Credit Building Start

[2025isgoingtobemyyear]

Hi Team MyFico Friends,

I've been an avid forum reader pretty consistently for a year now, but this is my first post.  My username is new and i'll be using this going forward because my old one used a username syntax that is easily linked to me and so i made this account to remain anonymous.

Current Stats (kind of embarrassing):

Age: 34

FICO 8s:

Experian 572, 4 inq, 4 collections

Equifax 547, 4 inq, 3 collections 100 progressive, 240 verizon (both bs), and 2500 medical.

Transunion 556, 3 same collections, 15 inq 10 of which are same day auto inq which need to be combined

Total Debt 105k:

62K student debt 40k federal save plan,current

22k private repayment <30 days past due, never reported late

24k car, 12 days past due, never reported late

3,600 cc, current 2x late 30 day late mistakes

17k charged off in 2016 are now mostly off-report settlements that i am paying off so not in credit score but crushing my finances.

No BKs (somehow), No public judgements, 6 civil suit dismissals (settled, sealed, and paying down per agreements today)

So these past seven years have been a nightmare and I’m motivated and capable of taking the necessary steps  here but wanted to share what i'm doing in case anyone else feels alone they know at least i'm here in the trenches with them... 

so I'm a mid 30's, 185 days sober from alcohol, single guy with no kids and I did a lot of damage to my financial life all of which is 100% on me.  I am tired of dealing with all this and have been having panic attacks over finances for 6 years and never want to be back in this place again. 

I'm  34 now, and up until 2016 at age 26 had $50k saved, no debt, 20k in CLs w/ chase, and earned solid income in corporate banking in a global financial center with a 790 credit score across all 3 bureaus and perfect history.

Life was good until drinking caught up with me and the condensed version reads:

-I wracked up 20k cc debt AND 17k in personal loan debt which then promptly charged off along with my student loan for 20k when my drinking got too bad and i was totally unemployable.

-lost my job multiple times, and restarted just to fail because I was unwilling to admit I had a problem. 

-spent all my money on stupid crap associated with the above.

-got in trouble with the law for dumb drunk stuff while the last 3 bullets and then went further into debt to pay lawyers to keep my record clean...

Not good, not me, and not reflective of who i was until age 26 and have been again in AA over past six months.

Fast forward to 2024 and I have an incredible opportunity at redemption with an incredibly uphill battle attched which is where i look to all of you for advice and support. 

My long term goal is to fix this quagmire, while staying sober 1 day at a time, and then in 2 years get my mba, get married, and start a family once i am confident I am financially/physically healthy, chemically sober, and happy.

Overview:

Housing Bills: low, rent is 380 /month at sober living, no utility bills other than 105 tmobile.

Transportation Bills: -625.2 capital one auto note at 20.89%, principal orig. 25,678 (no used cars in 2023), principal bal. 24,000, 12/72 months paid. Never late on report, currently 12 days past due.

-DCU  Quick Loan: pmt 183.36 monthly, int 18%, original balance 2,000, current balance 550.  44 days past due but improved from 110 days past due two weeks ago before  I paid  3 consecutive full monthly payments in a week.  Reported 30/1, 60/2

-MOHELA Private Student Loan: pmt 120, int 3% fixed, original balance 25k, current 22k.  29 days past due.  Never late on report

7 Credit cards maxed, 1 partially paid, 1 paid off:

Savor 0/500, 0 monthly never late on report

Quicksilver 500/500, 28 monthly never late on report

Quicksilver One 350/300, 25 monthly never late on report

Capital One Platinum Secured Card 812/800, 28 monthly, 30/1 late I need to goodwill off

Merrick Bank 660/700, 38 monthly, never late on report

Mission Lane 670/600, 25.63 monthly, never late on report

Credit One 200/300, 30 monthly, never late on report

Milestone 690/700, 40 monthly, never late on report

Avant 370/300, 25 monthly, never late on report

 Affirm balance 120, original 500, 42/month, reported 30/1 I need to goodwill off

Positives:

1. I've got 185 days of being me again and for the first time ever I actually want to be sober.
2. Despite the trouble I got into, I did end up winning  every court case criminal and civil and so it hasn't been too hard to go back into my field which will financially support this credit journey.
3. Re-employed in my field as an analyst for a F50 corporation earning 100k with 5 figure raise scheduled by the company in 9 months and then again in 18 months.
4. Student loan for 22k has been settled as follows: delete all negative derog data on all 3 credit reports, moved DOFD so it falls off report completely in 2 months or 1/2025, waive all past due interest and fees x 4 years, brought loan current at 3% fixed over 20 yrs with 120 payment monthly.  case is sealed and currently 29 days past due on payments.
5. negotiated sealed settlements with 6 other creditors: chase cc, discover cc, commerce bank cc, Citibank cc, capital one cc, & velocity investments (17k personal loan).  payment plans are mostly current or will be shortly.  Avoided all judgements and public records and this crap is mostly off my credit report.

Negatives:

1. My bills are currently 3,000 a month because of last bullet.  Cash flow is currently 2,500/ month, bumping to 2,800/monthin two months, and again to 3,100 /month in five months from paying off debt payment plans.
2. Credit cards are a disaster from pre-sobriety in 2023/early 24 and 7/9 ccs still maxed out
3. Car loan is terrible at 20.89%.

Plan of Action: Assumes no emergencies, ’24 chevy trax is new with <20k miles, I’m in excellent health with no sick family, I have no planned vacations, I can cash flow my sibling's xmas plans, have no kids/no wife/ and no relationship to pay for on purpose while I focus on sobriety and finances.

1. I plan to use a combination of Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps combined with the Navy Federal CU strategy I’ve read about many times on this forum. 

So first I’ll save 1,000 dollars so I’m not totally broke, then save for the auto registration while aging NFCU accounts, then tackle the high interest revolving debt while waiting for registration to make its way slowly around gov offices, and finally refi the car, payoff everything as fast as possible, and hopefully build credit limits at NFCU because most of my credit cards suck so I have a credit limit cushion for the future if savings fails.  I am using Ynab.com as budgeting tool along with excel sheets to track my income and expenses.

1. Next switch 100% direct deposit to Navy Federal CU so they see my full income and also to use their savings as my emergency fund.  Will later see 5600-6200 monthly over 6 months direct deposited, have 1k in savings, paid off secured card for a few months, and accumulated dollars in checking to build their internal score.
2. Fund $400 secured NFCU credit card, use for autopay for gym and autopayoff monthly while it is in sock drawer.
3.  Save $2,650 to get registration for car so that I can refi the auto note quickly.  I will have saved 3650 (2650 +1k buffer) by 1/7/25 to accomplish registering the vehicle. 
4. Vehicle registration gov process will take 1-2 months to update until roughly late February / early March.  Use this time while waiting to pivot to credit card pay down detailed next.
5. 6. Starting 1/7ish, divert all available cash flow or 1400/1700 monthly to paying off high interest credit card debt by 03/2025.  Will continue to use Savor for business rental cars otherwise my credit cards are in the sock drawer until this is fixed.
6. I plan to pay off / negotiate for deletion strategies for remaining derogs and pay off payment plans as early as possible while still saving funds for emergencies as outlined below. 1500/month debt 1500/month savings starting 09/2025 at first big raise.
7. Responsibly return to credit holding no balance like I used to.  Hoping with the paid off cards that the low utilization will pop my scores and subsequently support a graduation to their unsecured card, which is also going in the sock drawer for now minus the fully paid gym each month.

As you can probably see, i was one month away from BK/disaster with my bills piling up and no income when I somehow woke up just in time and now have a chance to fix it.  I am incredibly grateful to this forum for giving me hope the past year to help me get to this point but know i need to put in the action to see the kind of rapid results I know I am capable of.  For me, forcing myself to sit down and facing the music and put the numbers down on paper really helped to get this process started.  

[FicoMike0]

Congratulations on the sobriety!

Looks like a good plan. Plan for minor setbacks, don't let them crash the sobriety. I always expect it to take as long to get out of a mess as it took to get in. 

[sjt]

Congrats on 185 days!

You have a good plan. 

Keep us posted and use this board/community as a resource.