Just a word of warning - this post is indeed to share my recent success and share a little bit about my history on the rebuild road.
A very very quick back story: I had taken advantage of credit when I was young and didn't understand willpower and money management. A couple of years ago, I was approved for a car loan with an 18.99% interest rate (I know, ouch). This was in the very very beginning of me rebuilding. My credit score at the time (according to the stack of denial letters I got from company after company that the dealer ran) was around 545 (some a bit higher, some a bit lower, but right around there).
Then I found this forum. And I buckled down. And I started to see some huge imporvement in my score. I started to get approvals from big companys like Discover and Amex, with SL I never could have imagined. I found a willpower to rebuild without getting out of control with those lines, and continued to see my score rise.
So finally, it was time to get rid of that old loan, to finally get out from under the very last remanent of my bad credit. The car was starting to need repairs and I was underwater.
So I had the confidence to walk into a dealership, pick out a truck that I've always dreamed of having, and lease it for nearly the same monthly payment as my bad loan, and walk away from that car. I get to breathe a sign of relief that I am out from under that car, and when I'm done with this lease, I have freedom to make decisions that are not based on a car that's falling apart and dragging me under water. And the best part, while signing the paper work, the sales person congratulates me on having credit good enough to get top tier pricing.
And I owe that congratulations to this community. Thank you all for being so knowledgable and sharing that knowledge. I'm now able to pass this knowledge on and help my good friends start to rebuild as well.
Thank you all!
Edit: Just to add a note, so ya'll can see the increase. The score they pulled for the lease was 718.
