Hello everyone! I would first like to thank you all for your willingness to provide such a wealth of knowledge, and sound advice to so many people on this forum. I have been lurking on so many posts around here and have found your information to be absolutely invaluable. I figured I could also share my rebuild, just in case it could ever help anyone else on their journey, and also if anyone felt the need to chime in if they think I’m on a good path. So I went through a divorce, however the outcome was all good money wise. My ex was a spender and I never really cared enough at that point to make a big deal about making sure the bills were paid on time. I have a few CO accounts set to fall off next year. I have a Cap 1 QS1 that I’ve had since 5/15 with multiple baddies, the last one being 10/18. I was sitting around 540 EX at that point and put my foot down and said “No more.” I’ve budgeted and put money away in savings, made sure I’ve paid my Cap 1 on time for the last year. They gave me an auto CLI after making 6 on time payments bringing my CL from 1,000, to 2,000. My score jumped to about 660 EX but has been sitting pretty static for months. I paid my mortgage and auto loan off in the divorce so all I had left was that single revolver with Cap1. I decided I wanted to add a few CCs to my profile and hang out in the garden for a bit to thicken up my profile. I was starting to get mailers so I figured it was time to hit up the prequal sites and see what I could come up with. Here’s what I ended up with so far:
AMEX Gold Delta: 1,000 SL. Glad to be back in with them because I burned them in ‘13 (paid CO) and they have other cards I’d like once I can get my profile where it needs to be. Also, there is a small airport really close to me that one of 2 major airlines that flies out of there is Delta, so I’ll get good use out of it.
Disco It: 1,000 SL. Everyone spoke very highly of them and I was prequalified so I figured that would be another great choice. Love the rotating 5%.
Apped for Chase Freedom: DENIED! (Didn’t like the baddies and not enough accounts currently paid as agreed.)
Citi DC: 1,000 SL. Been getting prequal mailers for them and it seems like a solid 2% when there aren’t other categories I could use with other cards.
I plan to garden for 6 months and see how these new cards affect my FICO scores. So far only Disco has hit and it went down 6 points because my file was thin and my AAoA was already not great. If things don’t look great after 6 months I’ll wait until this time next year. I don’t want to start apping for more cards until I feel my scores will warrant higher CLs and better APR. the goal is that after my almost 7 year old COs fall off and these new cards age a bit, I’ll be back in at least the 700 club.
Goal cards: AMEX BCP, Chase Freedom, US Bank Cash+. Amex will be good for groceries since I shop at Meijer, the other two combined with the Disco will give me so many rotating 5% categories, even though I’m sure some will overlap. Hopefully after 6-12 months in the garden Chase will be kind to me lol. I’ll be sure to app for them again first because I’m 3/24 right now.
Thanks for taking the time to listen to my journey so far! Best of luck to everyone else out there!
AMEX Gold Delta: 1,000 SL. Glad to be back in with them because I burned them in ‘13 (paid CO) and they have other cards I’d like once I can get my profile where it needs to be. Also, there is a small airport really close to me that one of 2 major airlines that flies out of there is Delta, so I’ll get good use out of it.
Disco It: 1,000 SL. Everyone spoke very highly of them and I was prequalified so I figured that would be another great choice. Love the rotating 5%.
Apped for Chase Freedom: DENIED! (Didn’t like the baddies and not enough accounts currently paid as agreed.)
Citi DC: 1,000 SL. Been getting prequal mailers for them and it seems like a solid 2% when there aren’t other categories I could use with other cards.
I plan to garden for 6 months and see how these new cards affect my FICO scores. So far only Disco has hit and it went down 6 points because my file was thin and my AAoA was already not great. If things don’t look great after 6 months I’ll wait until this time next year. I don’t want to start apping for more cards until I feel my scores will warrant higher CLs and better APR. the goal is that after my almost 7 year old COs fall off and these new cards age a bit, I’ll be back in at least the 700 club.
Goal cards: AMEX BCP, Chase Freedom, US Bank Cash+. Amex will be good for groceries since I shop at Meijer, the other two combined with the Disco will give me so many rotating 5% categories, even though I’m sure some will overlap. Hopefully after 6-12 months in the garden Chase will be kind to me lol. I’ll be sure to app for them again first because I’m 3/24 right now.
Thanks for taking the time to listen to my journey so far! Best of luck to everyone else out there!
Sounds like you’re off to a great restart. Have you pulled your free annual reports to ascertain the DoFDs and falloff dates of the derogs? You may be able to use early exclusion to start clearing them earlier than you’re aware. Also, for $1 you can pull all three FICO scores from www.creditchecktotal.com (cancel it after you have them do you’re not put into a recurring $30/month subscription). Good choices on the cards you’re targeting too - they’ll serve you well 
Thank you! I have not tried that site yet. Currently using the fake CK scores (still ok for alerts), the free Experian app, as well as watching for included FICO scores on AMEX and Disco. I will give that site a try (sounds like a dollar well spent) and see if I can gather enough info to see if I can get any early removals. Worst case, they all start falling off at the very beginning of next year so not the end of the world. Always appreciate the info!