Hi folks, I wanted to share my story about what I went through to build my credit score from 504 to 706. It took roughly two years to do and an obsession to get it done. I just started a new family, had a new born on the way and 2 older teens I was now responsible for. With mine and her credit scores in the dumps finding apartments let alone a mortgage was difficult to almost impossible. Car loans, credit cards, loans, etc all off limits. So here is my story:
I started by hiring credit repair companies to knock off as many negatives as I can. I eventually settled on SkyBlue credit repair as I found the best results through them. I stayed with them for a full year though realistically 6 months would have been enough.
Second, I got two unsecured credit cards. Capital one for $300 and Navy Federal Credit Union for $500. I made sure to pay them off completely each month, usually twice a month.
After that I had defaulted student loans to deal with and ended up going through the rehab program making 10 payment over 9 months to get my all my loans out of default and in good standing. I used this forum to discover how to do that and what to do, including disputing the old defaulted loans once they were back in good standing to have them completely removed from my credit.
So, for a year it was a waiting game, paying credit cards and paying my student loan rehab payment. Slowly watching my credit score creep into the 600's.
Once the rehab was complete and in good standing my score jumped to the mid 600's. Shortly there after Navy Federal automatically switched my cared to a secured with a $2000 limit and I called and did the same with Capital 1 with a $500 limit.
A year and a half into my credit building I had nearly all my negatives either removed or age off. Only things on their are still on there to this day and age off the middle of next year, an auto repo and a Verizon phone bill I let expire. I paid off the remaining Verizon Bill and bulled by the SOL for the repo so just have to wait a half a year and I'm squeaky clean.
So, for a finale, this is what I've been up to for the last year. Exactly a year ago with a credit score avg. of 620 I finance a car grough Navy Fed for $19K / 5.25% APR. At 660 I bought a house for $229K / 4.5% APR. At 690 got a personal loan to furnish said house $20K / 22%. Credit Cards: Navy Federal Go Rewards: $7K, USAA Platinum Rewards: $6.5K, Discover It Miles: $6.5K, Sheels First Bank: $7K, Capital 1 Quicksilver rewards: $850, Ashly/Snc: $5K, FurnitureRow/Snc: $5K. All low utilization.
So, that's my story. I still have a ways to go to 750 or 800. But life is so much easier and less stressful when your credit is up, and working to improve your credit score teaches you how to become more financially responsible in the process!!!
Happy New Year!
