@CS800 wrote:@MarineVet
Seems like you have done well with your scored and recovered from BK. Could you share some tips about what you did?
- Number of credit cards you use
- Did you have collections and what did you do?
-Did you have lates? etc
We can learn a lot from your experience. This board give a lot of people like me the courage to face merciless credit world.
A friend of mine did a BK and 3 years later his scores were close to 700 with no credit card and no vehicle loan etc. I was confused since I thought that you needed to show a credit utilization histry and even some loans.
Thanks for the kind words but I made SO many bad decisions even after my BK was finally gone off my reports. One thing I did know though was that I was determined to never go through all that again. I don't believe from that point until the present that I was ever late again on anything. Payment history is 35% of your total score so that's the first thing I always recommend.
To be honest I bumbled and stumbled my way to higher scores. I knew nothing about GW's and PFD's and DV's etc. so all my negatives died off from old age long before I found there forums. So father time was an ally in my recovery. If I had known about myFICO I'm convinced that my repair and rebuilding would have gone much smoother and happened much faster. 
So in my case I suppose ignorance was bliss but I guess I will take a small amount of credit in that my determination to never be late again did contribute somewhat to my journey back.
My advice now is the same boring but effective tactics used by many others:
* Always pay on time.
* Don't over extend your CC use. If you don't have the cash to pay for something on hand then you shouldn't use a CC. I realize only too well that real life can derail this strategy but employ it just as often as you can.
* When you do use your CC's keep the utilization very, very low. It took me too many years to finally realize the difference this can make. Not only in helping a credit score but saving lots of money in interest.
* Don't buy "things" just because you want them. A short term sacrifice can lead to long term security.
* Don't apply for credit just because you can. Find other things to do. It's not that hard.
* If you do have any negatives try and get them removed early. Sounds easy but it's often impossible. This leads to:
* Sometimes the passage of time is all that will help. That's just the way it is.
* Did I mention always pay on time?
From a BK years ago to:
EX - 3/11 pulled by lender- 835, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".