Rebuilding credit

Discussion in 'Credit Talk' started by akya, Sep 14, 2000.

  1. akya

    akya Guest

    I have had bad credit in the past and now am trying to rebuild it. For the past two years I have had excellent credit. I have one secured credit card (cap) and one unsecured (orchard), a good student loan, a health club membership, a closed dept. store credit card., and a target card. All have been in good standing from the beginning. Secured card will be two years old in Dec. and unsecured is 11/2 years old. I am working on the bad credit. They are all paid collections and a two charge offs, basically I'm trying to have them removed. A lot of the information on the bad accounts is incorrect. My question is: How many secured cards should I have? How many is too much. I saw that one person had three. What else should I do to establish good credit? And should I wait until the disputes are over or go ahead and apply? Please help, I am new.
     
  2. Cadillac408

    Cadillac408 Well-Known Member

    Well, I have 3 secured cards and I feel that I should of went with no more than 2 (taking into consideration all my other credit) but I didn't get rid of one because it was too late kinda and the card was already in the mail. Someone mentioned to me that opening and closing accounts right away doesn't look too hot with creditors.

    Isn't there something you can do about getting the Capital One unsecured? It's been 2 years....dang! That's a long time in credit years!

    I got my auto loan with disputes on file with the CRA's. I'm not sure if I got two of my secured cards with disputes on file....I would have to check. I know one I got with no disputes on file (that was Providian). They solicited me through the mail. The first application I threw away. Then like 1? month later another application came, I decided to take them up on their offer. Shortly after that (like another month), they sent me another invitation but I tossed it because I already had a card coming. I got this card when a majority of my credit was bad. That card jumpstarted me into cleaning up my bad credit and inaccuricies on my credit reports. All the inaccuricies I disputed and all (well not that many) the collections and charge off's I paid. Now that I'm in the position that I want to be, I'm just going to sit back, utilize all my credit, and make sure I pay everything ON TIME! Hopefully things will change in the next year. I have patience.
     
  3. Cadillac408

    Cadillac408 Well-Known Member

    Also...

    I forgot to mention...

    You mentioned that you have a closed dept. store card? Did you close it or did they close it? My experience was this: I had a Macy's card (also worked for them) and after I left Macy's, I went through hard times and I was late, skipped, etc. on my payments so they closed my account! I hustled up some money, went down there, and immediately paid them off in full (like $320). I left it alone then when I got a copy of my credit report, it said: "Close at Credit Grantor's Request". I didn't not know that this was damaging to other creditors so I called Macy's up to quote/unquote, "Beg Them Back". I spoke with 3 people (a credit supervisor being the final) and pleaded my case. I explained to her what happened, the fact that I was an ex employee, etc. and she basically gave me a break and told me that if I faxed her proof that a couple of delinquencies (2 collections, 1 judgement, and a inacurretly reported student loan) where satisfied (they were satisfied, just not updated to the CRA's), that she would open my account back up. I had some old damaging stuff on my report but she didn't care about that. She only cared about recently reported stuff. So I followed through with her request and she made good on her word. The best part is that when they opened my account back up, they must of did something becuase all my lates, etc. were earased! Now the account reports as R1 status w/ no lates and a zero balance! Talk about lucky!
     
  4. dave

    dave Well-Known Member

    You haven't said how old your collections and charge-offs are but their impact will diminish with time. At seven years, they will be deleted from the CRAs if you can't get them removed. If you get them removed, you may improve your credit enough to receive some decent offers. If you wait to apply until after you get them deleted, you wouldn't have wasted inquiries on your report for credit offers that reflect poorer credit. If the deletions don't come off, you may want to apply for Providian unsecured. The interest rate is from hell but the credit line increases are generous. With higher limits showing on your credit report (You didn't say, but I'm assuming your secured cards have low limits)and your bad debt becoming more remote in time or even deleted because they are stale, you will start getting offers for more generous credit lines from other banks and with better terms.

    To summarize, wait for the CRAs to determine your disputes; apply for prime credit if they are all deleted; if not, apply for Providian to jack up your credit lines and hold that account until you get preapproved offers from prime banks.
     
  5. akya

    akya Guest

    RE: Also...

    I had a dept. store card from Robinsons May. I used to work there but because my credit was bad it was kind of like a prepaid card. When I quit they closed it. Its a special type of card for employees with bad credit, it looks the same but no one knows its prepaid. They do that so you can use the discount. The charge offs are 95 and 96. One is paid and one is not. Cap card is secured $300 limit. I haven't deposited any money since the original $200 and Orchards limit is $600 (unsecured). So what you're saying is to wait until the disputes are over to see what to apply for.
     

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