Hello everyone!
I only started on this forum a few days ago but wanted to provide a success story to motivate others rebuilding credit:
I received my first credit card 4 years ago, $300 CL for capital one. I was only 18 and so excited to have a card. Within a few months they bumped it up to $500 and I felt like a boss lol. I loved whipping it out when I went shopping, and I always paid the account in full. My family had carried a lot of credit card debt (we were kind of extravagant) but then my parents divorced and my mom lost her job - leaving her with all the debt and forcing her to file bankrupcty. After seeing this first hand, I was determind to have excellent credit because I knew how important it would be later in life: cars, homes, student loans - all would be better for me if I was ahead of the game now. Within a year I applied for a Citi card - $3000 CL. I was amazed and freaked out, figured my credit score must be awsome. I applied for a few more: Discover, BoA, etc. All ranged from $1000-$3000 CLs and I had about $14,000 in CLs by the time I was 19. I saw news stories of the "dangers" of credit and laughed, thinking how stupid one would have to be to charge more than they could afford. I always paid everything off and life was great....until one day, I stopped. I was in college and didn't have the money to pay in full anymore. It snowballed from there- I figured if I already couldn't afford the payments I might as well buy some more - I could buy a laptop and my minimum payment would barely go up a few dollars. It spiraled out of control and before I knew it my credit was horrible - I remember pulling my score junior year and it was in the low 500s. My utilization was 80-90%. I was to the point where I had to use my credit cards to survive, everything I bought (food, textbooks, etc) was on cards, yet due to my crashing credit score, my cards were being canceled and my limits reduced. It was horrible and I remember promising to begin fixing things ASAP. One night I set down and cut up all of my credit cards, vowing to not ask for replacements until they were all paid off....
Fast forward 2-3 years to today. I paid off the debt (tens of thousands of dollars), and now continue to use credit cards only for things I can already afford. I didn't apply for any new credit cards since college, and a few days ago pulled my FICO score for the first time in a long time (my actual, true FICO) - 783!!! I decided to apply for a card that I saw online as being one of the best cards available, but required "excellent credit" - the American Express Blue Cash Everyday (My first AMEX) I was approved instantly for $12,500!!
So two things to everyone here rebuilding their credit: 1. Set a goal and stick to it - it really feels great to make progress and finally pay off that last card. 2. Think of destroying and rebuilding your credit as an amazing learning process - you will likely never get into that kind of mess again once you see what issues it can cause.
Good luck to everyone!!
Starting Score: 583 (CreditKarma, 2009)
Awesome Job! Congratulations on your success and thanks for sharing your story.