What do I need?

Sweetie, with 12 negative items on your report, you'd be better off not worrying about applying for any more credit cards right now. You have two good subprime accounts, and the best you could probably do is end up with more subprime cards with low credit limits, high interest rates, and crappy customer service. Instead, you should concentrate on cleaning up your credit reports. A lot of people are able to have paid charge-offs removed without too big a hassle. If you decide to do your own credit repair, this might be a good place to start. Otherwise, you might do some research on Junum or Lexington. You might just be surprised at what they can do for you at a reasonable cost.

Hang in there with the cards you've got. If you just have to have another one, apply for a Capital One unsecured card. If you can just get the credit reports cleaned up, you should be able to get some excellent credit card offers without having to settle for junk cards. The age of your Providian account is already makes for a very good start. You're doing great by being very careful about the number of inquiries you wrack up. If I were you, I'd also wait on the mortgage until your credit is cleaned. You'll save tens of THOUSANDS of dollars with a lower interest rate. If you can even obtain a mortgage right now, the interest rates will be highway robbery.

The sooner you start repairing your credit, the sooner you can start picking out curtains for your new dream home! It's well worth the hard effort. Best of Luck!

 

Listen to Doris

She's right. I do congratulate you. You seem to have corrected "whatever" happened earlier and have paid all your collections and charge offs. Good for you.

Now either work with Junum or on your own to maybe remove some of the negatives or wait for them to fall off before shopping for a mortgage

Good Luck.

 

Re: and..

I've in nearly the same boat. Work your credit report cleanup ! Work it hard!

I lucked out and got a citibank AA card with similar chargeoffs. If you think your parms are right try it,but most people won't get it with derogs.

I'm waiting till 2003 (from 96) to apply for any more credit.

Capitalone works with you, and aria of course you know that already..

 

Re: and..

My solution to better credit is exercising your existing credit. I noticed you have $1000 available, I know the rate on this card is probably higher than what you would get from CreditWorks, but showing the creditor that you can borrow responsibly is the best way to better credit. It has worked for me and every participant in the CreditWorks program.
Deal from strength, exercise your credit.

http://www.creditsense.com

 

Re: and..

Target and Chevron might be worth an attempt.

To me the biggest negative (besides the charge-offs and collections) is your car loans balance / orginal loan amount. You may want to pay that down a bit more.

If you want a decent major card I would apply for one from your credit union or bank. Sometimes they will actually look at your credit report (instead of solely relying on your credit score) and they'll see that all your negatives are paid and you've done well over the last couple years.

 

Re: and..

Oops, just noticed you wanted to buy a house soon. How soon? I don't think it's a good idea to apply for credit within a year of buying a house. Let all the inquiries go away and accounts age.

 

Re: and..

The Chevron card might be a good way to go. If you are denied they may offer you their credit builder. As far as Target goes, I wouldn't waste the inquiry. They are strict in their guidelines for approval. I was denied, Roni was originally denied and after she got her reports cleaned up she got a wopping $200 limit. Stay away from Target.

 

Re: chevron

Just a word about the credit builders program. You can be denied for it. I was. I have told this story a hundred times-I was denied because my score was too low but two weeks later I was approved for a Citibank card. Now go figure. I'm still bitter (lol).

 

Re: chevron

I was denied for a Chevron card in January. At the same time I got a $3K providian gold card (preapproved). Right after that I got a $2K Nordstrom card.

I believe this is a myth that gas cards are easy to get. Also, there is some doubt about whether the gas cards report to the CRA's.

 

Re: chevron

I applied for Chevron before I even got my first credit report toward the end of last October,before I even started my credit repairing and was approved for the "credit builder" card with $200.00 limit and my three credit reports were terrible.When I say terrible, I mean worst than awful.I was actually ashamed for anyone,even the three CR's,to even see them to mail. I would even get sick to my stomach to look at them.I can barely tolerate to look at them now after cleaning'em up a little bit. So you never know.I think sometimes the reps will use their own judgement or that particular rep, that day, really had some compassion for me after seeing my credit report.

 

Re: chevron

Chevron does report--we've had their card since '93---we started with 200 I think, then 400 and now a 600 limit--we've never asked for any increase--or APR reduction. It used to be that you had to pay your balance off every month. I also have a Texaco card and they don't report unless you ASK them to--by the time I had found this out, I had a 30 day late so I'm not asking anything! lol.
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