I have been a stalker on these forums for about a month now and thought I would finally make a post. I will warn you it will be a little bit of a read. I figured my first post might as well tell the story of how I ended up finding these forums in the first place.
It all started back in late 2005. I was 18 years old and new to the credit world. Shortly before my 19th birthday, I found myself to be very lucky and won a $5,000 jackpot at a local casino (go me!). I was very excited and decided I was going to buy my first car with this money. I took $4000 to put down on a Ford Ranger I fell in love with and financed my very first truck (first time buyer) and was on my way to building my credit. Everything was great! 
I made all my payments on time and next thing you know I am applying for more credit and getting approved. This went on for about a year and a half and then everything started to fall apart. First personally, then professionally, and of course financially. With very limited income(on unemployment), the only thing I was able to continue to pay was my truck loan. Why? Well, I needed a car. I was out of a job and the last thing I needed was not having transportation for when I would actually start working again. I had about 8 accounts (all credit cards/store cards) eventually get charged off. I would LOVE to put all the blame on me losing my job but the truth is I didn't make any effort to pay the money even when I did start working. So I can't really use that as the sole excuse as to why I destroyed my credit and am now finding myself in this position. Truth is, back then, I was young, stupid, and invincible (or so I thought, at least). I didn;t understand the importance of credit and how it would affect me as I got older.
I have been paying for the decisions I made many years ago. About a year ago, I started paying more attention to my credit and overall spending (Savings). I have always earned what I consider to be a decent income. I am by no means rich but I have never struggled to pay the bills. The only thing that has approved me for car loans in the past 6.5 years has been my income. Last year my credit was in the low 500s. It may be embarassing to say but I just never really learned the proper way to deal with money. Or maybe it just was that I never cared to care about it. I have it, why not spend it? That sounds about right...
So here I am today. I have come a long way this past year...at least in my opinion. I have 2 credit cards (both $500 each) that have horrible interest rates which can be expected. On a positive note, one of them I have had for a little over 2 years now which I pay early on and leave no more than a $30 balance or so. The other one is almost a year old with the same regards as my other card. As far as auto loans go, I have never missed a payment on any of my auto loans since my very first truck. I bought a car about a year ago and hopefully with a few more months of positive credit history I will be able to refinance it. I have put a decent amount into my savings account - more than I ever have. Today I found out my Mom has agreed to add me to her Capital One account as an authorized user - CL $5,000 - open almost 4 years - no lates - 10% utilization. If I am not mistaken I have read that I will be able to inherit the payment history of this account, which if it is true, will help my AAoA, at least the positives. And those charge offs I mentioned earlier?? 1 is due to fall of this month, 5 more next month (including the collection accounts), one 10/14, and the last one 12/14. Although I may be a little embarassed of getting to this point, I am sure glad these are going to fall off and be behind me.
The only fico score I have checked has been my EQ and it is currently at a 597. Up quite a bit from where it was less than a year ago. My goal is to get up to 675 by the end of the year. With that being said, I do have a few questions...
1. Is it true that I will inherit the entire credit from CapOne - they did indeed ask for my social. If so, how long will it be until it starts reporting?
2. According to my report, the charge offs just show the month and year they are expected to be removed. IF everything reported is correct, at what time during the month should I expect this to happen, or is just random?
3. When my charge offs/associated collections do indeed fall off - should I expect a decent jump in my score, or will it be just a few points?
Thank you for taking the time to read my story (sorry for the long post). It is exciting for me to put this out there. I have read others stories and although they aren't completely the same as mine they have encouraged me to start here. These forums are full of knowledge especially for those like me who are trying to re build their credit so I thank everyone who contributes here. Maybe one day I will be able to do the same.
