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First I'd like to start out by thanking everyone in this great community.
The knowledge, encouragement and support here is simply the best!
I am officially 3 weeks from my 7 year BK13 filing anniversary and all my reports are completely clean of any negitive information.
I do not know what my scores were during filing and I did not check them until after discharge (6/2016) where they were EQ 630 | TU 581 | EX 592.
Today they stand at EQ 811 | TU 789 | EX 798...
My journey was long and sometimes fustrating but well worth it. There are things I would do differently but I was also able to avoid a lot of pitfalls thanks to the MyFico Community.
Thing I regret the most... Trying to rush the process.
What I did and would do differently (hope it helps others on their journey)
1. I started out by getting a small car loan (7K) on an extra vehicle we needed. A 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I went with whatever the dealer got me for the best interest rate. My plan was to pay 95% of the loan in the first or third payment, depending on the bank's rules, and apply it to future payments instead of principle, then keep the loan open until the maturity date. This would mean that I would pay very little in interest but get the benefit of the loan for as long as possible as well as a low balance to loan ratio. I found out later that the Lender has a 3 months in advance payment limit...
I should have researched more and found the right lender for my plan or just got an SSL loan and paid cash for the Jeep.
2. Opening up a CreditOne secured card. They started off at $200 and it graduated within a year to unsecured and CL of $600 but after almost 2 years it only grew to $850 and with the AF coming up I had to close it.
I should have just went the SSL route and kept trying the Prequal sites like Cap1. I wanted the security of knowing I would be accepted for the secured card rather then find out that a prequal site denied me...
3. App spree... Between 12-24 months after DC where my scores hit the 700s I felt like a god on Olympus and opened 2 Cap1 cards, Barclay, Discover, Amazon store, Namco Pools, Bob's Furniture cards etc...
Even though others here preach do not get credit unless you need it I was on a high where almost everyone was saying 'Yes' to me again.
This caused my scores to drop and stagnate for a while due to low AAoA and too many new accounts. Now I have cards with No/Low rewards that I hardly use. More work to make sure they get used enough to not get closed. Also, the money charged to these cards are not returning the most I can for rewards. I will slowly replace them and then close them but it definitely slowed my rebuild.
I should have listened to others here, had more patience and been a little more careful about what trade lines I got. I also should not have opened as many Cards as I did in that short timeframe. I would now have staggered them out to take advantage of all the 0% intro APR for big purchases and only open cards with better Benefits/Rewards/Rates.
I hope this finds people at or near the beginning of their rebuild journey and it helps them in some way...
This is something really good to see. I needed to see the bit where you said you wish you'd staggered opening cards and now you're planning to replace and close those accounts.
Thanks for telling your story and for the advice. I'm 6 months into my Chap13 and i'm doing a lot of research. It breaks my heart that my scores tanked so much. I already got a secured card and a self lender loan to help with the rebuild but i'm going to slow down and let things happen naturally. Your story is inspiring and I hope to one day be above 700 scores again like I was last year before a series of unfortunate decisions caused by an (my) unstable mind led me to need to file BK.
Wow!!! Thinking back, I should have done a 13 instead of a 7.
PenFed? I'mma have to peep them out. I have good data points with NFCU without a credit card yet. Just waiting to pounce when the time is right. Looking at other cards with the best 0%'s right now.