Referred here by family member to rebuild

[usmc08]

I am currently rebuilding with several charge-offs from 6 years ago with many of the prime banks. I currently have several positive credit cards all under two years old. My utilization on most are 0 but a few are around 5 %.

 

I just joined Navy Federal and was advised to try to apply for their credit card. The customer service agent advised me to apply for the Platinum and was told I can call back tomorrow afternoon to find out if I was approved or not. He said the computer said it had to be manually reviewed. So I'm not sure if that means a denial.

 

If I get declined, does anyone know if the secured card ever graduates? I have several rebuilder cards with 100 AF that I never use, I just keep them open for a positive trade line. I would like to ditch these.

 

Thanks for any help

 

 

[Mayo]

I'd try for capital one or barclays if you haven't burned them. They are friendly to people starting to rebuild credit.

[Sidewinder]

And I cast a vote for BofA; only because they've been very good to me. I didn't become their customer till I was prime though, so I don't know how they are for rebuilders.

 

But good grief man; close that $100 AF card!!!!!!!!

[cv91915]

If your COs are six years old, I'd study this thread carefully and plot next steps before opening or closing any cards.

 

https://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=521705

[Bulldog21]

And I cast a vote for BofA; only because they've been very good to me. I didn't become their customer till I was prime though, so I don't know how they are for rebuilders.

 

But good grief man; close that $100 AF card!!!!!!!!

 

More than a few people reported BOA wants damn near perfect credit for their secured. At least one person said they were told either to wait until no major derogs were showing or until he had around a 700 (can't remember which).

 

OP, NFCU's secured card does graduate. Some people had it unsecure at 6 months, but it could take up to 13 months.

[mindovermoney]

BOA gave me a secured card with a 580 FICO, 1 student loan CO, and 3 open collections. Definitely not anywhere near perfect credit. I'd try them. From what I hear, the card graduates like clockwork at 12 months.

[mendelssohn]

Yes, the NFCU card does graduate.

 

Since you have access to NFCU and they are known to be very generous with limits, I would try to open a CC with them, whether it's secured or unsecured, and eventually also the CLOC (Checking Line of Credit which has a max limit of $15K).

 

Do not close any cards.

 

Do not add any more cards as suggested above. The high NFCU limits will help you get better limit approvals later on, and you don't need Cap1 or more secured cards IMO. You are close to the negative accounts falling off anyway, and you don't want to add too many accounts now.

 

Wait until your NFCU CC and CLOC are at $10-15K each before adding any new cards.

[mendelssohn]

I'd try for capital one or barclays if you haven't burned them. They are friendly to people starting to rebuild credit.

 

 

And I cast a vote for BofA; only because they've been very good to me. I didn't become their customer till I was prime though, so I don't know how they are for rebuilders.

 

But good grief man; close that $100 AF card!!!!!!!!

 

NFCU will help a lot more than Cap1, Barclays or BOA and NFCU can be a fast track to higher limits.

 

IMO the AF cards shouldn't be closed until they are replaced, and it sounds like the OP is less than a year from having clean reports.

[usmc08]

I was declined for the Platinum NFCU card.

 

Thank you to everyone who responded with advice. The major banks I defaulted on were BofA, Chase and Citi. They begin falling off according to the reports I received last summer from the government annual report site range from May 2016 - January 2017 (10 total).

 

NFCU was nice enough to call me without asking to tell me that I was Declined, so I was glad they were nice enough to give me a courtesy call. The lady on chat told me if I apply for a Secured card it is another HP and the lady on the phone said it wasn't within 14 days lol.

 

I have many store cards that I have open just as positive trade lines ranging from 150 to 1800.

I have a good capital one card (quicksilver) that I put almost everything on and PIF each month (which pays for me to see my mom once a year) and two starter cards from them. I have a Merrick card that no longer has an AF. I also have the old Nordstrom Visa (not signature) that they don't issue anymore. i have 2 credit one cards and a blaze and legacy card (4 total) with 100 AF that I would like to find something to replace it with, but if I can't I completely understand.

 

Any advice if I should just open the NFCU secured? The lady says usually declines are only for Bankruptcy and past default with Navy. I didn't know if past CO from other creditors disqualify you. I just joined so maybe they'd like some history with my checking and savings first.

 

I repaid for my FICO scores this morning after the Navy pulls from yesterday and they are EQ 603 (8 inq), TU 632 (17 inq), EX 687 (One inq)

[mendelssohn]

Open the secured card. It is not uncommon for it to go to $25K when it unsecures.

 

When it unsecures, go for the CLOC.

[usmc08]

Open the secured card. It is not uncommon for it to go to $25K when it unsecures.

 

When it unsecures, go for the CLOC.

 

 

Ok thanks I think I'm going to go do that.

 

I have a wells fargo one (1k secured) hoping it might un secure one day since they use Experian and that is my highest score. It is 3 years old.

[Konrad2012]

Now that you've given more information you can probably pare away a couple of those $100AF cards...the ones with the lowest limits and/or the worst fees.

 

You have a Cap One QS, Nordstrom Visa, Merrick, multiple store cards, and a WF secured. That's plenty of positive, open accounts.

 

Try to find a way to get those cards to report every month or two. Buy a soft drink or a beer with them, and pay them off the next day. Just minimal usage on them. You could even buy crap on the stores cards and just return it. Not the best thing, but gets usage on them and might even generate you some auto CLI's.

 

The NFCU secured card would be good for you to get going on in short order.

 

Call up the Cap One XO and ask them for CLI's across all products. And try to get the rebuilder cards with them PC'd to better products and the AF's waived.

 

Determine if the SOL is past on your negative accounts. If it has, see if you can find discrepancies in the CO's, or send DV letters to any CA's and see if you can't get rid of some of that dead weight. If you post what you have on here people will pitch in advice.

 

Oorah

[usmc08]

Now that you've given more information you can probably pare away a couple of those $100AF cards...the ones with the lowest limits and/or the worst fees.

 

You have a Cap One QS, Nordstrom Visa, Merrick, multiple store cards, and a WF secured. That's plenty of positive, open accounts.

 

Try to find a way to get those cards to report every month or two. Buy a soft drink or a beer with them, and pay them off the next day. Just minimal usage on them. You could even buy crap on the stores cards and just return it. Not the best thing, but gets usage on them and might even generate you some auto CLI's.

 

The NFCU secured card would be good for you to get going on in short order.

 

Call up the Cap One XO and ask them for CLI's across all products. And try to get the rebuilder cards with them PC'd to better products and the AF's waived.

 

Determine if the SOL is past on your negative accounts. If it has, see if you can find discrepancies in the CO's, or send DV letters to any CA's and see if you can't get rid of some of that dead weight. If you post what you have on here people will pitch in advice.

 

Oorah

 

I applied for the NFCU secured in branch after I deposited the funding in my savings and was approved instantly by the banker who helped me. She was able to get them to use the same Hard Pull from yesterday's app that was declined this morning.

 

In response to my bad stuff on my credit report, here they are with one extra one from Equifax that just started reporting but is an old trade line that isn't mine and it has me as the "Authorized user." I called both of my parents and they said they never put my as a user on any of their accounts in the past. I'm guessing that's what is really weighing my Equifax down more than the others.

 

I'm listing the Equifax stuff since it is the one bureau showing the extra account:

 

Macy's Last activity: 2/10 Last status update 9/10 $ 1442 Balance CO Credit Line 1200 Charge-off Closed by grantor

Cap One Last activity: 3/09 Last status update 4/15 $ 1314 Balance CO Credit Line 500 Charge-off Close by grantor

First Premier1 Last act: 4/09 (showing 90 days late 7/09) Last status update 3/14 $ 575 Balance CO Credit Line 375 Charge-off

First Premier2 Last act: 4/09 (showing 90 days late 7/09) Last status update 10/10 $ 580 Balance CO Credit Line 400 Charge-off

Chase Last act: 4/09 Last status update 10/13 $ 7346 Balance Credit Line 6000 Charge-off closed by grantor

Shell/Citi Last act: 10/09 Last status update: 12/11 $ 0 Balance Credit Line 1400 Charge-off

BofA1 Last act: 3/09 Last status update: 9/ 09 $ 0 Balance Credit Line 0 Charge-off

BofA2 Last act: 4/09 Last status update 9/09 $ 0 Balance Credit Line 0 Charge-off

BofA3 Last act: 5/09 Last status update 10/09 $ 0 Balance Credit Line 0 Charge-off

Chase2 Last act: 4/09 Last status update 11/09 $ 0 Balance Credit Line 5000 Charge-off

--> guessing this is a positive line: Cap One Last act: 7/07 Last status 8/08 $ 0 Balance Credit Line 3500 Pays account as agreed/ Acct closed at consumer request

Midland CA (for the Shell card) Date assigned 6/12 $1274 Original Balance $ 1591 Current Balance (goes up each month)

 

All these are past the SOL

 

******this is the one that isn't mine and I don't know if i go to chase first or the bureau (only on EQ):

Chase Last act: 4/09 Last status update 4/09 $ 15,797 Balance Credit Line 15,500 Sched Payment 537 Pays account as agreed This account has an opened date of 5/1978 which was before I was born.

 

I also have a small student loan I took out that I have paid back and was always on time and that is showing as a positive line on my credit, although it is now closed.

 

Let me know if you need any other info

Edited April 30, 2015 by usmc08

[tweak]

******this is the one that isn't mine and I don't know if i go to chase first or the bureau (only on EQ):

Chase Last act: 4/09 Last status update 4/09 $ 15,797 Balance Credit Line 15,500 Sched Payment 537 Pays account as agreed This account has an opened date of 5/1978 which was before I was born.

 

It's too bad this is reporting as maxed out.

Otherwise, if it had a $0 balance, a 1978 card would be a gift!

 

If it reports as AU, you can dispute it as "not mine".

 

Look up the Date of First Delinquency (DoFD) for your negative accounts above.

This is listed on your EQ report.

You may want to repost the list, including DoFD instead of Last Activity.

You can clean all of these from 2009 off within a year as obsolete.

 

 

Congratulation on NavyFed - they will help you immensely in your rebuilding!

[usmc08]

 

******this is the one that isn't mine and I don't know if i go to chase first or the bureau (only on EQ):

Chase Last act: 4/09 Last status update 4/09 $ 15,797 Balance Credit Line 15,500 Sched Payment 537 Pays account as agreed This account has an opened date of 5/1978 which was before I was born.

 

It's too bad this is reporting as maxed out.

Otherwise, if it had a $0 balance, a 1978 card would be a gift!

 

If it reports as AU, you can dispute it as "not mine".

 

Look up the Date of First Delinquency (DoFD) for your negative accounts above.

This is listed on your EQ report.

You may want to repost the list, including DoFD instead of Last Activity.

You can clean all of these from 2009 off within a year as obsolete.

 

 

Congratulation on NavyFed - they will help you immensely in your rebuilding!

 

Do I order that info (DoFD) from Equifax directly? Those are the only dates showing on my "myFICO" EQ report I purchased with score.

 

Edit: just ordered it from Equifax site and I see what you are talking about i'm going to retype all that out now brb

Edited May 1, 2015 by usmc08

[usmc08]

According to the 16 dollar report I just ordered on equifax's site, these are the Date of First Delinquency, some are same as the FICO EQ report. Confused lol

 

Macy's 1/10

Cap One 12/08

First Premier 1 4/09

First Premier 2 4/09

Chase 1 3/09

Chase 2 4/09

Shell/Citi 7/09

BofA1 2/09

BofA2 3/09

BofA3 4/09

 

Midland (for Shell) 6/12 assigned (although they told me that the date it was assigned to them is my DoFD not the one from when I defaulted with Shell/Citi)

 

The authorized user account in question account with Chase is the same

 

From what I've been reading tonight on here is that I should dispute through mail and not online. Just making sure that is correct.

Edited May 1, 2015 by usmc08

[tweak]

Yeah, you'll want your official reports in order to understand the negative items.

myFICO is the right place to get your scores, but not the reports.

 

You can get your official reports for free from annualcreditreport.com.

Or, better yet, with any recent denial letters, you can get them for free by mail from EX, TU, and EQ.

automated numbers: EX 888-397-3742, EQ 800-997-2493, TU 800-888-4213

You can also buy them from those numbers for $11/ea -- don't buy scores, just the reports.

 

It looks like you'll be doing obsolete disputes on most of your tradelines -- because they are almost 7 years old.

Usually paper reports mailed to you are best.

But in your case, you'll do fine with the official online reports from annualcreditreport.com

[usmc08]

Yeah, you'll want your official reports in order to understand the negative items.

myFICO is the right place to get your scores, but not the reports.

 

You can get your official reports for free from annualcreditreport.com.

Or, better yet, with any recent denial letters, you can get them for free by mail from EX, TU, and EQ.

automated numbers: EX 888-397-3742, EQ 800-997-2493, TU 800-888-4213

You can also buy them from those numbers for $11/ea -- don't buy scores, just the reports.

 

It looks like you'll be doing obsolete disputes on most of your tradelines -- because they are almost 7 years old.

Usually paper reports mailed to you are best.

But in your case, you'll do fine with the official online reports from annualcreditreport.com

thank you!

[tweak]

Midland (for Shell) 6/12 assigned (although they told me that the date it was assigned to them is my DoFD not the one from when I defaulted with Shell/Citi)

 

From what I've been reading tonight on here is that I should dispute through mail and not online. Just making sure that is correct.

 

Midland is required to use the same DoFD as Shell/Citi - the OC.

The date assigned is irrelevant to how long it can report.

 

Usually, you only want to dispute by certified mail.

 

But in your case, I'd just wait and dispute as obsolete/too old to report.

This is one exception where online or phone disputes can be okay.

 

See the thread cv posted below.

TU will usually delete 6 months early (6 yrs, 6 mo after DoFD) - dispute online.

EX will usually delete 3 months early (6 yrs, 9 mo after DoFD) - dispute by phone

EQ usually holds on for the full 7 years - but you can always try.

Check the thread for the latest success tactics for early obsolete disputes.

 

If your COs are six years old, I'd study this thread carefully and plot next steps before opening or closing any cards.

 

https://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=521705

[usmc08]

Thank you so much tweak, cv91915, mendelssohn, Konrad2012, mindovermoney, bulldog21, sidewinder and mayo for your help!

 

this really helps a ton

[ubercat]

I just wanted to say, Hi and Welcome!

 

 

Have a great time!

[usmc08]

Thanks ubercat!

[tweak]

You are doing great!

 

I agree with the posts above to not open anything else now (after the NFCU secured card),

and that you can close the worst $100 AF cards -- you have enough positive tradelines for now.

 

What state are you in?

What is the statute of limitations (SOL) for your state?

(This is in regard to Midland -- DoFD should be 7/09.)

 

Mark your calendar for June 1 to dispute the Cap1 CO (DoFD 12/08) online with TU!

 

Pay all your cards in full each month, BEFORE the statement cuts.

Let them all report $0 on the statement each month, which is what they will report to the CRAs.

FICO likes this.

[usmc08]

You are doing great!

 

I agree with the posts above to not open anything else now (after the NFCU secured card),

and that you can close the worst $100 AF cards -- you have enough positive tradelines for now.

 

What state are you in?

What is the statute of limitations (SOL) for your state?

(This is in regard to Midland -- DoFD should be 7/09.)

 

Mark your calendar for June 1 to dispute the Cap1 CO (DoFD 12/08) online with TU!

 

Pay all your cards in full each month, BEFORE the statement cuts.

Let them all report $0 on the statement each month, which is what they will report to the CRAs.

FICO likes this.

Thanks !

 

Okay I've been messing up by letting $ 1 report on most cards each month to show payment history I didn't know until today that If I use the card and PIF to Zero that it still reports the account as current. I thought I had to show some sort of balance.

 

I am in Annapolis, Maryland. The SOL is 3 years for Written, Open-Ended and Oral contracts

 

Yeah two of the 100 AF cards are brutal because they also charge a 5 dollar fee per month for something called "Premium Club." They said I signed it when I applied and I've asked for the past seven months for proof that I signed it and they still haven't sent it to me. But I keep paying so I don't report anything negative.

[tweak]

Macy's 1/10

Cap One 12/08

First Premier 1 4/09

First Premier 2 4/09

Chase 1 3/09

Chase 2 4/09

Shell/Citi 7/09

BofA1 2/09

BofA2 3/09

BofA3 4/09

 

Midland (for Shell) 6/12 assigned (although they told me that the date it was assigned to them is my DoFD not the one from when I defaulted with Shell/Citi)

 

You could have completely clean reports on all 3 CRAs by 07/2016 -- 7 years after the Shell/Citi DoFD.

With early obsolete disputes, you'll be clean on:

TU by 1/2016

EX by 4/2016

EQ by 7/2016 - maybe sooner

 

Mark your calendar for early obsolete disputes with TU and EX for each tradeline!

 

===

The first step in credit repair is to try to get old addresses deleted -- especially if you have moved since the defaults.

 

Make sure you have all 3 official credit reports first - each will have a report number.

 

EQ and TU will usually delete any old address (and other personal info, name variations, phone numbers, etc.) very easily.

You can do this by phone or online.

 

EX will not delete any address that is tied to a negative tradeline.

Here is the workaround: Master EX Address thread

 

Do NOT mix or overlap any disputes.

 

Let every dispute officially close out before starting the next one.

Do all addresses / personal info first.

Then do early obsoletes selectively (based on the dates).

 

Or try Midland first (see below), while you wait for June 1 to do your first obsolete dispute.

 

===

If you want to be more aggressive, you can attack Midland.

Make sure they indeed bought the Shell/Citi debt.

If so, they are required to use the same DoFD of 7/09 as the OC -- which unfortunately is the furthest out.

Fortunately, you are way past SOL for lawsuits.

 

If you choose to attack Midland,

Read about the 1-2 punch

Read about DV or FOAD letters to send Midland

And Jack Attack for the follow up dispute to the CRAs.

Try to find discrepancies in how the tradeline is reporting as ammunition.

These would all be by certified mail.

 

And ask questions here first before you try any of those things!