AboveAverage

If you got declined for Discover, and I say this with all due respect, your credit sucks like no other. Before I got all responsible with my credit, I had a $1500 limit that I maxed out and did NOT pay back until a collection agency bought the delinquent account and and garnished my wages. This was about 15 years ago. In 2007 I rebuilt my credit to the point that I have a car loan, student loans, a mortgage, and $16500 in bank card credit (Visa, Mastercard and another Discover card). Discover took a chance on me, again and I now have a $4000 limit that is currently paid off. Once I pay off my $5k CC (between payments that are much more than the minimum AND a nice tax refund), I plan on asking Discover to DOUBLE my limit (so I can then ask my Mastercard to double theirs before I work on the Visa). I'm hoping Amex will hook me up with one of their cards, but it takes time...

You can definitely rebuild your credit and try again...start with a secured card or something. I did...get rid of your negative tradelines...I did. It takes work, but once you do, credit will come to you....even in this lending environment.

No, you only see the number of inquiries, but not what they were. You would need TrueCredit, or your actual TU credit report to tell you what your Hard Pulls were. Soft pulls (the INQs that don't affect your score) can only be seen through your credit report.

I qualified for 2 Prosper loans. One for $1500, the other for $6500. The $1500 got paid off when I got my refund back. The $6500, which I started a couple of months ago, will probably be paid back between 12-18 months. When I took the bigger loan, I was asked to provide a W-2 and I believe last two paychecks. I would think Lending Club does the same. I cannot get a LC loan (yet!)because my AAoA (average age of accounts) has to be three years. Prosper is a bit more lenient, though I would never be late or default. If anything, I have always paid extra and am over a month ahead. I have since my last post over $1000 invested and so far, I have 3 loans that have hit grace period or has been late (most likely due to holidays). I do have 41 separate notes so that's like 7 percent of my total that's in the iffy pile. Even if those three defaulted, I still see my principal and a little profit.

I would definitely recommend Sharebuilder for those who are INVESTING as opposed to trading. If you are like me and only want to invest $200 a month in 6 securities ($33.35 for one and $33.33 for the other 5...that's $200 flat) than, you sign up for the Standard plan, pay the $12 monthly program charge on your credit card (I did not know you could do that, in all honesty until I signed up for the automatic plan...that actually made a difference in deciding to invest) and then choose to invest on any Tuesday you want. (I have it on the last Tuesday, but it's completely up to you). You then get 6 trades and everything is on auto pilot. The cost of the trades amount to $2 per security. As opposed to the $4 with the basic plan. I would have been spending $24 instead of $12. Plus I have 5 free real time trades that I hope to use on a down day, or maybe sell a winner and buy a loser. By the end of of the year, I hope to have $1300-$1500 and then the following year have at minimum $2400 and at maximum $3000 invested yearly. Hopefully, I'll have a nice chunk of change in 2020 thanks to Sharebuilder. Overall, I HIGHLY recommend it if you are ready to invest in whatever you're comfortable with.

Here Here! Well said frugal. I love my Discover Card as well as my World Points Visa Signature from BOA (though that's only because I can use that to "float" a CC payment if I have difficulty PIFing in one month [I can do it in two months with no interest penalty... :D ). Interest is for suckers...even at 3.99%.

Low 500s and you are wondering why you won't get refinanced? Discover and Cap one raising their rates don't by itself lower your score. If you didn't pay so much as the minimum ON TIME (for whatever reason), then yes, I can see why you're in low 500s. Listen, I had my scores in the 500s and got the world's worst auto loan because I wanted a car AND improve my credit score. After a few months, I refinanced that loan to lower my loan amount by $40 a month. I now hate my car (though it still runs like a champion) and if I can get rid of the negative equity, I can refinance into a more human rate. I went from a 555 to a 720 in three years thanks to my ON TIME payments to any creditor that reports to the bureaus. I disputed the negatives and have all of them gone except for 2 that are on EXPERIAN, but that's going away in August. Then a public record that goes away in 2014 but it shows paid so it's not as bad (though it's still bad). I suggest you do some homework on the internet and get cracking on raising your score and quit paying late on your bills. You are only hurting yourself.

I'm a lender with Lending Club. All of my loans are current except for one (and he is on a payment plan and assuming he doesn't pull scumbag moves, he will now pay back at a higher rate than the others, but I should get back at the least my principal). I am also a "high-risk" lender. I typically loan money to Ds and Es. My returns, currently are 15% (-minus 1% fees). I typically look for loans that people are trying to consolidate debt and no accumulate more. I was "high-risk" credit too, and now I'm "low-risk". My scores are in 700s because of efforts I made. I only have $500 invested, in case people are going to pull the scumbag move, but the quality of borrower is much higher than you will find at Prosper. Because my credit is "thin", I could only borrow from Prosper...put it that way. Lending Club does not play. I do advise that you do not use the portfolio service and actually read the listings you want to invest in, so you get a feel for who you're lending to. Bad apples still get through LC, just not as much.

I have used upromise since 9/7/2009 and already I have $6.84. I have 3 dollars more coming to me because I installed turbosaver PLUS I have another .25 coming because I have always bought Exxon gas. I also use Discover and have used my Discover card for the 5% cash back as well. So I would have gotten 5% plus 1% to my upromise account. Starting in October, I get the 5% for groceries. I will try to get nothing but upromise products, regardless of cost, if I need it. I would get the credit card as well, but unfortunately I already have had a BOA card for over a year and a half and I am NOT closing it and risk losing my limit just so I can switch. I can't afford to do that to my credit score. But upromise is good for storing loose change you wouldn't have normally gotten. I like it and do use it.

I used to pay EVERY bill with online bill pay. Of course, this was before I got credit cards with rewards. Now I primarily pay my CCs (since I get rewards), auto loan and mortgage with BOA Bill Pay. Because my mortgage is BOA, I can pay same day (business day), just like a BOA CC. BOA Bill Pay definitely gets thumbs up. Shame I can't get the $25...lol

I rarely view my account from a public computer and "knock on wood" have not been "victimized". I use strong password techniques and it would be difficult to "guess" my password.

Yahoo, as I said, is just so much more convenient.

I purposely don't use my Cablevision e-mail. Yahoo is just a million and one times more convenient than anything else. I may not use cable forever, perhaps it will be FIOS, but I still won't use the provider's e-mail. Yahoo just makes more sense, as it is with you for life. Having said that, the study is "interesting", but I would hope that creditors would never hold email domains as "gospel". I have a 677 CK score and a 703 Fico (both Transunion). I am a proud Yahoo user. :-)