Greetings all, absolutely love reading this page! Lots of good advice. I wish I knew about it sooner. Here is the scoop.
got myself into a ton of credit card debt over the past 10 years since that first wonderful "...0% for 12 months.." offer came in the mail. Since then, it has been a constant cycle of paying a card off, transfering a new balance to it, etc. It's vicious! But I am glad to say I think I am getting somewhere.
My goal - Mortgage (Currently renting as I relocated, but I still have a home in another state that I cannot sell, it's occupied by family..), Possibly a new car within the next year or two. Currently, my debt to income ratio is 24% Not including rent or revlolving credit cards, which honestly, I hope to have paid off in a few months! (10k or so balance..).
In May of 2015 - I took out a loan for around 11k to pay off two large balance credit cards. But, guess what? I managed to fill them again!
In October of 2015 - I did credit counseling through Freedom Debt for approximately $23,000. (The payment for this is included in my D2I ratio..)
I am gainfully employed and simply, want to get a hold of my finances and have a strong credit profile. A few months ago, I drew a line in the sand and started taking action by paying more on my credit cards, spending less on things that are not useful, and I also enrolled in credit repair. So far, here is my situation.
Started in March of 2017 -
Experian was 570
Transunion was 575
Currently -
Experian is 612
Transunion is 596
I have yet to check Equifax.
First concern - Credit Karma, which I know is not reliable and uses a vantage score, says TU is at 545 and EFX is at 570.. Should I be concerned about this?
Basically the big concern is getting a mortgage. How difficult will it be to get a second mortgage even though I have never been late on my current mortgage, and the new mortgage would be replacing rent? Is that taken into consideration??
I have had SEVERAL late payments removed! And a few collections (Medical..) i have never had a late payment to my current car payment or my mortgage! After the late payments are removed, the company I am working with is going to focus on the writeoffs/chargeoffs listed on my credit report as the credit cards that I defaulted on and that I included in my credit counseling. I know you can do this yourself - But does anyone have a suggestion on a really strong company with a great record that I can join to do this for me? Time is my biggest thing, I just dont have it.
Any other feedback is accepted and appreciated! Thanks all!
