Wanting to restablish Credit

[greginky]

I am still new to this, I am reading and learning a lot. Here is my problem and what "I think" I need to do to fix it. First, I am following the post by Trish entitled "Basic Step by Step Beginner's Guide to Credit Repair". My problem is this. It has been many years since I have had any credit, so I have zero open lines of credit.Nothing showing at all on my Experian CR. I know that to get a FICO score or to raise one, you must have an open account for 6 months. I just started paying on student loans to get them out of default, but that will take about 7 more months. What I am thinking I need to do is maybe get a secured credit card and pay it off every month so that I will have had 6 months of good credit when my loans come out of default and are removed from my CR. If this is what I need to do, or if there is something else I should do , then please advise me. I want to take all the right steps as I reestablish my credit. If I do need a secured card, can someone recommend how to go about it, or a good place to check out. I am going to approach my bank first to see if they have anything like this. I am open to all suggestions.

[improving]

Yes, you could start out by going to your bank and getting a secured credit card for $200-500 or whatever and then just make payments.

Depending on your score and/or your credit or income - you may want to try to get another credit card such as Wal-mart or Home Depot or something. Car loans are fairly easy to get as well - but you'll pay a higher interest.

Good luck!

[greginky]

I called my credit union, I can get a $250 secured card through them at only 3.499% interest. I have not pulled my credit scores yet, waiting till the end of the month to do that, for financial reasons. All I have pulled so far is one free CR. Going to buy all 3 at the end of the month and get my scores so that I can establish a baseline before I start my credit repair journey , this way I will be better able to track my progress. I am kind of anxious to see what my scores are.

[Scorepro]

Do you know anyone that has great credit and pays their bills on time that would let you be an authorized user on one of their cards. If so, that card will report as if it was ur own. You can calm any worries the person may have by giving them the card when it arrives (or having it mailed to them) so that there is no possibility of using it.

[ca's RIP]

just a thought, but you can sign up for credit check total-but sign up, get your report and scores and then cancel before the 7 day trial is over i'll cost a buck but you get that back when you cancel, this way you can get an idea without spending your money
the credit union is a good idea, + there non profit so its like a big pool of money to help members

[J.A.]

Getting a secured card is great, but make sure they report to all 3 cb's, have no or very low annual fee and a good interest rate. Be careful of credit unions, because for some reason they don't report to all 3 CB's. This will hurt your chances of increasing all 3 scores. I've see folks with no score's at all go to a 625 in 6 months, by getting a good secured card and keeping the balance at 30% of the limit.

A good card to get, that's just to re-establish credit is HSBC Orchard Bank card, the interest is decent and they waive the annual fee of $35 for the 1st year. You have to go to their website and make sure you get the card just to re-establish credit.

[CatKlaw]

Greginky, I was in your situation not so long ago. I am from Kentucky myself and got a secured credit card through the Commonwealth Credit Union(It sounds like you are too because the 3% rate is what I got too) and it worked magic for my Equifax and Transunion credit score, but it didn't improve the Experian score(Which is what im trying to do now).

I posted a thread on how to higher the Experian scores and currently awaiting replies, so when someone does reply, check in. I'm sure it'll be helpful. I wish I could've found this forum a couple years ago, it's a great resource. If you don't go through the Commonwealth Credit Union look them up online, they are very friendly and easy to work with, and very helpful.

Best of luck Greg,
-CatKlaw