My Credit Is Fixed, Oppo! But I Need A New Credit Card.

"Kat Callahan" (kyosuke)
11/22/2015 at 00:23 • Filed to: None

GOOD NEWS, OPPO, after 9 years of slogging through the financial wasteland left after some horrid decisions involving credit card debt, car loans, and student loans, I finally have my credit back! And I need a better credit card.

I trashed my credit between 2006 and 2008 because of a series of factors—taking longer in school than I had intended, a significant period of unemployment, and terrified creditors who would not work with me. In 2007 and 2008, the financial system was melting, unemployment was rampant, and I spent 9 months doing essentially nothing before finally realising my future lay in Asia. That 9 months of dickering was costly, but the creditors really could have helped. They mostly didn’t.

I have no problem telling you that while I had no “good” creditors, Bank of America was the best of them, because at least they let me pay up without dinging my credit, but I had to go hat in hand to friends and family to raise the money. BoA would not work with me on a credit plan. It was all or nothing, just that the all would mean a positive report, rather than a negative.

In the short run having my only major revolving credit line go into overdraft and get shutdown was bad. In the longer run, this has actually helped me, because apparently Bank of America continues to refresh the information, and now it counts as an 11 year old “positive” history (since it was not reported as negative).

Who was the worst? This may surprise you, but it was USAA, with whom I had my car loan and my student loan on account of my connection to the Navy. They talk a good game about having your back, but they are an extremely conservative organisation, and they talk a good game based precisely on the belief that military records more often than not produce reliably consistent customers. But heaven help you if you need some time to get your life in order. Not only would they not work with me on any kind of minimum payment schemes, but they steadfastly refused to come to any positive agreement. Their representatives were actually nasty on the phone, telling me they would send people after me, that they “would get our money by any means necessary” that they would “ruin” my life, etc.

They finally did charge everything off, solidifying a major negative hit to my credit. After moving to Korea and then Japan, I continued to pay them for a BMW I wasn’t driving, even after the charge-off said I had defaulted on the loans entirely. I finally negotiated with them to pay them half of what I owed in a series of massive lump sums and sell the the BMW. That got them to go away, but of course, it didn’t affect the charge-offs. They refused to change it to “settled” or acknowledge in any way on my credit reports that they received a significant chunk of the owed money in a technically faster way than stipulated under the original loan agreements.

USAA will have your back as long as you don’t run into any issues, if you do, they absolutely will not work with you. At all. Go with Navy Federal instead. Even though I no longer have an active account with them, they’re still nice to me and understand my circumstances have changed and would work with me again based on present circumstances, not based on the past. Neither Bank of America nor USAA will ever work with me again, but that’s mutual. Especially in the case of USAA. If they changed their tune, I still would never give them my business.

So, I walked out of 2008 with a credit score of maybe 400-500. It was good that I had moved to Korea and then Japan (since credit scores are national, not international), and it was better to be in a position of no credit than ruined credit. However I still found that my ability to maintain my fiscal abilities in the U.S. were considerably hampered by my shitty credit history. By 2012, I had made it past 600, and I did some research on getting a card. I got a basic level Capital One card, the same one I still carry now, and was given a $300 limit on it. After about a year, that got bumped up to about $1000 and my credit score climbed a bit. Then it got bumped up to $2000. Now it’s being bumped up by rather small increments of like $100 there or $50 there, which isn’t particularly helpful, but okay, whatever.

Anyhow, now, as of November 21, my highest score is a 738 and my lowest score is a 702, up from across the board 600s just a month or so ago! WOOHOO. But it does go to show that it took me only about a year to destroy my credit and between 7 and 9 to restore it. Bottom line, don’t fuck up your credit .

That said, it’s time to try to get a new credit card, one with a decent limit, and decent airline rewards. AADVANTAGE is out because it’s a BoA product, and I don’t much like American. I’m not a big fan of United either. I love Delta, and so I’m seriously looking at the Delta SkyMiles Card, probably Gold. Platinum is a better card, but it requires Excellent credit, and I have Good/Very Good credit. I’ve also looked at the Starwood Preferred Guest card because it has 1:1 with most airlines, including Delta. I might be able to get the Capital One Ventures card since I am already a great Capital One customer, but it doesn’t seem to be as good of a ratio of miles to dollars as the SkyMiles would be directly. Biggest need for me on a day to day basis is no foreign transaction fees, because I don’t have a Japanese credit card.

Halp?

DISCUSSION (26)

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Kat Callahan
11/22/2015 at 00:39

Two words - credit union. Mine has been great to work with, and I couldn’t see myself going back to a conventional bank ever again.

Biggus Dickus (RevsBro) > Kat Callahan
11/22/2015 at 00:44

Centurion Card. Get with it.

Kat Callahan > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
11/22/2015 at 00:47

I switched to Sandia Area Federal Credit Union in ABQ, NM, but I don’t really like what they offer as far as credit cards .

Kat Callahan > Biggus Dickus (RevsBro)
11/22/2015 at 00:50

Hahahahahahaha. “The American Express Centurion Card , known informally as the Black Card , is an invitation-only charge card issued by American Express to platinum card holders after they meet certain criteria, while spending at least $21,000 a month. There are two different issues of the Centurion Card : personal and business.”

...Yeah, no.

Biggus Dickus (RevsBro) > Kat Callahan
11/22/2015 at 00:59

Fake it till you make it right?

orcim > Kat Callahan
11/22/2015 at 01:05

I think we all have interesting stories to tell if we aren’t following the path’s of others.

Me? I somehow managed to lose a boat load of money and used credit thinking it was gonna come back in 2001. Bad idea. Bad plan. Default judgements, etc. One card wrote me off, one got a court agreement for payment and the default judgement one settled for 9K on 23K of debt (tho I’m expecting a 1099 for that) 13 years later. Everything, and I mean everything, has been cash cards since then.

I’m in the high 600’s low 700’s now, too. But not because of “credit” history but because of slavishly paying the mortgage and ultimately clearing everything else. I still don’t have a credit card after 10 years.. I may never have one again because I don’t need it. But if something new comes up, I may need it and now, I could probably get one.

The whole thing sucked, tho.

Kat Callahan > orcim
11/22/2015 at 01:08

Unfortunately, I do need a credit card for a number of purposes, and I tend to use mine every day, even only for small amount here and there. I also require it for large purchases like airline tickets, and such. So it seems like I really ought to have something providing me better rewards.

Kat Callahan > Biggus Dickus (RevsBro)
11/22/2015 at 01:10

The number of people able to get this card must be a very small group indeed. I’m certainly not one of them, as that’s ten times what I spend.

GeorgeyBoy > Kat Callahan
11/22/2015 at 01:15

Can’t offer much advice on a card, but glad to hear you are back on track.

I’m a credit analyst and have seen some pretty crazy credit reports. It’s nice to hear stories like this, helps me to better understand.

Kat Callahan > GeorgeyBoy
11/22/2015 at 01:18

I think sometimes it can be difficult to explain to future creditors that sometimes, yeah, past creditors really are dicks. If BoA or especially USAA had given me more time leeway, they could have seen their way to salvaged relationships and therefore more profits in the long term. Instead, they refused to work with me based on a 1 year of awful, and maybe 2-3 years total of financial struggle. That’s a tiny dip in a person’s life, and it shows my creditors panicked without adequate reason.

AddictedToM3s - Drives a GC > Biggus Dickus (RevsBro)
11/22/2015 at 01:26

Psh, it’s all about the palladium card now-a-days.

GeorgeyBoy > Kat Callahan
11/22/2015 at 01:29

Exactly. I do my best not to overly rely on the score.

pip bip - choose Corrour > Kat Callahan
11/22/2015 at 01:58

side note Kat, what happened to Jalopnik East?

or were you made redundant?

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > Kat Callahan
11/22/2015 at 02:15

Hey I haven’t seen any of your work on jalopnik or Roygbiv for a long while...

Kat Callahan > pip bip - choose Corrour
11/22/2015 at 03:37

Nothing happened! I’m still around. It’s just we shifted focus to me producing a few really good features rather than shorter semi-daily, and frankly, not as good pieces.

Kat Callahan > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
11/22/2015 at 03:38

I posted something to The Garage not too long ago. I’m still around.

pip bip - choose Corrour > Kat Callahan
11/22/2015 at 03:39

thank you.

NotUnlessRoundIsFunny > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
11/22/2015 at 04:14

Indeed! Multiple stars if I could.

boxrocket > Kat Callahan
11/22/2015 at 15:42

Credit Union debit card to get used to not handling cash while staying within your limits, then get a credit card from the same credit union to build good history, then the offers from the better cards will start coming to you rather than the other way around.

Kat Callahan > boxrocket
11/22/2015 at 17:21

I think you missed where I mentioned I already had credit card with like a $2500 limit, and I never max it out.

I think I get offers all the time. They just go to my New Mexico address, so I don’t see them in Japan. I think I have a standing policy with my parents that they just destroy the offers.

Rykros the Disdainful - Supposed Petulant Capitulant Junkie > Kat Callahan
11/25/2015 at 00:21

Jeezus, Kat, I have so many parallel experiences to what you wrote, I can’t even. So, I’ll just keep it short and sweet.

My parents practically fucking worshipped USAA. Until they fucked my brother over, but they figured “eh it’s his fault”. Then my dad lost his job, and wasn’t working for a year, and they dropped my parents like a bad habit. Every single service. Unceremoniously cut. But they swore up and down that they were great. Now they fuck around with my youngest sister’s car insurance, and at this point I’ve had about enough of them.

They nearly fucked me over with an accident claim years ago, and stopped shy of calling “fraud” on a legit claim, and then jacked my rates. So I left and never looked back.

They are bastards.

A bevy of bad decisions, and the Recession, and a shaky job history also fucked my credit history hard for over 10 years. In that time, I learned to live without it, then developed a disdain for it.

I kept a Capital One card, too. Used it. Made payments. Sometimes paid it off. Sometimes carried a couple months balance, then paid off. Barely made my credit budge.

My husband was faithful on a 2 year auto loan. Paid it off one payment early, and was consequently late on the last payment because of a job loss. Like barely 30 days late. Checked his credit report a few months after... in 2 years, it barely moved.

A faithfully paid auto loan, with one late payment, basically did nothing.

Yet at 22 years old, having only had a Best Buy card, and a low-balance credit card, with an auto loan that was paid off 8 months in due to someone totalling the car.... and no other credit history.... my credit was somehow over 750...

So at this point, I’ve just given up. No matter what I do, I can’t catch a break, and I’ve given up on giving a shit about it and pleasing the Experian Gods with some arcane method of obtaining that “Great High Score”.

My parents also, consequently, bank with Navy Federal. So far, no problems, and they’ve actually been helpful. In the meantime, I’ve been happy with my local credit unions, and they treat me well.

Flavien Vidal > Kat Callahan
11/30/2015 at 09:39

Despite being a permanent resident and having a job you can’t have a Japanese credit card? Or did you just happen to not want one?

I got one through my wife’s bank account. Not able to get one on my own for now... I went with a JAL gold card as I have to spend quite a bit for work and it doubles my mileage points.

Anyway, how are you doing? Back from the US already or still there? Are you Japanese yet? In France myself bringing back cars to Japan right now...

Cheers,

Flavien

Kat Callahan > Flavien Vidal
12/01/2015 at 06:46

Oh, I am sure I CAN especially since I have a legal Japanese name with legal kanji. I’m considering it, but I still want a good U.S. credit card. I have no idea how the Japanese credit system works, and since my legal Japanese name only went into effect in September, I am not entirely clear on how it’s tracked. I can tell you with certainty it hasn’t shown up on my U.S. credit reports yet! So I might want to wait, if I apply with my kanji now, there’s a possibility I may show up as having no credit history. I don’t know. At least with the U.S. credit reports and scores are linked by social security number, so they say that a name or address change isn’t considered a big deal, unless there have been many changes in a short period of time.

And no, I’m not Japanese yet, best case scenario, I still have to wait until Summer 2017. That’s always been in the case. Physical residency requirement and all that. I broke it when I went to grad school, gotta make it up.

Tom McParland > Kat Callahan
12/15/2015 at 11:41

I have the Cap One Venture...it rocks. Their customer service is great and I just keep the points piling up until it’s time to travel. The best part unlike those airline mile cards, is you just pay for whatever travel you want then use the points after the fact. Let’s say you have 80,000 points and your plane ticket only used 65,000 points, you can use the remaining 15,000 towards your hotel stay or any food you bought on the card while you traveled.

Kat Callahan > Tom McParland
12/15/2015 at 20:34

I don’t pre-qualify for the Venture, and while the Venture isn’t bad, it seems like in my research the Chase Sapphire Preferred is better. I did, however, get CapOne to update my current card to a cashback rewards type with a 4% lower APR, and I plan to push them for a credit limit increase next week.

Tom McParland > Kat Callahan
12/15/2015 at 20:50

I’ve heard good things about the Sapphire card as well.