Hey all,
So here's my story, like many others on this forum I've done some serious damage to my credit over the years. It started in 2000 when I turned 18 and started college. I was approved 2 credit cards I didn't need and had no real ability to repay, save for Mom and Dad. I got in over my head, but fortunately realized at the time I needed help. I reached out to a Debt Management program and got those cards closed out and paid down. The $800 credit card was settled satisfactorily and the $1000 credit card was settled for less. Not a great start, but I recovered.
Fast forward to 2006, I took a year off from college to establish myself as a in-state resident. Probably the worst mistake of my life. Sure I saved on tuition the final year but at what expense. And before you start doing the math and realizing I took 8 years to get my Bachelors lol, don't judge me too quickly 
One, I did eventually graduate. Two, I changed my major in 2004 from Engineering to Sociology so basically had to start over. Add in a full time job, another part time job, and really bad case of senioritis and you start to understand my predicament.
One problem with my plan as you may well know, once out of school your student loans become due. After nearly dying when I opened all the bills I was quickly able to get them all deferred and avoided a near disaster. I figured once I was back in school I would be AOK... Nope. Once your loans start collecting, they never go back into "In School" status. I robbed Peter to pay Paul, and then vice versa, and did the best I could which wasn't great on 6 years of student loans. All but 2 eventually defaulted, and I lived in denial about the rest.
After college I enlisted in the Army, to help with the massive amount of college debt I incurred. Don't ask me why I didn't become an officer instead of enlisting, it's a question I wonder about every day lol. So I'm off to Basic and AIT (your job specialty training) my wife at the time "met" someone else. She also drains our bank accounts and just for the cherry on top, stops paying any joint bills we have. I finish AIT in December of 2008, and got some good karma when the Army Gods decided I was headed to Hawaii for 3 years as my first duty station.
I deploy to Afghanistan, file for divorce and save some money to buy a new car outright when I got back. I also put $1000 into a secured credit card with Applied Bank, as I realized renting a car on a Debit Card sucks. Now it's Jan 2012 and my 3 years in Hawaii are up, I file my taxes and start the journey to lovely Fort Polk, Louisiana lol. I arrive safely and can't wait for the $5000 I was getting back from the IRS (I have 2 kids with the ex-wife). But the money never came, it was intercepted by the Department of Education for the defaulted Federal student loans I had. Finally my past was catching up with me. I eventually got all of my defaulted loans consolidated. They're being paid now, but Sallie Mae is very upset with me and wont budge on any GWs because I consolidated before rehabilitating. I don't really understand why this matters, but to them it does and now I get to suffer for 3+ more years with a ton of Major Derogatories on my CRs.
In December, fiancee gets a $1500 Best Buy card for a new washer and dryer for us, and adds me as an AU. That month I also received an offer from Merrick Bank for my first unsecured Credit Card in a long long time. I applied and was surprised I was approved, it was only $500 but that seems like a lot when you have zero unsecured credit. In June I received an offer from Capital One, I apply and was approved for a $1000 unsecured Platinum MC. I decide to try for one more and sure enough $750 unsecured on their Cash Rewards MC. An offer from First Premier comes in and I only bite because of a wedding my finance then (wife now) were paying for on our one. Another $500 unsecured, granted at 36% APR, yikes.
I discover these boards and decide now that I can close the $1000 secured Applied Bank. After reading some other posts I extend my "app spree" and mistakenly apply for an Amazon and a Walmart Store card, both which got declined 
I read a series of awesome posts about NFCU, and join them. I read about how generous they are with credit for rebuilders and apply for an unsecured CC and Navcheck, both no goes, but get counter offered for a secured card. I figure what the heck, cause it'll hopefully graduate in a year and establish a good record with them in the mean time.
I bug the DW until she caves and joins NFCU as well. Not knowing her credit score/history I have her app for a nRewards card (with me as an AU of course) and
a couple days later, BAM $5000. We PC it to a cashRewards card so we can have that sexy Visa Signature status and swap me from an AU to a co-applicant/joint account holder too 
So now the real reason for this post I've been eagerly awaiting my auto CLI from Merrick, since I knew last month was my 7th month with them only to re-read the Auto CLI was after the 7th statement cut, DOH! So I patiently wait until this month, and then begin checking my account 2-3 times a day once my past the Aug 16th due date. Nothing, nothing and more nothing. On Thursday the 22nd, I see the new due date update on my account but still no increase in CL. Dejected then I start looking back at my statements, and I start thinking back to myself maybe it's after 7 payments, which would push it back another month, since I didn't require a payment one month... So I set myself up hoping it'll be next month.
I log in this afternoon and sure enough, my CL double from $500 to $1000. I'm super excited, not because of a $500 increase, but because this is my first ever CLI! I know it's not much but now that you've read my story, it's a little milestone along the way. Turns out I received an email about it today, but it got filtered into my spam folder... Poor Merrick lol.
This is by no means the end, I still have a lot of work to do, my UTIL is horrible right now because of the wedding and travel expenses. I still have collections on my CRs. There's also a ton of baddies I can't do anything but wait until they fall off, that is unless they cave in the mean time because of the endless GWs I plan on sending all of them. There is light at the end of the tunnel, and today is roughly 3 years (September 2016) from when all the baddies will be gone. I want to thank everyone else for their inspirational posts, they definitely help when my SW updates a drop or a GW/PFD gets no-goed.
Thanks for reading or at least skimming Keep your head up, these forums are awesome with knowledgeable and motivational people who can get you started on your journey.
Ozix
In addition to the $500 CLI from Merrick, that same night the wife and I logged on to NFCU and asked for a CLI. We requested $25k just to see what they countered at, got the 7-10 day notice. I logged in that evening before bed and sure enough, a CLI to $6k 
. $1500 increase to credit in one day, not bad. Can't wait for my CLIs to go through with Capital One (should be in December/January) time frame. Once those go through, I'm going to close out FP, and I should be able to pay off the balance with them once I get paid today or tomorrow.
Oz
I started reading and before I knew it I was at the bottom. I have several good military friends and some who got screwed by Ex-Spouses, so this was a very interesting read to me. It sounds like you've really worked hard to keep your head up and pushing forward, and are doing well! I'm impressed and look forward to more good news over the next couple years on this forum =)
Thanks for the replies everyone! I've been reading through @p- "CREDIT REBUILD PROJECT LOG" thread, I'm on page 20 of 33 and feel very inspired to make my own log over time, I guess this would be a great thread to do it in, especially since I already have my backstory (and wont have to type it again).
I've hit a wall with trying to get Sallie Mae (and probably USA Funds, since they're a subsidiary of Sallie Mae as far as I can tell) to GW when my loans were defaulted. I did get a one up with them when I decided to see if I could lower my payments. I pay them $180 or so a month for my loans under the ICR (Income Contingent Repayment), so I tried under the IBR (Income Based Repayment) and got approved for $0 / month Super excited about that, I'm going to use that income to pay down all the debt I racked up for our wedding expenses
And with that good news, I'm paying off the first of them, subsequently the one with the highest interest rate: First Premier. $471.66 here you go and I'm very tempted to cancel them once my payment clears. I really didn't need them, and now I would still be ahead if I closed them because of the Merrick auto CLI AND the unexpected $1000 CLI on our joint NFCU.
However I think I'll keep paying them $8.25 a month until either my UTIL gets better, or my Auto CLIs from my two Capital One Credit Steps cards kick in (my $1000 should jump to $1500 and the $500 to $750, hopefully more, since I was able to get the EO to give me 1.5%. I tried to PC to QuicksilverOne but that was a no go, the increased cash back is nice.
So yeah, did I mention my UTIL is scary bad right now? Before paying bills, I'm at 56%. After paying off First Premier at $471.66, putting $46.48 ($3.48 over the min to bring it 1 cent under half lol) toward my STAR card, and the minimums on my Capital One cards (interest free until March), that brings my UTIL down to 51.06%, still scary but not as scary lol. Progress has to start somewhere right? Never mind the purchase I made at the gun show last weekend, it was inevitable
I think I'm going to focus on getting my UTIL down a lot more before I focus again on getting rid of the baddies, that way I don't get over frustrated with one of the other.
Thanks for reading,
Oz
At this point, the util is hurting you.
Congrats on getting yourself out of deep water. All of us have had our own struggles from time to time but just be persistent with the goodwills and goodwill will find you eventually.
Just don't get discouraged.
