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What Caused You To Have to Rebuild?

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Anonymous
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Re: What Caused You To Have to Rebuild?

My story could be a very long one, but it won’t be. I will not discuss all details, as it is very personal and painful to me- to this very day. I will tell you the I am a 100% Disabled Combat Infantry that fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. I won’t share the painful details. I will tell you that I have about 60k debt in student loans. I know that many will want to let me know about the policies of TPD of the Dept of Education. It took me a long time to get to the point of looking at my credit and trying to fix it, as survival has and still is an obsessive initial physical impulse that I get from so many of my daily responsibilities, interactions, and any real stimulus. Mail is stacked so high in my bedroom that I want to make a bonfire out of it. Anyhow, to get back to the point... recently, I had car troubles and realized that I cannot even rent a car because of how bad my credit is. Buying a reasonably priced safe family car is more expensive than I can afford without terrible financing options which would drown me in very high monthly payments... this all got me thinking to the fact that I’ve been renting low rated apartments for the last decade... which really lit a fire under me... I contacted my father(last November), to talk credit... my father has a credit score over 800, so he helped me get a good deal on a car(thank God) and he thought it would be a good idea to get some credit monitoring services... I started with Experian @25$ a month, and I just purchased the service through MyFICO @40$ a month... my score has risen over a hundred points since last November, but my student loans of over60k are hurting my FICO 5,4,2 more than any other matrix that I have found through either of my services... when I sent the application for TPD to the DEPT OF EDUCATION and followed that by calling them, I was told that the process of student loan forgiveness could take from 6-12 months from when they receive the application. I don’t feel like it should take this long considering my disabilities, but am looking to shop for a house in January of 2020(which is later than the estimated time frame)... basically, hoping that I can expedite the TPD so that I can raise my credit in other areas(to get the best possible rate on a HOUSE that is actually suitable to my family’s needs. If anyone knows how to make this process faster would be greatly appreciated
Message 41 of 62
Anonymous
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Re: What Caused You To Have to Rebuild?

^ sounds like you could use a lawyer!

 

First credit I applied for was denied so i did anualcreditreport.com and it showed a medical collection i never was asked to pay or t old about that was destroying me.

 

I am disabled too and have a friend who is disabled because of his old army job (4 tours afghanistan jumping out of planes).

 

At least your family is helping you man, sorry oyu're getting screwed.

 

FWIW hopefully the student load debt was worth it to attain higher earning power which will pull you out of debt?

Message 42 of 62
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: What Caused You To Have to Rebuild?

I had been told that debt was evil growing up. I stayed away from it mostly. In my 20's I was able to buy a house, had a few credit cards, an auto loan and student loans. Met my ex-wife. That ended within 2 years. Depressed and slightly embarrassed, I decided to move overseas. Sold everything, closed the cards and left. Let the student loans default.

 

Met my new wife some years later, had a baby, brought them back to the states. Realized that my credit was too bad to get a house. Started rebuilding. Thanks to MyFico Friends. Smiley Happy

Message 43 of 62
Anonymous
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Re: What Caused You To Have to Rebuild?

In 2008/2009 we were balanced chased not for being late but wrong line of work.  Some  accounts were maxed at 110% above limit.  Once the limits got low ie $500 they were usually closed by the card company. At one time every card we had closed but we were still paying on them.

Our income dropped and we were making the minimum paymnet only.    $1 TV dinners were quite common.    It was several years of cash and carry before we opened new accounts.  We were quite lucky arround 2014/2015 all the records on all the acounts dropped off the credit reports with out us asking over a 12 or so month period.  

Message 44 of 62
Remedios
Credit Mentor

Re: What Caused You To Have to Rebuild?

Alright, I'll share 

 

I put a check in the envelope. Forgot it was there. Got a call 60 days later. Oops. Realized I dont have any stamps. Bought stamps, put one on the envelope, forgot to mail it for another 30 days (yup, another call). 

Eventually it got mailed, just in time for 120 days. Wash, rinse, repeat a few  times. 

Providian did not care as long as fees were charged 

 

In my defense, I was extra young and extra dumb. Occasionally broke, too. 

 

 

Message 45 of 62
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: What Caused You To Have to Rebuild?

I was raised by a single alcoholic mom who spent most of her time and money in the bar. I went into adulthood with a child and no clue what I was in for. I didnt even realize credit existed until I was nearly 25/28. I never got credit cards. Never financed a car. Didnt really think about any of that before then. When I went to apply for a used car and I was told my credit was poor. (What? what credit? what is that? where do i get it?) It was a mess. It wasnt until last year I found myfico and learned how to fix the mistakes I made all those years. Been rebuilding since then. We had to stall out on our rebuild due to my husband having a large tool loan default 4 years ago that we can finally pay off and continue rebuilding. I have five kids and I swore after my first I would make sure they were ready for adulthood and not a complete mess like I was when they got there. So, they will all get credit edudcation from me (homeschooling mom) when they reach teen years (got two there now). Thats my reason anyway. 

Message 46 of 62
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: What Caused You To Have to Rebuild?

I retired early due to a disability. While waiting on Social Security, I was paying 950 per month for health insurance. I used all of my retirement savings just to live on and pay insurance, therefore credit card payments had to be skipped for about 6 months. I’m ok now, but credit is a mess. I’ve been paying on the delinquent accounts now for 6 months but my score is still low. Not sure what to do but keep plugging along and pay off as I can.

Message 47 of 62
AZEsq
Regular Contributor

Re: What Caused You To Have to Rebuild?

TL; DR: Learned credit, but not budgeting; then, I learned budgeting too, but not before maxing out my credit cards...for the third time at higher limits. Now, I'm trying to pay down sustainably (budgeting for my true expenses) and buy another home.

 

2005, is when I learned about credit. I wanted a NEW car (not just new to me, smh). Found out someone had opened a Chase card in my name and never paid and my credit score was 495 o.O. This was in the era when you couldn't get the credit reporting agencies to pick up the phone or even really find a good number for them, so I disputed everything and paid down my true credit cards (Discover/CitiBank/Capital One) and went back with a 740 for a fantastic (in my mind) 5% rate. I overpaid for EVERYTHING, from my rate to my "tire warranty" to the unnecessary extended warranty. Sad. Then I lost my job and my credit cards doubled their minimums because, why not. I worked 3 jobs and struggled to just pay rent, but fell further and further behind until my car was repossessed. I paid my car up to date (delaying rent and picking up shifts to go from 70-~90 hours a week over about a three week period) and realized it was unsustainable when I almost fell asleep driving to my 2nd job.

 

I fell behind on the car note again and, as 6 weeks turned into 2 months, they threatened to repossess again and stopped accepting my payments in arrears. Terrified, I begged my dad to refinance it for me. Apparently he knew less about credit than me, he got an 18% rate. Ugh. That's the story of how I paid $30K for a $16K car and learned how important credit understanding is... It was an awesome car and I loved it, but NEVER AGAIN.

 

Paid off all my debt (except a small student loan) and went to grad school. Got married and hubby started a business. Well, that was a wealth of learning by experience that no matter what you think you'll make, sometimes you'll make all of it and sometimes you'll make none--and, of course, everything in between. We've had some terrible years and wound out maxed out on the credit cards to the tune of over $60K in 2016. Paid them down and got back right, only to have an even worse year last year. And, with a second maternity leave that was basically unpaid, a cross-country move, and other things, wound up over $100K in consumer debt, plus DH has a couple of late pays we are trying to get deleted. Ugh. The one thing I have (I think) FINALLY learned is that zero sum budgeting (ynab.com, which I was an early devotee of and have fallen off of the wagon multiple times) is the only way to live. We downsized our life only when we absolutely HAD to (i.e. had no more credit left), not when we knew it was unaffordable and unsustainable, a lesson I hope I've absorbed at this point.

 

We are trying to buy our second home as our home has recently sold enabling us to pay down a chunk of our debt. So, that's why we're rebuilding.

 

Current FICO: 634 (EX); 620 (EQ); 689 (TU)

FICO8: 690

Goal: 740 Fico 8

 

Message 48 of 62
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: What Caused You To Have to Rebuild?

Hello everyone! I'm new here and it's great to have such an amazing resource to help guide me as I build my credit once again. 

 

Like another contributor said, I was young and dumb. I too was in the military and didn't understand how to control my personal finances. The problems only compounded once I separated without a plan or a job. I wasn't very smart about it and it cost me dearly. Over the course of the next decade or so I didn't touch credit cards or apply for any kind of loan. All of the bad stuff is now gone from my credit report and it's time to start building once again as a more knowledgeable and a less spontaneous person. I've matured over the years and I'm now in a much better place to be responsible with my finances once again. 

Message 49 of 62
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: What Caused You To Have to Rebuild?

  Like yourself I went through a divorce. I had heard that a divorce may cause financial distress. I thought I knew better. The cost of moving out, buying a household of goods, and a problem with one of my CC (long story) caused me to ignore my credit for a while. I knew my CR were getting ugly, but I chose not to look. It was always six months from now, I'll have the time to tackle it and fix it (again). Then I ran into an unauthorized charge on my BoA CC. I wrote the nice letter according to the terms and conditions. No response. I paid. I wrote again. No response. I paid. I then wrote again and this time I didn't pay. BoA looked into the matter removed the charge and most of the LF.Then BoA cancelled the card. It was my oldest active card with over $25K CL. The amount in dispute was a couple of hundred. Remember, I paid ALL of the other charges. At the same time a new CCC (Merrick) withdrew the payment I made online from my bank but waited three days to post it to my account which resulted in a no pay, extra charge, and interest. I contacted the CCC. Got the too bad for you. I refused to pay any more unless they removed the late charges. Merrick refused. Reported me late. I told them to close the card.That caused my last open CC (JCP) to close (no other credit and scored dropping fast) though I had never had an issue with JCP. Back then, I didn't know about accounts closing because of lack of use. I lost CC that were 20 years old from non use. That left me with $0 credit and a score of 515 (approx). Now over 800 CS, over $160K in CL, 19 CC, one car loan (under $25 due, but I won't pay it off until the last day its due) and back with most of my accounts except BoA which has blackballed me and Merrick which I dont want. That is why I will never close an account. Just made my yearly purchase from Fingerhut. A big Thank You to Capital One for opening an unsecured $300.00 limit CC four months after I had no credit.

Message 50 of 62
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