Can't believe that a new challenge has started and I have improved my credit during 2013. Am looking forward to keeping the momentum going in 2014 and beyond.
Goodbye 2013 and Hello 2014!!
In 2013 I had 10 negative accounts listed on my credit reports. Due to aging and contacting the 3 CRA's to correct errors, I now have 1 collection left (due to age off 9/2014) and 1 120 late pay on my student loan from 2011. The loan has documentation that it was in deferment during that time (the loan was in the process of being sold to another servicer when the request was made but is listed as in deferment status on the Dept. of Ed website and is in good standing with the current servicer. My EX credit report says differently but no worries).
In 2013, I was able to obtain Chase Freedom and a few other prime credit cards so I met those goals. The only CC I want is the AMEX. Maybe later this year, 
?
With that in mind, my goals for 2014 are:
- Purchase a home
- Make it into the 700 club
- Obtain an AMEX card
Back in the garden until 10/2015.
Starting Score: EQ 714, EX 658, TU 691 (pulled by mortgage lender on 10/7/14)
i'm excited about thefitness challenge 2014. I've been working since October 2013 to build my credit I've done pretty good so far. my main motivation is having my son is almost 2 years old and now I'm focus on getting a house I started with a credit score of 539 was up to 730 I had one collections get put on my credit report and now I'm back down the to 645. I have One tax lien and an old judgment bill for about 5000 on my credit. I plan to get the tax lien off of this month and of the old debt should falloff in about six months
It's such a wonderful thing to see those come and post here aiming to improve their financial health over the coming year. I wish each and everyone of you a good and prosperous year. Happy FICOing friends!
July 2013 score: EQ FICO 819, TU08 778, EX "806 lender pull 07/26/2013
Goal Score: All Scores 760+, Newest goal 800+
Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge
Current scores after adding $81K in CLs and 2 new cars since July 2013
EQ:809 TU 777 EX 790 Now it's just garden time!
June 2017 update: All scores over 820, just pure gardening now.
I feel compelled to share my story from the beginning, as I've only sprinkled bits and pieces throughout the forums here 
Bare with me, it's quite long. Feel free to skip it entirely. This is just the most likely place where people will relate
My credit journey started in 1998 when I was almost 18 years old. I applied for a Pacific Sunwear store card and a Capital One student card. I still remember the "tye die" design of my Cap One card, and the long sleeve yellow Roxy shirt that was my first credit purchase from Pac Sun. Both had $300 limits. Never having been taught the importance of on time payments or financial responsibility, I did what any 17 year old would do.. maxed them out and made minimum payments.
For my 19th birthday, I bought a brand new Ford Mustang GT. My dad cosigned. Not long after, I found out I was pregnant and decided to have a shotgun wedding. I must not have completely screwed myself yet with the two revolving cards and car loan, because I approved for a Kay Jewelers card and charged a couple of rings. I made most of those payments on time and eventually paid it off. To this day, it's my oldest account because it's the only one that didn't end up negative. Meanwhile, both my Pac Sun card and Cap One cards were closed by the creditors for having shotty payment histories and so I just paid them off thinking that was normal.
Shortly after my daughter was born, I stopped making the payments on the mustang. When I was 3 months behind, my dad called me up and announced he would be taking the car before it got repo'd. I didn't mind, I had a lot on my plate at 20 years old and with a newborn. Again, I thought this was all completely normal - to just stop paying your bill if you wanted to. It never crossed my mind that anyone would take my car.
A year later, the minivan I had paid cash for broke down. I went and applied for a car loan. I bought a Kia for 11 grand and due to poor credit, got a 17% interest rate on it. Looking back, I'm amazed at this point that anyone was giving me credit still. Shortly after, I switched jobs and moved to another state.
I was always the only one in my household with a job. I lived paycheck to paycheck. The only payment I was making was on the kia, which I paid fairly responsibly. I got denied for every credit card and store card I ever applied for. It was depressing. Then one day, I got a check for 12K. It was my 401K from my old company. I had no idea that I was even contributing to it. I had ignored every piece of mail regarding rolling over.
Then I did the most shocking thing ever. I took the 12K and went and somehow put it down on a mortgage on a home. To this day I have no idea how this happened. Who in their right minds gave a home loan to a 21 year old idiot with bad credit? "First time home buyer assistance" they called it. It was new construction, and I didn't even have a buyers agent. Went with the builders lender, they gave me 6% interest or so on a 160K loan. Then I cosigned on a truck loan and bought a vacuum through an installment loan from a door to door Kirby salesman. 4 months later, I got laid off. Took the truck and the kia, and moved to another state for another job. At first, I found renters for the house. They left within 3 months.
So I did what I do best: nothing. Just stopped paying the bill. Didn't think twice about doing it, either. Had no idea of the ramifications of my actions. Got a divorce. Ex took the truck, but he was a drug addict with no job and it got repo'd within 4 months. "That showed him!" I thought foolishly. I continued to make the payments on the kia, but as a single mother was making them 30-60-90 even 120 days late. At this point, my already-really really-lousy credit started towards absolute rock bottom: old cell phone bills, old insurance bills, old medical bills, old landline phone bills, old cable bills - every where I moved from, I left the last bills unpaid. No forwarding address. They started to hit collections quicker than the Biebs can drive a lamborgini.
It was an absolute miracle that when the house was repo'd it resold for 10k more than I bought it for, so the foreclosure was a wash.
Finally I couldn't hack life anymore. I hit an emotional rock bottom. Quit my job, moved back home and in with my parents. I had 2 payments left on the kia, and no money. Still hadn't learned my lesson at this point, so I was just ignoring those final bills. 3 months later, my sister was driving the kia and got into a fender bender that was not her fault. The other womans insurance paid off my now "totaled" car, leaving me with about $600 excess and no vehicle.. but at least that loan wasn't charged off.
I couldn't even register a vehicle because there was a 7 year old insurance lapse fee and a 5 year old tax lein (401K penalties that got ignored ring a bell?) that was flagging me in the DMV system.
My credit remained dormant, pooled at the bottom, for the next few years. I was in my mid-20s and had no job, no money, horrible credit, no car, lived at home with my parents, avoided debt collectors like the plague and was, to put it mildly, more thanb a little pathetic. Nearing my 30s, I decided I had enough. I found a good job, bought my dads old car off of him for cash and moved into a small apartment with my kid.
My company mastercard was the first credit card to hit my wallet in over 8 years.
Once I pulled myself together, I finally met my husband while travelling for business. He had immaculate, perfect credit - in another country. A real standup guy with good morals and a sound head on his shoulders. As we went through the visa process together, I met with a realtor who found me a townhouse rental - but not before pulling my credit "just to see" what could be done about buying a home. Not that I wanted to, just that she wanted the commission. "You'd be surprised at how much you could save by buying instead of renting, you'd be surprised at who qualifies" she had said. My scores were in the low 500s. A family friend in the mortgage business reviewed my report with me. It was the first time my eyes were truly opened to what I'd done to myself. There was a big fat foreclosure, 12 or so collections, a nasty but satisfied car loan, a charge off for the truck (with about 3.5k owed) and a charge off for the vacuum. The only positive account was a closed, satisfied, but nice looking Kay Jewelers account. Nothing open and nothing actually nice.
I still wasn't 100% prepared to deal with it, but I did give a bit of thought about the repair process. I started saving money to make good on my debts and let nearly a year go by with no real efforts of repair.
2013 was a big year for me. I had our mortgage broker check my credit again in 03/2013 knowing the pull would tell the same story. I was still in the low-to-mid 500s. A few collections had dropped off due to age, but that's it. The foreclosure had "aged off."
I found the MyFico forum. I started reading, lurking, and researching. I knew soon after his move to the US, my husband would want to buy a house. 2 months later I went and applied for a secured credit card with my bank - $300 limit. I paid off my tax lien. 4 months later, my husbands visa was approved and he moved to the US. As soon as he had a social sec #, he went and applied for a secured card - $500 limit - and made me an AU.
I started out by - probably mistakingly - disputing everything on my CR and waited 30 days. I had my sister add me as an AU on her 7 year old credit card account with perfect payment history. I spent the next few months feverishly contacting the remaining collection agencies, offering PFDs when possible. I settled the truck loan. I tried to settle the vacuum, but they didn't want to settle.
We knew from these forums we would need to have a few tradelines in place, showing history, to qualify for a mortgage. In April of 2013 we applied for a store card with Ashley Furniture.
This was a pivotal moment in my credit journey. I remember it vividly and will forever. I was 5 months pregnant, so I was already a bit emotional. I was sitting at a dining table in the Ashley Furniture showroom, gnawing on my fingers. We had found a beautiful sectional, and had the money in savings to buy it outright but we really needed a tradeline. We had already decided we weren't going to buy the couch if we were turned down for a store card. My stomach was in knots. It was the first "credit" card I had applied for since 2008 (I wasn't counting the secured card from my bank. This was a real CREDIT card.) It was the moment of truth. My husband didn't approve on his own due to his 6 month old social security number - he needed a coapplicant. I gave them my information. I started to tear up. I was so nervous, I was nauseous. I could see the denial, I could picture the drive home - my husband disappointed because his wife's past was keeping them from realizing their future. I could already feel the shame.
When we were approved for a $2000 limit, I cried. I. Was. Approved. My heart soared. It was an indescribable emotional relief, so overwhelming that I cried happy tears into my husbands neck and discreetly left the store.. went to the car and cried some more. I wore my sunglasses and cried the whole way home. After 7 years of past due notices, debt collectors calling and sending me letters, countless credit denials, and jokingly telling random store clerks "Your store doesn't want me to have a store card" when they offered the application every time I bought something, I was finally approved for credit.
6 weeks later, when our couch arrived, I cried again. A huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
After that, I was even more determined to succeed at mastering the credit game. I wanted that mortgage. I signed up for Scorewatch on April 10th. I had a 620. I pulled my credit report every. single. day. between April 15th and July 30th. I watched like a hawk as my fico score went up, up and up. In early May, the settled truck repo aged off my report. I got a scorewatch alert - 670. It was the best mothers day gift I've ever gotten. We paid off the couch and kept our secured cards utilization at 10%. There was one collection left on my report that refused a PFD - it's paid and will age off in Feb 2015.
As soon as I knew from my daily pulls that my report was as nice as it could possibly look at that time, we called our broker and applied for a home loan. He gave us the go ahead so we called our realtor, and found our dream house. Locked in with a 4.25% interest rate. We closed in July 2013 - 15 months and 2 weeks after finding these forums.
The day after we closed on our house, I applied to have the training wheels taken off my now 13 month old secured card. They converted it to a regular card and gave me a CLI to $1000. They converted my husbands secured card as well and increased his limit from $500 to $1500. He applied for a car loan and bought his first vehicle. I applied for an Amazon store card, got approved at $400 and an increase a few months later to $600. We bought another couch from Ashley Furniture (and got a CLI) and paid it off in 6 months to avoid interest. We just bought another bedroom set and are on track to pay that off in the next 8-12 months.
One week ago, we made our first overpayment on our mortgage. Monday, I got approved for the Discover IT card. Imagine that, me with a Discover card. As I type this, I am amazed at where I've come from and where I am. I'm in the high 600s and am a year away from a blemish free credit history.
The lessons I've learned: Bills don't go away just because you ignore them. Ignoring the situation only makes it worse. Shogun and Guiness know their stuff. Yes, you do have to pay your medical bills. Nothing feels worse than knowing you are consider the highest of risk. Responsibility and communication is key. 7 years is a very long time. Shame does not feel good. It's not about much (or how little) you make, it's what you do with it. And most importantly - never cosign for a vehicle for your teenager.
Three years ago, on this day, my wallet contained my drivers license and ... who am I kidding. I didn't have a wallet. I kept my drivers license in my pocket.
Now, what's in my wallet? BOA Cash rewards: 0/1500. BOA unsecured: 0/1000. Amazon: 0/600. Ashley furniture: 1600/3000. Discover: 0/1500. I've used these cards every month since and know how to manipulate the balances in my favor now. I've never paid a dime of interest on my revolving cards. I'm headed off to the garden and vow to remain app-free for the rest of 2014.
Hi! I'm here because of my reckless spending in my youth. I racked up all kinds of credit card debt, which I let default, before paying them all off in full. I paid the defaulted cards off about 2 years ago, and haven't really dabbled in credit since then. That's been good for keeping my finances on track, but bad for rebuilding my credit. This year, my husband and I want to buy a house to make room for our expanding family, so I really want to get serious and get my credit right!
Starting Score: 500
Libra... If 5 inquiries are from the same company for the same loan and the were made in a short amount of time, only 1 counts towards your score, since it is seen as a single purpose. You should call the CB and ask if all five are impacting you or just one. If it's five, dispute the other ones.
Very excited to start off the new year with fixing my credit! The forums have already helped me such a short amount of time. 1 month down and 11 more to go 
This is in regards to a collection agency. I sent a debt validation letter the beginning of January. Since I have not heard back from them I gave them a call today. The lady said that they received my debt validation letter and that they have forwarded it to Directv, the OC.
My question is as a collection agency, shouldn't they already have all of the documents on the account? It doesn't sound right but I'm new to this. Their 30 days will be up next week for validating the debt. What should I do?
Also I already contacted Directv and have them as much information that I could remember on the account. However they could not find anything.