WOW!!! Congrats Razeus, Having one of those cards is still a dream to me lol. Hopefully one day soon I will have my score high enough to apply for one and achieve that reward! I am in the middle (towards the end) of repairing and building my credit, since you have pretty much 'been there and done that' do you have any tips or hints that worked in your favor that you would like to share? 
@Anonymous wrote:WOW!!! Congrats Razeus, Having one of those cards is still a dream to me lol. Hopefully one day soon I will have my score high enough to apply for one and achieve that reward! I am in the middle (towards the end) of repairing and building my credit, since you have pretty much 'been there and done that' do you have any tips or hints that worked in your favor that you would like to share?
Tip #1 If you see a problem, deal with the problem head on - it's not going to go away simply because you ignore it. Call somebody, make arrangements, ask a family member for help. Whatever you do, just deal with it like a man (or woman). You're not special. That's how collections and late payments get on your report and kill your score.
Tip #2 Cash is king. Be all over your finances. Budget to the penny. Know how much cash you have left after paying the bills. Have 3 months of cash on hand in savings at the minimum. Have 1/2 months cash available in your checking/bill paying account at all times. This helps when due dates get "off" due to the number of days in a month changing and number of days it takes your bank to due a bill payment. For example, car payments and auto insurance, and now my mortgage are automated by a 2nd checking account. I don't have to worry about those bills, plus I have a bit of extra cash in the account that build up over the year, so at the end of the year, I can make an extra payment or apply it to student loan debt, or just flat out spend it.
Tip #3 Know your due dates. Use Google Calendar, iCal, whatever. All your car/student/mortgage loans, pay one day before. Know your credit card statement close dates AND due dates. Pay them 2x a month, one day BEFORE each date (that way if you "miss" paying, you have an extra day to get the payment in).
Tip #4 Never carry a balance for CC. If you need to (ie high dollar purchase that you NEED), make it a point to get it paid off over a period of months IF you have a 0% interest card. Use your cash savings for "emergencies". Just work with whatever your situation is. The point is don't carry a balance for more than a few months, especially if you're getting hit with interest.
Tip #5 Don't over spend. Think twice before you buy something you THINK you need. Just because you have $100k of credit available, doesn't mean you need to spend it. Just because you have $1k cash left over, doesn't mean you have to spend it. Credit is just a tool. Remember, credit cards are designed to get you to spend more (ie rewards/cash back/miles/etc). Don't spend more just because your getting rewards. Remember, it's YOU that's in control. Credit cards aren't to be use to upgrade your lifestyle, only to enhance.
Life is SO much easier when your credit is good. This is a fact. It's really easy to tank your score, but it's SOOOO hard to get it back up.
Razeus! this is fantastic info 
It would seem like common sense but really when I was in my 20s i blazed through credit without a care in the world. Running up limits, taking on cards just because I could, and it was SO easy back then. I remember my first citi card for students. Sometimes I paid, sometimes I didn't. But now, lessons are learned. I am nearly nuerotic about paying my bills early or due date. I am officially a myfico junkie breathing in everything myfico. Reading until the wee hours of the night trying to wean information that may apply to my situation or upcoming situation. Willing my scores in the 700s across the board lol! I am still trying to get the statement cut date thing down but in general my CR looks like a responsible adult lives there (mostly in part to this forum!). I think I will def open a bill paying account versus paying everything out of one bucket.
Thanks for the AWESOME tips!!!
"hahaha special plastic. Each card gets that made must be "hand glittered"!"
@beautybrainsbooty wrote:Razeus! this is fantastic info
Thanks for the AWESOME tips!!!
I did the same in my twenty's. I'm sure I had years where I had good credit and didn't realize it because I've had so many bad ones. I didn't really care about my personal finances that much. I mean I paid my bills, but not always on time. I'm now 35 and JUST now taking my finances seriously. I guess I'm becoming my father now, lol.
How coud I be fully employed for the last 12 years, making enough to cover my bills and then some and have bad credit? That's the question I asked myself last year when my scores where sub-500. It was time to get my act together. It got so bad that I didn't even bother applying for credit cards because I knew I'd get denied. So
1) I called all my student loans, paid whatever I needed to get current, applied for income base payments
2) pulled my credit reports for free, cleaned up my collections (2 of them from my ex-wife skipping out on services by using my name, 1 of them my own fault because I didn't man up and take care of the situation before it hit my collections; cleaned up any discrenpencies (ie accounts that should have been removed from the last few times I tried to "go straight"); attempted to GW the student loans but no love from those guys (yet)
3) established a savings account that was for real, not just for dipping into for mere materialistic whims
4) made sure all bills were paid on time
5) took my utilzation on my cards from 85% to 0% and kept it there for over a year now
Now my next steps:
1) Get better cards with higher limits
2) Accelerate my car payment that ends 12/2013 to have it paid off my 06/2013. Then use 1/2 the money to accelerate student loans and the other 1/2 to save 12 months worth of expenses
3) Accelerate my student loan pay off. I've got $80k to work through (I have an MBA). I may take a part time job and put all that money to it. It should take me 4 years tops if I go that route.
4) Buy a car properly. Meaning 20% cash down payment, no rolling over another loan like I've been doing my whole life.
4) Get better cards with higher limits
5) Get the mortgage paid off quickly.
6) Get better cards with higher limits.
Unfortunately, it won't be until September 2018 when my reports show a nice clean 7 year history. 6 more to go.
yeah I think at some point you grow up into your parents!
I actually got denied a few months ago for a basic womens store card through WFNNB. I was like ummmmm, why? I make a wonderful living, I'm paying my car note on time. So what gives? It wasn't until I got here until that I realized I had a serious problem. Honestly, though it didn't take much to clean up my report I had a couple of baddies (one still reporting) and no active CC or revolving besides my auto loan. A few closed but paid on time CCs reporting...soooo I took to it. Within a few weeks I had a prime card, a store card and an installment loan. And my scores have gone up like a rocket. Of course, Ive messed up too-let a balance report because of cut off dates but its all about learning. You know it really is about patience and getting in charge of YOUR MONEY and your life. I am always interested in following people who have made it through the fire and now have a bunch of very sexy, high CL cards in there pocket. I wanna be like that! 
myfico has really made this dream a very forseeable reality.
