Credit Building Success Story - Ongoing

[Anonymous]

June 2014 Status

Fico - 521

Auto Loans - 1 (Since Jan 13)

Revolving - NONE

Derogatory Marks - 28 (across all 3 reports)

Judgements - 1 (Civil from 2012 - PAID 5/2014)

Defaulted Student Loans - PAID OFF Oct 13

February 2015 Status

FICO - 610

Auto Loans - (Since Jan 13, New Kia opened June 2014)

Revolving - 5 (Seen Below)

Derogatory Marks - 9 (across all 3 reports) - Currently challenging for removal

Judgements - 1 (Civil from 2012 - PAID 5/2014) - Currently challenging for removal

Defaulted Student Loans - PAID OFF Oct 13 - Removed from TU, Challenging other 2

So I opened a new auto loan with Kia in June 2014 for my wife. In October 2014, I decided to start taking control of my credit. I signed up with Lexington Law. They began the process and I also opened a secure capital one platinum MC for $500 in November 2014. I used it heavily and paid it off in full twice that month. In December, I applied for an unsecured capital one and was instantly approved for $500. I began using both heavily and paying off completely multiple times per month. Derogatories began falling off in November, December, & January. In January, I applied and was approved for Kohls ($300 - Instant online), Fingerhut ($500 - Instant online), Walmart ($300 - Instant online). I also called capital one and even though I only had the unsecured card for 1 month, I requested to be upgraded to the quicksilver and for a CLI. They upgraded me to the Quicksilver but declined the CLI. The CLI was declined because my account was only 1 month old and I was in the credit steps program. On 2/5/15, I called a backdoor number I found in the forums and spoke with someone in the Executive Offices. I explained to the woman that with my income $100k+ and how I use the cards constantly and pay them off in full as soon as they post to the account, it makes it difficult to have to manage that way. She understood and said she can submit a manual review and see what happens. She indicated that I would either get a decline letter or see an increase in my limit. Well I woke up this morning and my limit was increased from $500 to $2000. Although my score has fluctuated the last 30 days or so from applying and opening new accounts, it will continue to climb! I will be gardening for the remainder of 2015 and focusing on usage and payment history. I figured there are others who are probably in similar situations that could benefit from this info!

[Imperfectfuture]

No Lexington law. Why?

[Anonymous]

What do you mean No Lexington Law? I signed up with them.

[Imperfectfuture]

There is no lawyer nor paralegal associated with your account at Lexington law.

They will ruin your future chances of disputes, early exclusions with the CRA's due to filing too many frivolous disputes.

They charge for what you can do yourself for free. They will stretch is out for maximum dollars (two disputes per month on one report only).

You can use that money for PFD's, and to send out good will letters,

Often, what they do get deleted (they send repeated copy and paste complaints to the bbbs), will come back (just read in the PRA thread how this happened with one person, she doesn't recommend lexington law).

Worst decision you've made on credit repair. Read the warnings from the FTC against them,

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I was unaware of originally of Lexington's reputation fully. I actually called them last night and cancelled.

[gdale6]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Yeah, I was unaware of originally of Lexington's reputation fully. I actually called them last night and cancelled.

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Good job. and good luck in your credit journey

[Anonymous]

So I have an update on my status and some good information on some steps I have taken. This may help those who have similar situations. Since my original post last month, I have made some additional progress. I was looking on amazon for a computer for my son's new room I just built and I proceeded to checkout and pay and received a pop-up telling me I was pre-approved for an Amazon Store Card with no-interest financing options. I decided to give it a shot and I was instantly approved for $600.

In my original post I mentioned I called Capital One Executive Offices on 2/5 regarding my Quicksilver One card to attempt to get the $500 limit increased even though the account was not even 2 months old. They told me they would submit it and I would get a letter and/or see and increase in my limit. A few days later I logged into my account and noticed they increased it to $2000. Well fast forward to 3/24 and I decided to push my luck once again and try the executive office route for another increase. I called all of the numbers listed on the backdoor thread but never got through to them so I did some googling. I found this number which got my directly through: 800-955-1455. I spoke to a nice woman and we discussed how I use my card constantly and pay it off completely multiple times. (Ran up to my $2k limit twice in 6 weeks and paid off completely). I explained to her that it is my primary card and that I would like to use it for everything because of the cash back feature. She asked me the usual income questions and limit request. I requested $5k. Yesterday I was in NYC for a conference and when I got out at 1pm, I logged into my account and low a behold, my limit is now $5k. Talking to some people and reading through the forums on here, I can see it is very rare to progress from a $500 regular mastercard (opened 12/26/14) upgraded to a Quicksilver One within a month, then a CLI on 2/9/15 ($500 to $2k) then another CLI on 3/25/15 ($2k to $5k). For anyone looking for a way to grow and get ahead in the credit game, it can be done if you play the game right. Now mind you, I do make a good living and I use my cards everyday but pay them off in full either before the statement cuts or long before they are due.