Which CC to apply for - I'm 640 / 640 / 670

[Suffering from a Tax Lien]

I've recently made a lot of progress in repairing my credit. I got all my old collections DELETED, old tax liens removed / released, etc.

My scores are as above (although I'm expecting another 20 points of increase in the next two weeks).

The remaining negative items I have are:

• Two 30-day lates
• A charged-off Visa card five years ago, $2,000. This has been settled but is still on the report.
• Two tax liens that are released, but are still on the report.

Right now I only have one CC: a First Premier card, $350 limit.

What should I do? What should be my next CC?

Ideally I would like one of the frequent flyer CCs. My main desire is to have a CC to help rebuild my credit long-term.

Which ones might I qualify for?

Thanks

[30daylate]

I would go after the 30-day lates because those should be easy to remove through a direct letter to the creditors. Just ask them for goodwill. If the creditors don't respond then just ask for an item verification from the credit bureaus.

I would send a letter to the three credit bureaus with an item verification on the collection account. If they do verify it, I would send out a goodwill letter directly to the creditor.

A new credit card might not be the right thing to rebuild your credit. A credit score has a bunch of different factors. Working hard to delete negative items is going to go a lot further than a new limit because your payment history is 35% of your credit score. If you do get a credit card, it might initially bring your score down. Do you have any other lines of credit besides the 350 credit card?

[Suffering from a Tax Lien]

I tried all those tricks. I disputed the BofA account on all three bureaus. All three verified it unfortunately. I disputed the 30-day lates on all three. All three verified it. I disputed the one collection report I have (it's only on one bureau) and they verified it, although they did update it from "open" to "paid".

I called First Premier to ask if they would not report the 30-day lates. They said no, but I could send a letter requesting it. I did. They didn't do it. I found the name / address of the CEO of First Premier and sent another letter. I got a response back saying, "sorry, we won't take those off." The letter does have a phone number and a person and was hand-signed so I'm going to call. Can't hurt to try.

I have no other credit lines other than my $350 CC with First Premier. I know I don't "need" other credit lines to build good credit, and in fact applying might hurt me short-term, but long term, to have good credit, I will need to start getting another card or two.

The other thing is I'm a frequent traveler and I would really benefit from a CC that provides me rental car insurance, frequent flyer benefits, etc. I know I will not pile up CC debt. I am currently debt-free, and plan to remain that way forever.

(Note when I say "debt free", I'm not counting mortgage and commercial credit, both of which I think are good types of debt to have. The mortgage and commercial credit don't show up on my credit report because they are family loans, but they are real loans with all contracts in place. But I have only $14 in CC debt and no other debt of any kind, and I'll remain that way the rest of my life.)

[kyzer650]

try creditcards.com they can tell which credits will accept you. They have bad/fair/and excellent credit card options.