Hi, All!
I am new here, but am so appreciative of the wealth of information on this forum and the experienced folks that stick around to share their stories and help the newbies. You are truly offering life changing information - thank you SO much! 
I have been without credit cards since 2008 - I had to evict the tenant in my rental property, and at age 25, I just didn't have the funds available to pay both my rent, mortgage, vehicle, and other bills on time. I was able to keep from drowning and stay away from foreclosure/short sale, but not without some serious damage to my credit score. I went from the 730 range with around $40k in credit lines (2 CC's and a line of credit) to credit pariah. Since then I have only had installment loans / mortgage and my residual baddies that are aging off my report or I am using DV/PFD. I have not applied for new credit (other than 1 new cell phone plan request) in almost 7 years, and finally paid off a large vehicle loan last month. I thought about applying for a secured card, but would rather use any extra cash on hand to pay down debt. From reading on this site, however, I did want to add revolving credit to adjust my credit mix.
If this is helpful for anyone, I was approved for 2 CCs (Express and Victoria's Secret) today using the shopping cart trick. I don't intend to apply for new credit soon as I have found that I stay out of trouble using cash (rather than credit) for all of my needs. 
As an FYI, I received a pre-approval email from Victoria's Secret with an authorization code. When moving through the prompts, the system asked for my entire SSN as well as my income and other information - like a full credit application. This looked like a hard pull to me, so I backed out, did the shopping cart trick and was approved for a credit line using only the last 4 of my SSN - no other information required.
@Anonymous wrote:Hi, All!
I am new here, but am so appreciative of the wealth of information on this forum and the experienced folks that stick around to share their stories and help the newbies. You are truly offering life changing information - thank you SO much!
I have been without credit cards since 2008 - I had to evict the tenant in my rental property, and at age 25, I just didn't have the funds available to pay both my rent, mortgage, vehicle, and other bills on time. I was able to keep from drowning and stay away from foreclosure/short sale, but not without some serious damage to my credit score. I went from the 730 range with around $40k in credit lines (2 CC's and a line of credit) to credit pariah. Since then I have only had installment loans / mortgage and my residual baddies that are aging off my report or I am using DV/PFD. I have not applied for new credit (other than 1 new cell phone plan request) in almost 7 years, and finally paid off a large vehicle loan last month. I thought about applying for a secured card, but would rather use any extra cash on hand to pay down debt. From reading on this site, however, I did want to add revolving credit to adjust my credit mix.
If this is helpful for anyone, I was approved for 2 CCs (Express and Victoria's Secret) today using the shopping cart trick. I don't intend to apply for new credit soon as I have found that I stay out of trouble using cash (rather than credit) for all of my needs.
As an FYI, I received a pre-approval email from Victoria's Secret with an authorization code. When moving through the prompts, the system asked for my entire SSN as well as my income and other information - like a full credit application. This looked like a hard pull to me, so I backed out, did the shopping cart trick and was approved for a credit line using only the last 4 of my SSN - no other information required.
Grats on your 2 new store cards, I would not app for more of them, you now need 3 revolving bankcards to help maximize your Fico score, you dont need to get them today, I would put some use on those store cards while working on your negs then app for a few unsecured bankcards. If you have a problem with not using the cards then I would not carry any of them and just make a charge every 3 months or so to keep them active. Good luck in your journey 
@gdale6 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Hi, All!
I am new here, but am so appreciative of the wealth of information on this forum and the experienced folks that stick around to share their stories and help the newbies. You are truly offering life changing information - thank you SO much!
I have been without credit cards since 2008 - I had to evict the tenant in my rental property, and at age 25, I just didn't have the funds available to pay both my rent, mortgage, vehicle, and other bills on time. I was able to keep from drowning and stay away from foreclosure/short sale, but not without some serious damage to my credit score. I went from the 730 range with around $40k in credit lines (2 CC's and a line of credit) to credit pariah. Since then I have only had installment loans / mortgage and my residual baddies that are aging off my report or I am using DV/PFD. I have not applied for new credit (other than 1 new cell phone plan request) in almost 7 years, and finally paid off a large vehicle loan last month. I thought about applying for a secured card, but would rather use any extra cash on hand to pay down debt. From reading on this site, however, I did want to add revolving credit to adjust my credit mix.
If this is helpful for anyone, I was approved for 2 CCs (Express and Victoria's Secret) today using the shopping cart trick. I don't intend to apply for new credit soon as I have found that I stay out of trouble using cash (rather than credit) for all of my needs.
As an FYI, I received a pre-approval email from Victoria's Secret with an authorization code. When moving through the prompts, the system asked for my entire SSN as well as my income and other information - like a full credit application. This looked like a hard pull to me, so I backed out, did the shopping cart trick and was approved for a credit line using only the last 4 of my SSN - no other information required.
Grats on your 2 new store cards, I would not app for more of them, you now need 3 revolving bankcards to help maximize your Fico score, you dont need to get them today, I would put some use on those store cards while working on your negs then app for a few unsecured bankcards. If you have a problem with not using the cards then I would not carry any of them and just make a charge every 3 months or so to keep them active. Good luck in your journey
Ooh, great info. Thank you so much! I think I have been fully rehabilitated over the past few years, but the cards are going in the lockbox any way. 
A small charge every three months will be my plan.