I wanted to share a bit about my rebuild story that hopefully will shed some light on the effect of student loan baddies and obtaining credit cards and auto loans. In 2011, I had 4 student loan tradelines that all had multiple lates. Many even had a few 120+ late notations. In the summer of 2011, I took finally took control and responsibility for the mistakes and worked hard to get the loans current. Only one loan was eligible for the rehab program, so I did that. The others I made additional payments until they were brought current and then started making the regular monthly payment, on-time, every month.
Despite completing the rehab program and having the default removed, the lates remained and my credit score only increased by about 30 points. I was literally stuck in the low 600s and the countless goodwill letters to Nelnet got me nowhere.
Despite the low score and remining lates on my report, I was able to rebuild fairly successfully. I did it the fairly typical way, started with secured cards, as those aged I applied for unsecured cards from Cap 1 and then edged my way into better lenders like AMEX and Chase. Despite the growth of positive history and positive tradelines my score barely moved. I hovered around 660 for years. What I wanted to share was that EVERY card in my signature below was obtained while my score was between 650 and 680. I got prime cards with decent limits despite 20+ lates showing. I also financed a new car through Chase with a 2.39% APR for 60 months in December 2013.
I know my scores will never be stellar until the lates finally start to fall off, but I'm thankful that lenders started to give me a chance despite my relatively low score.
Chase CSR 22,000 | Chase Freedom Unlimited 13,000 | Chase CSP 10,000| USAA Cash Back $7,000 | AA Silver Aviator Card $10,000 | AMEX Everyday $9,000 | Chase Freedom $3,000 | Capital One Cash Rewards $4,000 | Discover IT $4500 | Nordstrom Store Card $2000
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