@Knickerbocker wrote:I'm a longtime lurker who's new to the boards and have come a long way since all my charge offs in 2008. I'll tell a bit of the story while trying to keep it brief or at least try.
My mother and grandmother were supporting a household and raising my siblings. They both became chronically ill (grandmother was just old, mom had major health issues most of her life) and passed away about one year apart. While they were sick, things just kept spiraling downward Money was tight and we lost the tenants in our guest house. The guest house was a major source of income, 1200 square feet in Los Angeles can bring in $1500 monthly in 2007. The problem was that the unit was in bad shape and we had trouble rental partly due to the recession. Although we had a very low mortgage payment, it became hard to make ends meet. If this wasn't tough enough, I became unemployed. Over an 18 month period, my revolving credit balances skyrocketed to around $60,000. I eventually defaulted on all the accounts, everything from a $25,000 CL Delta Gold AMEX to a $500 CL CapitolOne.
Over the next few years I ignored it all, there was nothing I could do and couldn't afford a bankruptcy lawyer that wasn't some fly-by-night vulture. SOL passed on all the accounts. Yes, somehow I fell through the cracks with a $17,000 CO balance on the AMEX. When I finally started doing research, I decided the best option was to wait the 7 years until it all falls off. I'm not being dishonest or trying to skip out of something that's owed. If I had cash to spare in 2008, I could have filed bankruptcy and it all would have gone away, essentially it's the same thing. I could be wrong but that's my opinion.
Today I have a few new cards all with perfect payment history and zero balances. I have a card loan that's been paid off and a current car loan with a low payment of $91. My partner and I hope to buy a home and adopt children in the next 5 years so I'm working hard to keep my credit moving in the right direction. On a side-note: His credit is absolutely perfect but the scores are not moving up, it's been very frustrating. Fico scores best friend is time, the game of credit is a marathon not a race.
My current accounts:
Union Bank personal line of credit opened in 2010 with a $500 CL.
Capitol One sock drawer opened in 2011 with CL of $200 with a current $500 CL.
Capitol One sock drawer opened in 2011 with CL of $300, just product change to Quicksilver yesterday with a $2350 CL
Target store card (sock drawer) opened in 2013 with a $200 CL
Barclay Rewards MC opened February 2014 with a $1300, called in a month later got the CL raised to $2000.
Discover it card opened May 2014 with a CL of $1500.
Santander auto loan of about $23,000 paid off 6 months in due to total loss.
Chase (Subaru) Auto Finance co-signed with my partner. Beginning balance in Dec/2013 of $29,000 is now down to around $6500. Payment modified to $91.
So there you go, that's me. Nice to meet you all.
Ok, welcome to the board and good luck in your endavours going forward 
@Knickerbocker wrote:I'm a longtime lurker who's new to the boards and have come a long way since all my charge offs in 2008. I'll tell a bit of the story while trying to keep it brief or at least try.
My mother and grandmother were supporting a household and raising my siblings. They both became chronically ill (grandmother was just old, mom had major health issues most of her life) and passed away about one year apart. While they were sick, things just kept spiraling downward Money was tight and we lost the tenants in our guest house. The guest house was a major source of income, 1200 square feet in Los Angeles can bring in $1500 monthly in 2007. The problem was that the unit was in bad shape and we had trouble rental partly due to the recession. Although we had a very low mortgage payment, it became hard to make ends meet. If this wasn't tough enough, I became unemployed. Over an 18 month period, my revolving credit balances skyrocketed to around $60,000. I eventually defaulted on all the accounts, everything from a $25,000 CL Delta Gold AMEX to a $500 CL CapitolOne.
Over the next few years I ignored it all, there was nothing I could do and couldn't afford a bankruptcy lawyer that wasn't some fly-by-night vulture. SOL passed on all the accounts. Yes, somehow I fell through the cracks with a $17,000 CO balance on the AMEX. When I finally started doing research, I decided the best option was to wait the 7 years until it all falls off. I'm not being dishonest or trying to skip out of something that's owed. If I had cash to spare in 2008, I could have filed bankruptcy and it all would have gone away, essentially it's the same thing. I could be wrong but that's my opinion.
Today I have a few new cards all with perfect payment history and zero balances. I have a card loan that's been paid off and a current car loan with a low payment of $91. My partner and I hope to buy a home and adopt children in the next 5 years so I'm working hard to keep my credit moving in the right direction. On a side-note: His credit is absolutely perfect but the scores are not moving up, it's been very frustrating.
My current accounts:
Union Bank personal line of credit opened in 2010 with a $500 CL.
Capitol One sock drawer opened in 2011 with CL of $200 with a current $500 CL.
Capitol One sock drawer opened in 2011 with CL of $300, just product change to Quicksilver yesterday with a $2350 CL
Target store card (sock drawer) opened in 2013 with a $200 CL
Barclay Rewards MC opened February 2014 with a $1300, called in a month later got the CL raised to $2000.
Discover it card opened May 2014 with a CL of $1500.
Santander auto loan of about $23,000 paid off 6 months in due to total loss.
Chase (Subaru) Auto Finance co-signed with my partner. Beginning balance in Dec/2013 of $29,000 is now down to around $6500. Payment modified to $91.
So there you go, that's me. Nice to meet you all.
Welcome! Glad to see you have some positive tradelines already, that's a plus when building your credit! Hope you find everything you need here. There will always be someone around on this board to answer questions if you ever have something.
