Anyone know a lot about credit?

Well here's a little bit about my credit history. I have once credit card I am in the process of paying off. I had verizon wireless and couldn't afford to pay my bill so it became a write off. I PAID it just two months ago to the full amount and got confirmation from the collections agency. I have a car loan that I have never been late on. So overall I would say not bad, not good. So now I am trying to get a low limit credit card that I can use to build up my credit. Is this a good idea? Is there any other way I can build up my credit? My boyfriend and I are considering marriage but I don't want to commit to him with a crappy credit history. I pay all my bills on time, it just seems like nobady wants to approve me for a credit card :( All the help is apepricated! Thanks!

Ok, here's the deal. I'm going to sum up your credit based on everything you've mentioned in your question

1. You have one credit card you're paying off. I'll assume that it's still open, and if so, this can help you build your credit once you pay down the balance, make small purchases that you can pay off in full on time every month. If it's closed then you'll have to open another CC(which I'll get to a little later)

2. The Verizon Wireless bill, even though you paid it off, it still did enough damage to your credit. It would've did your credit more justice had you negotiate a "pay to delete", which is a payment in exchange for removing it from your report as if it never happened.

3. Your car loan is building credit for you as installment credit. Depending on how long you've been paying on it, this right now is your primary means of building credit.

To be honest with you, right now, your credit isn't as strong as you might think it is.

I'm going to give you some tips on what you can do to build your credit:

1. Open a checking account if you haven't already- While opening the account doesn't directly build your credit, it does create a relationship between you and the bank by being an accountholder. Banks love to cater to their preferred customers that have accounts in great standing by offering loans and credit cards. Also, having a checking account not only helps manage your money, but it gives you the most powerful tool in building credit, a checking account to help pay your bills on time. Most banks and credit unions offer online banking with billpay that can make it easy for you to pay your bills on time, which is important in building credit.

2. Open a secured credit card- Secured credit cards are the easiest credit cards to get, mainly becuase a security deposit is placed upfront in order to establish a line of credit in the same amount. For example, if you deposit $250, your credit limit is $250, and so on. The deposit isn't used to pay for any of the purchsases on the card unless, it was charged off and sent to collections, so you would have to repay it just like a regular card either in full or minimum monthly payments. The deposit is sometimes linked to a savings account, so it earns interest while you're building credit, so the deposit isn't sitting there. You can think of this as building credit with a savings account. The more you deposit, the higher your limit, which is good for your score because it creates a cushion between the total debt you owe and the credit you have available. Also, by continuing to add to the deposit, you're also creating an emergency fund at the same time. A good way of using the card is by making small purchases ($20/month max) and paying on time every month while adding to the deposit. Usually after a year or so, the card either converts or upgrades to a regular card, and most importantly, the deposit is given back, which you can place in a savings account as an emergency fund.

3. Enroll with PRBC- PRBC is America's Alternative Credit Bureau, providing a helpful service to the over 50 million people with limited or no credit history. If you pay your monthly bills on time, PRBC can help you build credit to qualify for a mortgage and better interest rates.On-time payments for the following bills are not reported to the traditional credit bureaus:

Rent
Cable
Phone
Daycare
Insurance
Electric
Natural Gas
Cell Phone

The only time your payments for these bills are reported to the other credit bureaus is if they're missing or late.With PRBC, your on-time payments count. You build credit for paying your bills on time, even if you have no credit history. PRBC has teamed up with Fair Issac, the creators of the FICO score to introduce the FICO expansion score which helps people build credit. Here's a link that explains more in detail:

http://www.fairisaac.com/fic/en/product-service/product-index/fico-expansion-score/

In closing, just a few more things to keep in mind.

-Don't spend more than 30% of your combined available credit on all your cards.

-Only apply for credit when necessary.

-Dont close unused accounts.

-Pay on time

Hope this helps...

Thanks for reading and...

Good luck!

Pull your credit report in 45 days, FTC.gov.
Make sure the cell phone balance is zero.
Try to pay off the credit card.
DO NOT be late on the car payment.
Do not inquire for any credit for the next 10-12 months.
a>

i had the problem of having no credit and with and no previous credit no one would give me a card. i ended up taking $200 and getting a secured card (hsbc) i gave them the $200 plus the $35 yearly fee up front and received a card with a $200 limit that reported to the credit bureaus (important!!! dont get the kind that are only a debit card). i charged a small amount every month and payed it in full every month. after around 10 months i received an offer from the company for a real card. they even offered a no arp for a year. i got the new card and canceled the secured card in time to avoid another yearly fee and the following month received my $200 back. my new card has a pretty high interest rate but after two years my credit is now in the good range. there is no quick fix for getting good credit but you are smart to get your credit history on the right track!

Actually, it's pretty bad. That credit card you are paying off and the Verizon account are both negatives. You only account in good standing is your car loan. Pay that on time every month. Don't even be one day late.

You need at least a 24 month consistent, on time payment history before your will see any improvement in your credit score. Wait at least 6 months after you get that old credit card account paid off before you apply for a new credit card.

Having another card isn't going to improve your credit, that's just a chance to get worse into debt.

Pay off the card you have, and pay cash for other things in the meantime. That's what will help your credit the most. Once you're paid off, however long that takes, then look for other credit.

Ok, well you had a collection and a charge off....not good. But you paid it, so it is slightly better, but doesn't negate that it happened in the first place. I am glad to see you want to go into marriage with good credit...he will thank you down the road :) The credit card is a good idea. Look for one with NO ANNUAL FEE even if the rate may be high. Charge something and pay it off before the bill comes and you will owe no interest. Even if the rate is 20%, it's irrelevant. As you have it longer and your credit score goes up, you will get better offers with higher limits and lower rates. HANG IN THERE!!!!

Your best bet is a secured card. Put down a deposit of about $300 and they use that as collateral if you don't pay.

Also, as stated above, pull your credit report in about a month to make sure the Verizon bill is indeed paid and don't be late on the car payment.

When you paid it off in full, did you first get a signed agreement in advance, that your negative report would be removed? If not, go to my site for some basic information for your future decisions on other matters.

www.EndlessLegacy.US

The pre-paid card is of no value at all if it does not report to any (or all) of the Big Three.

You could go to a small (very small?) bank. Ask them if you can finance your card. That is, put up an amount for a card and keep the limit low.

Get accounts at reporting department stores. Do not use the cards. The Fair Isaac (FICO) score considers many things, one of which is a factoring method. That is, how much to you owe, compared to how much you could owe.

Your FICO score will increase if you continue doing as you do.

Now, a comment for your boyfriend:

"Good catch!"

Credit cards have become a necessity in society nowadays, you can't go anywhere without having to use one. That's why it's imperative to maintain a goodThey are useful, helpful, and make buying things a whole lot easier. But it's important to remember that people go into thousands of dollars of debt because of them, and the same thing could happen to you

if you go to http://mycreditpeort.com you can find good tips.it helped answer a lot of questions I had. Hope it helps! Good luck!

Have you considered a loan?

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