From repo and multipule 120 days lates to 690 (there's hope)

[Anonymous]

This board has been so helpful to rebuilding my credit, and with all of the help and information you've all given me I want to try to give back. Here's my story of how I went from abysmal to not so bad, forgive me if it's long winded but it's been a long journey!

I have the same story I'm sure many of you do, I was young and stupid, and when I broke up with my ex he kept the car but the loan stayed in my name. He assured me he'd make payments on it because his credit was so bad he couldn't get it into his name... He paid for a few years, until he didn't. He let the car got repo'd after tons of lates and I thought that was that. I had also stopped paying my student loan since I didn't have money to pay either of those debts and live, and I had since moved to another country so I figured my crappy American credit didn't matter anymore and went about my life.

Life changes quickly and now I'm going back to the states, and with my new husband. He's foreign so a credit score good enough to rent an apartment is now on me, uh oh! 

Now that I'm making a bit more money I'm in a place to sort everything. Around October 2017 log into experian and see my fico score is 597 and my heart sinks, I remember the days of having a 700+ score... but not anymore. The first phone call I make is to the student loan collections and I ask about options. I had the money to settle it but after talking to them I discovered it would report negatively. I had the option to rehabilitate the loan and it would show as current rather than charged off but the lates would still be there which sounded better to me. My next moves:

• May 2017 fico 597 I apply for secured credit card through Cap 1, approved for $200 with a $200 deposit! 
• Begin rehabbing student loan around September, I'm told in 9 months it goes back to a servicer that will report to the bureaus
• Try PFD for repo but BB&T won't budge
• Pay BB&T balance in full but my score doesn't change, the car was repo'd in 2014 so it'll be a while until it's gone. Even though my score didn't change it was worth it for the peace of mind.
• July 2018 fico score is 654 after my student loan is rehabbed. Navient shows my loan has good payment history and is 3 years old. Navient only reports payment history for payments I actually made, so I don't know if this loan counts as 3 years old or 2 months.
• August 2018 I dispute the lates on my old student loan (like others did here). Experian removed the TL! None of the others did though. Experian fico now 667 (I don't have others but TU fako is 660)
• September 2018 I decide to not pay my navient student loan in full and instead I paid most of it off with a small balance remaining so I could keep making payments. Once my utilization went down my fico goes up to 691! (TU fako 704)

My bank (BofA) is telling me I'm preapproved for non secure credit cards? So is Capital One? This has to be a mistake! After doing tons of research on this board I decide to apply for cards with the better bonuses when I get back to the states so can spend enough on those cards for the bonuses. For now I apply for smaller bonuses because I can spend that much here, so I decide to apply for the BofA cash rewards card and the Capital One quicksilver card to bring me to 3 cards... I'm terrified I'll be declined but what's to lose? BofA approves me for $3,000! Then Cap One approves me for $8,000! It feels unreal. 

The two inquires have brought my score down by 1 point. The accounts haven't started reporting yet so I don't know what increase (if any) I'll see, but once I do I'll report back. I'm in the garden for at least 6 months until I get back to the states. Once I'm back in the states and I have income I'll likely apply for a discover cash back and a chase sapphire preferred, but we'll see  

Thank you all so much for all of your help, I really do appreciate all of your responses and all the content on these boards. Thank you!!!

[Anonymous]

CONGRATULATIONS!

You have a great story, so many reasons to be proud of your journey. Your score may drop when new cards post, but your score will rise soon after. Especially using AZEO. 

[Anonymous]

I went to live overseas and quickly discovered that life as in undocumented un - naturalized resident alien without credit or a work visa was not for me. Came back to USA crawling, had a pile of taxes waiting for me. I don't regret any of it but it taught me the value of building a good reputation and how hard and how many years that takes. Lenders and credit scoring in other countries is not as forgiving or as fair and accurate. And yes I know I say that in the face of Equifax hack and everything else messed up that they do to us. Most Americans have no idea how bad it can be. Good job carry on. Sorry about the first husband and STD, sexually transmitted debt. I just learned that term from this board I'm trying to spread it around.

[Shooting-For-800]

Congrats!

Cap One can be very generous if you charge a lot and pay on time (or sooner) without fail.

[Anonymous]

Sexually transmitted debt lol. So true.

[19eighty5]

Wow! Your journey has been incredible. Congratulations on all of the success. Just goes to show that with diligence and hard work, anyone can bounce back from credit issues. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Aww thanks everyone. Yeah it's amazing what some hard work has done over the course of a year! Now I just have to be patient and wait for the rest of the baddies to fall off in 2-3 years, but I'm amazed I could even get to 690 with the huge amount of lates from the student loan and the repo. It'll be really interesting to see what happens when the two new cards start reporting and I do AZEO. I'll update once I get the cards!