I'm confused about AU

[Anonymous]

No.  It is not helping.

Would you like some advice as to what would help?

[A1Credit]

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@Anonymous wrote:

No.  It is not helping.

Would you like some advice as to what would help?

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Absolutely

[Anonymous]

Use your existing cards a little each month.  $10 is fine.  Allow the statement to print.  Then pay it in full.  Do it again the next month.  Put all cards on autopay so that you will never ever miss a payment.

If you have one or more open installment loans right now, set up autopay so you will never ever miss payments or be late.

If you do not have any installment loans, or if you think you may pay them off in the next year, let us know and we can suggest a strategy for getting a good one that would be cheap and easy to manage.  It only makes sense if you will be paying your normal loans off soon.  Even so the strategy we have in mind might need you to wait for a bit longer until you have shown that you have been a good scout for a couple years.

Forgot about tricks like AUs.  You already have old accounts.  If all of your old accounts eventually fall off AND at that time you know of a family member that can add you to a $0 balance card that is at least six years older than your oldest account, then that might be a possibility.  That's unlikely.  So keep it simple and just forget about AUs.

Work with the people in the Rebuilding forum on strategies for removing derogs.

When your scores get to the upper 600s or low 700s, add more credit cards so that you have 4-5.  Keep using them, keep your utilization extremely low, keep paying in full each month.

Eventually all your bad stuff will be gone and you will have a great score.

[A1Credit]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Use your existing cards a little each month.  $10 is fine.  Allow the statement to print.  Then pay it in full.  Do it again the next month.  Put all cards on autopay so that you will never ever miss a payment.

If you have one or more open installment loans right now, set up autopay so you will never ever miss payments or be late.

If you do not have any installment loans, or if you think you may pay them off in the next year, let us know and we can suggest a strategy for getting a good one that would be cheap and easy to manage.  It only makes sense if you will be paying your normal loans off soon.  Even so the strategy we have in mind might need you to wait for a bit longer until you have shown that you have been a good scout for a couple years.

Forgot about tricks like AUs.  You already have old accounts.  If all of your old accounts eventually fall off AND at that time you know of a family member that can add you to a $0 balance card that is at least six years older than your oldest account, then that might be a possibility.  That's unlikely.  So keep it simple and just forget about AUs.

Work with the people in the Rebuilding forum on strategies for removing derogs.

When your scores get to the upper 600s or low 700s, add more credit cards so that you have 4-5.  Keep using them, keep your utilization extremely low, keep paying in full each month.

Eventually all your bad stuff will be gone and you will have a great score.

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I currently have my newly opened Capital One Plat and Express credit cards.

I have 3 installment loans --- home, car, and student loans --they will be around for a while...well at least the student loans and mortgage.  I want to pay for car off early so I'm looking to refinance ASAP.  Current APR is 13%

Right now I am in the low 600s.  I have 2 unpaid collections left on my credit report that I am trying to figure out how to tackle and 3 paid charge-offs.  They are not set to fall off until 2020.

I also have lates from 2015 that are on various accounts.  I'm not sure if I can do anything about them.  I have not been late on any account since 2015.

Thank you for taking the time out to give me advise.  I am aware that I need one more credit card but I am holding out for a discover it.  I have received pre-approved offers from some low tier cc companies but they want to charge annual fees and I don't want to pay that.

[Anonymous]

Head over to the Rebuilding forum.  They will be able to give you lots of advice about how to get derogs removed.  It takes patience and persistence and time but it is doable.  That's really ok, because you are in this for the long haul -- you are interested in long term strategies to improve your score.  Derog removal should be part of that.

Talk to the Rebuilding folks about the collections too.  They will doubtless suggest you investigate a Pay For Delete.  You will need to balance that against whether it makes sense to just let them fall off in 2020 -- depends on how much it would cost to pay them in full.

Getting a third card is a nice to have but it is not essential.  Making perfect payments while keeping balances very low is more important.  Eventually you might strive to have five cards that you really like.  That's a long term goal.  Two is fine for now, getting a third will be a step forward but you are right to wait till you can get a decent one you like.