My credit has hovered in the low 600's for over a year. At the end of last year I paid off my student loans and PIF/settled some other lingering miscellaneous debts and it didn't seem to budge. Then a 4+ year old AT&T bill went to collections and I got dinged again.
In June, I paid the AT&T bill, which was only $400 but gave me a 30 point boost on my credit score in July. That month I also followed CreditKarma's prompt to get a Capital One platinum card. I was pre-approved so I went for it and a couple weeks ago I saw that it had given me a 49 point boost on my credit.
I spent years living with zero credit cards, so I certainly don't need them to get by financially, but if the long game of boosting my credit will make life easier I figure it's time for me to acquiesce.
I got a "secure" card through my Bank of America account a few weeks ago, which I pre-paid $350. That hasn't yet shown up, so I don't know which way it will affect my score.
Yesterday I found two other cards [Credit One and Indigo] that I am pre-approved for, but they both have annual fees of $75/year. I don't like the idea of paying $150/year on cards I don't need, but I can't get approved for cards that have no fees and/or better perks until my score is higher.
Any advice in the best way to move from "needs work" 600-ish score to "Good" 700+ score would be amazing. Thanks.
TLDR: My credit score went up 50 points [630 - 680] going from 0 to 1 credit cards. Should I bite the bullet and pay the $75 annual fees for some more cards that I don't actually "need" financially to boost my credit?
Submitted August 12, 2017 at 11:55AM by GatsbyJunior http://ift.tt/2wSbE4I
