the first time in about 15 years or more! Not one! There is light at the end of the tunnel for those that are struggling with credit. I was shocked to find out yesterday after using the 20% MYFICO coupon to purchase a report that a 30-day baddie was removed by First Premier, in less than two weeks after making the request! Also, a 7-year old student loan, 120 day baddie fell off a couple months early as well!
Result: I am in utter shock over my FICO scores now: TU-790, EXP-779, EQ-774. A jump of about 50-60 points each.
When that MYFICO transaction went through, I thought I was seeing things. I could not believe it! You know the deal. We are always anxious about the results of pulling a report because of the arduous process many of us have been through, waiting, expecting, for an unpleasant surprise while the transaction is being processed. It has been a long, tough road toward a clean report for many of us. Abridged version of my story: Okay, maybe not. First, numbers: I had no idea what my credit score was at the outset. Until, that is, I discovered this forum several years ago. Desparately needing a car and not enough cash to buy a reliable one, a dealer financed a "certified, pre-owned" vehicle for me. With Chase, believe it or not. The manager went at it with Chase to get me the loan. He said my score was 612 at that time. Don't know whose score that was, probably a dealer score. This was after making decent headway on cleaning things up. A guesstimate of my score was probably low to mid-500's at the start of my credit-repair journey.
So, my story goes something like this. Had good credit back in a day, back when a credit report was a printout from TRW. A credit score? Utility? What's that? Then, I decided I wanted no debt, and paid off my accounts and went without credit cards. I know, how stupid considering what we all understand now. Wish I had that age back on AMEX. Still have that impulse, by the way, to not use credit.
So, after hitting a rough patch after selling a business and unable to find suitable employment, I got back into the cc game for the wrong reasons: Needing it as an extension of income or line of credit. You know what happened with that approach, of course. Several years of starter cards and high fees and bad customer service, missing payments, charge-offs, closing accounts, either voluntarily or not, battling collection agencies, creditors and lawyers. And, lots of frustration, anger, and worry.
And, educating myself with the help of great people like those here at MYFICO forums. As many of you know, these issues dominate every aspect of your life. The stress, worry and anticipation is unmerciful. Reworking your credit life becomes an obssession, dominating your thought processes, putting other aspects of your life on the back-burner. Then again, I am a grinder. Nonetheless, we experience enough victories to keep us focused on the task at hand, even at the risk of setbacks or not finding enjoyment in things that used to make us happy, for better or worse.
Beating one of those collection-lawyer, collection agencies kept me going. And yes, I used that law firm in Utah for getting deletions. Many of them. Yes, they worked for me. Then, I went solo after learning a lot here. The back and forth psychology of seeing progress yet, not moving forward fast enough was, and is, psychologically draining. Setbacks and new surprises, too. No one sets out to run into financial trouble. Moreover, no one knows how to deal with creditors or collectors. A new or updated baddie is enough to make one scream. So is waiting for updates, waiting for deletes, waiting for responses, waiting for good news, waiting for bad news. The process is agonizing. Our psychological well-being relies on positive news on something as small as a deleted entry. All the while, over-analyzing every possible piece of information or potential outcome.Should I dispute? Will my score take a hit? Will it update? Will I reset the clock if I dispute? Should I wait to apply for a prime card? Who will approve me? What score did you have on your approval? Does anyone have a back-door number for.....fill in the blank. What is DOFD? Wait, or is it DOLA? Oh, crap. I want to get to 700, here is my snapshot. When will xyz baddie fall off? How much of a bump will I get? Why did my score drop 50 points? How come I never seem to be able to get over xyz score? Why did three inqs send me score down 30 points?
Paralysis-by-analysis rules the day. Which leads to where I am, now. Because I knew a 120 day Direct Loan baddie was scheduled to fall off next month, (thought I was in a grace period, my bad) I grew increasingly annoyed at a 30-day baddie with First Premier that would be the lone baddie keeping me from a clean report. It was just over two years-old. Just enough to cause some trouble because of it's recent history. I had two FP cards, one I closed when I started to clean things up years ago. Stupid me. That card was clean and would have given me good age. I was billed for a yearly fee on the second card a couple years ago in December, not realizing it. I sent the monthly fee through automatic bill-pay, but was not enough to cover the yearly fee payment. At that time, FP had a minimal site and no email alerts. When I found out, it was a setback,along with an incorrect Verizon entry that was supposed to be removed after I contacted a VP-because I was approaching that sought-after 700 mark.
The FP rep was not helpful, and would not grant a one-time courtesy. She recommended I dispute the entry. I knew I was in trouble then. I spent 20 minutes trying to explain to her that the entry would update if FP would not change the entry in their system. Frustrated and angry, I closed the account. Growing annoyed at the lone FP baddie, I decided a few weeks ago to appeal to a FP executive just for the heck of it and because I have had some success going that route with Verizon, twice. Both times, their fault. I searched online for FP bankcard executive contact info. I used the one others had some success with, a VP/Pres named Julie. I sent a letter along with MYFICO payment history with FP by email.
I made up a story that because the derog is a little over two years old, it's causing me a problem in obtaining a mortgage. Having heard nothing after a week or so, I was planning my next move. Until, I received a email back from the exec stating that the derog would be removed because it was a fee, and that FP does not now report until 60 days! So, we all know the drill. We are told to wait to wait for the obligatory 30 days for CRA's to "update" What do I do? When do the CRA's "update" Should I check Credit Karma? Wait, the baddies don't show up there. I know. I will wait 35 days, then pull a report. Who am I kidding. I can't wait that long. Should I pay $60 to pull a report only to be disappointed? I know, I will buy one report. What if the report I buy isn't updated? Worse yet, what if it is, but not on the others? It was then I just decided to throw financial caution to the wind and just pull the trigger. I am glad I did. FP removed the derog almost immediately, all told, about one-two weeks. The surprise made me so excited, I was jacked up the rest of the night. When I finally calmed down and went to sleep, I slept good. Here's hoping you do the same.
Edit: cut and paste Notfancy's formatting 
--Rev
Awesome. ...congrats on your success! Thanks for sharing.
Congrats! Thanks for sharing your credit journey!
Discover IT $17k / US Bank Ace (VSig) $13.5K / US Bank Cash+ (VSig) $13.5k
congrats
Thanks for sharing the ups and downs you went thru. A very good read and Happy Congrats!