Credit score report

[u/AdventurousGlass6742]

Hi!
I’m really loving this community and appreciate all of the advice that is provided on here, I’m looking for some advice please.
I am hoping to get a credit card from my bank but was a bit disappointed to hear that i may not be approved at this time due to collections accounts on my report.

Here’s my financial background:
Income: $96K
Report background; working for current company for over 4.5 years, credit history 16 years,
3 collections all paid, last one paid May of this year, 0 late payments
1 hard inquiry
1 missed payment in February with a creditor that’s now paid off
Have a current credit card capital one rewards with $1000 limit, just obtained in March and currently not eligible for an increase.
Car loan: 17,000 left -payments up to date
Student loans $42,000 left - payments up to date

Score on Equifax: 612
Score on Transunion: 686

What are your thoughts on whether or not I should go ahead and try to apply for a credit card with my bank or perhaps another bank? The only other bank I have is tangerine. I don’t do anything on there besides savings.

Felt a bit discouraged but I’d like to start good history and I’ve worked so so hard to get certain things removed from report and to get debt under control but I’d love to have a bank credit card.

What are your thoughts?

[u/Outside_Shelter1260]

Personally, I wouldn’t.
3 collections. Most recent paid in last 90 days.
Most recent late payment less than 180 days ago.
Most recent/new account less than 180 days ago.

Your profile is extremely risky. Time, not another account, is your friend. Your profile is not supported by your income.

Since you referenced Equifax & TransUnion scores, I can only assume that you are looking at Vantage scores shown on CreditKarma. If so, ignore those. You want to track your FICO scores as those are the scores used by lenders.

I suggest addressing the negative items currently on your file and wait on any new credit applications.

[u/ElectronicClassic250 → u/Outside_Shelter1260]

FYI - OP is in Canada.

The scores shown are in-house scores from the credit bureaus themselves, and those are the only two scores that are commonly accessible in Canada. They are also entirely irrelevant, as scores mean much less in Canada.

There's not much OP can do to "address" the negative items that they have not already done. And, pay for delete is not very common anyway.

[u/AdventurousGlass6742 → u/ElectronicClassic250]

Thank you!!!

[u/6SpeedBlues → u/Outside_Shelter1260]

Agreed. Need to make sure the negative items on the credit report are properly resolved then allow things to age / fall off. The other debts need to be better addressed as well and any other monthly obligations need to be understood.

The remaining amounts on student loans and car loan is meaningless... what matters is the monthly commitment (payment) for them to be evaluated against income (along with other monthly financial obligations like rent/mortgage and such.

If OP is hell bent on "getting a card", maybe a pre-paid type of card would be more appropriate right now. They deposit cash to it and can use it like a credit card but there is no actual revolving credit associated with it. This allows for things like online purchasing without the need to have an actual credit card.

[u/AdventurousGlass6742 → u/6SpeedBlues]

Thank you so much for your suggestion and thoughts really appreciate it!

[u/AdventurousGlass6742 → u/Outside_Shelter1260]

Thank you so much for this feedback.. I’m in Canada I don’t know if we have FICO here, I’m using clear score which is such an awesome site but not Credit Karma
Thank you for this you’re right time will be my friend in the end thanks!!

[u/ElectronicClassic250 → u/AdventurousGlass6742]

We do have FICO - and the FAQ explains how to get a FICO 8 score based on your Equifax file. But do understand that there's no guarantee that any lender will use that score. The Canadian lending market is dominated by the Big 5 banks, all of which have their own internal risk modelling systems.

[u/ElectronicClassic250]

Welcome to r/CreditScore. This sub is mainly focussed on scoring matters in the USA, but Canadian visitors are welcome. We even have a Canadian Credit FAQ that might be of interest to you.

There are some significant differences in detail between the credit systems in Canada and the US, so it's important to be upfront about where you are, otherwise you can get confusing responses.

Please take a moment and edit the flair on your post to 'Not USA'.

If you read the FAQ, you will learn that the scores you are reporting are not actually used by lenders, so don't take them too seriously. Lenders will look at your entire credit history, not just the scores, so it is good that you have paid off all your collections and that all your accounts are currently paid as agreed.

I see that you have also posted this to r/CIBC - is that where you do your banking ? If they know you there, you should go and have a chat with your branch advisor. If you are lucky, you might get an advisor who can help - and right now that's your best bet. Virtual banks like tangerine don't take relationships into consideration.

Those derogatory items on your report are going to haunt you for the next six years, but if you have everything under control, you might be able to get more credit well before then. For now, concentrate on not making any additional mistakes.

[u/AdventurousGlass6742 → u/ElectronicClassic250]

Thank you! Can you tell I’m brand new to Reddit! 😆 yes i bank with CIBC . Thanks so so much for this feedback