Rebuilding... Do you get discouraged at times?

[buildafico]

Having credit is kind of like being in a relationship, when you have credit everyone wants to offer it to you. When you don't have it no one will give it to you lol but much like a marriage it takes years to build a strong credit profile and while it has ups and downs the reward is ultimately worth it.

Except credit cards give cash back, and relationships only offer withdraws hahaha.

[EW800]

Argh...  Another disappointment in the mail today.  Although I know there current impact on my score is probably not a lot, I have been trying to get AmEx to GW one 30-day late from 2 years ago away.  No dice.  The letter stated that it could not be removed because the late was determined to not be their error.  I want to tell them that I never said it was their fault, but I'm sure it is a form letter.   

Any ever have success with AmEx as far as GW of a 30-day late?

[GooseGirl]

Yes, I definitely have times when i get discouraged. When that happens I have to take a break from it for a little bit otherwise I obsess and it becomes a negative cycle. I also decided to just let 2 of my negatives age off. The CA that holds those debts is terrible to work with and I was allowing myself to get WAY to worked up when dealing with them. I was lucky that the debts are old and will be dropping off in the next year. I will pay the OC after they drop to avoid them raising their ugly little heads later.

Probably the biggest discouragement comes from the fact that my kids are now at an age where they are starting their credit journey. I have had very honest converations with them about my credit situations and tried to educate them. I felt a lot of shame in those conversations and that was probably the hardest thing for me to overcome mentally/emotionally. Hopefully they learn from my mistakes.

[itgirl74]

I definitely get discouraged. On one hand, I've removed a judgment and 10 collections from my reports. My score has gone up by more than 100 points in only 4 months. But now my EQ MyFico score is yo-yoing up and down. I have been at or above 600 twice. The first time I got knocked down a little bit by an inquiry and a lot by the FICO upgrade. I made it back to 600 (on the dot) when one of my new CCs reported a balance, but just yesterday I lost 7 points when my Fingerhut Fresh Shart program graduated (the installment loan was closed and a new revolving account was opened). I know it'll rebound - probably sooner than later, because I accidentally let that CC report at 72% utilization and it should report at 4% utilization on 6/30 - but it is frustrating.

I also have some baddies that I may not be able to do anything about - 1 collection, 2 paid charged-off CCs, and a car loan with a terrible payment history (including a repossession - redeemed - and a charge-off because I didn't pay it off until 4 months after the loan period was over). The collection will be gone next year, but the CCs are sticking around until 2017/2018, and the car loan until 2020!

At this point all I can really do is take good care of my 5 new accounts and hope that my score inches up to the point where I can get A) a decent credit card with a higher CL and B) perhaps even a mortgage in a couple of years.

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@GooseGirl wrote:

 Probably the biggest discouragement comes from the fact that my kids are now at an age where they are starting their credit journey. I have had very honest converations with them about my credit situations and tried to educate them. I felt a lot of shame in those conversations and that was probably the hardest thing for me to overcome mentally/emotionally. Hopefully they learn from my mistakes.

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I am feeling this, too. My daughters moved out last fall, and I finally got serious about fixing my credit at the beginning of this year. I'm being very open about this struggle in the hopes that they won't repeat my mistakes. Also, I feel terribly guilty that I'm finally beginning to think about home ownership, something I should have done for them when they were younger.

[BluePoodle]

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@pipeguy wrote:

Oct 2012: All Scores in the 520 range, during a foreclosure, CC Settlement and high UTIL. Very ugly days...
June 2014: Ex08: 697; Eq08: 717; TU08: 709; Discover Statement: 710

In My Wallet -- Discover $11.7K; Cap1 $8.4K; Amex $9.9K; Barclay $7K; Citibank $4.9K; US Bank $4K; Dell $5K; Care Credit $6.5K
My UTIL: About 2-3%

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Having been around a long time and on this forum a while, I see a lot of members that seem to reach for "perfection" rather than function.  I know a LOT of people on this forum that would LOVE to hit the "brick wall"  you have as far as cards, credit limits, utility and scores in only 18 months ! To me at least credit is a tool to use as needed for MY choice and needs - nothing more.

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+1

Credit is a tool to a means.  I can remember not that long ago when I would have never applied for any type of credit because I knew I would not even be approved. I paid for everything in cash. I had no other option so I was happy to be able to do what I did.  If I keep taking care of business than perhaps in another year I could get pretty much anything I would want with the exception of the big spender cards.  The point is really just having access to it when you need it for a house, car, repairs, trips.  I don't want to obsess about my scores. I just want to know that IF I decide to buy a house in a year or two, that I will get the best financing rate available.  If I buy a car, I want the best rate. If I app for a card, I want the best terms and CL available.  I don't NEED or WANT every card and I never care if my score gets to 850!  I just want to take care of what I have and learn from my past mistakes.

Best to you in your credit journey.

[Jamex]

Great thread - I definitely have had my moments of despair over the past 2 years. Generally it's been a success, with my score up 125 points, but I've also hit some walls. Sometimes a creditor just wouldn't respond or wouldn't say yes, and recently I've found that while my score has improved there are some negative items on my report that are bad enough to still cause denials even when the score looks decent.

So, it's a work in progress, and the main thing I've focused on is what I can control, what I can't, and doing as much as I can in the first category without obsessing too much about the second.