Tell US your story, how did you get here?

[Anonymous]

I have always been a single parent of 2 kids and working for just above minimum wage in one of the most expensive states. Made just over the amount that would qualify me for any state help. When my kids were in day care, that bill was more than my rent. Struggled and juggled for years. When I reenlisted in the military for the 3rd time things got much better financially. However, the damage was done, I lost my clearance and had to prove I was not a risk. Most of the negative items on my CR are collections from before I came back in the military (5). Other than that I have 3 CO, one from before and 2 from within the last couple years. One will fall off this year along with several of the old collections. Things are improving, slowly but surely. Nothing new, of a negative nature, has been on my report for several years.

[atl]

Basically, its very simple, and kind of weird.

I was watching a movie, and these guys were eating dinner at an expensive restaurant. They all threw their "platinum" credit cards on the table when they got the check. When I saw that, I was like..."HEY I want a platinum card...actually I want a CC period". I wanted one, but little did I know I had bad credit due to several collection accounts.

Now I am here and Im holding off on my CC inquiries until I am sure I will be approved.

Sorry, no sob story

[Anonymous]

I left for the summer semester of college at the age of 18 and met the man of my parent's nightmares about five months later. I was pregnant two months after meeting him. I dropped out of college, I thought my parents were paying off my SLs for me.. actually, I didn't even know when I started or left college that the SLs were in my name! I had no idea I had signed my name for my parents to get credit for me... the only thing they ever taught us about credit was that it's very bad, and if you can't afford cash for something, you don't need it.

So I got one cc for $1100, I had my SLs. Then I met this guy... he talked me into getting cell phones on my credit, under the guise of building up my credit profile. Since I was pregnant, we moved in together. Again, all utilities in my name to "build" my credit. (actually, his credit was destroyed, but he didn't mention this and I didn't know to ask). He was beyond nefarious, and we moved nine times in three years. . . leaving a trail of utilities and medical bills in our wake. Oh, and my engagement ring. Yes, I put my own engagement ring, wedding ring, and his wedding ring on my credit. duh. We moved so much that Sallie Mae wasn't able to track me and I don't know how, but I managed to keep those puppies out of collections with deferments when I could sneak away and call.  With a tax return in 2003, I paid off the engagement ring (it was only $600 measly dollars anyway) which was in collections, because I was afraid Friedman's Jewelers could come to my house and arrest me for having their jewelry! lol.. I didn't know much about credit then..

I ended up leaving him in 2004, with a 3yo and an 8wk old. Basically the only credit I had, was bad credit. Utility bills, student loans that had been as much as 120 days late, and the cc, with a balance of $2865 on a $1100 limit. Oh, and more than 21 medical bills on my CR from the constant trips to the ER because of his abuse. Got my self together, and started paying my bills. Got my cc on a repayment plan based on my income, IR dropped to 1%. Started paying my SLs. Ignored everythign else on my CR, never even pulled it.

Then suddenly in 2005, I met a great guy and we went nuts. He got orders to Gtmo Bay a month after we met, but was only there for two months before we decided long-distance was for the birds so we got married instead! My parents freaked. He was 13 yrs older, and we'd only known each other 5 months. But I made us both pull our CRs and give full disclosure.. it was a shock for me, and for him. We decided we'd tackle it together.

First tax return in 2006 went entirely towards debt. I thought if we paid it off, it would disappear.  For the next two years, we weren't late on anything, and paid off collection notices as they showed up in the mail box. and I pulled again in Feb 2008. Kind of scary. I had gone up by 150pts, but I wasn't even out of the 500's. He had only gone up by 50-75pts and was scraping the bottom of the 600's.

Then in March, I found myFICO when I realized that just paying things off and paying ontime wasn't working

Message Edited by ivyalmighty on 05-24-2008 11:03 AM

[Anonymous]

I separated from my ex-husband. I was the one paying the bills. When I left, he accidentally forgot to continue paying for his Today's Man CC and Student Loan in which we were joint account holders.

Oops.

Oh and we couldn't afford to pay for a joint loan. And I couldn't afford the SUV so it got repossesed.

I'm sure my dad would say "told ya so" if he realized all the things that went wrong. The only thing he said to me when I told him I was leaving my ex was "you can't afford to do that."

Fooled him --- 7 years down the road! lol

[wynona01]

I never really was taught about credit, i started getting offers in the mail. I would use up credit cards and not pay the bill. I got a lot of personal loans from 300 to 1000. I got a car, couldnt make the payments and ended up filing a chapter 13. About 2 years ago i decided to pull  my credit report and i was shocked to see the collections, charge offs, and inaccurate stuff. I kind of put it aside for a while hoping it would just ago away...........big mistake. I didnt really get serious about my credit until i found this forum about a year ago. i got my credit report again, i paid off my charge off's disputed a lot of information that were deleted and my bankruptcy will be discharged in a few months. Im currently in the mid 500's to low 600's. I still have a journey to go but as of now i have nothing outstanding and I currently have two credit cards that is really helping my credit score.

[Anonymous]

I didnt really have training in finances as a child.  When I went to college, everyone said I needed to get a credit card, so I went from booth to booth in the student center filling out applications thinking I might get one.  My salary at the time was the $200 a month that my dad sent me for college incidentals--this included books--and a never lied to the companies about how much money I made. I was a amazed--I got 5 credits cards!  They all had at least a $1000 limit on them.

I was fairly responsible with them, but had a clunker car and those books were pretty expensive.  By the end of college I owed about $7500 in credit card debt, but I always paid the min. and always paid my utilities and rent.  If I hit a limit on my credit card--they just upped the credit limit.

Then I met the man of my "dreams".  He actually took two of my largest credit cards and maxed them out without me knowing.  I was stupid and stuck with him.  The  thing was I still paid my bills on time, I was just was finding it harder and harder to make ends meet.

At this point, the credit card companies starting pulling their crap, too.  Gee, we know that you only recieved the bill two days ago, but it is due this week and oops you dont have enough time to pay it.  Oh you were late on a one bill? Well, not only are we going to charge you $45, but we are also going to up your interest rates--on all of your cards.

After dumping my loser boyfriend, met my now husband and everything was looking up until he got sick and couldnt work.  I tried to work with my credit cards, but they refused to lower my minimums.  I had gone to consumer credit counseling, and the "profesionals" there actually werent paying my bills for awhile.  I was stupid and thought they were. They were pretty awful to my credit card comanies.

The credit card companies in turn refused to work with me.  Late fees and over the limits fees were making my minimum payments so high that it ate all of my pay for each month.  We could eat--or I  could pay my credit cards. It was insane.

So I quit paying my credit cards.  I talked to them one last time and let them know that if I could ever afford to pay them I would, but that hasnt happened yet.  Its been seven years and we are finally getting on our feet again, but we still don't have any extra money, but all my utilities and the like are always on time.

[Anonymous]

Ooh! Me next !!!

I have always been fascinated with credit cards. When I was little, every hotel room you stayed in, for some reason, had an AMEX application on the desk. My brother and I fought over who got to write our names in the little boxes. We knew we were just pretending, but we felt very grown up talking about getting a card.

I also had a board game that was all about buying things with pretend cards--they had names like "MisterCard" and "Vista".

Every trip to the mall started with my mom getting a cash advance from her card in Sears (so, Discover, I guess?)

My parents were very irresponsible with bills, so I learned from them. My mother would actually tell me to go to the doctor or dentist and ask them to send a bill, then not pay it, because "doctors have enough money." My first collection was at age 17 with a 29 dollar doctor bill. I paid it because I felt bad, my mother told me I was being stupid, they couldn't "DO" anything to me!

College--I got to fill out those apps for real, and was beside myself with excitement. Citibank, Discover, bunch of store cards. Lived w/boyfriend who also was irresponsible: we'd go to restaurants that used old manual cc machines, so they wouldn't know he was over his limit. We also took turns answering the phone from collectors. We thought it was funny.

I kept them maxed, and over the limit several times. Also missed payments here and there. And honestly, I wasn't doing terribly, until I got a job that paid much less than I was making before, and couldn't keep up. I started skipping car payments, then just kind of gave up and stopped opening bills.

I went to consumer credit counseling, and got back on track. They closed my big cards. Still kept everything that I still had maxed, and certainly couldn't get any new credit.

Needed a new car in 2001, went to Carmax, everything was fine til we got to the financing. I made decent money then, had low rent....the computer wouldn't come back with anyone willing to finance me. The sales guy said he'd never seen it take this long, and said, "You must have really made some mistakes."

Came through finallly with a 20% interest rate. I took it and went to my bank, thinking they'd give me a good rate, I'd been with them for years. The guy was very nice til he pulled up my report, then said, "With your rating, it's not that we can't give you a better loan, we can't give you ANY loan." Their threshold was 500, and I was under that.

Now, I know better, I take care of things, and I PIF as much as possible. I'm here because II'm tired of wanting things and not being able to get them because of my credit. I'm obsessive about all of it now. Money, interest rates, budgeting, and you know, I feel much more grown-up now than I did when I got that first visa card!