Hey Everyone I decided to document my own journey hopefully it will help someone else. I will update this as much as possible! (Hoping I'm posting in the right area~ )
My objective in credit building is to raise my scores to 680 across the board in pursuit of my first home, since it is the bare minimum to put down 5% with very low interest rates.
My other goals are:
Decreasing my UTIL to 68.9%, 50% , 30%, 10% then 6%
Obtain an Citibank, Amex and maybe a Barclay card
Surpass 680 hit the 700 & 800 clubs
I’ll celebrate each 00 and 50 =]
Below will include a brief history of when everything went downhill:
Before hand I had a perfect payment history and never made it past the 600 marker due to a serious lack of knowledge about credit scores.
2 DeRoGs (USCB & PRA)
2 Collections (US Dept Edu will fall off 2021 Possible clock reset due to the events of May 2019)
2 Rotating (Capital One, Discover)
1 Secured Loan (Self Lender)
Lowest Score Ever May 2018 399
Highest Score Ever April 2016 588
2018 Unemployment Savings Ran Out 5 Months unpaid bills
May 2018 5 Hits
June/July 2018 Negotiations and Debt Consolidation (Closed Kohl’s 300 (6/14-6/18), Fingerhut 1400 (12/16-6/18) and Chase Freedom 1,000)
My Progress:
Aug 2018 Self Lender
Jan 2019 attempted to get a car, refused to deal with shady dealers (WASTE)
Too many hits (HP) for the month to remember
Feb 2019 Decided to Seriously Improve my Credit
Feb 7/19 Approved for Opensky
Feb 9/19 Signed up for creditscorecard, Approved for Discover Secured Card
Feb 15/19 talked to USCB to negotiate, very nasty refused to send a letter about the agreed payment plan, but whatever.
Feb 15/19 Reports opened on FTC and CFPB
Feb 16/19 Regrets of closing counts, wishing I continued to struggle didn’t know then what I do now.
Feb 17/19 First CFPB failure, denied negotiation by bank.
Feb 20/19 Judgement case won, no reporting.
Feb 22/19 Done with Comenity and Chase. Debating if I will ever work with Chase again. Love Chase but other banks offer the same deals. Done with Comenity because I don’t like store exclusive cards and very unforgiving
Feb 24/19 Called credit repair to repair what I don’t have the patience to do. Officially hired credit repair to send gw letters on my behalf (yes I know I could of done this but I wanted someone more experienced) Score 577 TU
Too many hits (HP) for the month to remember (Learning to slowly slowly behave myself and stop applying for things)
Feb 25/19 closely monitoring and studying myfico forums to learn from the great…
Mar 1/19 opened up NavyFed Checking & Savings thanks to the Vets on both sides of the family
Mar 8/19 Contacted USCB about letter not reflecting agreed settlement, received an apology for the rudeness of the manager.
Mar 10/19 Applied for LFCU using cellphone (uploaded pictures of 2 recent pay stubs and Driver’s License), Approved for LFCU
Mar 11/19 Approved and Confirmed for LFCU (Peaked at EQ), informed about the benefits of being a LFCU agreed to take a look at them this coming August. Checked for preapprovals, now recommended for Fingerhut and First PREMIER, one card more than the last time I checked =D received a letter from USCB stating the settlement agreement.
I know it's been awhile since I shared but here's the update
Mar 13/19 Confirmed hit was to the EQ from LFCU, identity full confirmed
Mar 15/19 Fingerhut is labeled as PAID IN FULL
Mar 16/19 Realised SelfLender offered FAKO Experian *facepalm*
Mar 17/19 Learned proper terminology for letters
Apr 10/19 First credit score received from Langley
Apr 25/19 PFA sues me, brokered a deal.
Apr 25/19 Cancel membership for credit repair services.
May 6/19 USDE takes my tax refund. Idea of paying down smaller debts quickers goes out the window lol.
May 16/19 Applied for Walmart , needed to call in for some reason. (Rejected, another bank going on the list)
**Update 9/22/2019**
Jul 1/19 Unknowingly suspended from work
Jul 1/19 Divorce
Jul 11/19 Work suspension known
Jul 15/19 student loans payment offer
Jul 25/19 Island card maxed out
Jul 28/19 filed for unemployment
Jul 29/19 Final payment to 1 DC - USCB gimme the fancy printed wall paper!
Aug 1/19 Despite a series of unfortunate events, score still rises
Aug 2019 - Unemployed LOL 2 months, managing off one check. Enjoying no headaches while looking for a more suitable career choice.
Aug 15/19 school still proving to be smile.
Aug 22/19 Self account closed, completed!
Sep 5/19 use built savings to open new card
Sep 5/19 happy and employed
Sep 11/19 Approved for NFCU Secured Card! 200 but almighty 
Sep 17/19 Rehabilitation months 1 & 2 for US DEPT EDU
Sep 20/19 Fraudulent Enterprise Rental Services Charge.
Sep 21/19 looked into credit card offers for my next steps
**Update 10/12/2019**
Sep 22/19 Spoke to a Disco Rep, discovered why my ratings show awfully. Figured a plan to fix that.
Sep 25/19 Enterprise Refunds Me
Sep 27/19 Experian updated to 582 woo fair rating sticking!
Sep 28/19 Waiting around for discover pout, nothing yet
Sep 28/19 Looked into credit reportsSep 28/19 Looked into credit reports
Oct 7/19 thought about credit repair services again, searched benefits
Oct 12/19 Prepared Goodwill Letters
Current Scores:
FICO: EX 558 TU 542 EQ 533
FAKO TU 531 EQ 527
March 2019
FICO: EX 559 TU 541 EQ 534
FAKO: TU 545 EQ 545
Game Plan: Charge & Pay Asap, Decrease as much as possible. Learn to have patience, a rainy day plan and not let others use your credit cards anymore.
@Anonymous wrote:
My other goals are:
2 DeRoGs (USCB & PRA)
My Progress:
Feb 15/19 talked to USCB to negotiate, very nasty refused to send a letter about the agreed payment plan, but whatever.
Mar 8/19 Contacted USCB about letter not reflecting agreed settlement, received an apology for the rudeness of the manager.
This caught my eye...."apology" pretty cool. Congrats on rebuild plan
@GApeachy wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
My other goals are:
2 DeRoGs (USCB & PRA)
My Progress:
Feb 15/19 talked to USCB to negotiate, very nasty refused to send a letter about the agreed payment plan, but whatever.
Mar 8/19 Contacted USCB about letter not reflecting agreed settlement, received an apology for the rudeness of the manager.
This caught my eye...."apology" pretty cool. Congrats on rebuild plan
Thanks so much 
I was surprised about it myself. However I have been staying on top of things to make sure things are improving.
@Anonymous wrote:2 Rotating (Capital One, Discover)
.
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Feb 7/19 Approved for Opensky
Im confused. You first say two revolving accounts, but then approved for OpenSky. Did your close one card or do you actually have three?
@Anonymous wrote:
Checked for preapprovals, now recommended for Fingerhut and First PREMIER, ...
I would avoid First Premier. You're trying to move forward not backward.
I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one on the treck to rebuilding. I acutally have been working on my credit for the last 3 or 4 years. I was in a very good place back in 2016 with all my scores fianlly in the low 600's, but life happened. I'm in the military and was about to move to a different base and totaled the family vehicle and was forced to get another to move the family accorss the country. Also My wife ran into some medical issues and had to quit her job which was adding 40k to our annual income. I ended up having to take on all the bill which resulted in all out cards being maxed out again and loans being taken out. Finally, I am back at a place where I can start rebuilding again. I'll be retiring from the military in just under 3 years and I'd like to have my score in the 700's so I can finally get my wife and I's first home.
The score simualation on here says that if I pay $114.00 of my credit card debt each month for 24 months, my scores will all rise between 115 to 120 points. The issue is that taking two years for my scores to rise is not quick enough and I can afford to pay between 250.00 and 300.00 a month towards my three credit cards so I've made my first three 100.00 payments yesterday. The scores in my signature are all the most current and I'm hoping they'll steadily be rising about 15 to 30 points each month with the higher payments I'm making but we'll see. I've done the lump sum credit card payment a few years back and the highest bump I received was about 50 pooints at once so it seems that paying over time is more beneficial score wise.
Anyway, I'm going to keep follwing your journey and perhaps we can keep encouraging each other. Cheers!
Starting Score: 549
@800FICOGoal wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:2 Rotating (Capital One, Discover)
.
.
Feb 7/19 Approved for Opensky
Im confused. You first say two revolving accounts, but then approved for OpenSky. Did your close one card or do you actually have three?
@Anonymous wrote:
Checked for preapprovals, now recommended for Fingerhut and First PREMIER, ...
I would avoid First Premier. You're trying to move forward not backward.
I only have 2, I was approved for OpenSky but did not load it because I was hesitant after reading about the slow processing on payments. I was then also approved for the Discover It Secured and I opted to fund the Discover because I knew they were more reliable. Plus not having an annual is a bonus too I would have funded the Opensky if it was possible to graduate and it was fast on payments. Since right now I'm using the secured as a method of paying for a bill. I do have the money to pay the bill but I'm using it just to show credit usage and to obtain the double cash back As soon as the transaction posts I send a payment lol.
Yeah I'm definitely avoiding First Premier. I don't have personal experience with them but I always never felt good about their card. Is First Premier really that bad?
Thank you for your service! I hope your wife is doing alright now. I racked up most of my credit helping with my family's medical/emergency expenses. It is really hard when the lenders are not very understanding of events out of our control. I'm really grateful for this forum because it is teaching a lot of tricks I didn't know. If I knew I could challenge bs I would of been challenging from day one instead of accepting whatever.
@ch8ngeurstars wrote:I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one on the treck to rebuilding. I acutally have been working on my credit for the last 3 or 4 years. I'm in the military and was about to move to a different base and totaled the family vehicle and was forced to get another to move the family across the country. Also My wife ran into some medical issues and had to quit her job which was adding 40k to our annual income. Finally, I am back at a place where I can start rebuilding again. I'll be retiring from the military in just under 3 years and I'd like to have my score in the 700's so I can finally get my wife and I's first home.
The score simualation on here says that if I pay $114.00 of my credit card debt each month for 24 months, my scores will all rise between 115 to 120 points. The issue is that taking two years for my scores to rise is not quick enough and I can afford to pay between 250.00 and 300.00. I've done the lump sum credit card payment a few years back and the highest bump I received was about 50 points at once so it seems that paying over time is more beneficial score wise.
Anyway, I'm going to keep follwing your journey and perhaps we can keep encouraging each other. Cheers!
I realised using the credit simulator from credit karma that it doesn't matter how much you pay but paying in general helps when its over the minimum lol. I was going to pay 500 to capital one for 2 months and it only showed a point difference of 3-5 points. I said what a waste! I made up my mind to only pay 200 max. Yeah definitely stretching it out is more beneficial for bumps.
I'm looking to also increase my overal credit limit, that seemed to really help my score. The self lender helped too (Increased over 100 points in 6 months). I think without self lender my score would be much lower. I hear a lot of complaints because of the aftermath of self lender, but I feel the key to fixing that issue is making sure you're covered on the other end.
If self lender is the only thing you're doing to improve your credit, you're hurting yourself in the long run because you just killed a good account. I'm preparing myself for that issue by acquiring new accounts lol. Yeah it will decrease my AAoA but by having new accounts and well as other existing accounts in good standing it will take the damages of the closed account out of focused
I wish you good luck in your goalsI know right now I need 146 (going off my lowest score) to reach my goal of 680. That's about 17 points for the next 9 months. I look forward to hearing about the progress of your journey.
What is self lender? Is that a secured card? I personally will probably do an app spree in about 5 to 6 months to get a higher overall credit limit and then just keep one card between 2 and 9 percent utilization. I've heard that works wonders for your score over time. If I can stick to that I should be well into the 700's by 2021.
I'll try to answer all of you. The best simulators are people on this forum. Simulators are worthless. Basically a video game. Self Lender is an installment loan if you dont have one that helps your credit mix. You open an account. They keep the money. Once paid you get the money. The best bonus from FICO is 3 cards and 1 installment to start the rebuild. If you have an installment loan mortgage, car,ect it wont do much good. And no spees ever in rebuilding. Spread out apps at least 4-6 months. You dont want to look desparate.As its said on here. Its not a race its a marathon. Good Luck All of You
@FireMedic1 wrote:I'll try to answer all of you. The best simulators are people on this forum. Simulators are worthless. Basically a video game. Self Lender is an installment loan if you dont have one that helps your credit mix. You open an account. They keep the money. Once paid you get the money. The best bonus from FICO is 3 cards and 1 installment to start the rebuild. If you have an installment loan mortgage, car,ect it wont do much good. And no spees ever in rebuilding. Spread out apps at least 4-6 months. You dont want to look desparate.As its said on here. Its not a race its a marathon. Good Luck All of You
Thanks so much for the quick reply and answering my questions. It sounds like I don't need to do the self lender thing. I already have 3 cards and 2 installment loans. All my cards are current, but I'm working on my utilization as I said in my first comment on this post. Overall I have 2600.00 in credit between the three cards and I feel like I need to at least double that in the next year if I can. One of my installment loans was way, way overdue (120+ days), but I was able to make a very large payment and get on a 3 month payment plan to bring it current by mid-May. My other installment loan is in perfect standing and has always been current. I'm feeling pretty optimistic this time around with my rebuilding.