Credit Score = 610 with Secure Credit Card!?

Question

About a year ago, my credit score was somewhere 500-600. So I decided to get a secure credit card to raise my credit score. I 've had this card for about a year now, and then decided to apply for a non-secure credit card few weeks ago. I was DENIED. I was kind of surprised, because I thought a year was long enough to build my credit to qualify me for an actual credit card. So I decided to check my score online through myFico.com. My score is now 610 (just Equifax). There were 7 accounts on my report:

1. Installment Account (School Federal Loans): Status is good.
2. 3 Active Collection Accounts: old medical bills, cell phone bills.
3. Revolving Account: My current secure credit card, Status is also good, I pay on time, but my balance is usually close to the available credit limit.
4. 2 Revolving Accounts: Charged Off

My last 2 years of payment history is good, no missed payments. The negative items are old.

How can I improve my credit? can my secure credit card allow me to reach 700?

Thanks for all the great responses.

I forgot to mention the other scores I got from the other 2 agencies; Experian = 524 and Transunion = 604. There is a big score difference between Equifax and Experian, 86 points!

Do you guys think if I consolidate my loans through a debt payment company, I will improve my credit quickly? or should I fix problems separetly?

Someone asked how old the negative items are, they are 3-5 years old.

The medical bill is from umbalance ride to the hospital after a car accident (I wish I didn't get on it, because they EMS guys talked me into it). The description on the bill from the collection office on the report doesn't say this, just shows the amount.

Thanks everyone.

Answer 1

From your list you actually only have one thing in good standing, which is your school loans.
Your secured card "could" be in good standing but you say it usually is utilized to close to the credit limit (major score killer)

The student loans and the secured card will not help you reach that score goal as long as the you keep maxing the card out and negatives are still reporting.

I don't know who you tried to get another card with, but right now a prime lender probably will not give you an unsecured major card. Prime lenders are more lenient with their co-branded store cards like Walmart, Target, etc, then they are with their major credit cards.

You didn't mention how "old" the negatives are. As long as you are not still within the collecting SOL and they are reporting incorrectly, you can try to dispute them with the CRA's.
If they are close to falling off (in the next couple of months), you could try to dispute them as obsolete.

The phone bills should fall under the UCC for a collecting SOL of 4 years.

The medical debts are a little trickier when it comes to the collecting SOL. If the medical provider receives any funding from state or federal funds., they may be considered the same as any state or federal debt and have no collecting SOL. If they are past the normal SOL, you can always claim SOL. It would be up to the collection agency to figure out if the medical provider receives any funding (and they probably will not bother if the debt is old and it isn't very much)

One other problem you will find, when the negatives do fall off due to obsolescence, drop off through your disputes, or drop off due to age, is that you may see a score drop.
Even though you would be losing negatives, you would also be losing history. You don't have a full enough file to keep it from hurting your scores.

On a positive note, you might consider rounding out your file and applying for a store card. You might also consider another secured card with a lender like Bank of America, or check with your bank or credit union to see what they offer.

Answer 2

Number 1 doesn't do much one way or another. At best it is providing long credit history.

Number 2 is hurting you: Medical debts do count aginst you. (If the name of a creditor reveals that it is a health thing, like "Cancer Center", then the CRAs will just replace the name with "Medical Debt" when other lenders pull your report. They still count.) Having collections shows creditors you let bills go so delinquent. The only thing for those is just to let time pass.

Number 3 is hurting you: get that balance as close to zero as possible. Although the FICO formulas are secret, it appears when your utilization goes above 30% the score goes down.

Number 4 is hurting you: Charge offs are like collections; doesn't look good to lenders.

Time is your friend (or enemy) for credit scores. You need a long time with good payments. You also need accounts to be open for a long time (not one account per year for 10 years, but rather one account open for 10 years).

The company you have the secured card with should convert it to a regular after 12 months of good payments (not a guaranteed thing but common). Get a store card or another secured card. Pay things on time and wait.

Don't live and die by the credit score. There's no reason to worry about the impact revolving utilization (number 3) has on your score every month; you only need to care when you are applying for credit. Do pay your debts on time and let pass.

Good luck.

Answer 3

You might be able to get a higher interest credit card, but what really is hurting you is the three collections and the two charged off credit cards. Medical bills don't really count against you, from what I've seen, heard and understand, but the cell phone collection is a huge ding. Also the charged off accounts are going to be a thorn in your side for 7 years.

My recommendation: Use equifax's online dispute tool and dispute everything. Some of your creditors will not even respond within 30 days, so your score will go up. Next, try and settle your debts for the charged off accounts so the status will at least reflect that it is paid instead of outstanding. Lastly, bring the balance of your secure card to between 30-50% of it's credit limit. This is the ideal place to be for any revolving account.

Good luck, and I can completly sympathize with your situation.

Answer 4

Credit scoring is a complicated issue and there are many factors that can affect how you're scored. Your score can even vary dramatically between the three major bureaus (Trans Union, Equifax, Experian). Some factors in credit scoring include:
Length of credit history
Legnth of time each account has been open
Payment history
The relationship of Balance carried to credit limit
Bankruptcies
Negative Public records (Liens, judgements, etc...)

These are a few examples of things that can effect credit ratings both good and bad.

Having a secured credit card with evidence of good payment history can be a good start toward improving your credit. Showing a good payment history on such a card as well as continued good payment on your other accounts can improve your score. However there are some issues with your over all credit situation which may be seriously slowing the process of rebuilding your credit.

When you list 3 active collection accounts, do you mean they are still being pursued by collection agencies, or did you pay them off once they went to collection status? Unfortunately those types of negative items can affect credit for many years (negative items can stay on your credit report for seven years). Particularly if they are unresolved debts.

A bigger issue would be the two charged off accounts. This definately has a negative effect on a credit score. Charge offs show a tendency for a debtor to essentially walk away from his payment obligations and leave a debt obligation unresolved. This can make future creditors feel quite uneasy about extending credit. Thie is especially true if those chaged off accounts continue to be un paid.

My suggestion, in addition to continued good payment history on your current accounts, see a qualified credit counselor or financial professional for advice on how to take care of those collections and charge offs.

Good luck and I hope things improve for you.

Answer 5

Basically their are few items that are really killing your score.

Anything in collections will pretty much guarantee that you will not be approved for any unsecured credit cards. As was stated I don't think the medical bills are the biggest problem but it probably does have some effect. The one you really need to take are of is the cell phone bills, and if the charged off accounts were taken over by another collection agency you need to take care of those.

The other thing is that your balance is close to the available credit. Generally credit card companies do not like to see more than 30% useage. The more you go above that the more it hurts your score.

By itself the secured card could get you to 700, but with your negative items that is not going to happen. To improve your score you need to pay the collections and get your balance on your credit card down. Over time it will rise if you keep current and balances low.