Overall, Score not that bad??

[EW800]

Greetings All --  

This is such a great community.  Thanks to all!  

The short story is that about two years ago my wife and I went through some very ugly issues in regard to my employment and being forcced to relocate to keep my employment.  Is was at the worst possible time to sell a home, so regretfully we lost the home to foreclosure.  Mortage comoany would not cooperate for a short sale, even with two cash offers...  The foreclosuere was finalied about 13 months ago.  It was a BIG hit to the credit scores obviously, however we came out of it determined to improve the scores as quickly as possible.  I made sure that nothing got paid late and did everythign humanly possible to bring down Util to about 9% or so (should be about 5% next month.  

We are now sitting with these scores:  Experian: 693   Equifax: 675  TU: 680.   I know these scores are not great, however I am thinking that with going through a foreclousre just slightly over a year ago, these scores really are not all that bad.  I honestly thought that it would be quite a few more years sto recover with the foreclosure being on the reports.  

I am just wonering how some of you feel.  Are these scores not really all that bad with the foreclosure being so recent?   For those that have been through this, did you find it not that difficult to bounce back afterward by trying to do everything else?  

Thanks everyone!  

[Shogun]

I would agree, you're not in that bad of shape.  Let things age a bit and your scores will creep upwards.

[EW800]

Shogun:  Congratulations on yor scores, especially with starting at 504!  You are my hero!  May I ask how long it took you to go from 504 to where you are today?  

[Shogun]

It took me about 9 months to jump to the 700's.  Thanks to my bit of OCD.  Since that, I decided I was not going back into the pits.  So I've strived to do absolutely everything I could to become more financially healthy.  I just can't explain the relief it is.  Not scared of credit like I had been for quite some time.  The money I save now in what seems just about everything is incredible.  I just paid off $11k worth of debt, and fixing to pay down some more.  All I will have left is one small car payment for the new car I bought my son, and my mortgage.

[EW800]

I am right there with you, Shogun.  We had hit our all time low with a few life issues taking place, however the day that the foreclosure was final, I made the committment to my wife and myself that we would do everything in our power to bounce back as quickly as possible.  For the last years, we have paid down everything we can, as quickly as we can.  As I mentioned previously, the scores actually turned around much quicker than I anticipated.  

The next 4 to 6 weeks will be interesting for us.  We will have literally $0 creidt card debt (will charge gas and such to still utilize, but will pay off each month), with just about six payments left on my wifes car.  I am hoping this will give us a bit more of a score bump, however I am not sure how much higher it can go this quickly, given that the foreclosure is still so recent.  

Feels very good to not be owened by the credit card companies anymore!