kforbes86, are you talking about a secured loan such as collateral? Or, are you talking about a secured cc?

It would be a good idea going that route but there are some local banks/CU's that allow you to open a secured loan that's connected to a credit card. That would be a smarter choice because it's a win-win situation. You get a positive tradeline on your reports and you get another CC that you can use when you need to.

Hello again everyone. i did end up being approved for the household bank / hsbc card. 300 limit and the 19 processing fee, and a 29 annual fee. still better than any of first premiers terms. i am thinking of closing the younger first premier account now, since it wont affect my score as much. the other one has been open over a year now. Also, i am thinking of getting a cd secured loan. i have 1,000 dollars extra from an insurance claim that i want to do something smart with. Cardinal bank in Va. has the best deal for one i have found. Would getting a 1,000 secured loan have enough of a positive effect on my credit to be worth doing?

Welcome aboard the credit train, jump right on in a don't look back. Here, we don't care about what mistakes you made in the past, we just through you the rope and pull you on in. Before you make a move, play around with the score match https://www.financeglobe.com/ScoreMatch/ until you see which card fit your current credit needs. As for right now, everyone is jumping on Orchard Bank, HSBC, Capital one (good luck depending on demographic area), secured cards such as Bofa or citi, department stores like Macy's, Kay's Jewelry, Target, Walmart, Best buy, etc. A secured card is your best option, it really helps out down the long-run.

I just joined this site this morning. I have poor credit and need to rebuild! Can anyone tell me which card or cards I should try first?

My scores are:
Experian 529
Equailfax 529
Transunion 545

I recently pulled all 3 reports and I am embarrassed to say I have collections, charge offs.

Any help out there will be appreciated!

Rothrim... in today's new world of Bankruptcy (law changed about three years ago), you will find a BK Chapter 7 stays on your credit record for 10 years. Ch 13 stays on 7 years. As one who is in his eight year of a BK (09/2001), I still can't get the majors such as Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America on a direct apply, they say BK on file and decline. I had to do their secured cards for a year first. The BK is haunting me. Only go there if you get legal advice. The new laws are less consumer friendly and the long term effect is huge. I know!!!

ETA (Edited to Add)

Hello All! I am new to the forums! I stumbled upon here when looking for easy approval bad credit - credit cards.

Here is my story! I am 23 years old, a single mother with horrible credit! I obtained my first credit card when I was 18 and kept applying from there. However, since then I have been married and seperated! Was an AU on all his cards, that are now in collections status. I have many bad credit, credit cards such as First Premier Bank and Continental credit cards in collections!

I would like to find a way to get started to cleaning up my credit and maybe settling my most recent cards (newest to oldest cards, cleaning them up).

Could anyone guide me on starting this process? I would like to have a nice 800 score by the time im 30....

Thank You!
Roth

p.S.! I am also considering filing BK Chap 7 ??

Nice info! If you plan on filing BK Chap 7, then you will not be in the 800's by the time you are 30, you will most likely be in the 300's if you are lucky. I see you have mentioned having credit cards since the age of 18, welcome, that is how I started to goof up...lol. Before I go any further, I would like to know the dates that your cc's first stated charge-off, not the dates that you stopped paying them. Those creditors will let you ride for over a year before they put the card in charge off status. Then you have 7 years ( I believe) from that date. If you have charge offs that are fairly new, then I would say just apply for secured cards, that have good reputation of reporting to all 3 Cb's, for at least 3 years before applying for any credit. By that time, some of the old baddies should be on their way to a fall-off status.

Credit has become so tight these days, until they are slicing heads off to those who have never been late, never had charge offs, paid on time...etc. This entire process takes time, and is considered as a long term goal, in the meantime, make a short term goal that you can accomplish, such as paying on time for 1 year, don't go over your limit for 1 year, keep utilization low for 1 year, and then at the end of the year, reward yourself by tallying up your cli's and if you never received one by then, request a cli. Also, call your creditors and try to talk them into unsecuring your card(s). All these things will keep you from focusing on your long term goal with credit.

I don't see why not, it represents lolololololololololol's!

Yeah but 3 smileys don't represent 3 times the happiness.

If there was a smiley face with a halo over it, Meya would over do it and put it out of order.

I just caught this...lolz! You know I love my smileys, they represent a whole lot

Annualcreditreport.com

You have the right to order one credit report from each credit bureau for free once a year.

Welcome to FG, ROTHRIM!

We're going to need some more information from you so we can help out. We need to know how much debt you currently have in your name and if you can take a portion of your income and use it to payoff your current debt. You have to try to avoid filing BK at all costs because from what I understand, BK CH7 will stay on your reports until for 7 years and it will hurt your chances of buying a car or a house in the future.

I understand being a single parent (especially a mother) can be very tough because not only do you have to take care of your children but make a living also. Is there a way that you can add an additional source of income such as child support from your ex-husband?

ETA (Edited to Add)

Thank you so much for responding! I will definitely provide more info. I am going to order my credit report this week so I can definitely see what I am working with. Any recommended sites?

If you were approved for the Orchard Bank card, I would send them the processing and annual fee. You're better off paying them than First Premier. You will end up paying more for First Premier than Orchard Bank in the long run.

If TU is your cleanest report, you should apply for a Hooters card. I believe they pull TU exclusively. It's a good card for credit builders and was pretty popular here about 6 months ago.

No, no other positives besides the 2 first premiers. i have not been approved for any other accounts i have applied for in the last year. my transunion score is 80 points higher than the other 2, and no one approves through transunion it seems.