I know it's a marathon and not a sprint but here's what I did...

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

You're right if i opened the cap one cards back in November I would probably have a similar score or possibly better than what I have now.... Alas that wasn't an option at that time. No Monday quarterbacking lol. 

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LOL - thats how we learn. I've been stumbling and bumbling along for DECADES, not knowing (or really caring) how to manage credit at all. Heck, I got my first credit card when I was around 40. (I'm 52 now). Followed it up with about ten more junk cards (gotta luv those pre-approval offers), filed for BK7 when I got sued for a $5K doctor bill in 2007. Four years later I got another Cap One card, a year after that I got an Orchard card, which morphed into a Cap One card. Bumbled along for a couple more years with those maxed out until last In August when I bought my car (18.99%) and saw that my scores were all around 500! I finally decided to figure out how this credit BS works and my searches led me to this site. I've been reading every post since, soaking up as much knowledge as I can. I Paid off the Cap One cards in December and started putting ALL of my spending through them ($300 and $500 limits), making sure only one card reported a small balance. Three months later I got CLI's to $800/$1500, approved for a 1K Barclays card and I'm expecting another CLI any time now. My scores are as you see in my sig, up about 100 points since last summer.

My reports are a mess, with lates, collections, and four recent judgments. Its going to be another 6 years before I can have "excellent" credit and clean reports, but in the meantime I know I can get into "good" territory using the knowledge I've gained here reading 160,139 messages. A LOT of knowledge and wisdom is in those messages.

[Anonymous]

I didn't know what finger hut was until a few weeks ago. I'm no credit guru I'm just trying to accomplish something very specific, these forums are great tools. 

I didn't even know the shopping cart trick was a thing, until a few days ago. I'm constantly trying to learn new stuff. So I really welcome your challenging my points... It's just whenever I see even the slightest advantage I can use to get me ahead, I hammer it down, repeatedly.

I have a Victoria secret card for crying out loud hahaha. But I'm taking advantage of the SCT to create a positive trade line. Same thing with express! Just a means to an end. 

Again I know what I'm doing is on the extreme side... But I hate feeling like I didn't take advantage of a good opportunity. I've had poor credit all my adult life. Then I thought the best remedy was to just avoid credit altogether, which was probably the worst thing I couldve ever done! Just living off the grid because cash was "safe"... Silly me. 

I think I was scared of credit, legit. 

But I used to be scared of snakes too... Then I went to the pet store and picked one up, no more fear. 

I think of credit cards as snakes now, I can pick one up without anxiety. It's not like the snakes are less dangerous than they used to be, but I can finally trust MYSELF in how I behave in their presence. 

^ that was a gem lol

[securingourfuture]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

You're right if i opened the cap one cards back in November I would probably have a similar score or possibly better than what I have now.... Alas that wasn't an option at that time. No Monday quarterbacking lol. 

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LOL - thats how we learn. I've been stumbling and bumbling along for DECADES, not knowing (or really caring) how to manage credit at all. Heck, I got my first credit card when I was around 40. (I'm 52 now). Followed it up with about ten more junk cards (gotta luv those pre-approval offers), filed for BK7 when I got sued for a $5K doctor bill in 2007. Four years later I got another Cap One card, a year after that I got an Orchard card, which morphed into a Cap One card. Bumbled along for a couple more years with those maxed out until last In August when I bought my car (18.99%) and saw that my scores were all around 500! I finally decided to figure out how this credit BS works and my searches led me to this site. I've been reading every post since, soaking up as much knowledge as I can. I Paid off the Cap One cards in December and started putting ALL of my spending through them ($300 and $500 limits), making sure only one card reported a small balance. Three months later I got CLI's to $800/$1500, approved for a 1K Barclays card and I'm expecting another CLI any time now. My scores are as you see in my sig, up about 100 points since last summer.

My reports are a mess, with lates, collections, and four recent judgments. Its going to be another 6 years before I can have "excellent" credit and clean reports, but in the meantime I know I can get into "good" territory using the knowledge I've gained here reading 160,139 messages. A LOT of knowledge and wisdom is in those messages.

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Ahh yes. Your story is similar to mine. I'm 35. I got in trouble with all of the cc offers in 1997 when I was away at college. My parents told me about credit and finances, but more in a cash-rich way (pay your bills down no matter what, save 20%, etc.). But then came the real world of paltry salaries, temp jobs, and layoffs. There I was in BK7 in the winter of 2006 at the age of 26. I swore I would get it right from then on - my salary had risen and I was more mature (see less materialistic). But I still didn't know how to make credit work for me...and there was another layoff in 2010. At that point, I womaned up and said "screw it, I'm not going to make great money and not be able to finance a piece of gum". I was blessed with a severance on top of unemployment that ran concurrently, and had enough cash to call up collectors and make deals. I found myFICO and learned that I should hit up the nearest credit union for a secured loan. Then the goodwill letter and DV process got about 4 collectors off my reports and got 4 to report as paid and cease collection (and reporting). I disputed and corrected a bunch of errors, and opened up 2 capital one credit steps cards to go with my secured loan. By 2012, I had a paid auto loan with a bunch of lates I couldn't dispute and a newer loan with 3 years of perfect history, VS card, NY and Co card, an Express card, and 2 CU cards with $2K and $500 limits, and then I basically gardened...until March of 2015. That was when I came here and learned about utilization, how to get a paid tax lien withdrawn, and early exclusions. It helped that I was approaching 7 years since my last baddies. I had my first app spree, which added about $70,000 in credit to my file. I now know about AAofA, hard pulls, soft pulls, recons, auto luv, and luv buttons. Now my files are clear of liens and collections, my only lates are 30 days back in November 2013 and 30 days back in April 2009 (that auto loan ), and a BK7 set to fall off in February 2016.

Why am I sharing this? Well I'm happy as hell for one, but it shows that this credit thing is a process that can take years to perfect. We come here with different backgrounds, but the advice is solid. And no matter what, most of us have to play the game using similar, if not the same, strategies.

I applaud BrokerBiz for getting the ball rolling on his credit, but the advice from everyone else is tried and true. The beauty of this site is that there are no real credit naturals. We all came here because we hit a wall at some point. 

[Anonymous]

I don't think any on this platform would intentionally tell me the wrong thing. And I know your methods (which are sound and typical) will work, that's why I'm so bullish on my method. 

Again, I'm not trying to get "good cards" this is specifically to get my scores high enough for home loans. 

Perfect credit (whatever that is) is not my goal. I think everyone is coming from the viewpoint "you're going to want stronger cards down the line" .... Which may or may not be true, but it has nothing to do with what I'm trying to accomplish.  

Rebuilding is is quite a journey but you don't need a perfect score to finance a home or investment property. And your lender isn't going to care that you have a First Premier and not a big bank card.  

FICO scores are nothing but math formulae... Solving for X

[Anonymous]

Securingourfuture... I think we are all playing the game by the same rules, but we don't have the same goals. Thus, we have different strategies.

each of you that didn't like this particular strategy FIRST noted about how this looks for future credit lines, which says a lot about the tone of the forum here. Obviously that's on the forefront of the majority of people's minds here. Which is fine. But I'm just not that concerned about my credit score for that particular purpose.  My concerns are elsewhere. I don't think home purchases are an option if you have a BK, so if someone still has that on their file, you've probably trained your mind not to think about that. I never declared BK, so maybe there's the difference in our credit approach at this time. I needed more trade lines, on paper I only had 3 out of 10 accounts that had a perfect record. I solved that problem. Now I maintain and just pay on time, I think they call it gardening. 

IMO if you're involved in credit just to accumulate nice revolving CL, I think you're missing out on the big picture... The money picture. 

Im using my credit score to attain assets that appreciate. Bottom line. 

[securingourfuture]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Securingourfuture... I think we are all playing the game by the same rules, but we don't have the same goals. Thus, we have different strategies.

each of you that didn't like this particular strategy FIRST noted about how this looks for future credit lines, which says a lot about the tone of the forum here. Obviously that's on the forefront of the majority of people's minds here. Which is fine. But I'm just not that concerned about my credit score for that particular purpose.  My concerns are elsewhere. I don't think home purchases are an option if you have a BK, so if someone still has that on their file, you've probably trained your mind not to think about that. I never declared BK, so maybe there's the difference in our credit approach at this time. I needed more trade lines, on paper I only had 3 out of 10 accounts that had a perfect record. I solved that problem. Now I maintain and just pay on time, I think they call it gardening. 

IMO if you're involved in credit just to accumulate nice revolving CL, I think you're missing out on the big picture... The money picture. 

Im using my credit score to attain assets that appreciate. Bottom line. 

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Point taken. Please report back and let us know your progress. There may be others here with goals similar to yours. Best of luck to you!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I don't think any on this platform would intentionally tell me the wrong thing. And I know your methods (which are sound and typical) will work, that's why I'm so bullish on my method. 

Again, I'm not trying to get "good cards" this is specifically to get my scores high enough for home loans. 

Perfect credit (whatever that is) is not my goal. I think everyone is coming from the viewpoint "you're going to want stronger cards down the line" .... Which may or may not be true, but it has nothing to do with what I'm trying to accomplish.  

Rebuilding is is quite a journey but you don't need a perfect score to finance a home or investment property. And your lender isn't going to care that you have a First Premier and not a big bank card.  

FICO scores are nothing but math formulae... Solving for X

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True, but it is an extremely complex formula, the details of which are totally secret, and we know what little we know purely from deductive reasoning, and the official details released by Fair Isaac, the creators of FICO.

[Anonymous]

Well I put my scores on my first post to show progress. In the sense that every body credit profile is unique, I think credit rebuilding process is more of a sport. In the sense that everything is situational. 
We all know that at the end of the day you need to honor your debts and pay what you owe. But I wouldnt suggest someone pay a 6.5 yr old dormant collection acct. I think we all know that my scores will improve as long as I pay on time (all other things being constant or in their current state). 
But this will help find out "to what degree" will i see improvement, and in  "how short of a time frame."

I think the takeaway for those who want to take a less extreme approach, is to pay attention to the methods and mindset I used. 

1) aggressively attacking pay dates. that is a key part of my strategy which i stated in one of the earlier posts. I dont wait for the due dates to arrive, once a bill comes I pay the minimum that day no matter what. Then make small payments throughout the statement period. This leaves NO ROOM for error. 

2) getting as much soft pull credit as you can. 

3) Honestly these companies (subprime cc lenders) should be ashamed of themselves for the type of BS fees they have and the int rates they charge. TURNCOATS! they give you credit then want to put you in debt with the credit they gave you..... As deplorable as they are, theyre nice enough to send letters to each credit bureau every single month. Each month they have to tell the credit bureaus that I'm beating them at their own game, or at least exploiting the fact they have to report and I can hold them accountable for it. (thanks for financing my $7.95 monthly netflix bill, jerks!) hahaha. 

I would like to think thats NOT what they had in mind when they gave me a $300 credit line with a 36% apr. I project they'll probably make a hundred or so bucks off of me from the annual fees and small interest they accumulate over the course of a year. I'm ok with that in exchange for the other benefits. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Securingourfuture... I think we are all playing the game by the same rules, but we don't have the same goals. Thus, we have different strategies.

each of you that didn't like this particular strategy FIRST noted about how this looks for future credit lines, which says a lot about the tone of the forum here. Obviously that's on the forefront of the majority of people's minds here. Which is fine. But I'm just not that concerned about my credit score for that particular purpose.  My concerns are elsewhere. I don't think home purchases are an option if you have a BK, so if someone still has that on their file, you've probably trained your mind not to think about that. I never declared BK, so maybe there's the difference in our credit approach at this time. I needed more trade lines, on paper I only had 3 out of 10 accounts that had a perfect record. I solved that problem. Now I maintain and just pay on time, I think they call it gardening. 

IMO if you're involved in credit just to accumulate nice revolving CL, I think you're missing out on the big picture... The money picture. 

Im using my credit score to attain assets that appreciate. Bottom line. 

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A lot of people seem to feel that way, but it does not, in any way reflect reality. This forum is filled with people that have filed BK and subsequently purchased property 2-3 years later. Even real estate magnate Donald Trump has filed BK - several times.

FWIW, the main reason I'm rehabbing my credit is so I can purchase a home, not simply so I can have a bunch of "good credit cards". The good credit cards are a means to an end, not the goal.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I don't think any on this platform would intentionally tell me the wrong thing. And I know your methods (which are sound and typical) will work, that's why I'm so bullish on my method. 

Again, I'm not trying to get "good cards" this is specifically to get my scores high enough for home loans. 

Perfect credit (whatever that is) is not my goal. I think everyone is coming from the viewpoint "you're going to want stronger cards down the line" .... Which may or may not be true, but it has nothing to do with what I'm trying to accomplish.  

Rebuilding is is quite a journey but you don't need a perfect score to finance a home or investment property. And your lender isn't going to care that you have a First Premier and not a big bank card.  

FICO scores are nothing but math formulae... Solving for X

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True, but it is an extremely complex formula, the details of which are totally secret, and we know what little we know purely from deductive reasoning, and the official details released by Fair Isaac, the creators of FICO.

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---- complex and as secret as it may be; you just agreed that it's a math equation. All formulae are bound by the laws of algebra, point blank, period. Have some gamesmanship. When you see an advantage exploit it. Credit isnt some nebulous thing to be scared of. I approach it like a game, and so do you inadvertantly. You behave well with your cards because you want bigger limits. You showed that you were responsible with one card, cap 1 sent you another, you kindly accepted. So on and so on.