@Anonymous wrote:
Dear MarineVietVet
Sorry this is off topic but
How did you get to Perfect Credit Score?
Please share your secrets !!!
How many CCs do you have?
What is your top3 rules to better Credit?
It's been a long, bumpy journey. I applied for my first (car) loan over 40 years ago. The only thing I knew about credit back then was you borrowed money and paid it back. Since credit and debt management wasn't taught in schools I was totally in the dark about how very important good credit can be.
So over the years I became overextended in credit card debt; telling myself "I can catch up next month if I have to". That's a very dangerous strategy and I got caught up in it just like millions of others have.
I've had just about every derogatory possible on my reports at one time or another. Late payments, collections, charge offs, and finally a bankruptcy. Even after the BK I was mostly ignorant about what path to choose going forward but I did realize I could never have another late payment no matter what.
That was the beginning of my rehabilitation. This was long before I knew about GW's, DV's, PFD's etc. so all my negatives eventually aged off. Time can be a good friend when you are trying to recover.
About 10 years ago the light slowly began to come on. More and more financial information was available on the internet and I learned quite a bit. I was shocked to find out how many mistakes I'd made over the years that cost me lots of unnecessary expense.
Then in 2009 I found these forums and my education really began. At that time I believe my scores were about 710-720. Not too bad but I found out there were ways to increase them simply by properly managing monthly credit card debt and other techniques. The information was all right here; both in FICO information and reading literally thousands of posts to find out what seemed to work for other people.
Once my scores reached 760 or so I decided as a hobby to see just how high I could get my scores. Was it even possible to reach that elusive "850"? I wanted to find out for myself. Yet I was never obsessed about it. If it stopped being fun it wasn't worth it.
There aren't any real secrets though. I think education might be at the top of my list. No one will ever have all the answers but the more we know about this crazy credit thing the better off we'll be.
Self discipline and determination are important. There will be bumps along the way but stay focused on a goal.
Here are some common characteristics of FICO High Achievers.
I have six CC's with the youngest almost eight years old.
My oldest account was opened 26 years ago.
My AAoA is nine years.
I last applied for credit two years ago so no inquiries.
Utilization is 1%.
Personal:
