Hi there, I am a long term lurker and just thought I'd share my credit rebuilding journey as I just started to rebuild again in February 2018 after a failed attempt in 2015.
I originally got my first credit card when I was 18 in 2004. I was approved left and right on a low income and things went south when I maxed out my credit cards and defaulted on all 11 of them. Most went to collections and the limits ranged from $200 to $5000. At that stage I thought my life was over (dramatic teenager!!!) since there were a few judgements against me from collectors and no one would approve me for anymore credit, I ended running away from both my financial woes and the recession and moved to Australia in 2009. After that I worried less and less about my collections and judgments and eventually just "forgot" about them.
Fast forward to 2014 and I decided that I would try and rebuild my credit just in case I ever returned to the US. All ofmy previous collections and judgements by this stage had fallen off and I ended up applying for 2 secured cards and was approved by both Capital One and Bank of America. I ended up increasing my limit on the Bank of America to $500 in hopes that if it graduated they'd give me a credit limit increase. I had them for about 11 months before I maxed them out when I had to use them for an emergency wisdom tooth extraction. I wasn't in the best financial position at the time since I had just returned from a holiday in the US and had pretty much dipped into my cash savings and credit cards to pay for that trip, so I decided to use my BoA and CapitalOne cards to pay for part of my surgery. Payments quickly became overdue due to my irresponsibility and the lack of being able to transfer to a US bank account to make repayments. Since I was overseas for the forseeable future I kind of just shrugged them off again.
In February, on a recent trip to the US, I decided to request my credit report out of curiosity. I was a bit surprised with what I saw. My scores were low which was expected, but only one of my secured cards was reporting to all 3 credit bureaus. Capital One closed my account but didn't report it to any of the credit bureaus. It actually doesn't appear on any reports, which is a bit puzzling but I am not sure if this is the norm after defaulting on a secured card. Bank of America closed my account and used the $500 deposit to cover part of my overdue balance, justifyingly so. The balance at the time of closing was $601 so it's reporting as a derogatory closed account with a revolving balance of $101. I thought about trying to pay it off to hopefully boost my score but figured it's going to fall off eventually. Best save the $101.
My FICO 8 scores in February 2018 from the 3 bureaus were: Experian 600, Equifax 584, and Transunion 568. I decided to reapply for a few secured cards and was approved for both the Discover and Citibank secured cards and paid $200 deposits for both. I also re-opened a US bank account to be able to make the credit card payments when they are due. Only my Experian score went upslightly in March to 607 but the others remained the same pretty much until May. In April, I had a look at CapitalOne's website to see if I was prequalified for any of their cards since I really wanted to boost my scores. After burning them only 3 years ago, I thought I wouldn't be but I saw that I was prequalified for their Platinum unsecured card so I decided to apply and after getting my identity verified....they approved me with a $300 limit! I think I am in their credit steps program. I was so happy to be approved since it's the first unsecured card I've been approved for since 2004-05. I've used the cards here and there to make Amazon purchases in USD and a few online purchases here with CapitalOne since they don't have foreign transaction fees. After minimal use (never utilised more than 30% of available credit), most of my scores have gone up heaps. I've paid everyting before the statement date and only let one amount of $39 report and then PIF before the payment dude date. I think this has helped me since the limits are quite low.
My current FICO 8 score with Experian is 642 and my Transunion is 650 (it's gone up 82 points since Feb and it went up by 71 points in June alone) and my Equifax score went up by 43 points in June to 627 up from 584. Still waiting for my July score to update with Equifax. I thought about increasing my limit with Discover but after past mistakes and since I'm happy with my current progress, I've decided to leave them as is until it graduates.
I've had a look this month and I've got prequalified offers from both Amex and US Bank now whereas 5 months ago I didn't have any. I'm going to garden until my next trip to the US in October and hopefully by then my scores have gone up even more and then I'll apply for an Amex. I really want to get in with them since they have a global transfer program but still subject to your credit score. I've got my eyes on the Delta Gold Amex.
I've made a lot of mistakes when it came to credit cards and debt over the last 14 years (even here in Australia), but now at 32 I am financially more responsible and I'm hoping that my FICO score one day is over 750. For now, I am working towards getting them to 700. I've learned that rebuilding credit takes time but nothing is ever really over like I thought when I was 18. Second chances and even third chances will come, it's just making sure you learn from previous mistakes. 
Very good. If that 101 is reporting every month, pay it its keeping your Fico score depressed as it cannot age. Welcome to the board
