topic Re: My Crazy Credit Year - Wow Just Wow in Credit Card Approvals

My Crazy Credit Year - Wow Just Wow

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 15:40:24 GMT

So I had spent the past 5 years (2010-2015) in student loan default, had NO credit in my name etc. Finally in 2014 I decided to seek out rehab of my student loans (some of which were with sallie mae, the others with the NJ higher education authority). I had a wage garnishment from the NJ Higher Education Authority, and a sub 500 Credit score. I had no personal credit just one Chase freedom that was opened in 2011 by my mother for my use with a $5k limit. I was an AU on that card.

I was living a cash only life, and had stored away some cash, bc I actually had a decent job but had no credit whatsoever currently. I had a few cards in college that I of course maxed out and struggled to pay off after I cut them up and the accounts were closed, but no other personal credit than that.

By May of 2015 I had Paid the NJ Higher Education Authority off in full (had 6k left on 20k of loans) - this still appears on my credit as a paid charge off first reported Nov of 2009. Plus I had rehabbed my other loans (28k worth) and navient had picked up the defaulted student loans.

Around this time I got an offer for a govt job that required checking my credit as part of the background check, so I found this site and this forum, and after reading this I decided to attempt a very agrressive rebuild.

It all started with a mailer for a Capital One Platinum card. I responded to the mailer and was approved for a 3k SL.

I got the next mailer in aug - this time from USAA and was approved for a 5k WWP Mastercard.

After that I really started reading around these forums and well thats when everything exploded and I basically went on a credit rampage.....

Here's the complete timeline, ending with my last card today....

6-12-15 – Approved for Capital One Platinum 3k SL (my first card in 10 years)

8-11-15 – Approved for USAA WWP Mastercard – 5k SL

8-27-15 – Approved for Amex Platinum NPSL

9-1-15 – Bumped Capital One Platinum SL to 5k via CLI Button

9-2-15 – Approved For Chase Slate 5k SL

9-4-15 – Approved for Capital One Quicksilver 5k SL

9-17-15 – Approved BOA Travel Rewards $3k SL

9-29-15 – Approved AMEX PRG – NPSL

10-5-15 – Approved Capital One Venture $20k SL

10-7-15 – Approved Bank of America Cash Rewards $3k SL

10-19-15 Approved Chase Freedom $5.5k SL

10-28-15 – Approved Barclays Arrival + $3.5k SL

11-05-15 – Double Apped for 2 additional Capital One Ventures – Approved $15k SL Each

11-06-15 – Approved - DCU Platinum Visa - $7.5k SL

11-06-15 – Approved - Stash Hotel Rewards $8k SL

11-14-15 – Approved DCU Used Auto loan @ 2.99% - Total $23,495 (put 20k down on a 43k car)

12-12-15 – Capital One Auto CLI to 5.5k SL on Platinum

12-23-15 – Approved Chase United Mileage Explorer $9k SL

3-16-16 – Approved AMEX Business Gold Rewards – NPSL

4-11-16 – Approved Chase Ink Business Plus - $5k SL

5-1-16 - Combined Capital One platinum into First Venture – 25.5k new SL on Venture

5-8-16 – PC’d Chase Slate to Chase Freedom Unlimited

5-16-16 – Approved Amex Everyday $1k SL

5-20-16 – Barclays CLI to new 5.5k SL

8-5-16 – CLI’d Both BOA Cards to 5.5k SL each

8-16-16 – Approved Amex Blue Cash Everyday $2.5k SL (via email invite)

My current FICOS - if you believe the bank sites are - TU 704 EX 675 EQ 693

I have two "baddies" still left on my report - the one is that NJ higher Education loan - shows a paid charge off - it first reported Nov of 2009 so I HOPE it should come off Nov of 2016. This is on all 3 bureaus.

The second one was a judgement for $704 dollars from an old unpaid credit card account - I PAID the judgement in full years ago, I have disputed it with all 3 bureaus. TU removed it, the other two it stayed, (which explains the slightly higher TU fico) It is also from late 2009 so I'm hoping that it goes away by the end of the year. That should help me bump up to the 700+ mark on all 3 bureaus. I know I need to garden some, but ive clustered my inquiries so that they will all fall off somewhat simultaneously.

I have more credit at this point that I realistically NEED, but it's nice to have in an emergency. I've started to notice a couple things that indicate things are getting better. I was at SAMS club about a week ago, and the cashier told me I was pre approved for a sams club mastercard and did I want to apply. - I declined. The I was shopping on old navy online, and I guess I did an inadvertant shopping cart trick - and the you are pre approved for an old navy account came up.

Hopefully as these two baddies drop off and things age, I'll get well into the 700's.....

Take care,

George

Re: My Crazy Credit Year - Wow Just Wow

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 16:05:44 GMT

Wow. That's a good run. Congrats!

Re: My Crazy Credit Year - Wow Just Wow

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 16:23:58 GMT

Wow! In a nutshell - what an amazing rebuild! Time to garden, and let those already healthy CLs simmer!

Re: My Crazy Credit Year - Wow Just Wow

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 17:41:07 GMT

I am massively massively massively impressed.

You seem to hit the sweet spot every time you applied.

Did you ever get declined?

Are any of your approvals a prior decline?

You have to have a great income!

Re: My Crazy Credit Year - Wow Just Wow

Aduke1122 — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 17:47:47 GMT

Congrats on the rebuild , I have a question about your SLs that were rehabbed ..did they completely removed the bad Tradelines and replace with new ones or did they only remove the default status but not the lates , this seems to be a hit or miss , I am due to pay my Last rehab payment in a couple weeks and I'm pretty much done with my rebuild except for this which is majorly holding my scores back. Thanks

Re: My Crazy Credit Year - Wow Just Wow

fltireguy — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 17:59:01 GMT

OP.. have you tried for an EE from TU? If you dispute the baddie it should go away.. they generally will delete 6 months prior to aging off, if you dispute it as too old

Re: My Crazy Credit Year - Wow Just Wow

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 18:07:39 GMT

Bella,

If I remember correctly...

I got declined 5x. 3 of my approvals are prior declines.

First denial - Chase Freedom - Sept of 2015

First time I apped for the Freedom - it showed I was prequalifed - Went to recon - got some nasty offshore (foreign) lady who didnt want to hear it bc of some late payments on my student loans in 2013.

Re-applied a month later got the 7-10 day message, listened to the ppl here and left it alone. Got a letter in the mail a week later asking if it was really me that applied for the freedom and to call in. She had me do some security questions - including signing into my chase online accts and telling her last deposit date / amt etc and then said congrats you're approved. It ended up taking 2 HP's but I got the Freedom.

The ONLY chase approval I've had that was instant was the slate one. The rest have all taken days, sometimes weeks. United Mileage Explorer took 10 days and the way I found out I was approved was bc I logged into my online banking and saw the card there.

Second Denial - Barclays - first time I got denied for too many new accts - my scores were around the 650-660 mark at this point. Also Sept of 2015. Went online to their prequal site in nov - was qualified for the Arrival + so I put an app in, and somehow got a World Elite Mastercard with a 3.5k SL. It cost me ANOTHER hard pull to get the card, and a third to bump the limit to a measly 5500. I used the bonus (40k) plus another 20k in points I had earned to cover most of the cost of a rental car in Greece in June, so at this point, I'm almost considering closing the card.

I had I think 2 or 3 Amex Revolver Denials - One for delta and one or two for Every day - For the longest time they wouldn't give me a revolver. However with amex, there are no hard pulls unless it's an approval if you are already a member. When they FINALLY did give me a revolver - it started out with a 1k limit. I managed to double that, and also get the email invite to the Blue Cash Everyday - which they gave me a $2500 SL on today.

I have a goverment job that I make ~ 130k on depending on OT for the year and I have a business (used car dealership) and two rental properties (both commercial). Between personal and business expenses I've 70-80k through my cards this year. (This includes paying property taxes via card on two properties 1- my municipality accepts them directly online) I own my home outright (inherited from my late father) and this is the first car I've had a car loan on. Everything I've charged has been PIF and I've never carried a balance. I did BT around 5k of christmas expenses to my DCU card bc they offered a 0% bt with NO fee until july, but that was paid off by May.

I've come to the conclusion of trying to focus on Amex MR and Chase UR points for rewards. Capital one is great too bc they constantly mail me 0% balance transfer checks for 18 months for my cards - just in case I need to float a bigger purchase for a while. I still need to use the rewards on 2 out of 3 ventures. then I will combine them all into one 55,500 SL card.

I really want to do some horse trading with Chase but right now I think i'm on lockdown because of the 5/24 rule. I'm an AU on a 25.3k Sapphire preffered that my mom has (I got her into the getting the bonus thing a bit too). But what I really want is that new Sapphire Reserve Card that's coming out. I'd be willing to give up United Mileage Explorer and possibly freedom unlimited for it. (14k in cl's there). And I'd dump my amex platinum in exchange for this card. (I now have 5 amexes - 4 that earn MR's) so my points will be safe.

I have to admit I prob went at least a bit overboard, but I decided to see how far I could push the limits. I just got a discover mailer in the mail the other day. I have no interest in store cards bc they marry you to a single store, and the rewards programs are mediocre at best.

Re: My Crazy Credit Year - Wow Just Wow

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 18:18:37 GMT

fltireguy - No I haven't. I disputed the judgment as paid and it dissapeared on TU. I didnt try to dispute as too old, bc it was scheduled to come off in Nov - so it didn't cross my mind to try to push the issue until then. - should I do it now? And will this only work with TU or should I try all bureaus?

Aduke- My credit was kind of weird for a while with the SL's. I had 7 total loans that got rehabbed. All were under sallie mae. All had charge off status and a bunch of 180 day lates on them (claim filed with govt). The FIRST month after my rehabbed loans got picked up by navient - I had duplicate trade lines on my reports. I still had the old sallie mae lines, AND the new navient lines. After 60 or so days the old sallie mae lines dissapeared. for a while the navient lines showed current recent payments, and the old lates - mind you I had not made a payment in almost 6 years. I had hit a real rough patch of graduating from grad school just in time for the financial crisis to come front and center and leave me with no immediate meaningful job prospects. Currently my naivent lines show current payments since may of 15 and no history before that. BUT they capitalized all the prior accrued interest - which has an affect on my score. Like an original loan for 5k shows as the balance being 7k+ now, and I get a proportion of loan amounts to balances is high thing sometimes when I apply and they give you the reasons for your score being what it is.

Take care,

George

Re: My Crazy Credit Year - Wow Just Wow

AverageJoesCredit — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 18:19:01 GMT

Wow! How does one get approved for 13 credit cards within 4 months , and not with rinky dink limits, after only 3 months after getting first cc in 10 years.? That is truely astounding. That was true rampage many congrats on that. Yours would be an epic MyFico app spree hall of famer for sure Good luck on your continued credit journey i hope you can get those baddies off and reach your goals

Re: My Crazy Credit Year - Wow Just Wow

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 18:22:45 GMT

That is one Amazing Credit App Roller Coaster Ride Geoandroulakis!

This is literally the best Once Upon a Time credit rebuild story with an Amazing almost ending.

Please remember to fill me in, for that matter all of us in on when the big baddie wolf falls off!

Your scores are going to blow the house down. You really put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears!

Take a Bow Dear Geo!

You are my Credit Idol!

PS I think someone has to start a Credit Idol thread!

Re: My Crazy Credit Year - Wow Just Wow

Aduke1122 — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 18:29:12 GMT

Thank you for the reply , I am anxiously waiting to see how mine plays out .

Re: My Crazy Credit Year - Wow Just Wow

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 18:37:26 GMT

What an awesome portfolio you have! I've been rebuilding as well and have gotten some really good lines now. Realistically, with my 6 or 7 cards I have more credit than I will ever need as well. But it is noce knowing that if an emergency happens, it'll be OK. I'm nervous having as much credit as I do so I'm starting to rotate them monthly and PIF basically every week. I treat my plastic like a debit card and pay my balance on whatever card I'm using every single week so i don't over extend myself.

Are you carrying balances on any of these cards?

Re: My Crazy Credit Year - Wow Just Wow

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 18:51:49 GMT

AverageJoe - I think the realistic answer to how does one manage to open 13 credit cards in the span of 4 months after opening their first credit card in 10 years is simply exploiting or taking advantage of the delays in the credit reporting system. Bank A doesn't know what Bank B did yesterday. As far as most of these banks are / were concerned they were signing me up for my 2nd or 3rd credit card (as per my report at the time) not my 9th 10th or 11th. Once you get the cards and you start using them responsibly for the most part no one is going to take adverse action against you. After all they all want your business. I have heard horror stories where things have come crashing down like a house of cards for people with a lot of cards like me just because they missed a payment or two on one of the cards, so you really DO have to stay on top of it, and make sure everything is on time.

I guess that's the basic concept of an app spree - bang out a bunch of applications all at once - where the different lenders are blind as to what you have done with the others, and hope for the best, while bunching a bunch of inquires into a very small time frame so they all fall off within a short period of time of each other.

Capital One was a standout outlier in this. They gave me 60.5k in credit - and still aggressively try to pursue me using it by systematically mailing me 0% balance transfer checks for 18 months.

Ironically it seems both Chase and Capital One have really firmed up their lending policies. Chase has that 5/24 rule, and keeps putting more and more cards under it - possibly to discourage churning, as well as limit their exposure to people agressively seeking credit. Capital One now has a one per 6 month rule - I got 5 capital one cards in 5 months, and two cli's that netted out to a total of 60.5k in available credit from them. That would take 3 years now based on their newly implimented policies.

Mikey - 95% of the time I pay in full. I only carried a balance of around 5k on my DCU visa from January until May. I had about 5k in credit card bills for January due to the holidays and a small vacation I took, and DCU offered a no fee 6 month at 0% balance transfer right after the holidays. So I took advantage of it, and paid it off in 5 months. I may carry a bit of a balance ~ 4k on my capital one card using a balance transfer check. I have had my eye on a new breitling watch I want. I can afford to pay for it in cash, but capital one keeps sending me 18 month 0% transfer checks. So my thought was to pay for it with my chase freedom unlimited - getting the 6k or so UR points, then pay off the freedom with a cap one BT check. They have a 2% fee, but I think the 80 bucks is worth it to be able to pay it off over time.

Take care,

George

Re: My Crazy Credit Year - Wow Just Wow

Aduke1122 — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 18:57:46 GMT

George just interested to know what your inquiries look like at this point ?

Re: My Crazy Credit Year - Wow Just Wow

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 19:11:29 GMT

Inquiries -

13 on TU, 9 on Equifax, 18 on Experian.

By December 10 of 13 on TU, 14 of 18 on Experian, and all the Equifax inquires will be over a year old.

TU:

New Inquiry A new inquiry has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:

Date Reported: 06/12/2015

New Account A new account has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:

Date Reported: 07/18/2015

New Inquiry A new inquiry has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:

Date Reported: 09/02/2015

New Inquiry A new inquiry has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:

Date Reported: 09/02/2015

New Inquiry A new inquiry has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:

Date Reported: 09/03/2015

New Account A new account has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:

Date Reported: 09/22/2015

New Inquiry A new inquiry has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:

Date Reported: 10/05/2015

New Inquiry A new inquiry has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:

Date Reported: 10/08/2015

New Account A new account has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:

Date Reported: 10/08/2015

New Inquiry A new inquiry has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:

Date Reported: 10/28/2015

New Inquiry A new inquiry has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:

Date Reported: 11/05/2015

New Inquiry A new inquiry has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:

Date Reported: 11/06/2015

New Inquiry A new inquiry has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:

Date Reported: 11/06/2015

New Account A new account has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:

Date Reported: 11/06/2015

New Account A new account has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:

Date Reported: 11/13/2015

New Account A new account has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:

Date Reported: 12/12/2015

New Account A new account has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:

Date Reported: 12/12/2015

New Inquiry A new inquiry has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:

Date Reported: 12/16/2015

New Account A new account has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:

Date Reported: 01/27/2016

New Inquiry A new inquiry has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:

Date Reported: 06/02/2016

New Account A new account has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:

Date Reported: 07/19/2016

New Inquiry A new inquiry has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:

Date Reported: 08/01/2016

Re: My Crazy Credit Year - Wow Just Wow

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 19:13:10 GMT

I have 13 on TU, 9 on Equifax, and 18 on Experian.

By December 10 of 13 on TU, 14 of 18 on Experian, and all 9 Equifax inquiries will be over a year old. (supposedly when they stop affecting scoring)

George

Re: My Crazy Credit Year - Wow Just Wow

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 19:17:46 GMT

Here's the whole build from a reporting perspective:

Transunion:

New Inquiry A new inquiry has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:	Date Reported: 06/12/2015
New Account A new account has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:	Date Reported: 07/18/2015

New Inquiry A new inquiry has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:	Date Reported: 09/02/2015
New Inquiry A new inquiry has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:	Date Reported: 09/02/2015

New Inquiry A new inquiry has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:	Date Reported: 09/03/2015
New Account A new account has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:	Date Reported: 09/22/2015

New Inquiry A new inquiry has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:	Date Reported: 10/05/2015
New Inquiry A new inquiry has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:	Date Reported: 10/08/2015

New Account A new account has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:	Date Reported: 10/08/2015
New Inquiry A new inquiry has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:	Date Reported: 10/28/2015

New Inquiry A new inquiry has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:	Date Reported: 11/05/2015
New Inquiry A new inquiry has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:	Date Reported: 11/06/2015

New Inquiry A new inquiry has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:	Date Reported: 11/06/2015
New Account A new account has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:	Date Reported: 11/06/2015

New Account A new account has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:	Date Reported: 11/13/2015
New Account A new account has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:	Date Reported: 12/12/2015

New Account A new account has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:	Date Reported: 12/12/2015
New Inquiry A new inquiry has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:	Date Reported: 12/16/2015

New Account A new account has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:	Date Reported: 01/27/2016
New Inquiry A new inquiry has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:	Date Reported: 06/02/2016

New Account A new account has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:	Date Reported: 07/19/2016
New Inquiry A new inquiry has appeared on your credit report. Here are the details of this inquiry:	Date Reported: 08/01/2016

Re: My Crazy Credit Year - Wow Just Wow

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 19:20:32 GMT

Bella- Credit Idol - ahahahhahaha as long as I don't have to sing!

Take care,

George

Re: My Crazy Credit Year - Wow Just Wow

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 19:22:50 GMT

Wow, is right. One of the best rebuilds I've seen on this site. Time to farm in the garden as they say. Congrats!!

Re: My Crazy Credit Year - Wow Just Wow

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 20:23:10 GMT

Good job @geoanddroulakis! you have definitely been busy! As the others say, watch them grow