Question for everyone here - increasing scores

[beratblakaj]

Hey y'all,

 

I've been reading for a while and I'm beginning my credit journey and I had a few questions. I have about 8 collections from about two years ago which I was going to do a pay for delete on many of them. Since they aren't that much. I have saved about a little under 6k with about 2800 in cc debt and was wondering what would be a better option. Pay down the CC debt and get a secured card for 3k from cap one or BOA or another provider. Or should I get a secured card at 5k? Which do you think would benefit me more. I had low utilization until I had two car accidents which made me need to pay my deductible. Any help would be great in my battle to increase my score.

 

Current scores are all within the 580 range on all three cra, Don't have fico as of yet.

 

Below you'll find my current limits and such.

Card Type Limit Used

unsec cap one 1300 1200

unsec citi best buy 550 340

unsec credit one 1075 1075

Macys Store Card 100 95

[cezarius30]

Pay down your balances first. First of all you save on interest and second, bringing your utilization down will benefit your credit score a little.

[mindcrime]

90% utl is way too high.

 

If all of those cards are open, not sure I would bother with opening another.

[bmfmustang]

90% utl is way too high.

 

If all of those cards are open, not sure I would bother with opening another.

 

+1

 

Also paying down the existing cards should not just be "a little" boost. That is the biggest factor in the pie that makes up your score.

Pay them all down to under 5%. If you don't pay them down you are wasting a ton of $, especially with Credit One.

[shifter]

No need to open any secured cards if you already have 4 open lines

[shifter]

 

Pay them all off and then charge a few dollars on one. Even leaving $5 on all 4 will hurt your score.

[Demonico]

If you must have another card I'd close the credit one after you do. Why pay all the fees to them?

[jkk4life]

+1 to the above. Pay down all those balance and close the credit one before the annual fee is due. If there is a monthly fee close it pronto. More important than raising your FICO is saving on the interest and fees. You will also get a considerable score boost as the high utility is killing you.

 

3 open trade lines is plenty to establish credit. No reason to open a secured card at this point. Work on getting those collections off your reports and then apply for cards you really need only.

[mendelssohn]

Your utilization is killing your scores, whatever they are right now. Get in the habit of PIF.

 

I would hold off on opening any more cards until your scores are good enough to step up in quality.

 

Before you try and arrange PFD, keep in mind that a CA/JDB is less willing to settle debts within SOL because they can always file a lawsuit for the full amount. Send a DV and use the 1-2 punch first and save PFD for your last option. Many companies refuse to do PFD anyway.