Thanks to all for the information i've gained on these boards this year. hopefully my saga will give hope to others. i'll try to make it brief.
This time last year I did not have a job, car or house. I was taking care of sick family before they passed away. I had a bit of help from some friends. I started temping in January and applyied for 2 credit cards. I had no history, one unpaid small bill and defaulted student loan.
In march I purchased a new car at high interest (23%), my fico was 650, but I had zero good credit lines. After buying the car my scores dropped to about 587.
I opened a checking/savings account with a local credit union and I started rehab on my student loan in september. I'm working on PFD for my $51 unpaid bill. I also got a secured card for $300 from my credit union in September. Last month I recieved a pre-qualify from cap one and applied. They gave me a $300 card. This month I decieded to go on a mini spree to see what I could get. I first got a $1500 Discovery IT card and was ecstatic. I then got a Macy's card for $400, but after calling to verify some information they bumped it up to $600. Then yesterday I was approved by Chase for $5000. I was blown away.
I do have a few that are still checking on my info (Wal-mart, Citi).
I have been turned down by GEMB (they pulled TU which is my lowest score) Amazon and I think Best buy. Also rejected by Amazon.
My current scores are experian 637(tho discover says 675), TU 676 and EQ 666
Hopefully my going from nothing to what I have now will give others some hope.
Timsim
Starting Score: 630
Great journey and encouraging. You were/are in better shape than many on the credit score side because your derogatories are minimal ... so you started in a decent range. But, yes, you've made the journey from nothing. I can say the same. I was homeless and unemployed about 14 months ago. I had a car, but it was crap & broke down with major repairs required every month at the end there. I had many derogatories including a foreclosure, on my credit report. But, I had already started an attempt to reestablish credit with a secure card and then, two very small unsecured.
Fought to get myself housed. After some temp work, I FINALLY found a good, professional job in my field again (which had gone south with the economy). Bought a car on a HIGH interest rate loan, making regular payments. I have a great salary now, am paying all my bills on time for over a year, my FICO has gone up by 100 points in that time, but I'm still sub-600 due to two zombie debts reappearing from '05. That hurts pretty bad. One is about to be deleted and I'm disputing the second in hopes they will also have to admit it is debt past the reportable period. Chipping away at the other derogatories, which are mostly pretty old ... things are definitely looking up on the daily.
Keep moving forward!!
Your story sounds identical to mine. I was basically homeless, but a friend took me in. I had to relocate about 100 miles to the SF bay area to find a decent job. Last time I really checked my credit was in 2008 and I still have the report and there was much more bads on my report then.
My job now does pay decent and I'll be perm in april, so hoping to qualify for a house after summer.
Congrats - nice success story - thank for sharing - Good luck with the house 