Conquering my 28 late loan payments

[ibebarrett]

Just wanted to give some people hope! I almost defaulted on 5 student loans (1/18), which resulted in 28 total late payments, and all reporting 120+ days late. Currently the oldest one is 8 years, and the rest are 4 years or less, and I currently still owe ~100% original borrowed amount of $12k(I just finished paying off all the interest). It's only been ~15 months since those late payments, but this month I was approved for a $2800 Chase Freedom Unlimited and a $5500 Costco citi, both were instant-approvals. So don't let past student loan mistakes completely discourage you from improving your credit, I've discovered those late payments mean less than the credit scores make it seem!

[Anonymous]

Congrats on the new cards! 🙂
I'm glad you were able to avoid default. If you want to over some of the payment plans, if you're not already on an IDR plan, a just let me know.

[ibebarrett]

@Sabii

Thanks! Right now my rates are real low and I only owe 12.2k, so I'm focusing on building decent revolving credit history, but this month I will be back on aggressively reducing loans. Im on the IDR, so my payments are super low, but my goal is to put at least $300 towards them each month. With all the credit calculators I've seen, getting it down to 12k will be a boost, then down to 9.8k will be a huge boost, so I figure getting there in 8 months or less is obtainable. 

[ibebarrett]

Thanks! Right now my rates are real low and I only owe 12.2k, so I'm focusing on building decent revolving credit history, but this month I will be back on aggressively reducing loans. Im on the IDR, so my payments are super low, but my goal is to put at least $300 towards them each month. With all the credit calculators I've seen, getting it down to 12k will be a boost, then down to 9.8k will be a huge boost, so I figure getting there in 8 months or less is obtainable.