Need some advice & also a few questions

[Rebuilding69]

Hi there. I’ve been reading the forums for a bit & wanted to hopefully get some advice for where to go from here, as well as hopefully get a couple questions answered.

A bit of history first. I’ve always been a cash only type of person who was not interested in the credit “game”. If I didn’t have the cash for something, then I didn’t need it. I’m now in my 40’s with very little credit history & my report is a bit of a mess due to medical bills I couldn’t pay 1-2 years ago. I now realize that some credit is required for certain things in life so reluctantly I got into the credit game myself about 1-2 years ago(around the time I racked up medical bills I couldn’t pay at the time).

My current myFico FICO scores are Experian-609, Equifax-582, TransUnion-617. I remember my PLUS scores before were in the high 400’s, low 500’s, and from what I understand those aren’t even real FICO scores which are usually (lower?) than the fake ones, so I have made some progress I think.

I currently have 1 unsecured card($400 limit – opened recently) & 1 secured card($700 limit – opened 1.5 years ago) through First Premier(yes I know… but when they are like the only people that will deal with me, I had to use them). I also had a $375 limit First Progress card for about 2 years which I closed in the last couple months because I had a problem with them taking almost a month in some cases to process my payments. I didn’t like feeling like they were trying to force late payment fees on me, so I said goodbye to them. From what I understand positive closed tradelines will stay on my report for 10 years after it’s closed? Also, I’ve never missed a CC payment. I haven’t had any problems with First Premier ever other than their fees heh, but it’s something I’m willing to deal with if it means the first steps to increasing my scores.

So I’m looking at about 2 years of cc history(no missed payments; closed now) with a First Progress secured $375 card, about 1.5 years of cc history(no missed payments; still open) with a First Premier secured $700 card & less than a month of cc history(1 payment; still open) with a First Premier unsecured $400 card. I think I made a mistake opening a $400 unsecured 2nd card with First Premier. Any thoughts on that would be great.

First question…is it better to have a larger limit secured card or a lower limit unsecured card?

Next, my credit report. 100% of the negative items on there are medical bills I received 1-2 years ago. I’m currently paying off everything with monthly payments & everything should be completely paid off by the end of this summer. So on my credit report I have 12 negative items(ouch), 6 of which are paid & the rest I’m currently making payments on as I stated. I also have 3 public records, 2 of which are paid, and the other I’m making payments(medical bills).

Second question…Are medical bills that you went to court about supposed to show up 2x on your report? Once in the public records section & the other in the Collections section?

Most of my medical bills will drop off in 2017-2019 unless I can successfuly plead to them in a Goodwill letter I suppose, and 2 of my public records will drop off in 2015-2016.

I recently joined a Navy Federal Credit Union, and opened just a savings account. They did a hard inquiry which I was hoping they wouldn’t do, but whatever. At the time the lady asked me if I wanted a credit card which I said no, mainly because I didn’t know she had already done a hard inquiry, and didn’t want anyone looking at my report at this stage of my re-building. I’m going to assume I qualified for some kind of card if she asked me if I wanted one, and now knowing they did a hard inquiry after all.

At this point I’m not sure what to do next. Obviously I’m going to continue paying my medical bills off & finish this summer sometime. I’ll also be using my 2 CC’s sparingly & keeping a low util & making payments on time. Beyond that I’m not sure what to do. If I go back to Navy Fed & ask for a CC of some type, will they do another hard inquiry? They did one literally a couple weeks ago to open the savings acct, and as I already have 2 hard inquiries on my report from this year, I’m not sure if a 3rd from Navy Fed would drop my score?

I’m also looking to get a car loan(will be my first lol) from Navy Fed sometime in the future. What score do they like to see for car loans at Navy Fed I wonder? I tried Googling it with no real answers I could see.

Sorry for the book I just wrote but I wanted to make sure I gave out any info people would need to give me any advice. 🙂

[Rebuilding69]

Just a quick heads-up. I went out on a limb today & applied online with Navy Fed for an unsecured card & was approved within about 10 secs for a $5k Signature cashRewards Visa.

I was suprised since my FICO’s are mostly barely above 600 & I only have 2 years of history with my 2 very low limit First Premier/1st Progress secured cards.

I plan on keeping the util on this card very low & will be paying off all my medical bills by this Summer. 🙂

The First Premier/1st Progress cards served their purpose well, but I can’t wait to get rid of them in the future so I don’t have to keep getting fee’d to death. 🙂

[fontanaman]

Hey there Rebuilding69, I’m really sorry about the late reply.

I think you’re on the right track, the 5k unsecure Navy Fed card proves it. As far as your questions go:

From what I understand positive closed tradelines will stay on my report for 10 years after it’s closed?

Yes, that’s correct.

I think I made a mistake opening a $400 unsecured 2nd card with First Premier. Any thoughts on that would be great.

I think it’s safe to say that now that you have a 5K unsecured card with Navy Fed, you can opt for better cards. The great thing about having a card with a higher credit limit is that other banks are going to try to offer you a similar or higher limit.

As you said, “The First Premier/1st Progress cards served their purpose well”. I would probably wait until the newer cards are 6-12 months to close them, just to establish some history.

is it better to have a larger limit secured card or a lower limit unsecured card?

A larger limit unsecured card is ideal, but if you are rebuilding I believe it’s better to have a larger limit card, for the same reason I mentioned before, once your credit improves lenders will try to match that credit limit. At least that was the experience I had with my secured cards when I was rebuilding.

Second question…Are medical bills that you went to court about supposed to show up 2x on your report? Once in the public records section & the other in the Collections section?

I’m not sure about this one, but it doesn’t sound right. I believe it should be listed only once. You should think about disputing this with the credit bureau that’s reporting it.

At this point I’m not sure what to do next. Obviously I’m going to continue paying my medical bills off & finish this summer sometime.

Patience is a virtue. You are at a point where you just need to keep doing what you are doing and time will do the rest. Keep paying on time, close First Premier/Progress and get a better card. The car loan definitely sounds like a good idea, but once you get that, it’s about waiting some more again ’till you see results. Getting a store card helps too (Amazon, Ebay, Best Buy, etc.). Just don’t go crazy applying for a lot of stuff. A couple of unsecured cards with higher limits (you already have 1), a store card and a car loan. Then wait.

That should do the trick.

Those medical collections are going to hurt you, even when paid (but they’re better off paid than unpaid). I would start sending some “goodwill” letters once you pay those medical bills. Even better, why don’t you try to negotiate “pay for deletes” now that you’re still paying? Once you pay off the debt, it’ll be harder to get them removed.

Hope this helps!

[Author]

Posts