Well my journey has finally reached a milestone. I hit 800 on all 3 CRA. In 2009, I had the trifecta. I lost my job, had some medical issues and got a divorce. I was forced to file BK7 in JAN 2011. I followed the advice on this forum. One of the threads "BK to 700 in 24 months". It took me 22 months to reach 700.
I bounced around the 700-725 score for 8 years until the BK7 dropped. My score jumped about 50 points to about 760+/-. Now a little more than 11 years, I made it to the 800 club.
I built a cottage (vacant land + materials) with a credit card because a mortgage was 1) too many fees and 2) interest rate was too high due to BK7. So I took out a cash advance for 0% and bought some vacant land and built a small cottage. I was successful in keeping the BT flipping between Navy Federal and Pen Fed. I continued to rotate between these and and few others every few years.
The key factor for me was 1) less than 10% total utilization ($17K/$200K) and 2) less than 70% on any card ($17K/$25K). Both of these triggers happened this month. My score jumped about 20 points this month. I expect to pay off this balance in less than 1 year so my revolving amount will be zero. I will continue to allow my daily spender (Citi Double Cash) to report AZEO (all zeros except one).
There is hope for those rebuilding. It is not a quick fix or an easy road. Nothing good in life ever is easy. I am almost ready to trigger my F.I.R.E plan (financial independance, retire early) through some steady investments in my 401k. Although the recent market action has put my plan on hold until the economy (and stock market) rebounds.
FICO 08 JUL23: TU 850; EQ 846; EX 843. Clean since BK7 D/C 6/2011.
