How long until I can get Amex?

[Generalsource1]

Thank you @Bmom I really appreciate your advice! I will do that 

[Bmom]

This forum has been helpful to me more than once. In the search function,  type your creditors for advice. My scores (equifax doesn't count yet) aren't great, I'm in a rebuilding phase myself,  but hopefully will get there soon, you'll get there too. Just don't get credit card crazy once your scores perk up. It's a terrible temptation. 

[Generalsource1]

@Bmom  I 100% agree I kind of gave up on my credit a while ago , but after lurking on this forum for over a year and reading sooo much success and rebuilding stories it was so motivating, I wish you get into the 800+ club! People are awesome here and so helpful, you can definitely do it!

[Jeffster1]

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@Generalsource1 wrote:

@Jeffster1 Wow sorry that you had to file for bk , but also congratulations on staying focused and committed to fixing your situation and not giving up , that definitely gives me hope! I'm happy you got back on track with with your finances and with Amex!, I've never really cared for credit when I was younger and I was reckless, because I always thought "cash is king" I own a business and thankfully I am good and have a good income, but CREDIT is super important, I've realized from my father and many other successful friends, they all say they wouldn't be where they're at without the banks money, I would've been able to scale my business a lot faster and bigger if I had banks money, everything I have is paid cash , but then again I'm only 23 years old ( 24 soon  ) so maybe this all happened for a reason , maybe if I would have had all the banks money I would've blown it and been in a deeper hole if I didn't have the experience I have now, so from now on I'm going to be more financially responsible and I'm going to be thoroughly committed to keeping my credit in line. , again I really appreciate your input and advice , I feel like without this forum I wouldn't have started this journey, ( I've been a lurker for a while) thanks again my friend 

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@Generalsource1  Thanks! Actually, the BK was the best thing that could have happened to me, so, for that reason, the lawsuit served a favorable purpose. I filed a 13, and, as I said, I paid back 100 percent. It taught me not to rely on credit, and it taught me restraint.

I could not continue indefinitely the way I was going. "Robbing Peter to pay Paul" was extremely stressful. The 13 created an orderly process to take care of my debts interest-free. A large increase in income allowed me to pay it all off early and get a DC 1.5 years earlier than planned.

Also, since now my income goes directly into my pocket, and since I'm not paying money towards interest and fees (I PIF), I have been able to plan for an early retirement. 

[Generalsource1]

I'm happy for you my friend it's awesome that you got back on track! , all that matters is that you came out with the whole experience with more knowledge so god forbid this will never happen again ,it's better to learn now than later 

[Dayvan_Cowbody]

The thing that you have going in your favor is that you aren't trapped in Charge Off (CO) accounts purgatory.  COs take 7 years to recover from where right now you're just dealing with a couple collections that you can hopefully negotiate a Pay For Delete on.  

With the 30/60 day lates they get less impactful as time goes on so after a couple years they become annoying to see on your history more than they are damaging to your score.  

My brother was in the 500s for ages because he had been irresponsible with student loans and a couple credit cards.  It wasn't a lot of money but it was a lot of lates.  He recognized that this was a personal shortcoming and decided to live a credit-free existence after that.  He hasn't had any credit cards in something like 15 years now... until I added him to one of mine as an Authorized User so he could have SOME kind of score.  Because all his other negative stuff has aged off by now that AU card is the only thing on his report and his score was in the 680s or so during periods that I had that card up over 90% and when I took it down to about 60% his score went up to 720.  What I find interesting is that on Experian's site they always try to get you to sign up for cards and rate your chances for approval.  My FICO is only 703 today (because of a CO that has a year left before it ages off), but I get offered cards from everybody these days (good cards and bad cards) and he only gets offered Discover. 

As to Amex... i've lost 2 Amex cards in the last 20 years... I'm not sure that I ever finished paying off the one they canceled in 2003.  I could be wrong at this point, but they gave me a Platinum in 2013 (which I lost in 2017 and is the CO i mentioned above) and when i finally paid off the $695 that I still owed them in 2020 they gave me a Blue Cash Everyday.  For the last year or so I'm constantly getting offered Gold and Platinum cards though.  

so basically... you're young and have taken the HUGE step of getting on top of your credit now.  pay off those outstanding debts, keep financed spending to a minimum or pay in full each month and be patient for the next couple years and you'll be in great shape.  having your dad add you as an AU would definitely help as long as he's responsible with HIS account.  That card I gave to my brother as an AU has never had a penny spent against it, but the card i put my wife as an AU on gets used for our cable bill and a couple other small things each month so there's at least some activity on it. as i said above, even without any spend on that card my brother's FICO 8 is 720 with nothing else on his report.

[Generalsource1]

@Dayvan_Cowbody I appreciate your response, I paid off petal and my account is still active with them , and paid my other open credit cards now they're all in good standing , I'll pay off my repo and other collections this week in full so I definitely look forward to improving my credit and heading back into the right path, that's good I'm glad you got back in with AMEX i hope I can get in with them sometime in the next year or two after these things age off my account , I'll keep praying lol