On a positive note

[tinuviel]

Thanks for adding such a positive note on the board today; I do appreciate it.

[lg8302ch]

+1 Focused...

I came here in November, stumbled across searching something else....and found out what I had been doing wrong for many years and how reckless I was to never check my reports! Glad nothing on it which does not belong to me. My credit is still good with my app spree (almost recovered) but I love to garden now as I got all my dream cards except for one. Got even an "unplanned" one right at the beginning of my gardening. So it is good to have a goal and this keeps me from further apps and more for a hobby I try if I can achieve 800 scores...do not need it but it is my personal challenge. Like this SW is more interesting and my testing payments and reporting becomes educational.

thanks to all members here for the nice insights and the good advice

[FocusedAndDetermined]

You are most welcome, and thank you for all that you do.

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@tinuviel wrote:

Thanks for adding such a positive note on the board today; I do appreciate it.

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[hausfrau]

I didn't realize how wrong we were to completely avoid new credit, except for an auto loan, after we went on a "pay ALL the debts!" spree in '08, until I found these boards. I was chilled out, thinking that we we were doing the right thing by not obtaining credit. You should get some kind of reward for hiding from subprime card lenders while lick your wounds, IMO.

[webhopper]

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@hausfrau wrote:
I didn't realize how wrong we were to completely avoid new credit, except for an auto loan, after we went on a "pay ALL the debts!" spree in '08, until I found these boards. I was chilled out, thinking that we we were doing the right thing by not obtaining credit. You should get some kind of reward for hiding from subprime card lenders while lick your wounds, IMO.

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I dont think there is anything wrong with hiding from subprime lenders while you lick your wounds.

I certainly hid from them from 2006-2012

During this time I focused on rebuilding by paying old debts and calling creditors to ask for goodwill adjustments. In most cases they were happy to grant them, after I explained the situation (abusive ex - husband who charged up my cards without me knowing about it, but I was now divorced from and trying to do the right thing)

It helped that there was a few address changes in there, so that they could see that I really was telling the truth about the situation.

I was able to get a lot of negative reporting removed from 2006-2008 by calling them up and asking for some goodwill. (GW letters had not been invented by then).

In 2007 I talked to my Chase personal banker at my local branch because I knew that at some point I would want to buy a house and I wanted some advice on things to do to prepare myself.  He suggested opening up a CD, (his reasoning was that mortgage lenders like to see assets on deposit), and then taking out a loan on the CD (I immediately get my money back, and can re-establish payment history so that mortgage lenders can see that I can pay bills on time).  He also approved me for a Chase Freedom CC with a $200 limit.

So that gave me a Chase Freedom, and a Discover card that was rescued from my moms sock drawer in 2006 as I was re-establishing myself after split from ex husband

and I got a mortgage using FHA in April 2008.

I definately hid from sub primes... I eventually closed the Freedom because the limit wouldn't grow, I picked up a BB store card in 2009. Had to get a car in 2009 due to change in job.

So basically I rebuilt using a mortgage, secured loan, and a Chase Freedom CC. Eventually added a car loan through Volvo in 2009 which was refinanced with Chase in 2011. 2012 was when things really took off and now I've got baddies aging off, and consider my file to be prime.

Nothing wrong with avoid First premier or Credit One while you're rebuilding

[hausfrau]

We are SO blessed with our mortgage. An extremely close family friend wanted to pull his investments when the markets looked bad, and invest in real estate. Long story short, we ended up having a brand new house built, directly behind my best friends house, and a mortgage to the family friend at 0% interest. He had planned on building this home and renting it, but instead did a private sale with us. We will have our home paid off before our kids graduate, and don't have the mortgage debt taking up credit space.

[hausfrau]

If it weren't for this forum, I probably never would have heard of navy fed, and I've got huge hopes that they are going to be our rebuild ticket. So, thank you, EVERYONE just for helping everyone else out. Just someone here, not even talking directly to me, has given me real hope - not just a grudging acceptance that we will have to get reamed while rebuilding. You guys never know how much of a positive impact you can have on just a lost credit soul wandering the wild internet!

[frugalQ]

I agree there's nothing wrong with ducking sub-prime cc companies.

In 2009, after my DH lost his job in Dec 2008, we went into a downward financial spiral. It was during this time that I realized we didn't know squat about credit. We thought that since we were already homeowners, we were golden....NOT. We both had credit cards which were closed because we stuck our head in the sand of denial for the first 9 months of 2009.

When we finally came to reality in Q4 2009, we had a huge hole do dig out of. We decided to live on a cash only basis. We had 1 capital one credit card between the two if us which was maxed out. We mapped a cash only plan and stuck to it. (I didn't even know what FP and Credit One was). Our plan worked and we paid our debts in a matter of 6 months. We continued to live cash only because that was what we were comfortable with.

Fast forward to April 2012....DH and I were instantly approved for Amex Green, Discover More, Chase Freedom, and Cap One Green. We refi'd our house, and are now looking to buy our 2nd home in late 2013 or early 2014. We recently got the BCP and Hilton Surpass. I just paid my last cc balance, so all cards now show 0.

Had it not been for cash basis living and all of the knowledge gained from this forum, I shutter to think where we would be today!!

When I think about it, we still live on a modified cash basis...we just put everything on credit card and PIF each month.

[enharu]

thanks a lot to everyone too! i appreciate all the help

[hausfrau]

©frugalIQ, that's my goal for any new CC we get. Utilize them to build the credit, but not to spend money we don't have.

Unless the money we don't have goes to pay for the honeymoon I didn't get because we had to run to the JP before he deployed! I wouldn't mind paying a little apr to see Europe.