Hi all, my name is Shara and I would like to share some of my financial experiences as a new member here with you all. I hope my story inspire some of you and even give you hope that better day is yet to come!
My credit was never good, it's always right at fair/average. Right after I graduated with no job, I was stuck at finding an auto loan after my car was totaled from an accident. I had to put up a lot of down payment with high interest rates (12%) for a used car. I was also stuck getting approved for a credit card and had to go with a secured platinum card from Capital One with $300 SL - I'm so grateful I started off with that card.
It wasn't easy not having credit cards with good amout of CL. In 2013, I took my parents (they didn't have any credit cards) to SF for the first time, I pre-paid the hotel room upon booking but when checking in, they needed to put a few hundred dollars on a card for security purposes and of course, it's declined. Receptionist had to call maneger to approved my stay - what an embarassing moment. Anyway, I carry that card and my debit card for almost 4 years not knowing anything about credit scores but I never missed a single payment.
My score went up a little and I figured I would give DiscoverIt a try (a friend reccommend) and I was approved for $5000 SL. I was all happy but I never taken high limit (at the time) for granted. I kept carring only Discover and stop using CapitalOne Platinum for another 2 years and again without missing a single payment. Discover increased my CL to $7000 after I paid down the 15% balance I normally carry. In about a year after that, I join Costco and they wanted me to apply for the Anywhere Visa by Citi to get $60 bonus. I said no because I was afraid I was not gonna get approved but when I got home I went online and applied and I was approved for $5000 SL. I use that card for everytime I shop at Costco and always pay in full every month.
At this time, I started checking my score on Creditkarma. (I didn't know the MyFico lol) I see I'm slowly getting into the good/excellent club, I spurged on bags and shoes. Next things I know, I went back to average. Even though my credit was average, I was approved for AmEx BCE for $1000SL ($4.5K now). I started to live below my mean. No unneccessary makeup, bags or shoes, only spend on things I truly need. I kept paying down my balance and Discover increased my CL to $15K in January - best gift ever! It's actually the same time I received an offer for AmEx Platinum but I didn't want to pay that hefty fee so I ignored. Last month, I received an offer for AmEx Gold. I was a little skeptical but I have plans to visit Tai Wan so I applied and was approved for a max spending limit of $15K without any hardpulls! One week later from getting approval for AmEx Gold, I applied for CSP through CreditKarma. They called me back the next day concerning about fraud but I gave them a call back the following day and was approved for $5.2 SL.
All of this takes time and it won't be forever. I'd like to inspire all of those who's still carring secured cards that your time will come. You don't need to make a million to have a score near perfect - commitment and disapline are key!
Best of luck of everyone out there,
SM
Congrats on your journey so far. Credit is about being smart with what you have and never overspending. Many of us can attest to overspending and then having to claw back. Bankruptcy and debt are real things, as long as you're smart about your spending and always have the cash behind it to pay and have the control not to continue the spending, you'll manage well.
They still havent found a cure for me
