I learned so much here and am still learning. Not to mention making friends and helping others. I love this place. 
A big thank you to everyone who contributes to our community in any way. I wish everyone a responsible credit journey.
Happy Holidays!
@Revelate wrote:Heh, so many reasons to be thankful for myFICO for me some of which have nothing to do with credit. Tried to give back where I could.
Ultimately there is a profound change in my life: back when I started if I didn't have cash for a something I just wouldn't have done it. Story time!
It started with my recent Tesla experience: I was expecting about a month before I got the car (and had to pay for it), newp, it came literally 5 days later and I had to cough up 11k cash on delivery after already floating the deposit on a CC.
Whoops. Gone are the days where I carried a non-trivial fraction of my typical salary in my checking account.
But I have credit now, and so I could float the cash and leverage a few tradelines I'd setup for cash access, and paid the 11k. This was after I had spent a bunch of extraneous money which is usually what happens when I start a new gig (new laptop and stuff for my certification lab), I try to optimize for the new phase of my life... and then realized I wasn't going to maximize my deductions so paid the second half of my property tax installment this year instead of next, added on top of all the expenses I floated while out of work that I really haven't made progress on.
Needless to say I had a cash shortfall and the 14k of credit card debt coming out of grace period soon. But wait, I now have credit and not even gold plated credit at that.
So I reoptimized: attempted to play reindeer games anyway with installment utilization so I took out a 20k loan from a CU, paid 10k of it right back, threw the rest at the CC debt while in the meantime dumping my old car on Carvana and now two weeks later where my first paycheck from the second job just landed in my account... and I basically turned the corner from a non-trivial expense just by being able to leverage my credit.
This is only the second time in the last decade I've had a cash flow issue, and last time I solved it with an APR that was nearly an order of magnitude higher than it was today... solving financial issues cheaply, priceless.
Runnin' credit checks with no shame: thank you myFICO.
Revelate that is a nice different angle to this! I can't say that I have had to deal with balancing around those amounts of cash like you did early on. That had to be wild, trying to do that with one on the way. But what you mentioned shows how many did not mess with credit cards and all, but once introduced to it, we found ways to incorporate it into our daily lives. You found ways to make it convenient in balancing out your overall situation. I certainly was an all cash guy, and would go cash my paychecks and straight up put it all in my wallet. So dangerous!
But somehow I was making it work, which I almost can't figure out to this day how. Meanwhile my credit sucked and honestly, for a long while I could've cared less.
@pizza1 wrote:
Im living proof of a great rebuild, (maybe a bit excessive, but still great nonetheless), and from bouncing back from a BK. I incognito lurked these forums for a whole year (in 2012), before getting the courage up to start posting.
During that year, (prior to me filing for BK), I had already found out so much information that when I began posting in 2013, I was able to start giving advice immediately.
Once I filed for my BK in 2013, I already knew exactly what I needed to do, so I was so much further ahead in the game, and if I had known then (years ago), what I know now, I may have been able to divert it all together.
Stumbling onto these forums was a blessing and a curse all at the same time, LOL
I owe my rebuild completely to this forum, and all the great members we have here. There are a few older members that don't really post anymore, but I definitely owe them big thanks for their contributions....
Not only that...Ive also made a few friends here too that we talk outside of these forums. This forum has been a part of my life every day for the last 6 1/2 years, and I don't see myself going anywhere either...even when my BK is off my records, and Im "perfect" again..lol
Pizza I am similar to you in that in the second half of 2012, that is when I lurked around just reading these forums. Then, just the same, I started things in motion with correcting my reports and getting cards for the first time. It's all been better from that point. You have come further though, coming off of a BK, which I did not experience. You are right, there is so much info you learn right from the beginning. I was amazed at what there was to know just dealing with the basics. There are great people here like you said, and that makes being around these forums even more cool.
@Anonymous wrote:I learned so much here and am still learning. Not to mention making friends and helping others. I love this place.
+1. That pretty much sums it up!
@_NERD wrote:A big thank you to everyone who contributes to our community in any way. I wish everyone a responsible credit journey.
Happy Holidays!
Thanks @_NERD. You menioned "in any way" and that is important. Even if someone with knowledge chimes in only once or twice, it is likely that they have helped many others who read their comment.
@ChessChik47 wrote:I definitely love this forum and value all of the members that make it what it is! I stumbled upon this place early 2017 and I feel like my life has changed dramatically. I'm lucky that I didn't have bad credit when I got here (did all that bad stuff while in college and then again in my late twenties - I guess it took me a while to learn the lessons, lol), but what I've learned on this forum has allowed me to get in a better (smarter) place financially. I now view credit cards as tools and treat them like debit cards unless I have a 0% purchase or balance transfer offer. I don't pay interest, which definitely saves me money. The knowledge one can gain by reading the threads is just amazing. I really appreciate you all sharing your stories and asking the questions that maybe some of us don't want to ask, but want to know the answer to. You all rock! Have a wonderful holiday season!!
That is good that at least when you found these forums, you weren't having to start from the bottom. There is a wealth of knowledge here as you mentioned, and it is incredible what it can do to change our situations for the better.