Just wanted to start off by saying THANK YOU to ALL of the people who post so much valuable information. That being said, heres how I got where I am.
Young, Dumb, Immaturity is haunting me into my early 30s. My credit history started with a student loan which was completely paid on time till paid off. As soon at it was paid off, maybe 2 months later (sometime in 2003), my good friend Guitar Center sent me some mailbox candy....Pre-Approved for 3K!!! WIthin 2 days I had a brand new Pearl drum kit, PA system, you name it, to the tune of using 2700 of the card...The thing that got me, NO PAYMENTS FOR 1 YEAR...I did make minimum payments, but almost always offset it with other small purchases on the card. Always on time though so credit score went up. Next approval was a capital one card is 2005, just a small $500 limit. Used it to purchase a $350 TV. At the time I was living at home and was co-owner of a small biz and had a GF of about 6 months that actually moved in with us. Fast forward a month or 2, start looking at apartments but get talked into trying to buy a house instead. Low and behold I get approved for a 150k mortgage, get a cute house on a corner lot to share with my now exgf (closed on house Sept 2005). So here I am, 25 years old, used to hardly having any bills and all of a sudden having to pay $1100 a month plus utilities. CULTURE SHOCK!! Regardless I got it paid every month. Fast forward again to the end of 2006...money gets tight, get behind 3 months on my mortgage. I finish a nice job at work, enough to knock out 2 months of the missed payments. When I call them to make the payment, they tell me since its past due I have to pay the entire 3 month payment. WOW I did NOT have enough to cover that!! At work I came across a side job that gave me enough to cover that extra month...get paid and call and its paid...THANK GOD! FF 2 months, same thing...got behind but this time I can't get it paid. This is where my credit downfall started. In an attempt to pay every dime possible toward my house to save it, I sacrificed all utilities, cell phone, guitar center card, cap 1 card...End of 07, attemted sales and short sales all fall through...FORECLOSURE. Not only foreclosure...But now I have 2 CCs, Cable company, Cell phone company, Gas company, all in collections. Not to mention, I have 2 tax liens from 06-07 that I just couldnt pay. All of this is the equivalent of a Fico Nuke. Since then I haven't looked at my credit score or reports just out of fear of what I would see. Tried to app for a few cards to try and rebuild and all shot down. Finally in Oct 2011, I got the Cap1 secured with the 49/200 deal. PIF early every month. Then this past November 2012 I was sitting here looking at my cap1 account and said ok, lets try for this unsecured card and see what happens...PLEASE WAIT WHILE YOUR APP IS PROCESSED......APPROVED!!! It felt like Christmas!! Ive now had it for a couple months always PIF early. When I first checked my score this past November, it was 560 (i have NO clue what it had gotten down to), since then it has gone up to 584. Its horrible I know but it's the small victories that win wars. Starting in March 2013, my neg accounts will start coming OFF of my reports so I'm hoping for a big year for my credit!
I will be posting updates here as my scores change, it keeps me motivated!
Cheers to All and Happy New Year.
-Kyle
Starting Score: EQ FICO 627 CK 633 CS 630 (12/2012)
Here's looking forward to a Happy Financial New Year!
July 2013 score: EQ FICO 819, TU08 778, EX "806 lender pull 07/26/2013
Goal Score: All Scores 760+, Newest goal 800+
Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge
Current scores after adding $81K in CLs and 2 new cars since July 2013
EQ:809 TU 777 EX 790 Now it's just garden time!
June 2017 update: All scores over 820, just pure gardening now.
Wow that is a mouthful!
It will certainly be a big year for you if you've got lots of baddies aging off. Congrats on ur unsecured CC.
It's nice to hear about success stories and hopefully we will be hearing more about your continued improvements over the next year as your score jumps!
Happy 2013!
Thank you thank you! I have been reading a lot about the BoA Secured card that you can add the 123 rewards to...went ahead and app'd for it and got the good ol' 7-10 days message...3 days later I checked my bank account and noticed they have debited my account for the amount that I signed up for...I guess that means I'm approved for it? If so thats my last card for A WHILE...TO THE GARDEN!