I was fortunate to come from a financially savvy family but also one that really failed to teach me about credit. At 20 I got sick and amassed significant medical debt that would continue until about age 25. I never had a credit card so I had horrible credit and couldn't even finance a car at a reasonable interest rate. And then...I became a Mom. And then a single Mom.
July 2013- 29 years old. My daughter needed/deserved a forever home. A mortgage broker pulled my scores and was surprsed that with older medical debt falling off I had 2 scores in the low 600's and one just shy of 600. I put it in my pocket for later use.
December 2013 - my first Cap1 credit card with a $300 limit arrived in the mail. It was a Journey card with minimal benefits. I found myFico and started cleaning.
March 2013 - second Cap1 cc (Quicksilver) with a $700 limit arrived.
April/May - Chase issued me a Freedom at 2k (likely because we had a long standing relationship and I had assets with them, my scores were still too low for one) and my Journey went to $1,800 and then Quickzilver to $1,500.
August- Chase took my Freedom to $3,000 without me asking. Pre-approval for the house with one score in the 700's. Got an invite to CSP.
December 2014- Closed on the house. Got an $8,000 CSP. 2/3 scores in the 700's. My house has a detached duplex that covers all but $300 of the mortgage with taxes and insurance included and next year I can raise the rent on one unit and lower that to $200/month.
Life is good and it's amazing how different my financial situation is now. I spent HOURS on the rebuilding forum reading, learning, acting and it all paid off in a time frame that wasn't near as long as some would have thought. And along the way my boyfriend, who had no debt but was literally a zero credit score, has scores that straddle 690/700 on any given day because I started by adding him as an AU, and then got him a Journey, and now he has a nice little collection of Chase and Discover cards as well.
Stay the course, my friends!
Grats to all your success and enjoy your new home
Congrats to you on your progress! Your a great mom and you have done an amazing job!
Great story! You have done all the right things. You were lucky that once you started digging in, you really didn't have baddies to deal with anymore, just the credit history issue. Thus, you were able to make very rapid progress. Very, very exciting about the home mortgage being no burdon. You are in excellent shape! :-) Congratulations!
Starting Score: TU 490 on 11/2012