In 2002, I found out my Business partner had been stealing from our Company.. He had disappeared with 3 years worth of our Tax returns, paperwork etc, because our Accountant had noticed some issues.
It turned out he had stolen more than $800,000 over a 3 year period. At the same time, the dotcom crash happened and a bunch of my customers went out of business owing me well over $400K.
I visited our Accountant and he then proceeded to tell me that as well as stealing from me, my business partner had lied on the Corporate tax returns and I owed $300k+ to the Feds and Franchise Tax board.
Needless to say, I was utterly devastated by this whole thing. It wiped me out and left me in so much debt and owing so much to the Tax authorities that I thought my life was over. I was in a deep depression for 18 months.
Slowly, I gained back some of my inner fire and started rebuilding my business... My credit scores were down in the low 500's at that point.. 530-540 on Experian, Transunion and Equifax.
Luckily, I still had one Credit card left that I had almost zero balance on that I had not maxed out and was still OK. I paid every bill on time, I paid my credit card before the due date every month. I opened a Bank Account and they gave me a credit card with a $300 limit. I used it a few times a month, but paid it off every month, except for a couple of months, but I was never late.
At that time, my credit was about 570+ I decide to try and buy a Car and explained my predicament to the finance guy at the dealership.. Miraculously, I got a loan (at 22%) on the Car for a 48 month period. I worked my ass off, saved my pennies and paid the Car off in 2 1/2 years. My credit scores went to the low 600's.
Having paid the Car off, I requested an increase in my credit card limits and got them... Still paying all my bills on time etc.
I also found an incorrect collections/paid on my Transunion credit report and challenged it. Once that was dealt with my scores went up to the high 680's.
A couple of years passed and I got a Gold Card offer from AMEX, which I took up. Scores went up to 711.
Today, my EQ/TR/EX scores are in the 765 range and my FICO is 745... I am aiming to get to 800 at some point... We shall see.
Looking back on the darkest days of my life, I could not possible have seen how well things have worked out for me today. I am so glad that I kept beating my head against the wall, because that's what got me here.. dogged persistence and downright stubbornness...
