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The TRIBUTE MASTERCARD has had the best feedback among the "bad credit" cards I've researched. You will get
socked with some heavy fees that get charged to the card up front but that may be the price you have to pay to restore your
credit. It will report to all three bureaus. Just get it, put it in a drawer and pay down the balance.
Leave, say, $15 on the balance to insure monthly reporting. The appearance of perfect payment coupled with a large
percentage of available credit will really work wonders on your credit score. Remember: creditors trust
people who have unused credit.
ORCHARD's CLASSIC MASTERCARD is simply the easiest, LEGITIMATE, unsecured card on the market. If you have a job
and just one existing credit line in good standing you will get this card. Fees total about $90 to get this card
with a minimum limit of $300 however you never want to get close to the limit. Remember: if your credit limit
is below 50% on a revolving credit line, it will improve your credit score...above 50% can hurt.
The NEW MILLENIUM PLATINUM MASTERCARD is a secured card with very reasonable fees and if your credit is shot this
might be the only place to start. You build up debt but have nothing to show for it. Think of it this
way: you can put $300 on account with this card and spend $300. However the less you have on account the better. It will
be reporting perfect payment to all 3 credit bureaus just as if it were true credit. Best case scenario
is don't spend anything and in 6 months after your credit has shot up you can request that they make these unsecured accounts
and get your money back.
The DISCOVER OPEN ROAD gas card is great because you pay zero fees and you get 5% on all gas purchases - with gas prices
these days it means $.15 -$.20 off a gallon and you don't get smacked with any fees. If you pay off the balance everymonth
this card will be paying you to use it but you need good credit. Once you have completed all four steps and your credit
scores have gone up this is the first place to go. Transfer all of the balances on the bad credit cards you took to
improve your credit but leave them open and your scores will seriously go through the roof because the bureaus will see all
kinds of unused credit lines. That's really the secret.
Don't get fooled, USA PLATINUM isn't a Mastercard and you won't want to try and pay for dinner out with it.
This is a $7500 credit line with a catalog service, much like Speigel's. Everything is overpriced so you don't want
to use it much. Buy your spouse a present and loose the card. This fat credit line will look great on your
credit report as long as most of it is unused. This is a last resort as you pay $149 right up front.
Now, lets roll up our sleeves and start slapping the Credit Bureaus around in Step Four Okay!?
A Cautionary Tale:
I get axed a lot why I don't do any hands on credit repair for clients anymore ( I used to do it all the
time). Here's reason # 387:
About two years ago Randy came to me in desparate need of a $700,000 refy. His credit was crap
but he had more excuses than Bayer has pills and I bought every one of them. I sent out dispute letters to all
of the bureaus at the expense of many hours labor and certified mail charges. Two months later I pull his
credit ready to bask in the glorious improvement he surely had experienced.
I can only guess that Randy was so sure of my efforts that he decided he could skip his mortgage the
whole time. Needless to say his scores dived through awful to the bottom of horrible. I now had
a client who couldn't get approved for a mortgage with Alan Greenspan as a co-signer.
Since then I have realized that the most important asset in credit repair is dedication and I can't
supply that...only you can. Don't be a Randy.
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