I'm 24 - made poor credit decisions when I was 18 & approved for multiple lines of unsecured credit with no problemo! I had approx. $1,500 in credit cards before I ever finished my first semester of my senior year in high school. However, that doesn't mean I was responsible! haha OBVIOUSLY!
SO, I didn't make payments on two of them - was late on the third and my mom agreed to pay that one off because they called her to let her know it was past due :/ Anyway, I paid off one of the others. Still, from 2008 - I have ONE initially $500 CL card that I have NOT paid off and have been told it wouldn't even be WORTH paying off because it would renew that card's activity (nothing since 2008) and would not impact my score too well.
Flash forward to July of 2013, I decide to finally apply for some new credit. Keep in mind at that point, I had ZERO revolving credit because the only cards I'd had were the ones I got in high school. Anyway, Capital One partially secured with a $200 CL ( and $99 fee) card and Credit One Secured ($300) were both granted to me. I made the mistake of applying to CapOne for a QuickSilverOne card about a month later because my score jumped from 576-591 on EQ then my FACO on CK jumped from 571-639 (yes, that's for real how it jumped just upon GETTING the cards - no payments or cycles YET at THAT point) and was declined. Back then I didn't get it - now I do!
I've never missed a payment since I got these cards, I always pay at least the minimum. The only thing I will say is that SOME months I have very high utilization and some months, almost NONE. I am working on continuing with the ALMOST NONE trend! LOL!
ANYWAY - at the end of December, I received a $100 CLI from Capital One (I had deposited $50 a few months prior to increase my credit line myself lol) WITHOUT requesting it. Even though this is not MUCH, I still feel good that I got SOMETHING, ya know? To not even ask, I was good with that!
My EQ FICO now is at 618 and CK score at 629 (dropped the first month I had high utilization and hasn't gone above 629 now 
). I wanted to get a new car this year - but I may wait until next year so I can have a longer positive credit history and some DQs/negative history should fall off...but I want to improve my score. Should I seek more CLIs from Capital One and/or new forms of credit? I spoke to Wells about a secured loan to boost my score a little bit and diversify, we talked about using that loan as a down payment on a used auto loan at USAA possibly. ANYWAY - ANY advice would be GREATLY appreciated! My fiance and I are getting married in the next few months and he has almost NO credit - so, I want us to grow credit together 
MY ULTIMATE GOALS:
-Improve my scores to around 700 across the board!
-Get approved for at least 1-2 new cards with at least a $1K limit
-Get approved for a brand new car auto loan with reasonable interest
Starting Score: 618 EQ / 629 CK
Even though I'm 30 years old now, like so many of you, the credit world was not known to me at an early age (as in when I graduated from high school and started college). Most of my trials and learning experiences were of my own with no one elses guidance. However, I quickly realized what I wanted in life and I knew I needed decent credit to get it. After several years of research by googling, signing up with credit repair companies, reading letter after letter regarding goodwill intervention, hard inquiry removal, pay for delete, etc ..and going through most FTC, FCRA, and other goverment regulations I know exactly how to get the score I want now. If I knew then what I know now, I would be in a better place.
What I can say is that I got my first auto loan right after high school graduation in June 2001, purchased my first home in May 2006, sold that same home in November 2013, got my first decent credit cards (Citi Thankyou 4700 and Citi Diamond 3800 , and Discover More 3000) in December 2012. I'm in the process of preparing myself for a construction loan and I would like to have a credit score of at least 720 across the board.
On another note: My credit score decreased when B of A reported the mortgage acct as closed because it was my oldest account Other than that, I am glad to have it paid and closed. My credit card debt is quite low, not quite 10% uti but low indeed. I have a balance of 450 on both Citi cards and a balance of 900 on Discover. Everything else is at 0. I look forward to all words of wisdom and any advise you may have. And i'll do the same..
New to my fic although have been watching my ck score for about 6 months. so that is where my starting score was from. been doin all i can to raise my scores. good luck everyone.
Starting Score: all below 561Hi everyone! I came across the myfico community a couple of weeks ago while researching scenarios that were affecting my credit score. My fiance and I just applied for a mortgage and hit a major road block when the results came back that my credit scores are incredibly low. I had a EQ- 599 mid-score, EX- 574, and TU-629. I only have 4 credit cards with balance/limits ratios of 50/1200 (Barclay), 11/1200 (Cap One Secured), 0/300 (Kohls), and 0/175 (Emblem). The main reason my scores are so low is becasue I have 2 collections from broken leases that happened 6 and 5 years ago and a very recent collection account for an ETF from Sprint that I stupidly let go in to collections because I refused to pay them a fee to break my contract when they gave me nothing but crappy service. Now Im payiing for it big time though....
My long term goal is to get all 3 of my Fico scores up past at lest 700, ideally 720. I know however that the only way that is going to happen is for me to keep my utilization low on all of my cards, don't make a lot of inquiries, and just let the collections age off. In the meantime though I have to do whatever I can to try to get to at least a 640 before we can even think about moving forward with a mortgage loan.
In 2013 and early 2014 I added three new credit cards and my current total credit limit is $14750.
I have 4 hard inquiry on my credit report, so I will be gardening until 12/31/2015, and only ask for CLI with soft pulls, or wait for automatic CLI.
My 2014 goal:
- Have a combined CL of $30000+
- Credit score 750+
My update my scores had reached as high as 715 and 730 but recent negatives have been added so I contacted Lexington law to help me challenge/remove negatives. 10 negatives one removed so far
Taking the myFICO Fitness Challenge this year...
2014 goals are...
- raise my scores all above 620 (first goal only... baby steps)
- open two secured credit cards
- maintain below 20% utilization if not PIF monthly
- send PFD letters to 9 collections on my credit report
- pay 2 recent collects with low balances PIF to remove from my credit ($166 and $88)
- qualify for a FHA loan of amiable terms - purchase a home and no longer rent!
If I can do both (house and car), I'd like to refinance my existing car loan. The current interest rate is 16.35%. I'd like to cut that in half at the very least...
Hello,
I am new the the forum and so glad I found it because I have learned alot of information about having credit. I have had many ups and downs with credit. I am on the up and plan on staying that way. I would like to increase my score for this challenge and buy my first home. I hope to achieve a good credit score and lose some of my inquires. I just discovered last November that someone would extend credit to me so since then I have acquried a Chase Mastercard, American Express Green, Military Star, Navy Credit Union eRewards visa. I am looking forward to when I make it into the 700 hundreds.
