Hello, everyone. Let me give you a rundown on my terrible, short life. I am a 25 year old female. I have not finished college. I am originally from South Florida, but moved to Arlington, TX to be with someone (who i am no longer with); but I still live here because I now have nowhere else to go. When I first started my credit history at the age of 17, I already did not have an easy start:
1.) In 2009, I applied for my first secured credit card through Bank of America. The limit was $500. I was off to a rough start already. I was working a $7 hour retail job at the time and was using the credit as spending money. so, i would max the card out, pay the balance off in full when i get paid(after i used my whole paycheck to pay the card off, i was always left with no more money and ended up using the card again and maxing it out), this was a cycle that went on for two years.
2.) in 2012, I got a new job that was paying $11 an hour. This was the year that I actually took my credit seriously because i was in desperate "need" of a shiny new/preowned car. when i started working, i worked tirelessly with my Bank of America card to make sure it was going to help me build credit. Fast forward to september of 2012, my credit score was a 672. Bank of America graduated my card from secured to unsecured and upped my credit limit to $700. With this, i was able to finance 4 year old car with 2500 down and 26% interest(I know, stupid, but i wanted a new car at the time. I ended up refinancing it later on)
3.) in 2013, after i got my "new" car, i got credit hungry. I felt like i was untouchable. i started putting in ALL kinds of inquiries to see what i would get approved for. and i pretty much got approved for everything i applied for. with the new car on my credit, my score was at a 750 at the time. I applied for gas cards, target card, AMEX(which i always got denied for), and many others. i ended up having Exxon mobil with a $500 limit, Chevron $300 limit, Target $200, Dell Financial $1000 limit, my car $15000 at the time, and Bank of America $700
4.) in 2014, i defaulted on the Exxon mobil card because a relative that i was living with at the time went in my dresser and used my Exxon gas card and made up to $300 worth of gasoline purchases. He still denies it to this day. my whole family denies it to this day. I called Exxon to see if i can get the charges disputed, but they refused to help since i told them it was stolen from a family member. I was going through a tough time at that time, and i told them i refuse to pay. so it defaulted and it's on my credit. I also got an iphone at the time through Sprint. Worst mistake i could have ever made. the bill was too expensive for me. every month, i was paying a MINIMUM of $150..$150!!! I couldn't afford them so i cancelled the phone service and went with my mom on her family plan with Metro. Since it was a sprint phone, it was useless, and i couldn't reuse it. Sprint has me in collections for $850. I also defaulted on the Bank of America card as well, because i got so depressed and didn't care about my credit at all. I owed them $675. I also got internet wifi service from Comcast during this year when i was living with a family friend. this person no longer wanted me to live at their house anymore, so i had to move at an old high school classmates home for the time being, and i had to cancel my Comcast service. I owe them $150 for the router i never got the chance to return. Later this year, I was fired from my job, and was struggling to pay rent. Bills kept piling up because i had rent and a car note. My cousins convinced me to let them lease an apartment in my name since they had evictions on their records. they needed somewhere to stay. Although i told them i was happy with where i was living at the time (with my old high school classmate. her mom loves me)...they convinced me that a glorious new apartment is where it's at! At the end of the day, all they wanted was someone naive like me with no rental history to sign my name on the lease agreement...I moved in...decided to move to Texas because i kept losing jobs and i really missed my bf that moved away from FL to TX at the time. My cousins told me they would take care of the monthly rent. I was trying tirelessly to get my name taken off of the lease, but it was impossible, so i gave up.
5.) in june 2015, my lease ended at the apartment complex that i signed for my cousins. they were supposed to move out by june, but stayed an extra month. they did not pay that extra months rent, and they left the apartment a mess. the complex called and said i owe them $1600. At that time(and now), i CANNOT afford it. i cried and cried, and begged my cousin to get on a payment plan and he always said "yeah sure" but never followed through. during this year, i also opened a credit card through capital one with a $300 limit. I defaulted on electricity companies while being out here, i also finally defaulted on my Target card. I owe Target $274.
6.) in 2016, i am living in a room share, because i don't have good credit to get an apartment in a safe area. the $1600 unpaid rent from my cousin got promoted to collections, which they call me every single day. I've called him millions of times and texted him he eventually blocked me. since i'm stuck in texas, there's no way to force him to do anything. i have no money to pay for it. my only active credit card that's [barely] defaulted is the capital one card. and i've fallen behind on that for a greater part of this entire year. the balance right now is $156
Total Debt:
Car: currently $3,900 payoff balance
Cap One: $156 Current
Exxon: $680 in collections
Target: $274 in collections
TXU energy: 210 in collections
Just Energy: $180 in collections
Apartment rented for cousin: $1600
Sprint: $850 in collections
Bank of America: $650 charged of/paid off in settlement to--->$0
Student loans: $13,000? give or take
I am 25. and has so far had a very rough start...
PLEASE help. :'-(
