Credit help

[craftymom7]

So I'm in the process of trying to rebuild my credit.

Some sites tell be to rebuild using a prepaid credit card and other places say those don't help but a secured credit card will. Anyone have any input with either of these?

Whatever we get will be a strictly gas only card just to get our credit going again so we can hopefully purchase a house in the next few years.

 

[Hisgirl]

I tell clients to bank at a credit union who will come alongside of you to help you rebuild your credit. Get a credit card, not a store credit card or a gas credit card, but a visa or mastercard type care with a low limit, such as 500, and charge something every month and pay it off on time. This will increase your score.

Always pay your bills on time if not early. Always.

If you can afford it, take out a small loan from said credit union and pay it back over six months.

Check all three of your credit reports for errors.

Add up how much credit you have available and keep your debt on that credit to under 30%.

In other words, if you have three credit cards with a total max charge available of 10,000, don't ever charge more than 3000, if you can help it. Or at least not consistently.

Over time, paying your bills on time, repaying small loans, paying ontime credit card statements will increase your credit score.

 

[jedijill]

Check out creditboards.com. They have some absolute experts over there.

HTH

Jill in CO

 

[sweetdana]

getting any credit card will build your credit report up (if it reports). If you can get approved for a no annual fee even better, sometimes this is secured as well, sometimes just awful interest rates.

Get 2 credit cards 1 anything and ideally 1 more from a store/different company.

Almost goes without saying but pay it on time always.

Any collections you can settle and make sure there are removed, call daily until they are off your credit for active ( in the resolved section.)

and time ..

 

[Kingdome8]

If your rebuilding credit get a secured card.
You can even get cash rewards on it. That is best way to rebuild credit.
But a secured card isn't a slam dunk, it's still has to be applied for.
So if u have judgements and things like that on file you can be denied for secured card

 

[SpaceGirl]

Prepaid debit cards, unlike credit cards, do not provide a line of credit and do not influence your credit history. They don't report to the 3 Major Credit Bureaus. So secured credit card is the best way to start rebuilding.

A secured credit card can help you build or re-establish your credit. However, if you default on your payments, the card issuer may keep your deposit. This means that making your monthly payments on time is just as crucial with a secured credit card as with a traditional card.

Most secured cards are reviewed periodically. If the review is successful, you may qualify to move to an unsecured credit card and receive a refund of your collateral deposit.

Good Luck

 

[Colleen27]

We have a Bank of America secured rewards card. It isn't no annual fee but it has a 1/2/3% rewards system that more than offsets the annual fee based on our spending habits (basically using it for everything and paying off in full each month), and since our travel checking is with them as well we get a bonus on our reward redemptions. I'm not sure what their approval/deposit process is like as a rule but we found it agreeable and unlike a lot of secured cards it offers the ability to convert to - rather than close and open a new - unsecured card after one year of positive history. Since our credit isn't bad so much as neglected (no negatives/collections, but many years without any activity at all), just having the one account has made a difference in our score in a relatively short time.

Prepaid cards, from what I understand, generally don't report. They're basically a checking/debit card combo for those who cannot for whatever reason get a checking account, and from a credit standpoint they're no more useful than your debit card on your checking account. We had one for a while that I used strictly for online purchases and travel, before I got smart and opened a separate checking account for those things, and there is no trace of it on our credit report whatsoever.

 

[craftymom7]

Thanks so much for the info!

 

[wiigirl]

Check out creditboards.com. They have some absolute experts over there.

HTH

Jill in CO