@Anonymous wrote:
Sent a buddy a link to this thread because he's in the 510 range right now and frustrated. Also a young dude and I told him he will get there.
Question for you, OP: during your trek from 500s-800s, what were your biggest frustrations or screw-ups? Did you ever get close to messing up again, and if so, what would you have changed?
Not sure how young he is, but I tell you...a VERY reckless side of me has often fantasized traveling the world ruining my credit in my early 20's, that way I would be more responsible and CF's cleaned up by the time I hit my 30's. Again, VERY irresponsible, but one can dream. So, if he/she is that young...heck they need not sweat this. They'll be just fine. It's making sure that from TODAY going forward (or the clock just keeps resetting) they stay on top of their A-game.
Honestly, It was such a hard lesson that I learned + the 7.5 years it took to correct it, I've not had any relapse. I've not run up any balances that couldn't be paid off at the end of the month. I just keep remembering how much stress I put myself under when my CF's/CS were so bad, that I knew I didn't want to go back to that place.
I kept reading success stories here (and even those that HAD made it, just to run up their newly found high FICO w/ equally high CL...and relapse) and knew that one day I wanted to be able to app w/e I wanted for w/e reason, and know I could get it.
Seems petty...but let me tell you. I finally decided to lease a car (I had been having to pay cash for used cars since I didn't have the credit to get a decent auto loan) and having buying power over the car stealerships was an INCREDIBLE feeling. To have them fighting for your business vs somebody with crappy credit and negative equity on their trade-in having to just take the best deal they could get...I sent an email out to all of the local dealership sales managers with what I was looking for and how much I was willing to pay and how much I would take as a min for my trade-in. I told each of them whomever replied w/ a written offer agreeing to my terms, I would immediately pull credit w/ them to show my good faith and set an appt to test drive. Toyota, Kia, VW, and Hyundai (I forgot to send these letters to Chevy and Ford...Nissan never replied) replied, but Toyota and Hyundai replied first.
I drove over to Toyota first and didn't like what they were offering and having that feeling that I could walk away because I didn't NEED their car/finanicing/deal whatever, was awesome. They knew I had them by the lug nuts. I hopped in my car and drove to Hyundai. They rolled out the red carpet. NOT only did they meet my requirements, they shaved another $20/mo off the deal due to my veteran status. I signed the paperwork and drove off in a brand new car. I recieved credit through Hyundai motor finance, which most typically can't get financing through the manufactuer. They have to go through a bank due to poor CF.
It's not that they have better customer service than any other stealership...they are all dirty, they just knew that I could go wherever I wanted, and they really wanted to close a deal (it was December).
THAT kind of buying power is a heck of a drug, and one I hope to not lose access to.
5/2012: 560 credit scores across the board
12/2014: 750+
3/2017: 780+
11/2019: 833
2/2023: Experian via Chase United Explorer CC pull - 891
