24 Looking to build Credit... What are some good tips on your first Credit Card

[crcballer55]

Well I need some advice you guys. I'm looking in to possibly hiring Lexington law firm into repairing my credit. Their about 100 bucks a month and my cousin using them for a while and said they were great. My credit score is really low,and I'm looking to repair it in case for future needs ( house , car ,loan, etc). What would you guys do? If you guys would do something different,let me know different alternatives that way I can make a great decision.

$100/mo. to do something you can do yourself "just in case"?

If your credit is that bad, you have two options. If they are legitimate bad items that have already been paid off, close all of your accounts. Within about a year your score will be nonexistent and you can start over from scratch.

If you're behind on your bills, set up a repayment or settlement plan to get yourself on the right track again.

You're essentially asking, is it worth paying someone $1200 to do something for me that I can do myself so I can later pay someone else back their money with interest.

Unless you need a great credit score for security clearance don't take a shortcut. Do it yourself and learn from past mistakes.

 

[capital sb]

 
$100/mo. to do something you can do yourself "just in case"?

If your credit is that bad, you have two options. If they are legitimate bad items that have already been paid off, close all of your accounts. Within about a year your score will be nonexistent and you can start over from scratch.

If you're behind on your bills, set up a repayment or settlement plan to get yourself on the right track again.

You're essentially asking, is it worth paying someone $1200 to do something for me that I can do myself so I can later pay someone else back their money with interest.

Unless you need a great credit score for security clearance don't take a shortcut. Do it yourself and learn from past mistakes.

Nicely said, someone else asked this question a while ago too.

I can almost guarantee that if someone goes through the process of fixing their credit themselves they will never mess it up again.

 

[crcballer55]

There are no magic pills to this stuff. Like anything in life, it's all about hard work and knowledge.

 

[capital sb]

Unfortunately my first credit card was closed today. Partly my fault, because I asked to have my savings account closed last week which was tied to my secured card (forgot the card was tied to it). I didn't see the message until today asking me to confirm if I wanted to close the card or not, and by time I read the message it was already closed.

I wanted to split with the CU anyway (terrible customer service/fraud protection and behind technology wise), but wanted to keep the card open.
 

It is what it is at this point, I will let you all know the damage once it reports closed. I'm expecting a 20-30 point drop minimum.

Never send secured messages to your bank asking to close accounts when you are pissed off at them 

 

[polosanddunks]

Damn. Youll bounce back though. How many years did you have on that?

 

[crcballer55]

 
Unfortunately my first credit card was closed today. Partly my fault, because I asked to have my savings account closed last week which was tied to my secured card (forgot the card was tied to it). I didn't see the message until today asking me to confirm if I wanted to close the card or not, and by time I read the message it was already closed.

I wanted to split with the CU anyway (terrible customer service/fraud protection and behind technology wise), but wanted to keep the card open.
 

It is what it is at this point, I will let you all know the damage once it reports closed. I'm expecting a 20-30 point drop minimum.

Never send secured messages to your bank asking to close accounts when you are pissed off at them 

You already closed on your house, so it's all good. Your score should jump considerably within the next 2 years so you'll hardly miss it.

 

[capital sb]

Damn. Youll bounce back though. How many years did you have on that?

I had 5 years on it , second oldest after that is around 3 years I believe but it's a Kay's card.

 
You already closed on your house, so it's all good. Your score should jump considerably within the next 2 years so you'll hardly miss it.

Yeah I see what you are saying looking forward to seeing how loans impact my score. I was going to refi my auto loan (got finessed at the dealership, but that's another story) hopefully I will be in the 715-750 range around April.

 

[dam itz lou]

kind of a dumb question here, but i am planning on booking a bit of travel in the next 12 months and was wondering if you can basically pay off travel reward cards with other travel reward cards?  Basically I am going to spend about $5-$6K on travel in the next year and was wondering if I could get the 40,000 mile bonus on pretty much all of the cashback rewards cards if I just payoff the balance with one credit card and eventually payoff with cash in my bank account.

If you're asking if you can use one credit card to pay off another, the answer is yes but that would be a balance transfer, not a purchase. If you want to get the sign up bonus you usually have to spend $2-3K in new purchases to get them.

I'd look at the Cit prestige,Citi premier, or Chase Sapphire preferred depending on what your needs are.

 

[vtotheinay]

whoa, just set up my blue cash everyday card and the limit is $6,000 not $1,000. Lady on the phone made a mistake when she told me

 

[capital sb]

whoa, just set up my blue cash everyday card and the limit is $6,000 not $1,000. Lady on the phone made a mistake when she told me

3X CLI that card

 

[vtotheinay]

3X CLI that card

yessir been lookin into it already. do you know if asking for a CLI first day works? I know the lady on the phone told me to try it and I read people on myfico that were doing it within like 10 mins of opening their accounts and getting increased haha

 

[capital sb]

yessir been lookin into it already. do you know if asking for a CLI first day works? I know the lady on the phone told me to try it and I read people on myfico that were doing it within like 10 mins of opening their accounts and getting increased haha

Whatever the myfico guide says go for it. I've never done the 3X CLI I have an amex charge card.

 

[polosanddunks]

whoa, just set up my blue cash everyday card and the limit is $6,000 not $1,000. Lady on the phone made a mistake when she told me

This is going to be my next and very last card. I hope I get approved.

 

[championboyz7]

whoa, just set up my blue cash everyday card and the limit is $6,000 not $1,000. Lady on the phone made a mistake when she told me

3X CLI that card

I got one of those as my first cc. Will try to do the 3x cli in 60 days

 

[vtotheinay]

I got one of those as my first cc. Will try to do the 3x cli in 60 days

there's no more 60 day wait period after you get the card before you can request. you can now request upon card arrival. if you get approved you can't do another request for 6 months and if you get denied you can't request for 90 days (3 months)

 

[Bert.]

whoa, just set up my blue cash everyday card and the limit is $6,000 not $1,000. Lady on the phone made a mistake when she told me

This is going to be my next and very last card. I hope I get approved.

I want that card as well

 

[vtotheinay]

I want that card as well

i got you on the referral

 

[hugheyfreeman]

I was never taught a single thing about credit either, but the internet is full of free information so I taught myself.
Like I said if you are interested in saving yourself $1000 , I can point you in the right direction. If not you can pay them to do it for you.

First step is to find out what is even on your report. To do that for free sign up for Credit Karma, the give you free credit reports.

yeah okay, I have ck and my credit score now in the 300s man, trying to get up. That's why I suggested if y'all had alternatives other than paying the 100 bucks a month , that would be been like a plan c.

 

[championboyz7]

I got one of those as my first cc. Will try to do the 3x cli in 60 days

there's no more 60 day wait period after you get the card before you can request. you can now request upon card arrival. if you get approved you can't do another request for 6 months and if you get denied you can't request for 90 days (3 months)

Oh sweet I just req online it says I'll get a response in 7-10 days

 

[capital sb]

yeah okay, I have ck and my credit score now in the 300s man, trying to get up. That's why I suggested if y'all had alternatives other than paying the 100 bucks a month , that would be been like a plan c.

I gave you alternatives. Find out what is on your credit report, not what your score is.

Go to Credit Reports on credit karma you will want to look at Public Records and Collections,those two areas will tell you what your negatives are.

That is step one, after you figure out what is one you report we can give you direction in what actions to take.

 

[crcballer55]

 

yeah okay, I have ck and my credit score now in the 300s man, trying to get up. That's why I suggested if y'all had alternatives other than paying the 100 bucks a month , that would be been like a plan c.

I gave you alternatives. Find out what is on your credit report, not what your score is.

Go to Credit Reports on credit karma you will want to look at Public Records and Collections,those two areas will tell you what your negatives are.

That is step one, after you figure out what is one you report we can give you direction in what actions to take.

Even better is to go to annualcreditreport.com, which is the official record reported by the 3 credit bureaus. Choose all 3 and then go through and see what each one is reporting and take direct action from there.

If there is an inaccuracy, go to each agency's dispute section on their website and dispute any inaccuracies.

https://dispute.transunion.com/dp/dispute/landingPage.jsp

http://www.experian.com/disputes/main.html

https://www.ai.equifax.com/CreditInvestigation/home.action

If you have any records you don't think are yours, go to the reporting company and request they show proof the debt is yours and that they have 30 days to respond under the "Fair Debt Collections Practices Act". Make sure to send the letter "Return Receipt requested" to show proof they received it and that their countdown has started.

 

[Ritchie X Rich]

Whatever the myfico guide says go for it. I've never done the 3X CLI I have an amex charge card.

Beezy, what Amex charge card do you have? And how does the utilization part of that affect your score? I heard charge cards don't report credit limits ( obviously) but they do report the highest balance? I also heard charge cards don't even factor into the utilization scoring since it's a NPSL. Just wanted to know more info on charge cards and how it affects your credit report versus a credit card cause I may be looking into a charge card as my next apply.

 

[gil23]

yeah okay, I have ck and my credit score now in the 300s man, trying to get up. That's why I suggested if y'all had alternatives other than paying the 100 bucks a month , that would be been like a plan c.

you gotta start by getting a copy of your credit report and check whats affection your score and then proceed to look into getting rid of those baddies. You have to have patience consolidate your debts and start making payments, its not going to change overnight. like others have said once you get your self out of this hole youll be set man but if you pay someone to to this for you you could fall back into the same hole in no time. Do some research, learn some new stuff it can be fun.

Good luck man!!

 

[melo0115]

 

 

yeah okay, I have ck and my credit score now in the 300s man, trying to get up. That's why I suggested if y'all had alternatives other than paying the 100 bucks a month , that would be been like a plan c.

I gave you alternatives. Find out what is on your credit report, not what your score is.

Go to Credit Reports on credit karma you will want to look at Public Records and Collections,those two areas will tell you what your negatives are.

That is step one, after you figure out what is one you report we can give you direction in what actions to take.

Even better is to go to annualcreditreport.com, which is the official record reported by the 3 credit bureaus. Choose all 3 and then go through and see what each one is reporting and take direct action from there.

If there is an inaccuracy, go to each agency's dispute section on their website and dispute any inaccuracies.

https://dispute.transunion.com/dp/dispute/landingPage.jsp

http://www.experian.com/disputes/main.html

https://www.ai.equifax.com/CreditInvestigation/home.action

If you have any records you don't think are yours, go to the reporting company and request they show proof the debt is yours and that they have 30 days to respond under the "Fair Debt Collections Practices Act". Make sure to send the letter "Return Receipt requested" to show proof they received it and that their countdown has started.

Thanks man, Im in this process to. Was thinking of going with lex law, but im going to run through it myself and gain some knowledge and empowerment. I have a 600 credit score, and four negative things on my report i need to deal with. And you just gave me a foot hole to climb with. 

But one questions.. Do I ask them on phone to prove debt, or sending a letter is a must? I think two of the debts are from 07 so they already passed their limits, and one of the other ones doesnt even have a date on it.. so thats sketchy.. 

 

[capital sb]

Beezy, what Amex charge card do you have? And how does the utilization part of that affect your score? I heard charge cards don't report credit limits ( obviously) but they do report the highest balance? I also heard charge cards don't even factor into the utilization scoring since it's a NPSL. Just wanted to know more info on charge cards and how it affects your credit report versus a credit card cause I may be looking into a charge card as my next apply.

I have the Premier Rewards Gold card currently it is serving me no use, maybe later on in life it will.

From what I saw when I was monitoring my score through myFico's credit monitoring service when my annual fee of $175  statement posted it reported on my score as 100% utilization caused my score to drop 1 point.

I feel like the best way to use the charge cards is to pay your balance off in full before the statement cuts and always report a 0 balance.