I don't even know where to begin my intro! Here's my really long story...
Back in 2010, I had a credit score in the high 700s. I was married, a SAHM and a full time student. My husband, at the time, and I were paying the mortgage on our custom dream house. One day, he decided to leave me and our two kids. In the middle of the divorce mediation, our home suffered a major loss due to fire. Luckily, everyone made it out ok, but it was really a very devastating time, in soooo many ways.
Needless to say, I was in complete survival mode for a good few years after that. The job market was so bad at that time, I stayed in school and I was very lucky to at least have a good amount of child support. Between that and student loans, I managed to keep us fed and keep a roof over our heads and graduate. In the divorce, I was given the responsibilty of all of the credit cards that were in my name, which were numerous Some, I didn't even know who applied for them or who was using them. I also had a vehicle that I was responsible for making a huge payment on. Paying the credit card bills were not a priority at all. But I made the huge mistake of trying to keep them from defaulting. I played that game for years, which just dragged out all of the default dates to 2012, 2013, 2014. UGH! I had so many other issues to deal with, it never occurred to me to just file bankruptcy or just let them default imediately. I'd be recovered by now!
Fast forward to now, I'm employed, I've been renting a modest home for the last three years, my kids are healthy and happy Things have really turned around for me, and now I'm ready to think about my future and face the dreaded credit score! I haven't paid any attention to my score or my credit reports since 2011 because it was just too hopeless. lol
I've been lurking here for at least a week or so. I've read everything I can on credit repair/recovery/etc but I really need more advice and support to stay focused on the hard work ahead. My friends and family do not want to hear my whining about my credit any more, I'm sure! .
I've pulled my three reports and actually read them, even though I wanted to puke. I have about 9 collections in various amounts. I have a lot of good accounts. 2 paid off cars, 2 paid off mortgages, 3 credit cards I have kept in good standing and some credit cards with slow late histories. I also have a lot of slow pays on student loans and some student loans that are all good. I also got a car loan a couple of months ago and it is in good standing.
One of my cards is a Discover card and my FICO according to them is 614. CreditKarma is giving me scores of 580, 587.
Even though I have some credit cards that are still showing open on my reports and on my statements, I learned a big lesson the hard way yesterday. One of my credit cards I've had with my CU for over 20 years. I called my CU to ask for a replacement card because the last time they sent me a new card, I threw it in a drawer without activating it. They told me I would have to RE-APPLY! NOOOOOooooo I'm so furious about this. Am I over-reacting? My CL with them has been increasing over the last few years. It's got a $2500 CL. If I reapply, are they going to reduce my limit? Is it going to hurt my average age of my accounts? Are they going to now report to the CRAs that account as closed? I should have left that alone!! SHould I reapply or just see what happens?
In an effort to mitigate the possible damage from that mess, I applied for a Cap One Platinum today, horrified that I wouldn't be approved and that I would suffer a ding from a HP. I applied online and was approved with a $3000CL! That was a huge relief.
My UTI right now is 27%. I haven't used credit cards since 2010 or 2011, I've learned to live easily with cash only for purchases. I guess I need to actually use them regularly to move my score up faster. My goal is to be able to qualify for a mortgage ASAP.
I will accept any advice about anything.
I really want to know if it makes sense to apply for a bunch of credit cards right now before my reports update or should I just stick with what I have already and keep it simple?
If you have made it to the end of this, THANK YOU ! 
@Anonymous wrote:I don't even know where to begin my intro! Here's my really long story...
Back in 2010, I had a credit score in the high 700s. I was married, a SAHM and a full time student. My husband, at the time, and I were paying the mortgage on our custom dream house. One day, he decided to leave me and our two kids. In the middle of the divorce mediation, our home suffered a major loss due to fire. Luckily, everyone made it out ok, but it was really a very devastating time, in soooo many ways.
Needless to say, I was in complete survival mode for a good few years after that. The job market was so bad at that time, I stayed in school and I was very lucky to at least have a good amount of child support. Between that and student loans, I managed to keep us fed and keep a roof over our heads and graduate. In the divorce, I was given the responsibilty of all of the credit cards that were in my name, which were numerous Some, I didn't even know who applied for them or who was using them. I also had a vehicle that I was responsible for making a huge payment on. Paying the credit card bills were not a priority at all. But I made the huge mistake of trying to keep them from defaulting. I played that game for years, which just dragged out all of the default dates to 2012, 2013, 2014. UGH! I had so many other issues to deal with, it never occurred to me to just file bankruptcy or just let them default imediately. I'd be recovered by now!
Fast forward to now, I'm employed, I've been renting a modest home for the last three years, my kids are healthy and happy Things have really turned around for me, and now I'm ready to think about my future and face the dreaded credit score! I haven't paid any attention to my score or my credit reports since 2011 because it was just too hopeless. lol
I've been lurking here for at least a week or so. I've read everything I can on credit repair/recovery/etc but I really need more advice and support to stay focused on the hard work ahead. My friends and family do not want to hear my whining about my credit any more, I'm sure! .
I've pulled my three reports and actually read them, even though I wanted to puke. I have about 9 collections in various amounts. I have a lot of good accounts. 2 paid off cars, 2 paid off mortgages, 3 credit cards I have kept in good standing and some credit cards with slow late histories. I also have a lot of slow pays on student loans and some student loans that are all good. I also got a car loan a couple of months ago and it is in good standing.
One of my cards is a Discover card and my FICO according to them is 614. CreditKarma is giving me scores of 580, 587.
Even though I have some credit cards that are still showing open on my reports and on my statements, I learned a big lesson the hard way yesterday. One of my credit cards I've had with my CU for over 20 years. I called my CU to ask for a replacement card because the last time they sent me a new card, I threw it in a drawer without activating it. They told me I would have to RE-APPLY! NOOOOOooooo I'm so furious about this. Am I over-reacting? My CL with them has been increasing over the last few years. It's got a $2500 CL. If I reapply, are they going to reduce my limit? Is it going to hurt my average age of my accounts? Are they going to now report to the CRAs that account as closed? I should have left that alone!! SHould I reapply or just see what happens?
In an effort to mitigate the possible damage from that mess, I applied for a Cap One Platinum today, horrified that I wouldn't be approved and that I would suffer a ding from a HP. I applied online and was approved with a $3000CL! That was a huge relief.
My UTI right now is 27%. I haven't used credit cards since 2010 or 2011, I've learned to live easily with cash only for purchases. I guess I need to actually use them regularly to move my score up faster. My goal is to be able to qualify for a mortgage ASAP.
I will accept any advice about anything.
I really want to know if it makes sense to apply for a bunch of credit cards right now before my reports update or should I just stick with what I have already and keep it simple?
If you have made it to the end of this, THANK YOU !
Actually, you are really not in bad shape at all. Yes, it will take a while to recover, but you are on that road already. Keeping the cards from charging off was actually a VERY smart move. Charged off cards and a BK closes off quite a few doors when rebuilding. You have kept those doors open.
As far as the CU card - meh... if you want to continue doing business with them go ahead and re-app, but be prepared for a possible denial - no big deal, though as thats just part and parcel to rebuilding.
I would suggest applying for a second Cap One card - the QS1. Cap One cards are great for rebuilding as they grow quickly and can be combined for larger limits. After your first statement comes out, call Cap One CS, (or hop online and do a chat) and ask if your Platinum card can have rewards added to it. That will effectively upgrade it to a QS card, giving you the 1.5 cashback benefits of the QS1 without the annual fee. You can request an early CLI on the account after its 60 days old (some folks wait for 90 days).
I think as you mentioned the charge offs and even lates, you still want to keep trying to tackle. You can never get too many of those negatives off. It's good you got a card approval though to kind of help in the process.
