Has anyone else completed their Credit Journey?

[Openwater]

I feel like I have completed my credit journey... I began with my BK7 in September of 2014.... I was at 0.... Nothing in my wallet but a debit card.

2014 DW added me as an AU on an Apple Barclay card, which I still have PC to simple rewards card.

2015 DW added me as AU on an Amex Blue Cash

2017 I added a Barclay rewards card

2018 Kohls card.

2019 I joined this forums, and was educated to rebuilding more efficiently.

2019 Local Credit Union Visa

           Discover IT

           Capital One Quicksilver

2020 AMEX BCP

            Apple Card

2021 Penfed PCR

2022 Amex Hilton Aspire

2023 Chase Amazon Visa

           Amex Bonvoy

2024 Citi AA Platinum

           Citi AA Executive

2024 I have a total of 15 credit lines 2 of which are AU.

Total Credit Line of 230K.

BK7 has come off of TU, and EX. Hopefully EQ next month. I have continued to lurk and search for cards and nothing has peaked my interest. I don't see myself applying for new a new credit card, as I have cards that cover all the categories that purchase in. For the first time I feel like I'm complete. After next month I should be BK free and stacked up just to keep in the 800 club.

A big thanks to all that have guided me and helped answer my questions. I am looking forward to continuing to be part of the community and hopefully helping out as I was helped.

So to come back to the beginning, does anyone else feel complete with their credit journey? Satisfied with what they have, and not looking for more?

[keekers]

I feel like I'm done rebuilding, yes, however I still have a couple goals in mind so I guess my journey isn't quite complete. In the coming year or so I will end up (hopefully) with one or two more cards and cutting my total cards down to about 6 or so. I think that's when I'll feel like I'm done with my journey. Time is the only thing holding me back from the 800 club.

[xenon3030]

How can somebody complete a credit journey? We are at the middle of the journey to optimize CB, points and earn SUB. If a new promising card intercepts market, it is a good time to go for it.

[Anonymous]

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@Openwater wrote:

Satisfied with what they have, and not looking for more?

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"Satisfied with what they have"

Sure, I am unequivocally satistied with what I have.

"not looking for more?"

Nope, not looking for any mo..

"New card released? Cool, what is it? Is it shiny??!!??"

[IsambardPrince]

My bk7 is....*sigh*...a lot fresher, but approximately halfway into its aging process.

Relationships, you know... My ex had more red flags than China and I should have just been paying more attention to extricating myself from that situation. Instead, I took on a lot more debt, involving the ex.

Away from corrupting influence, I'm actually quite good with money. I let someone get in my head and make me ridiculous, and now I get to spend the proverbial 40 years in the desert.

I don't know. My FICO score was recovering quickly and in the last year it's gone up like maybe 10-15 points. I made a lot of progress really quickly, and it seems like maybe I just frontloaded a lot of what other people accomplish and now it's plateaued for a while and will need to wait a while. I'm thinking that there will probably(?) (anyone?) be a surge when the bankruptcy accounts fall off in 2026. The way I understand it, that's what primarily determines the amount of damage and once those fall off, the bankruptcy itself may just be holding me down 40-50 points by then. I'm guessing that without the bankruptcy accounts as a factor, I'd be back up to 740 or 750 across the board.

My strategy has just been "Don't get any fresh ones." and "Watch what happens to my spouse's credit, because if his gets ruined we won't qualify for anything good."

It's been difficult. Some of those scummy medical bill collectors (Quest Diagnostics) started reporting some unpaid lab bills on his files several years ago and they were bills his insurance should have covered. Nobody even presented us with a statement saying we owed anything, they just sent statements to his doctor's office, and then nobody in the doctor's office told us we owed anything, and then after a bunch of fighting and arm wrestling, the collection agency sent them back to the original creditor and they sent them to insurance, and insurance paid, and they all got deleted.

It's really hard because at the same time, I was dealing with fresh post-bankruptcy fallout of my own, including some creditors continuing to report negative marks on bankruptcy accounts after the filing, and another one that was still trying to illegally pursue me and kept claiming that they had no knowledge of a bankruptcy and it was up to me to prove I did get a discharge (Quest Diagnostics). The Illinois Attorney General kindly reached out to them and they dropped it.

I learned a lot about bankruptcy including why I never want that to happen again. It's not just ruined credit, it's that there's a lot of debt collectors out there who are so unscrupulous or incompetent that they ignore the discharge and still try to work the account. "It was a court order, not a request." is what I finally told Quest Diagnostics before going to the AG.

I can see why FICO is starting to change its attitude about medical collections. Most of them just shout over you when you inform them of a mistake and put some things on your credit report or threaten a bankrupt.

[IsambardPrince]

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@xenon3030 wrote:

How can somebody complete a credit journey? We are at the middle of the journey to optimize CB, points and earn SUB. If a new promising card intercepts market, it is a good time to go for it.

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I think we've bitten off too much for the time being. My spouse apparently did something to make AmEx put him in pop-up jail although I have no idea what it was. I always pay our statements on time and in full and we've only got one account with them and in good standing.

It said there were a list of reasons it could be and none seemed applicable to us. Although, I've heard some people say that their "algorithm" decided you're "not a valuable customer" if you've basically been grazing on the rewards categories, and I admit that's what our card activity has been. It's almost 100% grocery category (6%), aside from the occasional Offer, and they've given us two SUBs (one for BCE, another $150 for the upgrade). So it's possible that "not a valuable customer" means the bank is bleeding like a sieve on this account because we're maxing out their most expensive rewards and never paying them interest.

You don't actually have to start making late payments or default or anything to make them not like you. If their swipe fee is 3% or so and all you ever dip into really is a 6% category, and they've paid you two SUBs on the same account, you've done something almost as bad. You're still costing them money, but not in a way where they can take action against your credit file. Even if they get a $95 annual fee out of us eventually it won't put them back in the black again.

They have not threatened to close our account or anything. In fact, they recently raised the CL substantially.

I'm going to slam the application brakes for a while, maybe prune some less desirable cards at other banks, and see if I can make AmEx like us again somehow.

[ptatohed]

Not sure I have ever had a 'credit journey'.  I just know I have been enjoying the credit 'ride' since I was 18.  And no signs of stopping enjoying the ride any time soon.       

[unsungivy]

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@xenon3030 wrote:

How can somebody complete a credit journey? We are at the middle of the journey to optimize CB, points and earn SUB. If a new promising card intercepts market, it is a good time to go for it.

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I feel like you can't "complete" the journey because the cards you have already will almost certainly change. They may get nerfed, bought out, increase the AF to uselessness for you, or simply overhaul in a way that messes up your line-up.

[MissLiz]

I have one to one and a half years before my rebuild is complete and my scorecard is clean. Once I've reached that goal, I have other credit objectives I aim to conquer. Since I've began my journey, I faced obstacles I didn't expect, so my strategy has shifted along the way. That tells me that my goals may change in a year, so who knows how long my journey may take?

[FicoMike0]

I'm still open to a good sub.