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As the year comes to a close I wanted to look back at the very productive last few months I have had and start a thread of my progress so far and for the coming new year.
After a particularly rough 2016 I stopped paying all of my cards. I was just living the cash life and figured I'd have to wait the 7+ years for everything to fall off and start from scratch. Fast forward to around September of this year when I received a letter from Amex offering the Optima program to get back in their good graces. I owed them a little over 2k and when paid in full I would get an Optima card with a $600 limit. This was the push I needed to confront actually looking at my credit report for the first time in 5 years and seeing the damage I had done.
September FICO Scores: Ex 515(8) 512(9) Eq 507(8) 506(9) Tu 497(8) 508(9)
I had 7 charge offs listed on my report as well as 2 collections accounts. There were also 3 positive closed tradelines, one was a closed Amex of mine with a positive history and two AU accounts with good history.
I paid Amex in full in September and got myself added as an AU on a responsible family members Chase card.
October FICO Scores: Ex 575(8) 525(9) Eq 535(8) 521(9) Tu 556(8) 549(9)
(The above changes were after the AU Chase account was added to my credit reports and the Amex Charge Off was paid.)
In October I got the Optima Card for $600 as well as a nRewards card from Navy for $1000. I also got the two collections accounts removed from my report. One was for an old ATT Uverse account for $178 held by ERC and the other a Comenity Jcrew card for $900 held by MCM which I paid for delete. I also started calling and settling the Charge Offs that were on my account.
November FICO Scores: Ex 586(8) 555(9) Eq 561(8) 612(9) Tu 584(8) 581(9)
(The above changes reflect the two new cards reporting as well as some of the charge offs showing as paid)
In November I completed paying off/settling all of my charge offs which also included two judgements from two of the cards so now everything is paid fully! I also guinea pigged myself into applying for the Venmo Visa which was approved for $250.
December FICO Scores: Ex 652(8) 653(9) Eq 631(8) 701(9) Tu 641(8) 670(9)
(The above changes reflect all charge off accounts showing paid or a 0 balance, the only charge off that continues to report monthly is from Citi who would not accept payment or settlement, it does have a 0 balance as the debt was forgiven and a 1099C sent. It also shows the new Venmo Visa reporting on my accounts.)
In December I opened a US Bank Cash+ Secured card and Altitude GO Secured card both for 5k. I also just did a Navy SSL for 25k @Anonymous months which I have paid down to 8%. These should be reporting next month and I am interested to see where the scores end up at the end of January.
I am off to garden for the next 6 months while all of these new accounts age. Based on where my scores are at then I may add the Apple card to the mix but I may just wait until October when I am out of Amex Optima jail and can get a charge card and revolver with them, scores permitting.
I can't thank everyone here on the forums enough for all of your help. I wish you all a happy and prosperous new year!
Congrats on your hard work and heres to a even better credit year in 2022.
@FireMedic1 wrote:Congrats on your hard work and heres to a even better credit year in 2022.
Thanks! Cheers to that!
Congrats on your progress!!