Hi everyone,
Using the advice on this forum, I am happy to say I am making a lot of progress from a discharged BK7 at the end of '04. Recently, the fiancee (L) and I (J) decided to take a big step together and combine finances. I was hoping to get some comments, insights, and advice from all of you that have made into the high-achievers club (and those of you who are on your way!).
I started off in 2005 right around 505, and I have been constantly fighting to get remaining disputes resolved. Right now, I am at 677 EQ FICO, 649 EX FAKO, and 610 (?!?!) TU. L is at 667 EQ and around 700EX FAKO. She took a bit hit from her 740EQ in July when we started combining and opening new acounts.
L:
L started with a Citi student card opened in 2000, where she had a CL of about $5k and used it heavily. She called in to get a product change, and they offered her a Diamond Preferred and a new Platinum Select. Diamond is 10.24%, and they gave her a $9k CL. The Select got the 0% for a year offer, along with a $7.5k CL. Since then, we have gotten the LUV button on each account and now stand at $9k CL on Select, and $11.3k on Diamond. She had an old balance that we carried over (plus some of mine) to the Select BT which runs out in April, so it is sitting at $8k right now, going to prime +1%. I am now an AU on her Diamond card to extend my AAoA, and I am not listed on her new Select. She also just refinanced her car for $15k through PenFed at 3.99%. She has a $1500 Best Buy store card from 2007 with 0 balance. Her AAoA is about 5 years, with a couple of previous lates (>4 years) and a paid collection from the same time frame.
J:
Cap1 3k opened 4/2006, $0 balance
HSBC Household opened 4/2006, $2k CL, $250 balance. Combined an Orchard and Household card for total CL. Closed Orchard.
Juniper $1500 1/2008, $0 balance
PenFed $3k 07/2008, $2650 balance on 2.99% for life BT
Honda finance $20k at 7%
I am also listed as an AU on a BoA World Points from 1999, 10k line, but it had a high balance ($9500) so I disputed it a while back to get it off my report when my Util was very high (~90%). I am trying to decide if I should have it added back now that AAoA is my weak point with all the new credit.
I also have 5 student loans from 1999-2003 with AES, balance ~$10k, interest around 3%
2 Student loans from Citibank from 2000, $20k balance, 3.5% interest (both reporting 30 day late from June 2005 when I was in forbearance because of BK7. Have disputed multiple times, goodwill phone calls, etc. Have not sent GW letter as I don't have any good contact info over there). Otherwise, all accounts show perfect payment history.
J&L together:
- 360FCU $10k 6/2009, $7500 balance on 1.8% BT til January, then 11.25%
- PenFed $10k 7/2009, $8900 balance on 2.99% for life BT
- Discover $7.5k 8/2009, $2k balance at 0% till 8/10, with a 0% BT offer with 4% fee if used by 10/17/09.
We each have a crappy Alliant card with $2k CL, 15,99% interest. My balance is $499, her is $550 (we put a balance on to try to gain favor, but we are losing interest in them quickly and regret ever applying. I guess we missed the boat for when they were giving out good CLs). Interestingly, they approved us individually for $2k, but together for only $3k, so we kept separate accounts and listed each other as AUs.
We also recently opened a USAA and US Bank share account each, but we are waiting to get our scores up before applying for credit. I also just applied for NFCU, and they approved my checking account, but I want to make sure they don't change their mind about my membership qualifications which are a little shaky, at best ;-)
We would like to buy a house next year, but may have to wait till 2011 if we can't get our debt down significantly/quickly. I intend to refinance my car with PenFed once I get out of the red on the loan (March/April 2010 timeframe).
Here are our dilemmas:
We have a bunch of new accounts in the last 6 months, but our AAoA is around 5 years, which isn't too bad. We are just getting hammered by the number of new accounts and inquiries (L's score fell 100 points in 2 months, but has recovered slightly. Mine has continued to creep back up to my high of 697).
- I can add my BoA card back on to extend my AAoA, but it has a $1k balance which I don't want to show. I also want to keep it in reserve for mortgage time, as it is a convenient way to hide $8k or so in debt using a BT, then it is off of both of our accounts. (I have full use of it; it is my mother's account that she doesn't use and was opened specifically for me when I was younger and traveling to Europe.. started with a $300 CL!)
- Our 360 account BT runs out at the end of December and goes to 11.25% with a $7500 balance. We need to move that.
- Discover 0% BT offer ends 10/17, but we will not have the card cleared off in time. The current balance is also at 0% so it's not too big a deal if we have a purchase balance stuck underneath the BT. Plus the new CC terms for payments to higher interest balances helps in the future.
- Want to get rid of the HSBC balance, but don't want to divert money from our more important balances right now. Maybe a BT? High interest at 15.99%, but small balance makes the interest charge nearly negligible.
- We have finally gotten everything under 90% Util, and our overall Util is around 35%. My net income has gone down significantly in the last couple of months as I got hit with two weeks of furlough, and I bumped my 401(k) contribution up to 31% to try to maximize my tax return in the spring. I know that isn't the smart way to play it, but I want to get as much money in the market this year as possible so we can borrow our downpayment from my 401k and just pay the interest back to myself, rather than a bank. We have no savings, other than about $1500 we keep in our checking account to make CC payments from. We typically have about $1500-$2000 each month available for credit card payments (doesn't include student loan or car payments)
- We want to bump our scores to 700 before applying with USAA, USBank, or NFCU. We don't know which to pursue, but can likely only pick one with all our new accounts.
- I have 8 inquiries on EQ, which is the report we are actively pursuing right now since NFCU uses it exclusively and is our most accurate. 3 of the inquiries are from Alliant, two are from HSBC from combining accounts. I have disputed those and are scheduled to be resolved 10/18. I have one paid collection on there:
- Collection agency [?] 285yc01626 Original balance [?] $510 Current balance [?] $0 Status [?] Paid Date assigned [?] Jun 01, 2006 Date reported [?] May 01, 2009 Date last active [?] Mar 01, 2005 Date paid [?] Not Reported Date closed [?] Not Reported
- I disputed that collection but doubt it will be removed.
- L has no current collections, but 6 inquiries (2 from Alliant.. I hate them).
So, we are trying to figure out what our next move is. At what point should I consider closing the Merrick, Juniper, HSBC cards since they are all newer than my AAoA? I have good history on them, but low credit lines... though the sum of them helps keep my Util relatively low. L is an AU on my Crap1, which got RJ'd to 17.99% and is stationary on CL. My dad also recently added me to his FNB Omaha CC 0/$18.4k opened in 6/199, which is helping me, but no L. She has nobody close to her with old accounts to jump on as AU.
FICO info to follow since this message is too big.
