Hello people,
In a series of AMA's we are going to be having, today, we are going to have user @Broke_Triathlet on and he will be taking questions about his credit decisions, why he join myFico, what he has learn, what he likes, what he doesn't like etc. Feel free to ask any questions especially thought provoking one's but be polite about it. The first goal of the AMA is not to be judgemental but rather why we on the board arrive at certain decisions that some people think are insane.
The second goal is to use this as a learning process and also to help new people joining th board so that they don't make certain bad decisions.
DONT'S: Please, no snarky comments. Lets respect the user and let's get started
I will get us started.. @Broke_Triathlet, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I'm a 31 year old male that really didn't care much about credit until the last 5-6 years. Before college I never even knew what a credit report was. My dad had me go to a stupid expensive private college and had me take loan after loan out. I didn't even care about going to college. He used to be financially secure so he promised to take care of my loans, he just wanted me to get through college. He used to own 20 rental properties and was doing very well. Boy was I an ignorant SOB. I paid no attention to anything... A few years after graduating college I was being sued from BOA, Progess Energy, Brighthouse, etc. The only problem is I had no clue about these issues. To my amazement I was being sued for just over $100,000 in miscellaneous debts. Long story short it turned out the cause of this was my father. You see, while I was at college he opened up several credit cards, utilities (for his properties), and lines of credit. I wasn't receiving any bills, statements, etc because he was having everything mailed to the house when I was not present.
Once I pulled a credit report for the first time in 2012 I was amazed!! I had collections (didn't even know what the accounts were), late payments on my student loans (still haunting me today) among several other issues. I couldn't believe what was going on...
Due to that, I had to file for a Chapter 7 in 2012, which was discharged March of 2013. There was no way I could recover because as a recent graduate and I had a really hard time getting a job. I double majored and a minor but I couldn't get my foot in the door with large firms because I didn't have experience and I was over qualified in starter positions because of my degrees. So I was damned if I do, damned if I don't. So I took a contractor job (not blackwater) in Afghanistan for a year to try to get me a headstart on my debt, but it was to no avail.
It's been very frustrating because I was forced into something that I'm going to pay for the next 7 years. I didn't get a fair start coming out of college, but all you can do is take it all in and move on. I do believe he planned on keeping everything up to date, but it didn't turn out that way.
With that said, I'm improving nicely and starting to make some headway. Because of my savings rate I'm not worried about money even with my very modest income, have some investments going, and heading in the right direction. The boards have been a great knowledge base for me and I look forward to help out other people here who were in a couple pairs of old shoes that I used to walk around in.
I'm an open book so ask me anything...
Personal:
Checking in and welcome Broke_Triathlete!
@Anonymous wrote:
i have seen you give decent advice here and there. at what point did you "gain confidence" in giving decent answers? did you learn one category at a time or just a little here and there overall?
Thank you. I love knowledge so I really try to spend a lot of time learning about stuff! I started to "gain confidence" once I started having people asking me about what they should do with their situations whether it was a friend, family member, coworker or a friends friend. I actually have some "clients" I work with frequently. By "client" I mean friends that I spend an hour or two a week teaching them about what I've been through, how this affects your credit, how that does. It's amazing how little knowledge people have sometimes that can really affect their lives. But I was once there even way after I became an adult, even into my mid 20's. I have a friend that didn't realize that credit apps are a hardpull, or even what an inquiry is.
@Anonymous wrote:Wow, what an intense introduction. My first question of many is, how was your dad able to get all those credit in your name? Did he add you on his accounts at an early age for you to have a good profile?
Yea actually once I turned 18 he really started to build my credit for me. I did have a few cards prior to all of this (with a few nice limits) which were in good standing and closed prior to my BR. I had a few Dell computers financed for the house and college, amongst other things. I was in the mid 700's prior to all of this, according to him. So he did build a credit "castle" that he ending up demolishing in the end. I don't think he did that intentionally though. He's a good man that was in a bad spot and made a horrible investment. I'm confident in saying that he didn't have bad intentions, however I did get rail roaded. Which he still brings up and apologizes to this day.