Bear with me y'all, this is my first post.
My story is a long one, and sounds more like a satire with a happy ending or a Lifetime Original than something that could actually happen, but it did! I will again say, this is a LONG story, but it's important to get to the roots and growth of situation to fully comprehend the progress made. If you have the patience, please read through to the end... If not, you can scan or skip to the bottom. I am exposing all with my ridiculous reality.
I started out young, way too young! At 15 I was married and pregnant... BAM! Emancipated minor. I don't really know how, but I ruined my credit instantly. I couldn't get a credit card, or a lease, or a pager (to really date myself), or even a home phone in my own name, it all had to be in my then husband's name. Well, everything except the electric bill apparently (I found out this week). Dropped out of school for a couple of years, went back to school, had a full time job, graduated only 6 months behind the rest of my original class and...
Joined the military! Of course I was excited to finally be an "adult" and spreading my wings a bit, so I went and got a credit card, and a car, and an apartment, and a cell phone, and whatever else a "grown up" has. I was bound and determined to prove to myself that I could be independent so that I could free myself of an abusive relationship. In the blink of an eye, it all went up in flames... LITERALLY! My apartment caught on fire and we lost everything except the most important things: our lives! We moved into base housing and a few months later received a settlement for our losses. Are you ready for it? Here it begins... We blew all of it on frivilous nonsense instead of paying off the car or credit card or the wedding ring I bought me. I had plans and every intention of paying everything off and leaving my relationship, but due to a heartbreaking series of events, I stayed and continued to allow him to control, manipulate, and abuse me (and our daughter) for another two years. Add another child in the mix. There it went! My credit: out the window. The car: repossessed. The card: collections. The ring: incinerated and unpaid. Every penny I earned, he spent. (Backing up just a second, he was unemployed due to a knee injury; unemployed for over 2 years because of laziness.) He spent the money on beer, cigarettes, and video games, with just barely enough to cover the household necessities and things our children needed. I was sinking into a very dark hole of debt and quickly. He took everything; every chance I had at recovering from the financial crisis I had unknowingly allowed to occur (I was still just a teenager). Finally I had enough! Never thought about what the past 6 years in the marriage had done to my credit.
My career was already ruined because of my personal life. My finances and life at home led to my squadron getting involved, which led to serious repremand and threats of discharge, which led to medical problems, and so on, and so on. Somewhere in there I filed for divorce and started seeing someone else. I requested a medical discharge (it was granted). Divorce finalized, and 5 days later I remarried. Twenty-one and very dumb! Didn't expect him to be kicked out only a month after my discharge was final and AFTER we had already bought a car. Now we were both unemployed, and decided to move back to Florida where he was raised and his family resided, clear across the country from my family. He had a hard time finding work, so I got a job and supported our family of four... no, make that five! Another baby on the way! Car gets repo'd, and I'm put on bedrest because of complications early in the pregnancy, which resulted in my termination of employment. Back to square one. Both of us unemployed, living with his mother, baby on the way, and no car. A few months later, he's found work, and things begin to fall into place. We bought a crappy 2-door car that broke down regularly (thank goodness his brother in-law was a tow truck driver), and we were approved for HUD subsidized housing. Back on track, but still in debt. He looses his job. Hurricane. Car breaks... a couple of months later, so does my water. Mid-fall and we have a newborn, a toddler, and a 1st grader. Hurricane. Christmas shopping for the littles, and paying for the presents at the Target check out register and "Congradulations, you've been pre-selected for a Target credit card! Would you like to save 5% today by using your card to pay for your purchase?" Like a dummy: "Yeah! Sure!" A few weeks later, a wonderful Christian charity donated a minivan to our family (yes, it was an old crappy one, but it ran) and that same week my husband found a new job! Wow! Life was really going to turn around for us... Not so much! Two months later... Lost the kids, lost the apartment, husband went to jail, lost his job, bought a tent! We had a van, and a tent. That's it! Fast forward a few months... We both got really great jobs! Credit card was more than 120 days past due, but we had priorities. We had to save up to rent a new house, closer to our jobs, and we were approved. A week before move-in: lost my job and the next day a hurricane. Move in. Get kids back. Husband adopts older two kids. Stay at home mommy (who can afford childcare for 3 small kids?). Marriage beginning to deteriorate, for reasons still unknown. And... I'm pregnant! Here we go again, but now the finances are much more stable. But still we are relatively irresponsible with the finances, but we were able to get a second (crappy) car. During the pregnancy our marriage turned upside down. I tried as hard as I possibly could to get to the bottom of things so that we could repair the cracks in the foundation of our relationship, but to no avail. He was lying, and cheating, and drinking, and who knows what else. Still I stayed, for as long as I could, but the damage was irreversible and I left. Still never thought about my credit. I figured it was completely ruined from day one, so who cares? Not like there was anything I could do at that point to fix it.
I took the kids in the van and headed back home to California... breaking down many many times along the way, BUT we made it! I filed for disability for my medical problems I had been having since I was in the military and immediately went to college. I was going to make something of myself and my life and I was going to show my children the meaning of independence and perserverence and the rewards that follow. Somewhere in the first semester I found an apartment, bought a new(er) truck, and was getting stable on my own two feet. School was going fantastic! One semester away from graduating with three associates, I realized I HATED business and wanted to change my major. Before the next semester, I had some medical problems, and back to square one: living with my mother, with my four children, and no income aside from government aid (nope, no child support whatsoever). Recover. Back to school, new major, new condo lease, old flame, and here we go again... Baby number 5!!! What in the world?!?! Finished the semester. Moved back in with mom, had the baby, waited a semester, went back to school, and got an apartment. Shortly thereafter I became involved with a man I had been friends with for over 4 years, who also came with a new baby in tow. Never saw what was to come. The most abusive relationship I could have imagined. He became very deep into drugs and was very controlling and I was scared. I couldn't go to school, I couldn't leave the house, I couldn't talk to my neighbors, I wasn't even allowed to go grocery shopping. He convinced me to sign my truck over to him. I couldn't leave him, he'd kill me and possibly my kids too. I ended up getting a notice to vacate based on his behavior as well as complaints from other tenants. We were in the process of moving and had put everything into a storage unit. He was arrested, the truck was impounded. He was in jail for 2 or 3 days, came home for a night, then the next morning took his daughter and left without a word. I checked my bank accounts, and food stamp balance... NOTHING!!! He drained them all. There I was: no vehicle, no home, no money. All my bills were unpaid, and I didn't foresee when I would be able to make any sort of payment. Bye bye chance at credit for the rest of my life.
Life was okay for what it was. Then I got the worst phone call of my life!!! My mother had breast cancer!!! My world came tumbling down and me with it. She quickly went to surgery just a couple of weeks later, and I was there to care for her every step of the way. We got good news... They were able to get all the cancer and she didn't have to undergo chemo or radiation, although it was recommended. Then another call! My grandmother passed away. My life was taking it's toll on me and I found myself in the hospital again. While in there I had some horribly haneous acts committed against me. I could take absolutely no more. What to do? I prayed and prayed for an answer. A month later I received word that my disability was approved and I was to be awarded a partial lump sum of back due benefits. There it was... My out!
I immediately called my best friend of nearly 12 years and told him I was going to move to Texas so I could be out of my hell and closer to the support I needed, the ONLY person other than my mother to have NEVER given up or abandon me or my kids. The search for a place began... Then word came that I would be receiving my inheritance... Finally! My chance to be able to give my children some sort of a stable life. True, it wasn't much, but it was a start. It wouldn't be an easy life, or a comfortable life, but it would be stable. My best friend would drop everything whenever I would send him houses I might be interested in, just to go see them and tell me if they would be suitable for my family. Finally found the right one and flew down the next weekend to pay CASH for my little manufactured home in the country. Didn't have enough money for anything else, but we had a home. The first several months (in the dead of winter) were EXTREMELY difficult. Probably some of the hardest we had experienced up until then. But they were the best! Never before had I felt a sense of accomplishment! We struggled, but it was far better than where we were coming from. God bless my children for all they've been through. I still didn't care about my credit. I'd never have it, but then, why would I need it? I owned my house and could afford to survive, but nothing more. No way could I possibly afford more than what I had.
Through the overcoming of adversity and struggling through our new beginning, the relationship with my best friend was blooming into the most beautiful relationship. I never imagined the happiness that could be felt in just being with someone you loved whole-heartedly for many years and watch it develop. We were in a healthy relationship in which we were together just because we wanted to be. He didn't need me, and I didn't need him. We wanted, and we chose. A year down the road and he invited us to move in. Him? A bachelor, never married, never had kids, never a live-in girlfriend, never more than 6 month relationships. Alright, here's to another blind leap of faith. I sold the house... And wouldn't you know it? I had finally came to a settlement with the hospital. Financial stability! We paid off a lot of debt. and a few months later... the ring! So a little over a year ago I married my best friend, but we knew it would be time to move again soon. Ah, the military life! Time to buckle down and make sure we both have good credit.
Here's the point of the long drawn out background story:
Now we have to move on to the next base, and our new chapter... BUT... My credit isn't so hot. 
So here we are! Working diligently to improve my credit so that together, we can buy our first home. Already we have seen HUGE improvement thanks to his knowledge, research, and diligence, but we aren't there yet need to be within a couple of months. Wish us luck.