Man. I'm so bummed out right now. 
I've worked really, really hard to try to get my credit moving in the right direction. I've read. I've studied. I've read & posted on boards in this forum numerous times.
I FINALLY got everything where I wanted it to be: Capital One Secured ($300), First Progress Secured ($200), Fingerhut Advantage ($300), Self-Lender ($545/12 mos term), and Simply Be ($200).
Last month, when these accounts first started to report, my scores shot up a good 50/60 points across the board. I PIF one collection account (it was removed from my reports) and I successfully disputed another due to inaccuracies. (It was an old DirecTV account PIF a long, long time ago - they were charging me for equipment that I returned to them.)
Anyway, I've done everything the way I should be doing it. I was prepared for a drop in my credit because I had ZERO open accounts and I opened all five of the ones I have right now in a matter of two months. My scores dropped to BELOW where they were before I started, guys. Is this normal? Will they recover? I just don't know what to do. This huge drop has me really, really discouraged.
One other thing - I applied for a Citi Secured card over a month ago. I called three times to be told it was still processing, so I just gave up on it. Yesterday (literally a MONTH later) I finally get an email that my application was approved and pending my deposit. I was thinking about getting it and letting it sit on a $200 limit since I already took the HP for it. Now with my scores tanking, I don't think I should. z
If anyone has any advice, words of wisdom, etc, I could definitely use them right about now. So much for ever moving into the realm of unsecured credit or buying a house at this rate. Sigh.
First, take a deep breath.
I know you have read on the forums that credit building is a marathon, not a sprint. FICO scores fluctuate. I think they are psychic and drop when I even think about applying for credit. Continue to pay your accounts on time and give it a year. You will see amazing increases in your FICO scores and eventually your secure cards will graduate and you will start to get CLIs.
I started my rebuild from nothing back in October 2016. Granted my file was a blank slate as all my derogatories had fallen off but look at my signature line. You too will get there. It just takes time and hypervigilance of your accounts. Pay on time, pay in full, don't apply for any more credit for the next year and reevaluate.
Personally, I would not worry about AZEO unless you are planning on purchasing a house or car in the next three months.
I don't believe getting the Citi secured card will do any significant harm to your profile but I will let others chime in.
Good luck and hang in there.
@Anonymous wrote:My thoughts are the following. First, definitely roll with the Citi card. They are a difficult lender to start a relationship with for those with weak files many times, so if you're in stay in. Citi and Capital One are big wins for a profile such as yours. I'm not familiar with any of the other lenders, so on them I can't comment. Hopefully none of them come with AFs.
I will do that later today. Neither my Capital One nor the Citi I'm approved for have any annual fees. First Progress DOES have one, but it's $29 for a super-low APR of like 14.99%. Not that APR matters - I will PIF each month.
@Anonymous
Next, FAKO scores aren't relevant. If your FICO scores drop 50 points and your FAKO scores 110 points, you should only care about the 50 point on the FICO scores.
I've heard that there are several lenders who actually do utilize the Vantage 3.0 scores these days, but yeah... I know they're not important. Either way, it's still a good indication as to which way my scores are headed, and it ain't pretty. LOL.
Any drops related to the Age of Accounts factors IMO aren't going to be "massive" as your thread title suggests. To me, massive score drops can only come from two things, which are the 2 largest slices of the FICO pie: Payment History and Amounts Owed. So long as you aren't introducing additional (sounds like you have some) negative information to your CR and you're keeping utilization low, you won't ever see massive score drops. Drops related to Age of Accounts (AoYA and AAoA are all that may change) don't last very long. Within 6 months many people are back to around the point they were pre-spree and for others almost everyone after 12 months is in a better place than they were pre-spree.
Well, that's the thing. When I started, I had four accounts in collections and three COs from 2016. I've paid one of the collections in full in exchange for removal from my report, and that company (Credit Collections Services or CCS) held true to their word. That brought me down to 3 collections accounts. Then I disputed one of the others - it's an old DirecTV account. Long story short, they billed me for something they shouldn't have. I disputed it a while back. That one fell off my account just a few days ago, and at the same time it fell off, that's when my scores tanked. I'm working on settling/PIF the charge-offs, and I know they won't necessarily fall off because of that, but a 0 balance is better than owing.
Other than five new and in good standing accounts being reported and two collections accounts falling off, that's all that's happened in my reports. That's why I'm so baffled. Like I said, I expected a drop, but not like this. I need to actually go look at my FICOs and see where they are, but to be honest, I'm afraid to look. LOL.
So that's where I am... and I'm hoping everyone is correct about the positive changes turning things around over the course of the next few months. I guess all I can do is wait it out and see.
Indeed, just breathe. YOU CAN DO IT! You will be fine!
If you continue to make on time payments, you will certainly get to 650 by your goal date if not earlier. Credit is a waiting game, best measured in 6 month or one year increments or you will drive yourself crazy. You have planted the seeds by getting credit, now you just have to water the credit and watch it grow by paying your cc's on time and asking to upgrade to unsecured in 6 months - Cap one should take you off of secured status in 5 if you request it.
I was in the high 500's in November of 2016 and in May of this year I hit about 720 average on the FICO 8. I was about 680-700 in December of of 2017, when my grandparent's closed a credit card I was an authorized user on and two of my scores dropped back to 630. I was devastated! But they sprung back up in about 3 months.
Historically, I have not been responsible
. I have a collection, two 90 day late payments 2 years ago, 90 day late pament 2012, and 3 - 30 day late payments on my car. I will hit two years with no late payments in November.
Note that the consumer finance loan you took out will hurt your mortgage score for a bit. I took one out and it reported as a negative for a year on my FICO Mortgage scores. I also have too many inquiries (4 in the last two years), which dropped my Mortgage credit score middle to 685 from 701. Boo.
JB - I haven't either. Didn't really learn much about credit until my late 20s. Got my first credit cards in 2016, and then a series of unfortunate events followed. It's on me for not preparing for the unexpected, which is definitely something I'm doing now. I'm also trying my damnedest to avoid the crappy sub-prime companies that cause people nightmares, too.
Congrats on your success, and I really hope I can follow suit!
Brutal - I've PFD one, and I've had another removed without payment because I technically didn't owe it.
Of the last two, one is an old medical bill. I went to an ER in an in-network hospital, but found out that while my actual *visit* was covered, the doctor who treated me was not. I tried to argue that this should be disclosed by the medical staff to patients when they arrive and present their info, and it should also be disclosed as a possibility in the insurance paperwork. It wasn't in either case, and while they're required to do so NOW, they weren't required to do so in 2016. I'm still trying to fight them as politely as possible. It's a $500 bill.
The other one is from Credit One bank.
Sigh. Lol.
Congrats on your success, and I really hope I can follow suit!
Brutal - I've PFD one, and I've had another removed without payment because I technically didn't owe it.
Of the last two, one is an old medical bill. I went to an ER in an in-network hospital, but found out that while my actual *visit* was covered, the doctor who treated me was not. I tried to argue that this should be disclosed by the medical staff to patients when they arrive and present their info, and it should also be disclosed as a possibility in the insurance paperwork. It wasn't in either case, and while they're required to do so NOW, they weren't required to do so in 2016. I'm still trying to fight them as politely as possible. It's a $500 bill.
The other one is from Credit One bank.
Sigh. Lol.