@Hcontreras wrote:
@Shelly313 wrote:I'm not sure if there has been a forum on here discussing this, and if it has been a while. I thought though that this would be good for newcomers such as myself.
I had some problems in 09 and I didn't open or do anything until Nov 2012. I've been building for a year and half now slowly but surely. First with FP, then Credit One in July 2013. Then VS and Barclays in September 2013. After waiting 6 months I got a Discover card. I found that the "gardening" method has been helpful, and since rebuilding I haven't paid any interest as I PIF every month.
So, like my title says hpw long have you been rebuilding? Did you learn anything that could be helpful, have you found some good credit card companies that have worked with you. Did you have any Aprs lowered? Was it difficult to re-start.
like I said I thought it would be helpful to share our experiences as I am finding I am learning something new all the time on here.
Here's my posting on "general credit topics" earlier tonight:
I started my credit journey in June of 2013 with a score of 575 for EX. At the time I had 6 baddies (mostly medical bills) and no credit or positive trade lines to my name (Other than atty general showing positive and paid as agreed on my child support). Got my first secured credit card (Cap 1) in mid July, then added a few unsecured in Jan and Feb of 2014. as of right now I have a total of 8 credit cards, all in great standing with no lates and no more baddies on my report (all baddies were PFD). My currentl EX score is in my siggy.......
Well, guess what??? Yesterday, I was applied for a $30,000 auto loan for my dream car (Corvette Z06) through my credit union. When they pulled my score (They pulled EX only) yesterday, my score was 734. They approved me for $2,000 down and finance $28,000 at an interest rate of 2.74%!!! I was stunned!!!!!! They told me they required $2,000 down because of my "relatively short credit history". I have worked so hard to get to this point! I have to sincerely thank all of you for helping me get into position to own my dream car and make the right "moves" credit wise. I truly thought it would take me much longer to get myself in position to get approved for a $30,000 auto loan at this great of an interest rate!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!! For all of the advise and knowledge I've gained in the past few months! I couldn't have done it without all of you!
To all of you folks out there working to get your credit in order.....Stay DETERMINED and don't give up!!! It will pay off! I'm so excited and happy right now. When I got the news from my credit union, my eyes teared up with joy and I thanked them profusely!!!!
Congrats! And just in time for summer!!
18k
10k
7.6k
10k
10k
5k
5.6k
1.7k
2k
For me, it has been a surprisingly fast and positive experience! I was dreading it, especially since I am rebuilding for myself and my husband, but once I got started, it moved along so quickly. I began on 1/31/14- I can't really type everything out, but you are more than welcome to take a look at my rebuild log in my siggy below 
@lmfields84 wrote:For me, it has been a surprisingly fast and positive experience! I was dreading it, especially since I am rebuilding for myself and my husband, but once I got started, it moved along so quickly. I began on 1/31/14- I can't really type everything out, but you are more than welcome to take a look at my rebuild log in my siggy below
Glad to hear things are going fast and smoothly for you! By the end of the year I'm sure you will have achieved even more!
Started Gardening 4/3/2014
I've been at this since November 2012 when my student loans defaulted. 2011 was a banner year for "what can go wrong next": unemployement, no income, cancer, no insurance, high risk pregnancy on top of it all. Obviously my finances and credit fell off the proverbial cliff. I started in the 540s.3
I succesfully rehabbed my loans which is a 9 month process and now am on a comfortable Income Based Repayment (IBR) plan which I have just crossed the 12 month mark of on time payments. I am still stuck with the lates leading up to the default thoug which sucks but they aren't affecting scores as much, it's been a major pain to get them all reporting as paid, zero balance since my rehabbed loans are listed as two new TLs, but after a few attempts at disputing they are now reporting correctly.
Second order of business was to pay off two medical collections. Unfortunately I have not had any luck with a PFD or GW so they are still there but showing as paid. Then I focused on paying down my credit card balances which I just completed recently. The plan going forward is to use one that reports a 1-9% util and pay it in full before the due date. I was able to get a $250 CLI on my Cap1 card, denied a CLI last year on my Orchard Bank cards but now they are Cap1 I will try again in a few months, approved for a $500 Comenity store card and due to charging and paying in full the limit is now $660. My scores were 590-610 going into summer of 2013.
Unfortunately I had a judgment for medical bills that appeared in July 2013 which tanked my scores to 517. Ouch. In my state the court allows proper "service" through regular mail without verifying someone actually received the notice it's easy for creditors to get a judgment against you. Well, I had moved in May 2012 so there was no way that I received this notice and the post office screwed up the forwarding which only lasts 6 months in most cases. I have the funds to pay it so I am meeting with an attorney this week to see if I can't get the judgement vacated on the basis of lack of service and/or in exchange for full payment of the debt. The court here is generally amenable to vacating a judgment especially if you can show you did not live at the address the notice was mailed to at the time. So fingers crossed that I get this vacated as it will give me a bump.
Despite all this my Experian and Equifax are in the 620-640 range. Transunion is the kooky one in the bunch with a low of 579. It was 599 but I had a hard pull from a leasing company ate 20 points. I guess the point of the story is that it takes time, effort, and due dilligence on your part to start improving things. Your score will go up and down and the swings will make you crazy but the overall trajectory is upward and that's what counts.
Current Score: TU: 674 | EQ: 722 | EX: 717 | Last Inq. 2/16/15...Locked Up in The Garden
@kjel wrote:I've been at this since November 2012 when my student loans defaulted. 2011 was a banner year for "what can go wrong next": unemployement, no income, cancer, no insurance, high risk pregnancy on top of it all. Obviously my finances and credit fell off the proverbial cliff. I started in the 540s.3
I succesfully rehabbed my loans which is a 9 month process and now am on a comfortable Income Based Repayment (IBR) plan which I have just crossed the 12 month mark of on time payments. I am still stuck with the lates leading up to the default thoug which sucks but they aren't affecting scores as much, it's been a major pain to get them all reporting as paid, zero balance since my rehabbed loans are listed as two new TLs, but after a few attempts at disputing they are now reporting correctly.
Second order of business was to pay off two medical collections. Unfortunately I have not had any luck with a PFD or GW so they are still there but showing as paid. Then I focused on paying down my credit card balances which I just completed recently. The plan going forward is to use one that reports a 1-9% util and pay it in full before the due date. I was able to get a $250 CLI on my Cap1 card, denied a CLI last year on my Orchard Bank cards but now they are Cap1 I will try again in a few months, approved for a $500 Comenity store card and due to charging and paying in full the limit is now $660. My scores were 590-610 going into summer of 2013.
Unfortunately I had a judgment for medical bills that appeared in July 2013 which tanked my scores to 517. Ouch. In my state the court allows proper "service" through regular mail without verifying someone actually received the notice it's easy for creditors to get a judgment against you. Well, I had moved in May 2012 so there was no way that I received this notice and the post office screwed up the forwarding which only lasts 6 months in most cases. I have the funds to pay it so I am meeting with an attorney this week to see if I can't get the judgement vacated on the basis of lack of service and/or in exchange for full payment of the debt. The court here is generally amenable to vacating a judgment especially if you can show you did not live at the address the notice was mailed to at the time. So fingers crossed that I get this vacated as it will give me a bump.
Despite all this my Experian and Equifax are in the 620-640 range. Transunion is the kooky one in the bunch with a low of 579. It was 599 but I had a hard pull from a leasing company ate 20 points. I guess the point of the story is that it takes time, effort, and due dilligence on your part to start improving things. Your score will go up and down and the swings will make you crazy but the overall trajectory is upward and that's what counts.
Thank you for sharing your story! Best of luck with your credit journey. I found making small goals kept me from getting overwhelemed. Keep us posted with your progress!
I hit credit rock bottom in March 2013. I don't know my exact scores at the time but a lender pull by US Bank for my first secured card with them in May had my EX at 475. I had just lost my job and my apartment in California and had to move in with relatives near Seattle to take the only job offer I could muster. I had no open accounts, student loans were in serious danger of default, 7 open charge offs and too many collections to count (or I'd like to admit). Over the course of 2013, I focused on getting good TLs to report (two secured cards with US Bank and an installment loan from Fingerhut which led to a small revolver from them).
In 2014, I turned my focus to my CAs upon receipt of an annual bonus from work. I paid, fought or settled all but one of the 14 collections on my record (LVNV, but they roll off next October so it's not the end of the world if they choose to be intransigent). I'm not done yet: I still need to fix some lates on my student loans (rehabbed loans still reporting as in collection) and will be GWing the remaining CAs (remember that even if you get 99 negative responses to your GW, all it takes is one "yes"). As a result of my efforts, all my scores are above 550 now with 600+ a real possibility before summer once some of these payments post.
In addition, I just received my first unsecured card in years from my local CU that I do all my banking with. And the largest CL I've ever had: $1000. I'm not stopping there though. In June, I hope US Bank will graduate my secured card (by no means a done deal, from what I have heard they are pretty stringent). I also want to finance a car at a reasonable rate (sub-8%) and have begun saving for a down payment, hopefully closing on that loan in September or October once the new card has had a chance to report a few months of usage and I have established myself as trustworthy. I've done my best to follow the advice here of keeping UTL% low (one card <9% all others zero).
I have to remind myself daily that this is a marathon not a sprint and to pace myself; it takes years to build a solid credit profile but only a few seconds to destroy it (as I have so painfully learned). My ultimate goal is to reach the 700s in the next two years so I can get the best possible rate on a new home loan and I know the only thing that will make that happen is continuous, unrelenting monitoring of my report, not daily fretting over the ups and downs of my score.
None of this would be possible without the sound advice and encouragement of this forum. It really is cathartic to log in here and know I am not alone and can help others learn from my mistakes and overcome the same challenges I have faced. My only regret is not discovering this site sooner I hope that as time moves forward I can contribute as much to the users here as they have bestowed upon me.
I have been going the slow my roll approach. 3 years ago I got a call from a CA and went ahead and settled it thru payment plan. I got put on my GF's home depot card as AU and........ they don't report. I got a mailer from Merrick for the secured card and went on a 2 week binge of looking for the best secured cards. I finally pulled the trigger on Merrick.and bonus they started handing out Fico8 scores for paperless. I got another mailer from Jeff Cap for Fresh Start Program with them. I just finished paying them off in Dec and received my Emblem MC in Jan. That whole system is flawed but I still say go for it my review is under iand1234 on Credit Karma if you want the deets on what went down. I'm having problems with the Emblem MC as well but nothing that will hurt my score. I will probably SD the Emblem card pretty soon anyways. I plan on getting the Harley Davidson secured card from US Bank here soon. It can be like an extra savings account for me while I wait for it to graduate. Plus I bank there so it should be pretty simple process. I also have a loan from Springleaf. It's not great but it's what I could get so.... Other than that I still have the 2 paid CO's and 2 more CO's on my report for a total of 4. They should all fall off in 2016 and I'm in no hurry for anything. I just poke the CA's when there is a bug up my...... My score from Merrick started at 488 and was up to 598 till I got the Springleaf loan and it dropped 38 points. I only have the Fico8 score to go off of as I'm to cheap to pay for one until I really wanna know. It is growing and when the CO's fall off I plan on getting a used Sportster from a dealer. I'm going to app for the HD secured from US Bank card in October and then a Walmart Discover at the begining of next year. If I dont get the Discover one I wont get it. Once I have a year of good payments on the Sportster i'll app for a Discover IT. That should be the end of my journey. I don't need to have more credit than I can really use. I already have a 65k mortgage on a house, and I live way below my means. It is a slow process but.... I see progress so it is all good. I should be sitting in the 650 range by the end of the year and hopefully in the 700's when I go for Sportster. Keep plugging away it works. Just wanted to add I just did the shopping cart trick and was approved for Express Next card. no idea of CL.
Ok so here's my story. I began rebuilding in feb 2013. I had horrendous credit in the low 500's. Although I must say my overall debt was very low around $2000. I got an auto loan with astronomical 22% APR. BUT it was for a 6000$. Used vehicle that I new I could pay off rather quickly. Fast forward to a today. My scores are all mid to upper 600's. Paid on time and got a FP card(hate it but it helped) Now I have a discover IT card(secured 200$) Capitol one quicksilver 300$. Navy federal go rewards 1000$, Nave federal CLOC 500$. I now need to garden and await the day I reach the 700 credit score. I can't believe how fast it has happened. Layer this year I have the possibly of getting my dream car(Late model Mustang Gt). Thanks to all the wonderful information found online.
