Up until the end of 2016, I had zero clue about credit and how important it is to build a good profile.
I let a student visa ($800 CL) get charged off and paid no attention to how much damage that did. When I discovered myFico end of 2016, my credit scores were around 550 across all 3 bureaus. Followed the advice I found on here and paid off the collections (luckily BOA never sold off the account to external collections, it was still their internal collections deparment so no collections listed on my profile). Scores rose a tiny bit, but still under 600. I had a $5000 CL Sapphire and a $1500 CL CapOne Platinum at the time.
Fast forward to mid 2017 and I was able to get a $2500 JetBlue plus card after calling recon. Also, following advice I found on here, I started using the love button on Capital One every 6 months and the limit has risen from $1500 -> $3000 -> $5000 -> $8000 as I got my utilization down and scores improved.
After 6 years on my Sapphire with the same $5000 CL, Chase gave me an auto-CLI increase to $9000 in Dec '17, and then another bump to $17800 last month. On top of that, I got a pre-approval for CSR in my offers! Waiting to apply for that after I get my auto loan finalized.
I've been dying to buy a GT-R for a few years now and finally in a position to do so. I've never applied for a large auto loan before so that was pretty nervewracking, but lots of helpful info on these boards gave me the courage to just go for it. My FICO8 scores were about 670-680 when I applied last week. I was looking for $50k for 60 months, with a $20k downpayment. I was fully expecting to get semi-**bleep** on the interest rate, but was planning on refinancing in 6 months if my scores improved. Applied with Alliant, DCU, Logix, Penfed, and AAA.
-Alliant sent me an approval within 3 minutes of applying. $50k @ 3.74% for 60 months, dealer purchase only.
-Logix approved next day. $50k @ 3.49% for 60 mo, dealer or private party. They pulled my FICO 9 score which was 712 apparently!
-DCU no response for a few days. Called today and loan officer approved right away. $50k @ 3.49% for 60mo and a $10k CL VISA card too. 677 EQ5 score.
Super happy getting a rate just slightly above the prime rate considering my scores. Now I'll have another 2 more $10k CL cards pre-approved and ready to open I finalize my auto loan. Might as well rip off the bandaid and tank my AAoA/AoYA in one sitting.
To sum it up, thanks for all the great advice myfico!
