I've been a long time reader of this site and have used the information to drastically change my credit situation. When I was in college I received tons of pre approval letters in the mail for various cards and started opening credit cards from almost all of the major banks. I completely got over my head and didn't know what I was doing which led to me defaulting on over 10 credit cards, 2 student loans and a few other things by the time I was 19. The only card that survived the mess was my Macy's card with a measly $100 limit. About 2 years ago I became serious about fixing my credit situation and began to research how I could raise my scores (which were in the mid 500's at the time) I started writing goodwill letters to every negative thing showing on my credit report. I also applied for a Capital One Quicksilver One and was instantly approved for a $300 limit. This was the first positive change in my credit situation. I used the card for literally everything and paid it off several times during the month spending far over the $300 limit per month. Over time I was able to get several CLI and now the card has a $7000 limit. I was also able to PC the card to the regular Quicksilver with no annual fee thanks to the info on this site. During that same time I was able to successfully raise my Macy's limit from $100 to $6700. Next I was added as an authorized user on an AMEX PRG and heavily used that card spending over $27,000 on it last year. After using the AMEX for a year I logged into my AU account and applied for my own PRG and Platinum card and was approved for both!! I was shocked because at the time my scores on all 3 reports was around 627. I was then able to get approved for a Discover IT secured card with a $1000 limit. This week marks my final credit card goal with my CSP. I applied last week and got the 7-10 day message. I called and was told I was denied due to a previous negative relationship with them in 2008. I called the recon and was asked a few questions then the person submitted my application for recomsiderstion and told me I would either get a denial letter or the card in 7-10 days. Every day I called the automated message and kept getting the 7-10 day message so I thought it was denied based on what people here said about the 7-10 day message vs 30 day or 2 week message. Well to my surprise I come home yesterday and a CSP with a $5000 limit was in my mail!! So with the help of this forum in 2 years I was able to go from a mid 500 credit score with tons of collections to scores ranging from 670 - 720, get all but one negative account removed from my reports by sending goodwill letters and get approved for all of the cards I wanted that made sense for me (AMEX PRG, AMEX Platinum, Discover IT and Chase Sapphire Preferred)
