Hi All. I'm new to the "garden." Hit a rough patch in 2008 and have been on the (credit) mend since. Several items that were included in my bankruptcy are slated to fall off my credit report in 2015 and I feel like I'm wishing the months away! It's not been that bad. I started re-establishing my credit with a VISA card offer from "CreditOne." I added a Capital One Master Card to my wallet a few years after that, and then added a Walmart Card last year. All cards have increased their limits over time and I made good (and by that I mean "bad) use of my new credit. Before long the cards were nearly maxed out. I thought that as long as I paid double the minimum payment that carrying a balance would be good for re-establishing my credit. Why I didn't research this first, I don't know. Long story short, I paid off all three credit cards. Some have reported the new zero balance and I'm still waiting for others to report. I'm hoping to see my FICO score edge upwards once all cards show a zero balance. My new plan is to charge some groceries or gas here and there and then pay each in full every month so that I can still display a payment history over time.
Credit One Visa: $0/$1,150
Capital One MC: $0/$1,500
Walmart: $0/$600
I have seven hard pulls showing on my credit report for the previous 24 months. Two are coming off next month... Yay! Seven sounds like a lot, and it is, but I rented two years ago and they pulled my credit for that. I bought a car and they pulled for that. The car was a lemon so I had to buy a new car last September and they pulled it again. Then I changed insurance and they pulled for that. *sigh*
Starting Score: EX 662, EQ 683, TU 659
Hey everyone! Newbie here!
Last year my wife and I went to apply for a mortgage and lo and behold there were tons of collection items and a couple charged off accounts that I never even knew about. The sad thing is, I just never got the bills for the collections (all medical), or else I would have paid them. How the heck does that seem fair? Ah well, life isn't fair I guess. I'm currently waiting on two DV responses from the CRA's and 3 GW letters sent to 2 CAs and 1 First Premier card with 4 x 30, 3 x 60, and 1 x 90 (YIKES! I know FP is hard to deal with.) SO, we now have a 4 month old and are living with relatives in cramped quarters. We make more than enough money for a house and my wife's credit is great. I'm the only thing holding us back from purchasing a home. Here's to success for the new year!!!!
giving it a try
I wish I knew what I could do differently. My scores are not the worst but they are not where I think they should be. There seems to be a glass ceiling on my scores. I say that because i had 3 Tax liens on my credit. They were not valid liens, I actually came in here and got some advice on how to remove them because Equifax was ignoring my letters of "withdrawal" TU and EX had no issue removing them.
Anyhow...it took nearly 2 years for Equifax to remove the liens. One of the three was actually a lien they added on their own. I couldnt even dispute a lien's status if it never even existed. As crazy as it sounds that one was the hardest to remove.
Getting to the point.....I finally had all 3 removed 
It initially took my score down back in April of 2013.....It is just now getting back to where it was before the liens were removed. My score seems to languish in this same area. Liens or no lien my score stays close to where it is. If anything negative comes up it goes down even further. I have had that happen a couple of times. Predatory lenders make false claims against people like me ( I lived in a traditionaly redlined area) I have to pay for the constant monitoring service just to combat the false claims!
I just recently had a collection acct added to my report in October. I did not owe them any money; when I called the number they could not find any record of me on file. They told me to send them my ssn and other personal information or they could not remove it from the credit report. I refused to send them the info instead I disputed the info and all agencies removed the data. I was lucky that time...they don't always remove the inaccuracies.
I know about credit card balances...I am at 8%
I know mortgages are valuable...I have 3 houses
I know slow or missed payments are not good...I have only had 1 slow in over 6 yrs and that was due to a disagreement with the lender.
I have several successfully paid installment loans; I got the loans to prove my worthiness...it did nothing for me.
I have no collection accts
I have no foreclosures
I have no repossesions
I have never filed bankrupt
I dont understand why my score will not rise to the next band. I have been very active and I watch it closely now for the last 3 years.
Some one mentioned a "bucket" in here once....how do I get out of this bad bucket?
I am beginning to feel the credit agencies are selling some of the consumers to predators and they are making a profit off of people whom no one listens too.
What are your thoughts.....any ideas out there?
Is there anything I can do besides pay my bills on time as I have for the past 6 years?
Thanks
You seem to be doing something right!
I am trying hard to get where you are now. I pay my bills on time but it doesnt seem to matter on my score.
Good Luck to you....I hope you can get the higher scores
@stillirise wrote:I wish I knew what I could do differently. My scores are not the worst but they are not where I think they should be. There seems to be a glass ceiling on my scores. I say that because i had 3 Tax liens on my credit. They were not valid liens, I actually came in here and got some advice on how to remove them because Equifax was ignoring my letters of "withdrawal" TU and EX had no issue removing them.
Anyhow...it took nearly 2 years for Equifax to remove the liens. One of the three was actually a lien they added on their own. I couldnt even dispute a lien's status if it never even existed. As crazy as it sounds that one was the hardest to remove.
Getting to the point.....I finally had all 3 removed
It initially took my score down back in April of 2013.....It is just now getting back to where it was before the liens were removed. My score seems to languish in this same area. Liens or no lien my score stays close to where it is. If anything negative comes up it goes down even further. I have had that happen a couple of times. Predatory lenders make false claims against people like me ( I lived in a traditionaly redlined area) I have to pay for the constant monitoring service just to combat the false claims!
I just recently had a collection acct added to my report in October. I did not owe them any money; when I called the number they could not find any record of me on file. They told me to send them my ssn and other personal information or they could not remove it from the credit report. I refused to send them the info instead I disputed the info and all agencies removed the data. I was lucky that time...they don't always remove the inaccuracies.
I know about credit card balances...I am at 8% Play with this number between 1-9%
I know mortgages are valuable...I have 3 houses
I know slow or missed payments are not good...I have only had 1 slow in over 6 yrs and that was due to a disagreement with the lender. GW this
I have several successfully paid installment loans; I got the loans to prove my worthiness...it did nothing for me.
I have no collection accts
I have no foreclosures
I have no repossesions
I have never filed bankrupt
I dont understand why my score will not rise to the next band. I have been very active and I watch it closely now for the last 3 years.
Some one mentioned a "bucket" in here once....how do I get out of this bad bucket?
I am beginning to feel the credit agencies are selling some of the consumers to predators and they are making a profit off of people whom no one listens too.
What are your thoughts.....any ideas out there?
Is there anything I can do besides pay my bills on time as I have for the past 6 years?
Thanks
Find your sweet spot between 1-9% and if you can get the late off IMHO you'll hit the next level
Good luck
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Thank You my Journey
I am hoping that is the case. My score has been flat for some time now. Experian has usually been the highest but it doesnt move up either it remains the same.
I may have made a mistake today; I saw a post here today talking about AMEX. I couldnt resist I immediately applied and was approved. Now the "new account" penalty will get me Im sure.
What is "GW this" I am sorry I don't know all of the acronyms yet.
I kind of watched the fitness challege the last year, so I figured I should probably join in this year.
The only real goal for this year is pushing past 750. Ultimately I would like to join the 800 club, but I'm pretty sure that won't happen for a number of years yet. I still need to finish school and then payback all of my student loans. With those hanging over me, I probably won't be able get much higher.
There isn't really any other debt, so adding a couple of new credit cards to my collection and effectively managing the ones I already have are going to be the main activities.