It's funny how it turned out for my in rebuilding my credit. During my first month of my deployment exactly one year ago, my wife and I had a conversation about wanting to buy a house when I get out of the military in 2015. She knew my credit wasn't great, due in part to defaulted student loans. There were a couple other baddies like two CC CO's and a comcast bill. Everything was from b/w 2006-2008. My brother cosigned an auto loan during the same time, where i racked up 4 30day lates. I eventually paid off the car in 2009. In total, I was looking at roughly $11k worth of debt. My score were in the toilet, all in the mid 500s. In Jan 2011, I app'd for the Cap1 Secure w/ a deposit of $200. I haven't missed a payment. In Aug 2012, was able to obtain Cap1 CR unsecure w/ a $500 CL. Haven't missed a payment.
The difficult part of this journey was communicating with my wife from Afghanistan. Because she had POA while I was gone, we were already over the first hurdle. First it was the Comcast bill. It was for only $177. We got in touch with the company who owned the debt and was able to to a PFD. Sweet. Then in Mar 2013, I became a member of NFCU. At the same time, was able to get a auto loan in my own name with a good interest rate. Then in April 2013, I app'd for their CR card, approved. Initial limit was $1000, but requested $10k and got it. So while all of this is going on, my wife is working my student loans and was able to go into rehab. I finished rehab this past september, They were picked up by the same lenders who originally serviced them. All the deliquent TLs were deleted and now show pay as agree. And I've had a perfect payment history since 2011. Now the scores/cards in my siggy are current as of this month.
Like I originally said in the beginning of this piece, repairing my credit was all because I wanted to get in position to buy a house. That is still on my list but my priorities have changed. Now it's all about practicing good financially responsibility and using credit wisely. I wanted to be like other posters on here; get into prime land, have my scores in the 700s, and not be embarrassed to others that I didn't have good credit because of the mistakes I've made. But I'm not worried about that anymore. It's important to know if you are trying to build your financial health back up, you have chose the right place in MyFico. We are all here for each other. We want each other to succeed. So continue to post your issues and thoughts. Keep your head held high and know that things will get better. Thanks to everyone on here who has posted their stories, have given advice, or just wrote a "congrats" in a thread. It means alot. Good day!!
Amex PRG(NPSL), Amex BCE($5K), Amex Hilton($1K), NavCheck ($15K), NFCU CR Siggy($20K), USAA Amex($7K), USAA World MC($7K), CSP($2.3K), Chase Marriott($1.8K), Care Credit($2.5K), Cap1 QS($3.5K), VS($500), Cap1 Secure($200) Starting Scores(Jan 2013): FICO EQ: 643, TU: 552, EX: 567 Current Scores(Sept. 2016): FICO EQ: 672, TU: 703(?), EX: 682 In the Garden FOR-EV-ER!!!!! Cards and goals achieved! Let's grow and mature these babies!!!
Starting Score: 503
Starting Score: TU 490 on 11/2012
Starting Score: 644 (EQ) 646 (EX) 670 (TU) as of 11/2013
Discover IT $17k / US Bank Ace (VSig) $13.5K / US Bank Cash+ (VSig) $13.5k