifax reports), and yet, all of the reports are fairly close in score, so I don't think they're affecting me all that much (score-wise).
Any suggestions for what I might do to continue to improve my overall score, and qualify for cards with better benefits?
I have business trade-lines with amounts (available, although not used) ranging from $15k-30k that I can use, but obviously those don't garner me any benefits, other than the convenience of not having to pay so frequently (although they cost me interest, obviously).
There are more details, but I'll wait and see if anyone asks for more info to provide advice (since this is pretty long already lol).
-B
Easy.
1. Pay the car loan down to 3000, then leave it alone, paying tiny amounts but not zeroing it out.
2. Maintain the 3 credit cards this way: have 2 of them report a zero balance, let the other one report a balance of 10% or less.
