Hello, at the start of 2016 I had no credit - good or bad. A completely blank report. I decided I wanted to try and start building some credit so in February I applied for both the Capital One Quicksilver 1 and the Platinum (both starter cards) and was approved for both with $500 limits on each. I charged about $100 per month on each and paid them off in full each month. After a few months, I applied for a Walmart store card from Synchrony bank and got that one. I think the limit on it was about $700 or so. Not long after that I went after the Chase Freedom Unlimited and got that one too. The limit on that one was about $700 or so. After that, I selectively applied for more cards but wasn't approved for anymore. At the same time, I started working hard on getting CLI from the accounts I already had and took a break from new hard inquiries. During this time my Walmart card CL rose to $1500, my Cap One cards up to $1300 each, and my Chase went up to $2500. About 4 months ago I was denied a Discover card and ended up talking to a manager during the reconsideration attempt. She told me to try again in December and not to get any new credit while waiting. So fast forward to yesterday December 1, 2016. I applied for Discover It card yesterday and got approved for $4000 and 18% APR. That is not all. I also went over to AMEX and applied for their Everyday card and got approved yesterday for $10,000. Finally, to finish up my good day I also applied for a Barclay Rewards card and got approved for $1500. In short, I went from no credit at all to over $22,000 in unsecured credit in less than 10 months. All of this with a $25,000 annual income. I have less than 10% utilization on all the accounts. I also have a FICO score in the 725 range prior to yesterday's 3 new accounts totaling $15,500 in new credit.
I want to encourage all of you and let you know it is possible to rebuild and it doesn't take as long as you think if you work hard and smart!
Blessings to each of you!
