3 years ago when I joined this forum I had one Government Credit Card that did not report to my CR. I don't know exactly what my credit score was, but I had used cash and debit for ten years or so due to earlier problems handling credit. I let my wife handle all the finances since she was a stay at home mom. It was not pretty. Then I was in Iraq for 18 months 06-07 and things got worse.
I got home home and we got busy. Paid off debt and then decided I needed credit cards to have a better score, but would PIF each month. You see the scores and CL's in my siggy below. What it doesn't show is the $410K mortgage on our dream house that we closed on in June.
Even more bizarre is the fact that I am on the credentialing body for my profession. We defer folks with credit/finance problems (650 FICO and lower). Do you know who they are referred to? You guessed it, me! And I have helped several colleagues get 100+ point jumps thanks to what I have learned from this forum (plus the rebuilding forum, the mortgage forum, and the BK forum).
So, a great big THANK YOU from me and others whose lives you are touching through mentoring me.
Starting Score: TU 672 EQ 654 10/20/09
John,
I was expecting 3 months. But I was refering to my signature line.