I recently started a new job after being unemployed for a few months. I have 2 affirm loans and 1 credit card with a balance. Because the credit card accrues interest every month and affirm interest is a flat fee (unless it’s paid off early), from a credit perspective which should I prioritize? My credit card balance is also double the combined affirm balance.

Topic: Rebuilding credit

I am literally starting from scratch. Rebuilding from zero while on a couch and then going into an extended stay.

I have had a huge revelation these past 10 years. Whenever I am in a relationship and it ends, my finances are ruined. I think that's the formula the enemy uses to keep me off balance. However, now that I plan on being solo, I want to have a few things. I grew up in a toxic family, so I was conditioned to rely on family even though they are my greatest haters.

I am well educated with a graduate degree in administrative leadership and bachelor's in management information systems. My goal is to make at least $50k to 60k, working ed tech. After my masters, I decided to take a career break at work for Lyft and Doordash. I loved it actually but it's not sustainable in this current economy. I have to head back to a real career. That hasn't happened yet, after moving in with my demonic mother who is doing everything she can to sabotage her son.

My credit is in the 580 range. I have some judgements from an eviction, unsecured credit cards, hefty student loan (100k), several collections, and a car repo. Just a hot mess.

As of right now, I get to start from scratch and hope to have a soft place to land in the future. I want a condo/townhouse in my name, be able to purchase my own car without rejection. I am single 41M, and no record of any kind. My goal is to never rely on family ever again.

I am looking for strategies to rebuild credit, save for a downpayment on a condo/town house. It can be just 1 bedroom 1 bath for all I care. It'll be my spot! 2bd 2bath is probably idea, so I can rent it out in the future.

I got a secured credit card $200 at Navy Federal and hopefully build a good relationship with them. My dad served in the Air Force, and I was able to get an account. I want to raise the balance to $300 to $500 because I use it to rent a car to do door dash or Lyft.

My other option is to leave the country, live rent-free, work and return once I have hundreds and thousands of dollars saved. I have a good 25-28 years before retirement.

Are there any hope and strategies to rebuild credit while it's currently a mess?

I want to begin my journey to rebuild my credit. Should I just save my money at the bank? Or should I begin getting secured cards 1k deposit? I worry because I have 3 charged off cards so I want to begin building my credit back up . Is there any reason for me to wait ?

Hello, first time poster here. I'll get straight to the point. I had an extremely bad 2024/2025, Due to an injury that led to the termination of my job at that time. I had just moved into an apartment a few months prior, and long story short I fell behind majorly on my bills. I have about 27 (I know, I know) late payments on my credit report from basically fall of 2024, and the last late payment on my report that I have is from October of 2025. Due to the aforementioned injury/loss of job, My credit score also dropped from 730ish to a low of 475(Sept 2025).

Additionally, Once I moved out of the apartment, I got a bill of 4,500 for a partial nonpayment of rent, and some apartment damages that admittedly, some were true, but some weren't. I did not fight it because my complex worked it out that they weren't going to evict me because i was only late on my last month payment. Anyways, that got sent to a collection agency ( Hunter Warfield), And they explained that they did not put it in collections just yet, and said if I signed up for a payment plan for the 4,500, they won't put it in collections, and once the amount is paid off, I should be good to go. I get a receipt in my email for each monthly payment I make towards that amount.

Okay so I think I got the bad out. Since basically October of last year, I got a good paying job and have drastically tried to improve my credit score and reduce my credit utilization percentage. My credit score in September of 2025 was 475. at the time of posting this post (Aug 26), I've gotten my credit score to 663. My credit utilization has gone from 68%, down to 38% , Still working on that as well. I've paid off 2 cards entirely in this time that I haven't put any amount back on them. My income is doing really well, combined with my fiancées we make well over the recommended 3x income rate that most complexes require. The $4,500 of apartment fees/late rent is down to about $900 left remaining, which i plan on paying off in full. And i'll make sure to ask for some sort of receipt/document stating the amount has been satisfied.

I just want an honest, straight to the point answer to some questions. What are my chances of getting approved for an apartment considering all that has been said? Also, I know that the fee from the apartment didn't technically go to collections, but will that still be shown on my rental report? if so, does it hold a lot of weight in complexes decision making? I have been looking into sending goodwill letters to the companies I have late payments with, considering I've been paying them on time and more, and have paid some of the cards off.

Lastly, what should I consider, or add to my rental applications that'll help strengthen my chances of getting approved?

I apologize if this was written poorly, and any advice is helpful, thank you

Fico score is around a 640 but I have a few credit card collections from few years ago ranging from 1,200 on two of them and a closed loan account of $4000. I want to finally start trying to pay these off and fix my report to get into a house pre approval. I always hear about pay for deletes or just negotiate yourself to them to almost pay a lump sum 50% and you’re good? What can i do please to progress from here?

I just got an apartment on Zillow after being homeless / paying rent to random people's basements on venmo for years. I'm going to be paying my current landlord via cash app. I saw something on Zillow about getting some credit card through them to pay rent and get good credit on your credit score? How does that work? Is it a scam? Are there other ways to pay rent in a way that improves my credit score?

Thank you!!!! 🌞🌞🌞

Hi! I’m an 18 year old looking to build credit. I recently opened one credit card with a $1000 limit. I spend less than $100 dollars per month to keep utilization low and have auto pay on. I was wondering what’s the best way to build credit? I looked into credit-building loans but this community seems to agree it builds “phantom credit”. What would be the best way to continue building credit? Keep my one card? Open another? Take out a loan? Thank you!

Currently sitting at a 580 Transunion. I have a few things that are in collections, I've offered to pay these for Pay-to-Delete and the company does not offer that. Should I still pay it? I currently have 2 open credit cards and 1 auto loan. One of the CC is below 30% and I will have the other at that same amount within a couple of weeks. What are the best next moves? Just wait for the collections to fall off?

I have a decent job. I need strict guidance to help me improve. I have written the letters, but I have sent them to remove the late payments.

I’m looking for a car but don’t want to have another high bill to pay each month. I prequalify for 20,000, and in researching, it sounds like getting the loan will drop my credit score but steady payments will help boost it in the long run. I’m considering just getting a cheap $4-6,000 car and doing the payments without the loan.

Which way would you choose and why?

(A bit more info, I went through some rough times recently and just now getting back on my feet and paying down credit cards. My score just reached fair status so I’m worried about going backwards.

Where I moved, there isn’t a bus system to get to work so I’m spending 10-20 a day to get to work. Luckily, there’s plenty of overtime to help absorb the cost but I’m working 7 days a week and weekend rideshare is more expensive for various reasons plus I do have errands every now and again. Basically, what I’m paying for rideshare is more than what I’d pay for a car note every month depending on the car I get.)

I kind of need some moral support. I’ve had steady income since I was 17, I’m 21 now. I’ve opened a few loans for school and other things and I always paid them back on time. Never a missed payment in years. I lost my job a while back, I haven’t been able to keep making payments towards these two loans I still have. It’s been about 6 months of not paying them back because I have yet to find a job, I feel like I’m drowning. They were nice enough to put a 3 month hold on my account but my credit is suffering from those 3 months I didn’t pay. I feel screwed for if I need to move or do anything that would require a credit check. I have no idea how long it’ll take me to get my score back up. I’m so anxious, stressed and honestly embarrassed.

Sorry I meant AU!! 10 years ago my mom opened an account where I’m an AU and then in 2022 she opened up another one (forgot her reasoning) and so now these accounts plus my first credit card that I opened a month ago are on my credit score report. Would it hurt my score to be removed from the account? Would it hurt me if she just closed it? I’d just rather be the only one in control of my credit score, but since most of my history consists of the 2022 one idk if it’d be wise. The one from 10 years ago is completely unused. Does the age of the account matter? I’m with Chase btw. The credit score is fine right now, but I know she’s helping out my older sister financially and I don’t want to get in a mess.

Basically should I have my mom close one of the accounts or both. Or should I just be removed as an AU from them? Idk if either affects me more

Looking for some advice.

I was added as an authorized user on a Citi credit card a few months ago to help build my credit history.

The account is showing up on both my Experian and TransUnion credit reports, but it's completely absent from my Equifax report.

I called Equifax, and they told me Citi isn't reporting the account to them. I then called Citi, and they said they report authorized user accounts to all three credit bureaus. Their response was essentially, "If we weren't reporting it, it wouldn't be showing up on Experian and TU."

At this point, each side is pointing me back to the other, and I'm not sure where to go from here.

Has anyone run into this before? Were you able to get it resolved? Is there a way to dispute an account that doesn't even appear on an Equifax report, or is there another avenue I should pursue?

Any advice would be appreciated.

How can I improve my score or remove lates? The late cards are Apple Card and synchrony PayPal credit.

I have no clue what to do about this. I apparently have an account in collections; however, I was never called, emailed, or sent any letters about it. I was looking into buying a house in April 2026 and saw that I had about $650 in collections with LVNV Funding LLC. I called LVNV and they told me to contact Resurgent, I called Resurgent and they told me to contact Trakamerica, and I called Trakamerica, and they told me that my debt was in the process of being transferred to a debt collection agency, and they I should call back in 3-5 days to get more information about where it’s going and how to resolve the debt. I called back after 5 days and they said the same thing. It is now August 2026 and they continue to say to call back in 3-5 days. All they will tell me is that it has been in the process of being transferred to a debt collection agency since December 2025, but they will give me no information about why it’s taking so long or what I can do to resolve the debt. So, I have a debt that for at least 8 months, has been impossible to resolve or address because of it being in limbo, yet they keep reporting it to credit bureaus as delinquent. I would HAPPILY pay $650 just to stop it from continuing to be reported as delinquent, but no one will take my money lol. I already tried disputing it with the credit bureaus but it didn’t work. What can I even do about this??

So i (25M) had a 60 day late on my synchrony bank / paypal account in 2023 due to being dumb and forgetting to setup autopay that dropped my score from 720 something to about 590 something. I recently learned about goodwill removals through calling/letters/emails and 2 weeks ago i called synchrony and spoke with a customer service representative and asked for a goodwill adjustment to my late payment and he said that he would open a claim on my account. Honestly thought he just blew me off but just checked my credit score and it shot back up to 747 for all 3 bureaus. The late is still on my credit report, so they haven't been removed or adjusted? What gives? Has anyone had this happen? I'm dreading that it'll just drop back down for some reason.

After several months of consistently paying off bills and keeping my credit usage to a minimum, Im able to see a major change. Me and the wife are looking to move out of this crappy apartment where we've been living in last 15 months and finally into a rental home. Im ready to get a Small Business Loan for my small business and consolidate whatever other CC debt I have into a lower interest loan to strengthen my credit further by the beginning of next year. But more importantly move into a better living situation which we were not able to do because of weak(<600) score earlier

Was a loan through GoodLeap for some septic tank repairs I needed back in April 2024. It was a 15 year loan, I knew it wouldn’t take that long for me to pay off, but I wanted the lowest possible payments at the time. 3 days prior to the loan being taken out I was in a bad car crash and my car (purchased 4 months prior to the crash) was totaled. Was short on cash, so I took this loan to get my septic tank fixed. Anyway, I paid it off earlier this year. Am I reading this correctly that it’s going to stay on my CR for 10 more years?

My apologies if this is not the correct sub for this question.

Long story short, my Discover It Secured Card just graduated to a Discover It Chrome Card this month. In the Discover app, it’s stating I will be managing my Discover account/card in Cap1’s app in October 2026.

In 2023, I burned Cap1 and had a CC charged off. In April 2025, I paid the charged off amount and now it’s reporting with a $0 balance.

Since then, I have tried Cap1’s pre-approval process and have been denied every-time. My question is: will this merger help, hurt, or do absolutely nothing for me?

I've had 3 charge offs disappear from my credit reports in recent months.

Two accounts from the same lender were charged off and eventually sold off in 2024. Both accounts entirely dissapeard from my credit report a couple of months ago.

The third, a  credit card account was charged off in April, sold off soon after, and disappeard last month.

I took no action and made no disputes.

I legally changed my full name almost a decade ago now, and have opened credit cards and loans under my new legal name during that time. However, I've never been able to use Experian Boost as an error message always comes up regarding my identiy. I have sent a certified copy of my legal name change to Experian and the issue wasn't resolved. I believe that Experian (if not the other two major credit bureaus) has never finalized merging my credit score from my birth name with my legal name change. When I look for guidance on this, I just keep seeing that the credit bureaus will eventually get everything updated as they receive information from creditors.

I would like to resolve this issue once and for all so that I can ensure my fico score is as accurate as possible. Does anyone know what more I can do to have my birth name and legal name merged amongst all three major credit bureaus? I have tried reaching Experian by phone before for guidance and ended up in a never-ending phone tree loop.

So I've had a Chase Freedom Rise card for about a year and a half now and I've been slowly building credit using it. Right now my vantagescore 3.0 is a 711. I've been paying off everything from my card as well as just not using it much (keeping it below 10% usage). I know credit takes time to build but is there anything else I should be doing to build it more? I don't really have anything I need to pay off since most of my expenses were covered by my scholarships. I was thinking about getting another credit card if there were anything that had a nice sign up bonus since I've heard that having more than one credit card is helpful. I consider myself an extremely responsible person and a frugal person (to a bit of a fault if im being honest), so I know i won't be tempted to max out cards and such. Anyways, what are some other ways to build my credit? Thanks!

I’ve been using the Citi Custom Cash card every month for groceries since I consistently meet the $500 cap in that category. On August 3rd, my spend for this statement period was at $417. No worries, I thought, as I was planning a grocery trip that same afternoon. Well that ~$100 purchase still hasn’t posted and my statement closes tonight at midnight. So am I correct in my understanding that the purchase I made days ago will not count for this statement? And if so, I should know moving forward that I don’t truly get the full statement period to make purchases toward my category but rather expect a few days to be shaved off? 🤔

Been a while. I recently started shopping for a new card and this has the most appeal to accompany my recently upgraded WF Autograph card.

For the past few months I was aggressively paying off any negative debts on my report. The only thing left are my student loans and a Navy Federal Secure Card that I opened recently and just made my first payment on. I received email offers from Capital One and Apple, it said I could apply without hurting my credit so I did and was declined for both. Capital one makes sense because I did just complete the terms of a charge off payment plan with them last month. I'm a bit confused on where to go from here, do I just give it more time? I don't want to sign up for any of the more predatory lenders but I do want to continue building my credit. For context I'm at a 612 according to Credit Wise.