Moving Forward... One turtle step at a time...

[Anonymous]

I have learned so much on these forums.  Things I wish I knew years ago, but you can only take what you learn and move forward so thats what I have done.  I have read and searched so many different things on these boards, gotten a ton of advice, and given any if I could, and I still have a very long way to go.  We filed BK7 in October 2015, but I didn't actually start my rebuild until 5/15/17.  Up until that point I was only getting credit card offers for fee cards and I really didn't want to go that route.  They work for people and thats great, but I just wanted to try things my way.  I was very happy when Cap One gave me the unsecured platinum card with no annual fee.  Bare bones card, but exactly what I needed to get started.  In the almost 3 months since then my scores are already up between 50-70 points.  The only other thing reporting on my CR's is the mortgage that we reaffirmed (we were always current and on time with this).  Scores are still not great (they are FICO8), but EX is up to 622 and thats my highest at the moment.  I'll take it.  I'm hoping after Cap One reports this month and TU actually does the update that TU will finally hit 600 as it is the lowest right now.  After the statement cuts I'll try the CLI and PC and hope for the best.  I still have a released lien reporting that I'm hoping will come off.  It really does feel like I'm a turtle walking through mud, but I'm suceeding at being patient and not just randomly applying for things.  School starts back up in a couple weeks so between a full time job and 3 classes I will have plenty of other things to worry about... I only have 1 inquiry each on EQ & TU and 2 on EX.  Once appropriate I'm hoping to go after discover - even if its secured - and an amazon prime store card.  Then hopefully a new quicksilver after the 6 month mark on my cap one platinum... I'm hoping if all that works I can go hang out in the garden with the cool kids for a while.

One thing I have noticed is that the hubby and I are getting credit card offers in the mail again... everyday this week... lol... Credit One, Merrick, Verve, Lendup, Valero... Not any cards that I want or need, but were moving in the right direction.

Thank you to everyone for all the awesome advice so far...

[gdale6]

Nicely done. You will need 3 cards to help max your Fico but they can wait till you have some history reported on that Cap-1.

[Anonymous]

You're right to ignore the bottom feeders that prey on up n coming builders

However, I'd suggest getting to the 3 card ideal # sooner than later ( secured Discover and/or CUs among my face) because it allows the TLs to age and build thickness together ( allowing the same 'time' to kill more birds in your favor) thus helping to manipulate your AAoA and allows the negative impact of the HPs needed to secure the 3 TLs to ease off together.

Ppl used to say wait 6 months in between but that means by month 18 it'll take 12 months for the last GP to age off, whereas had they been secured tighter together with 15 total months they'd all be over 12 months old with all accounts being also aged a year.

IMO a $200 Discover & a $300 Visa aging along with a primary account is powerful as all accounts are feeding positive data over time in a thick multiple fashion that one TL just can't do...

The model wants to see multiple accounts managed most w/o a balance anyway so adding the accounts is simply a cheap, easily way to add positive history and feed the model what it wants...a win win easy points for the taking