Started my rebuild with a fico 8 of 505 in dec of 21
had a charged off auto loan reporting an outstanding balance of $6500
& 5 collections totaling $8k
no open accounts
let the CO age off in Jan of 22 and disputed away two of the collections
got an EE on two others
that brought me into the unscoreable realm
picked up a $1000 secured card from first progress (the only lender who would take me) and used it and pif for two months
that gave me a score of 580ish
picked up three new cards:
$200 secured from cap1
mission lane visa $300 (now at $400)
and a $300 credit one (now at $550)
closed the first progress to get my $1k deposit back
got myself a Lowe's card $2k sl (now at 30k)
and a cap1 Walmart $500 (now$1500) on the same day two months later with a fico of 600ish
into the garden for two years of on time payments on all five cards Up to almost 700ex and tu and 760eq
april of 24
EE'd last collection off tu and exp. Fico 8s jump to 750-760 across the board
The goals for this year are:
1. keep up my 100% on time payments on the cards I have
2. Get approved for two new 'Prime' cards that will grow with me to replace the $200 cap1 and the mission lane (but keep em open for now)
3. reach a fico8 of 780 by the end of the year
4. Achieve goal number 3 by always remembering goal number 1 and adding a Penfed ssl and paying down to 9.5% before apping for the new cards
Better late than never!
Financial situation:
I went through a period of job change and just honestly giving up on the debt I had, let a car get voluntarily repossesed in Feb 2018 (bought a brand new Honda just before letting the repo happen, still have the Honda and it is now PAID OFF!) and in 2019 let a ton of CC accounts and one personal loan charge off. Fortunately I am well past the SOL on all of these and am just waiting for things to fall off.
- CCs: NFCU Secured
- CS: 542 EX, 563 EQ, 574 TU
- Member of: NFCU, DCU, PenFed, SoCal CU
My goals:
- Pay off current CC debt, I am AU on a few cards, I do have a decent income and can buckle down and pay it offf - just have to FOCUS and not keep the spend - debt - repay cycle going.
- Increase my 401k contributions, currently at 12%. I know many of you will suggest lowering it and paying debt off but at my age I have to get serious about retirement.
- Hit 600 by the end of 2025, 650 by mid 2025.
- Be mortgage ready by 2026. I live in SoCal which we all know is VHCOL, but we are 6 figure earners so I am hoping interest rates have gone down and we can afford to purchase at least a townhome, if not an SFH.
Starting Score: 543
This is my first time paying for credit monitoring, very happy that I made this next step to reach my goals. I am rebuilding after a rough patch the past few years. My score has dropped significantly and I'm slowly building my way back up. Wish that I joined a long time ago!
Current Scores
WOW!! Way to go! That is so inspiring to see how successful you and dilligent you have been on your journey. I am in the mid 500s now after some challenging times and love seeing that it is possible to climb out.
