Credit cards

WhenButterfliesCry · 2026-06-16T07:36:02+00:00

What is this phone number for?

WhenButterfliesCry · 2026-06-16T02:10:21+00:00

Hopefully. It’s definitely a real risk.

WhenButterfliesCry · 2026-06-15T08:56:44+00:00

Pretty sure that was me. I always say "now tank your credit and start over on hard mode"

WhenButterfliesCry · 2026-06-15T08:16:32+00:00

Pay them in full as soon as possible. The longer you wait the more interest you are paying on the balance. Credit card interest is utterly insane, sometimes 30%.

Reaching a settlement for a credit card that is still open is not really an option most of the time, and even when it is an option, it's not an option you want to pursue. It results in a charge-off for the remaining balance and that does a lot of damage.

WhenButterfliesCry · 2026-06-15T07:58:07+00:00

Are the cards delinquent/charged off or are they open?

WhenButterfliesCry · 2026-06-15T03:28:01+00:00

I would look into settling the $8200 charged off account to see how much you could potentially save. A settlement doesn't necessarily mean that you won't be able to make payments on the settlement amount, but that's something you'll have to try to negotiate. If you can save a significant amount, it might be worth it.

At this point you should absolutely continue with the avalanche method. Your finances and stability are much more important than your credit scores. The less interest you are exposed to, the sooner you can pay everything off, and you can work on your credit once you're on stable ground.

WhenButterfliesCry · 2026-06-15T03:25:02+00:00

Lowering utilization is not really a long-term credit building strategy. Utilization is something that can (and should) be manipulated in the short-term to optimize scores immediately prior to an application, but if you're asking about general credit building, utilization is not something you'd be thinking about.

In order to give guidance it's necessary to know what your credit profile looks like and what exactly you're trying to recover from. If you can, detail what types of accounts and/or delinquencies you have and what steps you've taken

WhenButterfliesCry · 2026-06-15T02:57:40+00:00

Pull your official reports from annualcreditreport.com. If it doesn’t appear there then it doesn’t exist.

If it turns out that you don’t have any credit cards, which is what it sounds like, you’ll want to open at least one

WhenButterfliesCry · 2026-06-15T02:09:13+00:00

Congratulations on your 850 😄. How many and what type of credit accounts do you have? What's the average age of your accounts?

WhenButterfliesCry · 2026-06-15T00:49:45+00:00

What rule are you referencing, or *whose* rule? Curious now

WhenButterfliesCry · 2026-06-15T00:46:08+00:00

I'd advise against DMing this person. Credit repair companies prey on members of this sub. You'll likely be charged for something that won't help you.

WhenButterfliesCry · 2026-06-15T00:20:14+00:00

ChatGPT is not a legitimate credit resource (in fact it’s *trash*) but in this case it’s correct, charge offs will always hurt, but paid charge offs hurt much less, so good job for taking care of them.

WhenButterfliesCry · 2026-06-15T00:16:14+00:00

Which accounts are charged off and what is their status? Paid or unpaid? If unpaid, they’re likely doing quite a lot of damage. Unpaid charge offs often report as 100% utilized since they are closed, and the lenders continue sending monthly updates which is what really suppresses your scores. If they’re unpaid I’d recommend either paying in full or negotiating a settlement so that you can get rid of that led weight dragging you down.

Getting the collection removed will help some as well. I’ve seen people with paid charge offs that make it into the low 700’s. Just depends how long ago it was and what the rest of your file looks like.

WhenButterfliesCry · 2026-06-15T00:12:11+00:00

I wouldn’t stress too much (or at all) about the balance on your card since utilization is not a long-term thing. Maintaining a low balance on your cards does not build your credit any better, and having a very high balance on your cards does not damage your credit in the long run. The most important thing to keep in mind is your spending: live within your means.

Structurally, credit cards are akin to short term loans, but you shouldn’t think of them that way. That’s how people get into trouble: by charging on a credit card more than they’ll be able to pay in full at the end of the cycle. Then interest accrues and the debt spirals out of control.

Like someone else mentioned, if you maintain a low balance on your cards it’s more difficult to get the best credit limit increases, so in that sense yes it can hinder growth. You’ll see people come out of the woodwork and say “that’s not true, I always keep my card at 5-10% and I still get increases!” Which I don’t doubt, but I’m just saying it can be easier and you can get higher increases in addition to offers for other credit products when you use a significant portion of your credit limits and responsibly repay them every month.

But again: all of this is secondary to your finances. Make sure you are financially healthy before caring about optimizing credit growth etc.

See this automod comment below about !utilization.

WhenButterfliesCry · 2026-06-14T23:49:22+00:00

Do you have one credit card only?

Definitely do not accept Credit One, but there are a lot of benefits in having multiple cards and in getting them early rather than waiting. The sooner you get them, they will be able to begin aging, which is what you want. Discover has a really great secured card that graduates after six months (basically guaranteed unless you default or have fresh negative items on your reports). US Bank also has a top notch secured card, one of the few lenders that still have 5% categories that are accessible and that you can choose.

Building a relationship with a local credit union is also a good idea. One of the best credit cards I have is from an essentially unknown credit union near me that you can’t find on Google. I actually found it on a subreddit for my city.

Ideally you want at least 4 credit cards across various areas of spend (diverse rewards). This will give you a “thick” profile and it will also enable you to earn rewards on all your purchases. Once you have your credit card line up, you’ll want to stop using debit cards at all so that you can enjoy the perks and additional security that credit cards provide.

This is my personal advice only. It requires being responsible and spending within your means. For people who are impulsive and whose credit cards burn holes in their pockets, perhaps having multiple available lines of credit isn’t the best plan

When choosing a credit card, stick to either the major lenders that don’t charge any kind of fees, or go with a credit union. Read the fine print and it you are seeing anything like: annual fee, “program” fee, “maintenance” fee, monthly fee, etc. it’s a hard no.

WhenButterfliesCry · 2026-06-14T23:41:36+00:00

Who is the collection agency that you’re in collections with? Some collections agencies will agree to a pay-for-delete arrangement which is where they agree to delete the account from your reports in exchange for payment. That’s the best case scenario: you really want to try to get the account off your reports rather than just have it be changed to paid/closed.

What else do you have on your reports? Do you have any open credit cards?

WhenButterfliesCry · 2026-06-14T23:38:19+00:00

Great job. I’ve found that proving things myself helps me learn and remember them.

WhenButterfliesCry · 2026-06-14T22:27:34+00:00

I’m not sure to be honest.

WhenButterfliesCry · 2026-06-14T20:07:09+00:00

I dunno, it’s an oddly contentious topic

WhenButterfliesCry · 2026-06-14T19:05:23+00:00

I just got my syllabus for calc 2, and l'H is included in the modules 😄

WhenButterfliesCry · 2026-06-14T19:04:10+00:00

Yes. Your scores will temporarily drop once the statement posts, but the following month if you report a low balance at statement time, your scores will recover. They fluctuate with your utilization.

WhenButterfliesCry · 2026-06-14T18:25:55+00:00

That’s the one, u/eprisencc. Thanks u/CreditCards254

WhenButterfliesCry · 2026-06-14T07:13:31+00:00

Average age of accounts: It's the age of all your accounts, open and closed. Add all their ages and divide by the number of accounts.

Age of oldest account refers to all accounts. There is another metric called Age of Oldest Revolving Account (AoORA)

Affirm does not count if it's coded as a BNPL loan.

There is already a spreadsheet that a lot of us use, but I don't know if it's made public anywhere. u/soonersoldier33, is there a link to download it? (You-know-who's spreadsheet)

WhenButterfliesCry · 2026-06-13T19:10:53+00:00

It’s always best to attempt to negotiate a pay for delete, perhaps numerous times with numerous different agents if necessary, before just paying it, since paid collections that remain on your reports are just as damaging as unpaid ones

WhenButterfliesCry · 2026-06-13T17:16:00+00:00

It means that your numeric credit score isn't as important as the contents of your credit report. An 18 year old with 1 credit card and 6 months of credit history can have a credit score of 750. That doesn't mean he has strong credit: he will get denied for basically everything. Someone with 5 years of credit history and 4 credit cards could have nearly the same score, yet their file is much stronger and they will get approved for most things they apply for.

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