Rebuilding help- need tips for Capital One Accounts

Question

Hi- Thank you all for all the wonderful information, you make rebuilding seem so easy and attainable! I never realized all the different versions of scoring, how to do debt validation, get errors removed from my report and where to focus my attention. Just 2 months ago my scores ranged between 556-580, today they range from 600-611 so little improvement over the last couple months. Here is the situation I am in. I have 3 capital one cards, 2 of which are platinums with $500 limits and 1 is the old Orchard Bank card w/$300 limit. These cards are 6-8 years old.  I also have a Fingerhut account w/a $1650 limit, totalling $2950 in credit of which $640 is in use so utilization should be about 22% (making a little more headway on this util each month). I have been 100% ontime w/Fingerhut for the last 2 years. 100% on time w/my auto loan for the last 36 months and almost always on time w/Capital one except for 3 months Sept-Nov in 2014 where I went over my balances and accrued over limit charges that brought my minimum payments up. Technically I was still on time but the $50 a month per card I was giving them wasn't enough for the min payment. I was in a tight situation at the time, they reported those 3 months as late for all 3 cards.   I went years before this  paying 100% on time every month but always carrying a high balance so they never increased my limits earlier even though payment history was good. Now that my utilization is down and its been 8 months since the Capital one dings,  I applied for CLI's on these cards and received letters denying the increases as they said tehse late payments are too recent. I read that a lot of people have success w/CLI's after about 6 months. I've called twice to see if they would good will any of those late payments, I was shot down immediately the first time, the 2nd time I had a  nice woman but she wouldn't budge either, she politely told me she went back and looked at those statements and I was indeed not meeting the minimum payments & the only thing she could do was to mail me hard copies of those statements. I really only have 1 major collection on file thats affecting my score for a little over $1000 w/a CA that I've never heard from via phone or mail yet they are accruing charges each month. It showed up in my file late in 2014 for a card that went delinquent on about 2.5 yrs ago. I haven't decided how to handle this collection just yet, PIF right now is not an option for me so before I figure out how I want to approach this I thought I'd try to make some headway w/Capital one first on my limits andutilization. Does anyone have any recommendations? I've lowered my utilization while still using the cards frequently, just paying down more and paying on time but am getting nowhere on goodwills or CLI's and persistence is not my strong suit. Do you recoomend I wait until I have a full 12 months of on time payments before I try again?  I did prequal for the QS card but am afraid if I submit, I'll only get rejected for the same "recent late payments" that they rejected my CLI requests for even though they are going on 9 months old.... Does anyone have luck w/a new Cap 1 card while not having luck w/CLI's? Should I try for another card, Anybody get accepted for Barclays card w/low 600's score? I only have 4 inquiries on my file right now. 1 is old, should drop off next month, the other 3 were recent  apps for a rental property, no inquiries from credit cards in 2 yrs. Thanks in advance for any advice!!!

Answer 1

Cam0215 wrote:
Hi- Thank you all for all the wonderful information, you make rebuilding seem so easy and attainable! I never realized all the different versions of scoring, how to do debt validation, get errors removed from my report and where to focus my attention. Just 2 months ago my scores ranged between 556-580, today they range from 600-611 so little improvement over the last couple months. Here is the situation I am in. I have 3 capital one cards, 2 of which are platinums with $500 limits and 1 is the old Orchard Bank card w/$300 limit. These cards are 6-8 years old.  I also have a Fingerhut account w/a $1650 limit, totalling $2950 in credit of which $640 is in use so utilization should be about 22% (making a little more headway on this util each month). I have been 100% ontime w/Fingerhut for the last 2 years. 100% on time w/my auto loan for the last 36 months and almost always on time w/Capital one except for 3 months Sept-Nov in 2014 where I went over my balances and accrued over limit charges that brought my minimum payments up. Technically I was still on time but the $50 a month per card I was giving them wasn't enough for the min payment. I was in a tight situation at the time, they reported those 3 months as late for all 3 cards.   I went years before this  paying 100% on time every month but always carrying a high balance so they never increased my limits earlier even though payment history was good. Now that my utilization is down and its been 8 months since the Capital one dings,  I applied for CLI's on these cards and received letters denying the increases as they said tehse late payments are too recent. Once you get nine months out from the last late payment on the account (not just a reported 30, but service charge late) they will allow a CLI if your scores are high enough. I read that a lot of people have success w/CLI's after about 6 months. I've called twice to see if they would good will any of those late payments, I was shot down immediately the first time, the 2nd time I had a  nice woman but she wouldn't budge either, she politely told me she went back and looked at those statements and I was indeed not meeting the minimum payments & the only thing she could do was to mail me hard copies of those statements. Yeah, Cap One is pretty strict with their reporting. I really only have 1 major collection on file thats affecting my score for a little over $1000 w/a CA that I've never heard from via phone or mail yet they are accruing charges each month. It showed up in my file late in 2014 for a card that went delinquent on about 2.5 yrs ago. I haven't decided how to handle this collection just yet, PIF right now is not an option for me so before I figure out how I want to approach this I thought I'd try to make some headway w/Capital one first on my limits andutilization. Does anyone have any recommendations? Is the OC also reporting that delinquency? If so are they showing an unpaid balance? With Cap One, they like to see heavy usage, and low reported balances. Keep requesting CLI's online until you get some joy - you just need to get far enough away from those lates. I've lowered my utilization while still using the cards frequently, just paying down more and paying on time but am getting nowhere on goodwills or CLI's and persistence is not my strong suit. Do you recoomend I wait until I have a full 12 months of on time payments before I try again?  I did prequal for the QS card but am afraid if I submit, I'll only get rejected for the same "recent late payments" that they rejected my CLI requests for even though they are going on 9 months old.... Keep trying every month - use the online link for it, don't call them. Don't worry about CLI denials, they won't be held against you in any way. JUst keep plugging away and check the denial reasons. I was getting the same thing all last year until Jan when I sarted getting "score reasons", then they tripled my limits in Feb. Does anyone have luck w/a new Cap 1 card while not having luck w/CLI's? Should I try for another card, Anybody get accepted for Barclays card w/low 600's score? I only have 4 inquiries on my file right now. 1 is old, should drop off next month, the other 3 were recent  apps for a rental property, no inquiries from credit cards in 2 yrs. Thanks in advance for any advice!!! Right now you would only qualify for the "average credit" level Cap One cards, and they are an auto-deny for having two or more cap one accounts already. (its stated in the disclosures), so do not app for any more Cap One cards until scores are in the high 600's - then app for the "excellent credit" cards. Since you have a long history with the cards, you might try Barclays (I was approved for Barclays with 618 TU score), but wait until your last 30 day late is over 12 months old.You're actually doing fine, just need to move out a bit from those lates that occurred last year. You might also call and get them converted to QS/QS1 reward cards.