I just need to post because I'm proud of how far I've come in so little time. A year ago, I was denied for EVERYTHING, and scared to even check my scores, and pretty much had given into the idea my credit would never be anywhere near good. I began in May, with scores near 500 across all 3 CRAs, and with guidance from this forum, and opened a Cap1 Secured card with $250. In the past 11 months, I have learned patience, responsibility, and determination will pay off. I have achieved all this in a mere 11 months:
05/2015 - Cap1 Secured $250
11/2015 - Cap1 Platinum $500
12/2015 - Cap1 Secured CLI to $550
02/2016 - Cap1 Platinum CLI to $1500
03/2016 - Ford Motor Credit Red Carpet Lease ($20k / .05%)
03/2016 - Cap1 Platinum PC to QuickSilver + CLI to $3000
04/2016 - Amex Delta Sky Miles - $1000
04/2016 - Amex BCE - $9900
04/2016 - Citi Double Cash - $3500
04/2016 - Blispay - $2900
Total - $20,850 available credit
I *should* only have 8 INQs, but instead have 24, because the first Ford dealer I went to, neglected to hear that I ONLY wanted credit through Ford, and went on to run my credit all over America, except for, of course, Ford Motor Credit. Choose your car dealer wisely!
Since starting, my scores have climed to ~700 (exception: EQ-only bad item falling off in Aug). My wife and I plan to buy our frist home in 2018, and have had our plan to have $80k down for sometime, but never a plan for the credit necessary to obtain a quality mortgage. We're both on track now, thanks in large part to this forum! In the garden now until the mortgage applications start!
