A few questions for the experts

Welcome to the board gmatt,

I can offer you some advice as to why your credit score is not higher than where it is now. You said you had two credit cards and a car loan, however you said you cancelled your credit cards, but you also said you're still paying more than the min. on the remaining bal. on at least 1 c.c..

First off, canceling a c.c. with a current balance is a ratio killer. What happens is your limit part of your limit to balance ratio goes down while your balance part stays the same.

Another thing is, it sounds like you only have 1 open tradeline. If you want to raise your score quicker, you should have 3-6 open tradelines (a good mixture of bank cards, retail cards and maybe a gas card would do).

BTW, don't put too much stock in TU's score. The only true score is from Equifax, the FICO score.

Have you checked your credit reports from Equifax and Experian as well? If not, do it. Both offer a 30-day free trial which allows you unlimited access to your reports, and both give you your score. Equifax's as I said is your true FICO score, Experian's isn't as accurate, but close. As I said before, TU's is off.

Hope this helps.

 

gmatt,

Well Capital One is a good rebuild and beyond card. I know you said you had a C1 card before (not sure if you meant it was charged-off and you paid or you simply paid it and closed it) but either way I'd suggest you open another account with them, especially if your previous account was closed by you, not the other way around. Whats nice about C1 is they report to all 3 CRA's, and if it's a secured card they don't report it secured.

Also, depending on how large your balance is on your Providian,... if it's a large one, see if they'll allow you to re-open the account, as I pointed out above, a closed c.c. with a balance hurts your score(s).

I've been told Macy's is an easy retailers card to get, however you should still get ahold of your other reports and see what they say. A score of 620+ will get you several good bank cards, 670+ will be prime card land all the way, so with a 570 score, you're on your way.

 

Matt,

Was the judgement prior to your bk filing? If so, the debt that created the judgement is gone but, the judgement will remain. What you need to do is return {with a lawyer preferably} to the court that issued the judgement and petition the judge to vacate the judgement. Pretty routine.

 

For charge cards, definitely consider Target and Best Buy. Target will probably only give you $200 but I've never heard of anyone being turned down. Best Buy (actually HRS) is extremely lenient also. Keep in mind that both of these are charge cards, not credit cards, so they'll help with the mix.

As for Cap1 and Providian, definitely try and reopen those accounts. I agree with the others on here that closing your credit card accounts is what killed you. The average age of your OPEN accounts is a determining factor in your score.

 

Matt, I thought I would weigh in with an opinion about something else you asked -- adding personal statements to your credit reports. My opinion: never do it. First of all, personal statements are practically never read by potential creditors. Your credit score, on the other hand, whether justly or unjustly, is the usual determinant regarding whether or not you will qualify for new credit. Second, those statements usually only make it more difficult to embark on a credit repair campaign later because they usually only confirm what's already there. So, for example, let's say you attach a statement to a 90-day late tradeline that reads something like this: "These late payments were made only because I was suddenly laid off (or sick), but that unfortunate situation changed very quickly, and we have never been late with this or any other account since." You may think that this makes you sound responsible. Unfortunately, to any creditor who happens to read this, it says only this: "NOTE: yes I really was late with this account, plus I'm not smart enough to have an emergency fund to cover basic minimum payments if something goes wrong financially. Therefore, I am a bad credit risk."

Even worse, let's say you do learn a few things on this board, and you decide, "Hey, I'll try disputing this account in this nifty new way." Whoops. The credit bureau is going to dismiss your new dispute even faster than it did the old one because there's no need to even take another look: After all, it's right there in your statement that you admit being late, irrespective of the extenuating health or employment circumstance which means nothing to them anyway.

Some credit repair old-timers will advise you that the first thing to be disputed are any of those silly 100 word statements if you've ever placed any there. I heartily concur with that philosophy.

Finally, there is a statement you can place on an account that actually may encourage the CRA to remove the tradeline (but you risk being flagged as "frivolous" per the FCRA), and it would go something like this: "Equifax freely admits violating Federal law by allowing this erroneous notation to remain on my report. Furthermore, Equifax admits civil liability in this case and will remit $1000 per FCRA violation to this consumer upon demand unless this tradeline is removed within 60 days."

Moral of the story: don't insert excuses in your report that simply do nothing except confirm the truth of the lateness. It's terrible and cold, but the truth is that creditors don't care about people getting sick or losing thir jobs; rather, their only concern is whether or not they will lose the money they lend you.

Doc

 

Matt, more advice, lol... If you're opening another credit card just for the express purpose of adjusting your ratios to improve your credit scores, better look past Capital One. Cap One has proven to be a wonderful company in so many ways, however they do have one terrible flaw -- they don't report credit limits. Unfortunately they only report "high credit" (i.e., the highest balance you've ever used on the account). Cap One cards aren't exactly going to be your first choice if you're looking to improve credit scores.

Doc

 

...MORE about CAPITAL ONE...you get 3 inquires for one credit card...THAT IS A PRETTY HEFTY PRICE TO PAY!!!

 

Yooohooo...HoustonGuy...you have now heard of someone being declined for the Target guestcard...lol. Moi.


L

 

matt, i had the same problem. a med bill that was in collections and didn't know about it when i filed bk7. if you look, search my post i posted the letter my attorney wrote. Which CR did bestbuy pull from??

Whsypers, as for target i was turned down too. I had a mervyn's account they wrote to me to let me know that i would have to pay that and then they would consider it.

 

here is my post. hope it helps, only thing is yours was in 1998 and i was in 2001

http://consumers.creditnet.com/straighttalk/board/showthread.php?s=&postid=162273#post162273

 

Can't remember exactly what you've posted...do you have a secured card(s)? If not, that might be your best bet for now. Even if you do, I suspect it's just going to take some time for your numbers to improve. Be patient!

 

A couple of comments: Target is not a gimme-I also was declined when my scores were in your range. Its not as easy as everyone seems to think to get this card. I would personally wait until all 3 were in 600-620.

Cap 1 is a good card to consider. I have had great luck w/ them and they pulled TU and Cap1, not EQ.