topic Re: What Do You Wish You Had Known Earlier in General Credit Topics

What Do You Wish You Had Known Earlier

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 07:32:59 GMT

Simple questions. We've all made mistakes. What's the thing you wish you had known when you started building or rebuilding your credit? What would you have done differently if you could go back?

Re: What Do You Wish You Had Known Earlier

Gmood1 — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 08:16:56 GMT

I would have started rebuilding sooner and not been afraid to be denied. If I had, my rebuild would be much further along.

Re: What Do You Wish You Had Known Earlier

Asilomar — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 09:40:56 GMT

I wish I’d understood AAoA and AoOA properly — along with their importance. To that end, I wish I had not closed the lame toy-limit cards I started with a decade ago (assuming they didn’t have an AF, which not all of them did) and had just SD’d them instead. AAoA requires a loooong passage of time for both optimal scoring AND to protect one from the deleterious effects new accounts.

But, I was a total dummy. I closed the crap cards and now my AAoA and AoOA are pitiful.

Re: What Do You Wish You Had Known Earlier

Jnbmom — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 10:09:48 GMT

Well first off I wish I didn't try to stay afloat for 2 years trying to rob peter to pay paul and just declared BK, but I tried so hard to keep paying.

And because of that I didn't apply for ANYTHING for years, so I wish I tried to start rebuilding earlier than I did, but I just felt after what had happened and having to declare BK, that cash was it for us and thats what I did for many years.

Re: What Do You Wish You Had Known Earlier

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 11:45:42 GMT

I wish I had started building credit earlier with a store card or something. At 30 I have no loans(can't drive, went to school free) and I've spent my entire life using cash/debit. Finally getting somewhere though

Re: What Do You Wish You Had Known Earlier

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 12:41:02 GMT

I wish knew it wasn’t smart To open so many cards just to open now I’m kinda stuck with them since it’s not smart to close an accounts🤷🏽‍♀️

Re: What Do You Wish You Had Known Earlier

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 12:45:51 GMT

Wish I had known how to play the credit game. Fought my way back from the dark hole and there was no guidance on the way. Did not know or use the internet to find ideas which would have been to my advantage. It would have been so much simpler.

Re: What Do You Wish You Had Known Earlier

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 12:49:54 GMT

I wouldn't have changed anything with respect to my rebuild.

What I would have changed prior to my rebuild was educating myself regarding credit basics. Doing so may have prevented me from getting into a tough spot originally and a rebuild may have never been necessary. Things like utilization. Many people like myself don't understand that high utilization is a bad thing for your profile. They think so long as you're making payments, you're fine. Not true. Also most people don't understand that a late payment can damage your credit file for 7 years. Heck, many don't even realize that late payments impact your credit report at all; many simply think they get a late fee from the creditor and move on with life. Just basic things like that I wish I had been more in the know about before I hit my low point.

Re: What Do You Wish You Had Known Earlier

dynamicvb — Wed, 13 Jun 2018 16:23:23 GMT

@Jnbmom wrote:
Well first off I wish I didn't try to stay afloat for 2 years trying to rob peter to pay paul and just declared BK, but I tried so hard to keep paying.

And because of that I didn't apply for ANYTHING for years, so I wish I tried to start rebuilding earlier than I did, but I just felt after what had happened and having to declare BK, that cash was it for us and thats what I did for many years.

I totally get this. I spent so much time trying to recover when I was really already BK. If I had not done everything to hold on for the 3 years then it would have been off my CRAs by now. I also did not apply for anything after the BK discharged when I probably should have gotten at least 1 secured card while in my re-payment plan as I would be in much better shape now.

The main thing is I wished it had occurred to me to do some research on credit and found this site before I did. A little knowledge is very useful and I've learned more about credit here in a few weeks than I knew in 30 years of paying bills. Well, they say hindsight is always 20/20 and all we can do is to move on from where we are at the moment.

Re: What Do You Wish You Had Known Earlier

iced — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 14:44:09 GMT

@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:
Simple questions. We've all made mistakes. What's the thing you wish you had known when you started building or rebuilding your credit? What would you have done differently if you could go back?

If I could do my 20s again, I would have not married a spender and instead moved into a tiny apartment so I could have maxed out my retirement savings every single year. It's credit-related because that relationship was a money pit that led to a BK and lots of debt that took over a decade to pay off.

Re: What Do You Wish You Had Known Earlier

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 14:48:09 GMT

@iced
If I could do my 20s again, I would have not married a spender and instead moved into a tiny apartment so I could have maxed out my retirement savings every single year. It's credit-related because that relationship was a money pit that led to a BK and lots of debt that took over a decade to pay off.

While I've never been married, I share some of your view on this. I wish I hadn't purchased a home in my young 20's. Everyone said it was a great thing to do (own instead of rent) especially at a young age. Had I stayed in a tiny apartment for another 5 years (say) I could have saved enough to purchase a "nice" home that I would have been happy with. Fast forward 15 years, I'm in my late 30's and still living in the tiny house (that I hate) that I bought in my young 20's. Due to the mortgage payments I'm unable to save much, so I've kind of been "stuck" and unable to make a move to a nicer house that I'd be happy with.

Re: What Do You Wish You Had Known Earlier

Kree — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 17:13:27 GMT

My first card was for a jewerly store. I only signed up because they were giving out a 50 dollar gift card. I didn't even know if I would be approved or not. It closed a few years later from lack of use, and I never even spent the gift card.

If that card had been somewhere useful and I had actually used it occassionally my AoOA would be 18 years instead of 12, and my AAoA would be a tad bit higher too.

Actually I wish I had opened up 3 card back then. I might be at 850s right now (or very close to it) if I had.

Re: What Do You Wish You Had Known Earlier

outofcredit — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 17:44:46 GMT

I wish I had understood how deferred student loans keep accumulating interest. The interest on my still open student loans is more than the original loans started out at so very many, many years ago. Neverending debt.

Re: What Do You Wish You Had Known Earlier

SouthJamaica — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 18:06:47 GMT

@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:
Simple questions. We've all made mistakes. What's the thing you wish you had known when you started building or rebuilding your credit? What would you have done differently if you could go back?

At the beginning of my rebuild I was misled by Credit Karma into thinking that the more credit cards I had, the higher my credit scores would be. Buying into that, I wound up getting turned down for some of the credit products I would most have enjoyed having, on the grounds of recent inquiries, new accounts, too much recent credit, etc.

What I would have done differently is build more slowly and selectively.

Re: What Do You Wish You Had Known Earlier

Subexistence — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 18:12:45 GMT

I would have applied for BBR, Discover Secured, and SSL when I turned 18.

I would have hit my 800 goal sooner.

Instead this happened https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Secumd-scammed-me-into-making-new-accounts-which-hurt-my-credit/td-p/4799423

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Relationships-and-Money/My-parents-never-made-me-an-Authorized-User/td-p/4826766

Re: What Do You Wish You Had Known Earlier

Subexistence — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 18:17:02 GMT

@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:
Simple questions. We've all made mistakes. What's the thing you wish you had known when you started building or rebuilding your credit? What would you have done differently if you could go back?
At the beginning of my rebuild I was misled by Credit Karma into thinking that the more credit cards I had, the higher my credit scores would be. Buying into that, I wound up getting turned down for some of the credit products I would most have enjoyed having, on the grounds of recent inquiries, new accounts, too much recent credit, etc.

What I would have done differently is build more slowly and selectively.

Did CK pull this dirty trick on you?

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Why-Credit-Karma-manipulates-quot-payment-history-quot/m-p/5265195/highlight/true#M261967

Re: What Do You Wish You Had Known Earlier

SouthJamaica — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 22:18:20 GMT

@Subexistence wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:
Simple questions. We've all made mistakes. What's the thing you wish you had known when you started building or rebuilding your credit? What would you have done differently if you could go back?
At the beginning of my rebuild I was misled by Credit Karma into thinking that the more credit cards I had, the higher my credit scores would be. Buying into that, I wound up getting turned down for some of the credit products I would most have enjoyed having, on the grounds of recent inquiries, new accounts, too much recent credit, etc.

What I would have done differently is build more slowly and selectively.
Did CK pull this dirty trick on you?
https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Why-Credit-Karma-manipulates-quot-payment-history-quot/m-p/5265195/highlight/true#M261967

I never noticed, it wouldn't have been meaningful to me, since I didn't have late payments in my record.

Re: What Do You Wish You Had Known Earlier

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 22:24:55 GMT

@SouthJamaica
I never noticed, it wouldn't have been meaningful to me, since I didn't have late payments in my record.

I believe that SE was referencing the CK manipulation of "the more accounts the better" graphic rather than the payment history fluff chart in this example.

Re: What Do You Wish You Had Known Earlier

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Jun 2018 17:48:36 GMT

There's not much I could ahve done differently my first time, it was a medical issue which lead to being out of work and endless expense.

My second go, would be inquiries. For the longest time, I stayed at only 2-4 per year. As was suggest by a someone at the time. Looking back and knowing they don't factor that much into your score, and that they are only relevant for 6 months. I would have apped little more early in my rebuild phase, which would have lead to higher AOAA. That is the biggest pull on my CR.

Second would be the 2-3 card myth, or at least a better info on how to utilize that method.

Third would have been aquiring the right cards earlier, such as Amex etc. For the longest time I didn't now what I could get with my then current score, so I stayed with those like Merrick, Orchard Bank etc. longer tha I should have. It wasn't until later and CK that I became more informed.

In short, I wish I had found this place much sooner. Even just 2 or 3 years ago would have been a boost.

Re: What Do You Wish You Had Known Earlier

Trudy — Thu, 07 Jun 2018 19:55:12 GMT

Like many here, AAoA, utilization and late payments. I was late to the credit card game, luckily able to avoid the college pitfall when they gave kids their first credit card while away from home and broke....sounds like a great idea. But I managed to screw up any way. Late, but always paid. At my worst with late payments I closed accounts. Although my AAoA is 12+ years it could have been longer.

I too wish I knew about this site at the beginning of my rebuilding. Wouldn't have taken so long as I see people with collections who drastically raised their scores within a year. With lates being my only derogs (30 and 60 and one 90). Ultilization killed me until I started my rebuild and paid all my cards off, except 1. I was so looking forward to making that last payment to have 0% utilization when I found a thread that said that would hurt my score Now I'm just a credithead, addicted to continued learning (and a little manipulation).