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Success 101

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Anonymous
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Success 101

Hello, Long time lurker, first post.  Just wanted to say thanks to the community here.  This place is a treasure trove of information and is one of the main tools I used to rebuild my credit over the past year.  I had no need to ever post on here throughout the process because all the information I needed was easy to find through searching and researching.  Now as I sit here about to pack up my office I thought I'd share my story with someone else who might be in the same boat.

 

I started my journey about a year ago 11/15 to clean up my credit.  I was at a 580 credit score due to some bad decisions, we've all heard the stories. I came across this website and began by pulling my credit and identifying incorrect adverse negative information and disputing it with all 3 CB's.  I then began the process of PFD on the collection accounts and wrote recon and sympathy letters to some creditors.  At this point I was able to acquire some high risk credit card accounts [always paying off balance] and eventually transition to top tier CC (capital one, amex, nfcu, penfed, etc).  By midyear, I was approved by PenFed for a car loan refi at 4% and paid off my high interest WFDS 10.99% interest car loan.  In addition I opened 2 credit card accounts with them for 8k and 6k limits respectively.

 

Around July of this year is when I decided I wanted to try and purchase a home.  So, I began the process of balancing my budget and realized how much money I wasted eating out every day at work.  Instead of going out to lunch, I began packing a sandwich and yogurt everyday to bring with me.  This is what astonished me the most, I couldn't believe how much money I had been wasting everyday.  In addition, I cancelled my cell phone with Verizon and switched to a prepaid option.  Eliminated cable tv, and switched to an OTA hd antenna and streaming.  I added this savings to what I contributed to my savings account every month.

 

I'm excited and proud to say that I closed on my first home on Thursday 12/15.  Having achieved a 660 mortgage fico score, I was able to qualify for a FHA loan for $284,000 with 3.65% interest rate.  I used my savings over the year to put down the deposit/down payment and pay the closing costs. It is an overwhelming sense of accomplishment having gotten this far and a lot of sacrifice.  I took a hard look at some of the prudent spending I did in the past and made some big changes.  I'm 33yo and accomplished this all without the assistance of anyone.  As I'm packing up my office to move over the next few days I came across all of the records/letters/cr's that I've printed throughout this journey and it's reminded me that this is quite a process.

 

So to all those out there, I urge you to stick it out, form your plan and do it.  I won't say it was easy but it's definitely not the hardest thing I've ever done.  And the endgoal is well worth it!  Thanks all for this website, I can personally attest to the info on here.  It works and I was successful.

 

Regards!

Message 1 of 6
5 REPLIES 5
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Success 101


@Anonymous wrote:

Hello, Long time lurker, first post.  Just wanted to say thanks to the community here.  This place is a treasure trove of information and is one of the main tools I used to rebuild my credit over the past year.  I had no need to ever post on here throughout the process because all the information I needed was easy to find through searching and researching.  Now as I sit here about to pack up my office I thought I'd share my story with someone else who might be in the same boat.

 

I started my journey about a year ago 11/15 to clean up my credit.  I was at a 580 credit score due to some bad decisions, we've all heard the stories. I came across this website and began by pulling my credit and identifying incorrect adverse negative information and disputing it with all 3 CB's.  I then began the process of PFD on the collection accounts and wrote recon and sympathy letters to some creditors.  At this point I was able to acquire some high risk credit card accounts [always paying off balance] and eventually transition to top tier CC (capital one, amex, nfcu, penfed, etc).  By midyear, I was approved by PenFed for a car loan refi at 4% and paid off my high interest WFDS 10.99% interest car loan.  In addition I opened 2 credit card accounts with them for 8k and 6k limits respectively.

 

Around July of this year is when I decided I wanted to try and purchase a home.  So, I began the process of balancing my budget and realized how much money I wasted eating out every day at work.  Instead of going out to lunch, I began packing a sandwich and yogurt everyday to bring with me.  This is what astonished me the most, I couldn't believe how much money I had been wasting everyday.  In addition, I cancelled my cell phone with Verizon and switched to a prepaid option.  Eliminated cable tv, and switched to an OTA hd antenna and streaming.  I added this savings to what I contributed to my savings account every month.

 

I'm excited and proud to say that I closed on my first home on Thursday 12/15.  Having achieved a 660 mortgage fico score, I was able to qualify for a FHA loan for $284,000 with 3.65% interest rate.  I used my savings over the year to put down the deposit/down payment and pay the closing costs. It is an overwhelming sense of accomplishment having gotten this far and a lot of sacrifice.  I took a hard look at some of the prudent spending I did in the past and made some big changes.  I'm 33yo and accomplished this all without the assistance of anyone.  As I'm packing up my office to move over the next few days I came across all of the records/letters/cr's that I've printed throughout this journey and it's reminded me that this is quite a process.

 

So to all those out there, I urge you to stick it out, form your plan and do it.  I won't say it was easy but it's definitely not the hardest thing I've ever done.  And the endgoal is well worth it!  Thanks all for this website, I can personally attest to the info on here.  It works and I was successful.

 

Regards!


Welcome to MyFICO

 

Congrats on your new home and fantastic job on your credit rebuild.  Great story

Message 2 of 6
Creditwiser
Valued Contributor

Re: Success 101

Wow. A big congrats on your success !  Thank you for sharing your story

NFCU Visa 30k | NFCU Platinum 30k | Cap1 QS 12K | Cap1 QS 11.5K | Barclay MC 9k | Delta Gold Amex 30K | Discover IT 14K | CFNA FS 3200 | CareCredit 20k| Paypal Credit 5k |
Message 3 of 6
Sbrooks1
Valued Contributor

Re: Success 101

Great job!
Message 4 of 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Success 101

This was very touching I got chills and I almost cried. Goals! You did it!

Message 5 of 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Success 101

Amazing job!!!

 

You should stay and help others do what you did. I'm glad to hear you have had such amazing success thanks to this forum.  So have I and I am truly thankful.

Message 6 of 6
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