My personal technique as a deadbeat

That's why I didn't get the loan, they were offering 13-15% and wouldn't go any lower for unsecured.

I guess I will balance xfer as much as I can from the 14.65% card to the 5.75% and just pay it all off.

 

CC, You have another option. Work on your credit scores and see how high you can get them even with your limited history.

Do your parents have good credit? If they have a long term (10+ year) credit card with very low utilization and would be willing to make you an authorized user, you will get a big score bump from that history. You don't ever have to use their account, but just having it report on your CR is a huge help.

Your scores are OK now, and no derogs is great, keep that up! But you are not yet at the point of qualifying for the best rate cards or credit lines even when you are approved for an account.

Having another installment loan will hurt your scores more. That's just how the scoring models tend to work in most cases. A new installment loan generlly will hurt your credit scores for at least 12 months.

There's nothing wrong with having big lines of credit available to you. Unused, they can help your scores greatly. You just have to maintain the self control not to use them for things you can't afford to pay cash for. You can get more credit than you can afford to pay back. That is a fact.

One of the frustrations many of us have dealt with is having clean credit reports, no lates, no derogs, yet lower than average scores just simply because of how the scoring models work. For example, you can pay off half of your revolving debt and see very little score increase unless you have it allocated in such a way that no tradeline shows 50%+ utilization. Doesn't matter how large or small the account is.

In our specific case, a $4500 balance on a $10K tradeline caused no drop in score. A $170 balance on a $300 tradeline cost us 20ish points.

You are learning an important lesson here. JUST PAYING YOUR BILLS ON TIME IS NOT ENOUGH. Sure, it should be. But it isn't. You have to have a basic understanding of how the scoring game is played. You've come to the right place to gain that knowledge.

DemPooches

 

Very good question.

 

Bunter (a.k.a. "deadbeat"), it is obvious to me that you are low live scum. You are testament to what is wrong with this country; skirking responsibility and not paying for your irresponsible actions and the so-called debt that you have created, not only for yourself but several other companies and the general public, who end up eating your debt if you do not pay it. People like you make me sick and they give the ones with poor credit and debt problems who honestly mean to fulfill their committments a bad name. I hope some day there is a company (or law enforcement agency) that becomes privvy to your juvnile irresponsible practices and puts you behind bars for fraud. Grow up and get a life.

Johnny Blood

 

I agree with JB in part--I believe a person should own up for their debts in 99/100 cases.

Then again, if more people would employ Bunter's practice with collectors, maybe they would change their practices.

I don't have problems with collectors these days, much in thanks to the same attitude, zero tolerance for their tactics.

Worked for me almost every time, once the collector got tired, they moved on to a new toy.

I had one guy that tried and tried to intimidate me. "Kris" from...ack, I can't even remember the agency now.

He had a grudge; the first time I talked to him, I told him, "If you can guess what check number I'm looking at, I'll pay you guys today."

Every time he called I would ask him to play guess-the-check number. He wasn't amused and thought I should take my obligations more seriously.

He would call early, late, weekends, you name it. He was always trying some new scare tactic.

It was a great game, the higher-pitched and faster he talked, the s-l-o-w-e-r and calmer I would speak. Poor guy probably died of a heart attack by his 25th birthday.

"Kris" was the only collector I ever dealt with that didn't understand when to back down. I got so good at pushing his buttons it was amusing--I wish I had some of those conversations on tape!

On the lighter side, I settled with the OC, once I had the cash. I would have whether or not the CA pestered me.

 

But in reality, most of the collectors are deadbeats. If you're going to bitch at bunter for being scum, bitch at the debt collectors who routinely break the law.

 

I don't advocate anyone knowingly running up debt with no intentions of paying, but, what's worse, charging things you don't intend to pay for, or breaking federal law in an effort to collect it? seems like both are wrong.

 

THAT is funny!!!!

 

I used to act such an ass to the CAs that I'm pretty sure they never knew exactly what to think.

"You know what? I probably should pay that. I'm pretty strapped, shelling out $200 a day on these 900-number calls. Hey! What are *you* wearing?" (that can backfire--I had collectors talk dirty to me for autocheck payments, *shudder*)

"I owe allll kinds of people money, but I only have a little bit of it to pay. What makes you guys the best people to give my money to?" (they always answer with, we'll sue you, or take your first born, or whatever.) "C'mon, Frank, everyone says that. I can only pay people who give me something worth paying for. What else have you got for me, and make me believe it!"


One thing was for sure, not too often did the same collector call me more than once or twice.

I loved guess the check number. They go off threatening me, I just stay chatty, "Okay, Cecil, one hint. It's less than a half a thousand, more than half of that. If you guess it, just like you said, it will help us both, right? [insert CA babble here] Now, that's not going to get is anywhere. Isn't playing along worth _my good credit_, Cecil?"

 

LKH, we already went through that on cardreport board. He is determined.

Maybe you can get through to him.

 

Wow. Someone who thinks and acts the same way I do. I'll be damned. I'm in the exact same boat.

I not proud of it. I had to do what I had to do. I couldn't tolorate "taking my punishment", as others have put it, without using everthing at my disposal to defend myself, my family, and my future.

Like you, I don't recommend this path for everyone. However, I do think it is important for people to at least know and consider ALL their options, not just the ones that are being presented to them by their creditors.

Maybe we should compare notes? I've been thinking about compiling eveything I learned over the last 5 years. I wrote an outline and couldn't believe how much material there was. It was going to be a lot of work.

Cheers.

 

As I understand it there are a lot of factors that go into a credit score and if you are not in the
range the bank accepts for unsecured loans you will get less than favorable terms. When did
you last check your score? How many CC accounts do you have that are open with no lates?
Installment loans? Balances above 50% on credit cards? Length of credit history? I'm guessing 2 years max given your age. How much credit have you applied for in the last 6 months?AkA inquires.

These factors all affect your score and your score affects what rates & terms you receive.