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Dewdrop credit rebuilding log

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dddewdrop
Valued Contributor

Dewdrop credit rebuilding log

       Following in the footsteps of P-, I decided to do a credit rebuild log.

      Just for a little background, I'm 41. I went to a top school and as soon as I graduated from college I tried to start a small business. I partially financed it with credit cards. This was in the early 90s and I was approved for a lot of credit and went into debt to the tune of about 20k. I had amex green, citi, chase, and BofA cards. I burned them all down maxed them out etc...The business never got off the ground.

      Like 2 years later I got a good job and proceeded to make 6 figures for over 10 years. With my first big bonus check, I paid off all my credit cards and determined to never have a credit card again......

      Fast forward about 20 years. I lost my good job, got another credit card. Maxed out the 1k limit and didnt make any monthly payments for over a year. On top of that I owed almost 6k in back taxes so in 2006 a federal tax lien was filed against me. 

      In 2007 I moved back in with my parents and got on a payment plan to pay off my lien and worked low income jobs in the restaurant business. By 2008 I had paid off my lien in an instalment plan. By 2010 I had settled with my credit card for less than the full amount. That brings us to this Feb.

     In Feb, I found this site and began my credit rebuilding journey. 

     In Feb i filed form 12277 with the IRS for withdrawal of Federal Tax lien. I haven't heard back on that. If worse comes to worse it is scheduled to drop off at least one report in august 2013.  As far as my credit card baddie goes, I sent GW letter to BofA. I have sent 5 so far to different people. I also sent secured emails as I am a BofA checking and savings account holder. I also talked to some executive on the phone at length. To date I havent' been able to get that baddie off my reports although it was settle and paid off about 3 years ago. I also tried with the CRAs to get it deleted. No luck so far.

     In feb, I applled for 4 credit cards. I got approved for 2 the capital one platinum and the Walmart store card. In march, I got a second job and became a member of DCU. I got several trial memberships to credit score and report sites. Now I have no memberships except for the free ones. The free memberships I have are to Quizzle, Creditkarma, and creditsesame. I am active on this board and another board and am trying to help others with what I have learned so far. 

     Initially I was not able to even get a fico score. Once my walmart card hit my reports I was able to get my Fico scores from EQ and TU which were 625 and 520 respectively. My scores are currently eq 623 and tu08 is 519. So since I started my credit rebuilding journey my scores have gone down slightly. My Capital One card has not hit my reports yet but I expect it to hit soon as I just passed the second statement date for Capital One. I have a lot going on in my life with a sick wife who is in the hospital so my cards actually have balance. I wish they didn't but they do. I do PIF every month or I have so far and plan to keep doing so. I am very afraid of getting into debt again. My Capital One card has come in very handy for short term liquidity.

     I expect my scores to improve over time because I have successfully established 2 new positive tradelines since I started my journey. I haven't burned that many inquiries. I plan on establishing more positive tradelines as soon as possible. I am taking a long term view of things and have a goal of having good credit in the next 5 years. By good credit, I mean my goal is to have a score over 730. My other goal is to be regularly saving and investing a portion of my income and also to have an emergency fund of 6 months wages saved up. I plan on keeping my second job and working crazy hours until I am back on track and have at least my backup fund established. This board has been very helpful and I respect how people go about doing things in an honorable way here. Many people do things that are dishonest when it comes to credit repair and I don't want to do any of those things. I wish to maintain my integrity while rebuilding my credit. 

     My next move is to either save up for a secured card, get a creditbuilder loan for a small amount, or apply for another unsecured card. Mostly though, I am gardenning with my cards mostly in my sock drawer. I don't really want to use credit cards. I would rather pay cash or debit card. The only reason why I have credit cards is to work on my credit or maybe to use them for short term liquidity til I have more savings.

    So there is my background. I will report back on this thread soon with what happens next. Any advice is always appreciated.

 

onward......

Message 1 of 68
67 REPLIES 67
dddewdrop
Valued Contributor

Re: Dewdrop credit rebuilding log

Capital One card just hit my reports. My fakos went down a little but my ck fako insurability went up. Go figure...

Message 2 of 68
Deltadog03
Established Contributor

Re: Dewdrop credit rebuilding log

I'm curious, when did/does your statement cut? My first ones cut 2 days ago and I'm super anxious to see what my score is going to do when the 2 new TL show up.
EQ8: 646 EQ5: 652 V3.0: 665 **8/2015
TU8: 635 TU4: 700 V3.0 :663 **8/2015
EX8: 636 EX3: 670 V3.0: ? **8/2015
CCD Util 35%

Message 3 of 68
beanie7132
Frequent Contributor

Re: Dewdrop credit rebuilding log

I am curious too - how much of a drop did you see? Still waiting on my new CapOne to start reporting and worried the initial 'drop' will discourage me from currently rebuilding.

Message 4 of 68
dddewdrop
Valued Contributor

Re: Dewdrop credit rebuilding log

Capital One just reported the first time 3 days after my second statement date. After it didn't report following my firsthint statement, someone on here told me that they were sure that it would report like 2 or 3 days after my second statement date. Sure enough it did. I checked CreditKarma and it reported my CL and my balance as of statement date. I have a question for the gurus out there. Should I get a Fingerhut account or should I just be patient. I am inclined to just be patient as I am not in a huge hurry to get a loan or something and I think I will have buyer's remorse in a year or two if I get Fingerhut. Also it doesn't report to EX. On the other hand, I don't see any real downside to getting this card. It is another positive tradeline and it has no AF. What do you think?

Message 5 of 68
Deltadog03
Established Contributor

Re: Dewdrop credit rebuilding log

That sucked they waited so long...lol  I hope they don't wait for mine....

EQ8: 646 EQ5: 652 V3.0: 665 **8/2015
TU8: 635 TU4: 700 V3.0 :663 **8/2015
EX8: 636 EX3: 670 V3.0: ? **8/2015
CCD Util 35%

Message 6 of 68
dddewdrop
Valued Contributor

Re: Dewdrop credit rebuilding log

  I was approved for a DCU credit builder loan today. I can either go with 1000 dollars for 18 months or 500 dollars for 18 months. The way the credit builder loan works is that they loan me the money and hold it in a special account for me. I make payments on it and when it is all paid off they give me the money plus interest. In the meantime they are reporting to the three major CRAs that I am paying ontime. My monthly payment for 1000 dollars is $58 and change. It is like I have an auto loan or something but at the end of paying it off instead of having a car that is 18 months old, I get the money back. It will be good practice for me at having a monthly payment and will force me to save money over time. I have a month to decide whether I want to do it or not. Any thoughts?

Message 7 of 68
Deltadog03
Established Contributor

Re: Dewdrop credit rebuilding log

Sounds good buddy!!  congrats on that!  I still say get a secured one through Cap 1

EQ8: 646 EQ5: 652 V3.0: 665 **8/2015
TU8: 635 TU4: 700 V3.0 :663 **8/2015
EX8: 636 EX3: 670 V3.0: ? **8/2015
CCD Util 35%

Message 8 of 68
dddewdrop
Valued Contributor

Re: Dewdrop credit rebuilding log

Im fluctuating on whether to go forward with creditbuilder loan. If I do go forward it will be as more of a savings vehicle because my research shows that it just isn't going to affect my credit score that much and it is a lot of work making monthly payments for a relatively small bump in score. If I wana save money I can do so on my own and just have my account transfer a fixed amount to my savings account each month without having a formal loan with a bank.

Message 9 of 68
dddewdrop
Valued Contributor

Re: Dewdrop credit rebuilding log

Awesome! I just received port 10916 from the IRS. Withdrawal of Filed Notice of Federal Tax Lien after Release. The so called "golden ticket" to get my tax lien off my reports. They enclosed copies of the letters they sent to the three CRAs. I immediately sent off my own letters with the enclosed form to the CRAs. Now it is just a waiting game to see what happens.

Message 10 of 68
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