Rebuilding credit & Secure Credit Cards - Page 2

Brian in Mesa · March 2nd, 2009, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeavyB3

I don't know about you, but I sure as hell couldn't have paid outright for a house. Thank God I had good credit.

You can get a house without a decent "credit score." It's called manual or traditional underwriting.

It's the way home loans used to be done before computers and punching in numbers (which a trained monkey could likely do).

It's a much better way of telling if someone will be able to make their payments.

Linderbee · March 2nd, 2009, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AZZenny

Then next step is to get a very small loan to buy something necessary, not frivolous -- like buy a $500 appliance or something on store credit -- have the cash up front in your account, but pay off the loan from a checking account on the set schedule, not faster, so you look reliable over time. The guy groused about hating to pay the interest to do that, but she said to consider it the cost of 'buying' a good credit rating.

That's an excellent idea. We're going to be needing a washer soon, and we may go that route, and just use the checking acct from Wells that I had to open. I'm in a similar boat as the guy on the show. My parents have a credit card acct that I use exclusively. I bought my car with it, and other semi-major purchases I didn't have the cash for. While I've made every payment like clockwork (and pay more than the minimum), it sure hasn't helped my credit any.

DCR & I would like to buy a house this summer, and I have to get my score up. I have virtually nothing to show that I have made (or can make) payments on time. Our cell phones are in my mother's name, the electric is in dcr's & is the SRP M-Power card anyway. Dish & internet is in dcr's name...all I have is the water bill & my car insurance.

I'll get there; just going to take time.

Brian in Mesa · March 2nd, 2009, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Linderbee

That's an excellent idea. We're going to be needing a washer soon, and we may go that route, and just use the checking acct from Wells that I had to open. I'm in a similar boat as the guy on the show. My parents have a credit card acct that I use exclusively. I bought my car with it, and other semi-major purchases I didn't have the cash for. While I've made every payment like clockwork (and pay more than the minimum), it sure hasn't helped my credit any.

DCR & I would like to buy a house this summer, and I have to get my score up. I have virtually nothing to show that I have made (or can make) payments on time. Our cell phones are in my mother's name, the electric is in dcr's & is the SRP M-Power card anyway. Dish & internet is in dcr's name...all I have is the water bill & my car insurance.

I'll get there; just going to take time.

Look into manual/traditional underwriting. It makes your FICO score irrelevant. Even a bad credit history is irrelevant if you can explain it and it is not likely to recur.

Couldn't hurt to at least inquire about it somewhere.

Ryanwb · March 2nd, 2009, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Linderbee

M-Power card anyway.

Oh man, my mother in law has that and when we were taking care of her for a while I had to constantly babysit that thing like a heart monitor. It's a pain the rear because during the summer you burn through $50.00 every few days.

There aren't any kiosks with in 10 miles of her house and on top of that, SRP told me they charge a higher per kilowatt hour charge for M-power customers then standard customers. Stupid company!

Linderbee · March 2nd, 2009, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryanwb

Oh man, my mother in law has that and when we were taking care of her for a while I had to constantly babysit that thing like a heart monitor. It's a pain the rear because during the summer you burn through $50.00 every few days.

There aren't any kiosks with in 10 miles of her house and on top of that, SRP told me they charge a higher per kilowatt hour charge for M-power customers then standard customers. Stupid company!

It's a bit much during the summer, but not too bad; at that time we usually throw $100/week on it...but according to SRP the rate for M-Power was the lowest of all their plans; that's why we stuck with it. I didn't think it would be, but I looked it up online. Unless I read something wrong, M-Power is supposed to be cheapest.

Linderbee · March 2nd, 2009, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian in Mesa

Look into manual/traditional underwriting. It makes your FICO score irrelevant. Even a bad credit history is irrelevant if you can explain it and it is not likely to recur.

Couldn't hurt to at least inquire about it somewhere.

I did in the past. I was told that I had to have some sort of record of making utility payments, etc. on time, "alternative" credit, is what they called it, iirc. I didn't have enough then, even, and I have less now than I did then.

Ryanwb · March 2nd, 2009, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Linderbee

It's a bit much during the summer, but not too bad; at that time we usually throw $100/week on it...but according to SRP the rate for M-Power was the lowest of all their plans; that's why we stuck with it. I didn't think it would be, but I looked it up online. Unless I read something wrong, M-Power is supposed to be cheapest.

I guess you = right

http://www.srpnet.com/payment/mpower/comparison.aspx

Linderbee · March 2nd, 2009, 09:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryanwb

I guess you = right

http://www.srpnet.com/payment/mpower/comparison.aspx

There is no monthly service charge with the M-Power card...that chart doesn't make sense. Unless they're sucking it out when I'm not looking

I'm glad I was right; I'd be torqued if we were paying more all this time than we would have with a "regular" bill.

Gizmo Williams · March 3rd, 2009, 06:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AZZenny

Then next step is to get a very small loan to buy something necessary, not frivolous -- like buy a $500 appliance or something on store credit -- have the cash up front in your account, but pay off the loan from a checking account on the set schedule, not faster, so you look reliable over time. The guy groused about hating to pay the interest to do that, but she said to consider it the cost of 'buying' a good credit rating.

The only thing you need to be careful with here is that you do not want to use all of your credit limit up since line utilization is very important in calculating your FICO score. This is kind of tricky with low line cards. If you have a $500 dollar limit and charge $500 it will negatively impact your score. You are better off with a $500 limit and only putting $250 on the card to keep your utilization lower.

dreamcastrocks · March 3rd, 2009, 07:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gizmo Williams

The only thing you need to be careful with here is that you do not want to use all of your credit limit up since line utilization is very important in calculating your FICO score. This is kind of tricky with low line cards. If you have a $500 dollar limit and charge $500 it will negatively impact your score. You are better off with a $500 limit and only putting $250 on the card to keep your utilization lower.

If you have more than 30% of your credit line unavailable, it will affect your credit score. How much available credit is also worth 30% of your total credit score.

AZZenny · March 3rd, 2009, 08:38 AM

I wondered why she'd specified a 'small' necessary item - I could see why it shouldn't be something totally frivolous, but I would have thought the higher you could swing the better. Good to know.

Another important step is to actually take a look at your credit file -- I discovered stuff in my file from my ex-husband -- including a new account of his, not just really old stuff -- and a couple plain old mistakes.

HeavyB3 · March 12th, 2009, 07:51 AM

Speaking of which, I just paid off my car loan. Saving me 300 a month.

Hooray.

Jersey Girl · March 12th, 2009, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeavyB3

Speaking of which, I just paid off my car loan. Saving me 300 a month.

Hooray.

It's an awesome feeling, isn't it? (Paid mine off last September.)