So why are you'al doing this? Do you have a goal in mind? Just doing it for general good credit? Did you get yourself in a pickle and came here for help? If you have a goal, may I ask what it is, how close are you to getting it, how long have you been working towards it? ___________ Myself: I want to get a car loan for under 10% interest rate. I am no where near it, and just started this journey about a month ago. Hoping to hear other's stories, Vixie
OK, I'll play... I stumbled upon CN in January and the skies opened, angels sang and I saw a bright light....!!! Just kidding (sort of)!! About 2 yrs ago we almost lost our house to forclosure (sold it just in time)- this is a house we never should have bought, could not afford and lived on credit to sustain for well over a year. Which leads to the CC debt, tons of late payments and eventually CCCS which is actually working well for us. Lukily I was only AU on most of the accts in the toilet so it was easy to clean up my reports....it's DH's that will take a little elbow grease to clean up. Our goal is to clean up his report, pay off our CC debt and in another year buy a house and live financially independent lives! Knowlege is great power!
Game on.. I was around 595 2 years ago now anywhere from 760ish to 724 just like to help when I can read and learn when I can't .. what do I want ?????? scores always above 760 don't think its possible if you use credit at all but we will seeeeeeeeeeeee
Found CN on Feb 20. I was desparate. Amex was sueing us, we just found our we were going to have a third baby... this one an accident... and would have to relocate to Los Angeles. We had no problem on the selling our house side, but how the heck were we going to get a mortgage. I had been quoted 7.5%... and am sure that would have been bumped up at the end. A loan broker on USENET sent me here! I had no clue that I could make the mess any better. As of today, most derogs are gone. Only a few lates left and an Amex CO on DW's report. I have a letter of removal from AMEX... as do the CRAs... and we are just waiting for it to be gone before we apply for mortgages. Goal... A 5.5% nodoc jumbo! Maybe asking a lot, but why not try!
Used to be: Refi house (completed--Yeah!) Now: -Get business loan(s) (I have good enough scores to be able to apply for now) -Get a published opinion against EXP that they must consider evidence submitted by consumer and act on the evidence, and investigate inquiries.
My goal is to eventually go into competition with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion by starting my own national CRA. Yes, I've got my work cut out for me, but I'm lining up some good talent to get this thing off the ground. These will be my call center employees. This guy will be my IT Director. I hear he's been pretty busy lately, but I'm gonna see if I can get this gentleman to fill the position of Executive VP. And if anyone has info on some good commercial real estate sites, I could use that, too. wajaba
I went to refinance my house a little over a year ago. I got a call from the mortgage broker about my husband's recent collection account. Funny, he had a bankruptcy in 1991 and hasn't gotten any credit in his own name since then. Turns out it was a collection from Coldata, evidently reaging an account that had been discharged in bankruptcy. The mortgage broker asked for the phone number to contact Coldata, she was going to contact them about it for us. When I started searching the web, I found a credit repair site with many negative comments. That site then closed down and was transferred somehow to this one. That's how I found CN. I started out to read every post here. After about a year I gave up and started reading the current posts. My goal is to get both mine and my husband's reports cleaned up, but since the house is refinanced and we bought a car last year, I have no driving goals. Perhaps that's why I'm not pursuing this as ruthlessly as some. I'm so busy at work I have little time even to read here, much less write all the letters and follow up. So, for now I'm absorbing what I can and helping where I can.
My goal is to buy our first house and be able to take advantage of these extremely low rates right now.
Why did I do this.. well, to save me lots of money. When I found this place, I was as subprime as they come (all scores in the 500s). My credit was so bad that I was paying 9.5 interest on my mortgage, and 18.95% on my car. Plus, no one would approve me for a credit card (then again, I never bothered to apply for prime cards anyway, knowing it's a waste of time). Today, I'm paying 5% on my mortgage, 4.5% on my car, and all but my capitalone card (which I plan on closing) are prime cards. These days, when I get my paychecks, I know where they go... lot more money in my pocket now. I havent reached my ultimate goal, but I've reached the goal I was aiming for when I first got here (improve my credit enough to be able to get good rates and refinance everything). Ultimate goal: get FICO scores in the 750's and keep them there. I pray I never miss a single payment ever again, and I of course, will do everything in my power to make sure of that.
My goal, in two years to purchase my own house on great mortgage terms and to stop paying above average interest on ANYTHING that requires interest. To get out of the 500 club and up into the 700 club
One-and-a-half years ago, I had a handful of hefty derogatories on my CR. I never showed my face around when someone would ask if I'd like to apply for such-and-such credit card. I had two credit cards from irresponsible college days, one with a balance of $600 and the other with $1000. Thank goodness, because I could only be reckless with $1600 worth of credit. I found CreditNet and became a super-empowered CREDIT consumer. You see, I made a small fortune during the dot-com boom years by selling two companies I founded. Almost overnight, my financial situation turned golden. I am used to being ultra-empowered in every way in my everyday life - except when it came to my credit - because it stunk!!! I could buy anything (although I don't because I'm frugal and very responsible these days) - but it had better be in cash, otherwise, I'd hide my head in shame. Since CreditNet, I've erased every single derogatory trade line and have a credit score of 770. Now, I'm in the process of flexing my newfound creditworthiness. Quite honestly, it just plain feels good. I'm cleaning out the barn - so to speak. I now have a Citibank Dividend Platinum Select, a Chase Platinum, and an MBNA Quantum. I turned down an AMEX platinum I actually got approval for because I changed my mind about ever paying an annual fee for a cc. Basically, I call the shots now instead of the loan sharking cc companies. I never carry balances and have resolved never to get charged finance fees again. These companies kick you when you're down - ask anyone here - and now I'm doing the kicking. I've lowered my APR rates to rock bottom (not that it matters) and I'm forcing my credit limits higher by calling the cc companies and demanding higher limits. And just this very evening, my Citibank limit was raised to $25k from that modest $600 in just a year-and-a-half. Bottom line is - it feels damn good. I've learned tremendously from CreditNet on my journey. I admire the empowered spirit the community on this board displays. Heck, if the frothier years of the dot-com boom were still around, I'd acquire the site and take it public. ;-)
I found this site in September of last year. We were bottoming out from a long lay off, and were receiving collection letters on a daily basis. While I was investigating BK, I found a referral to this site. We threw out the BK idea, and have been steadily repairing our credit ever since. Our goal is to get out of my deceased Dad's very very tiny MH and into a home that we fit in. We are three chargeoffs away from making that happen! We just need to save the money to pay them and house shopping we will go.
My goal: Improve my interest rates on my current credit cards! My credit is "perfect" - no derogatory information. However, I still have a young credit file, so I'm absorbing all the ways to improve my credit to get more low-interest CC's. Almost six months ago I tried PFB for the first time with BofA for reconsideration of a Platinum Visa account. Robin called me back and asked for a copy of my paystub, and was approved for a $5k Platinum Visa! In 2 weeks, my BofA card will be 6 months old. I will call retention and ask for the BT rate of Prime + 0, AND ask for a CL increase. I never would've even HAD the card without CN help, let alone try and get such a low interest rate.
I would like to be able to buy another home within 5 years. We juggled credit a LOT to buy this house, which is where the downward spiral started... I still feel like I will never sucees like you all have, since I can hardly get any deletions, but I'll still keep plugging away...
Well, since y'all are playing...here goes. I have had bad credit since I was 22. I stumbled upon this site back in Oct of last year...had 550's for scores and about 50+ derogs on 2 of my reports. Goal 1) Buy house...did this before cleanup with crappy scores. Saw my reports for the first time in 10 years and almost got sick, lol. Goal 2) be approved for instant credit again...started getting instant approvals for store cards, etc. Goal 3) qualify for a signature loan...recently approved for 15k signature loan Goal 4) work on more major prime cc's...was approved for 2 Amex, GM and Corvette last week. # total a 12k limit and 1 is Amex Gold w/o preset limit Goal 5) I promised Willgator I wouldnt tell, lol. It is just something I've always wanted to do. I wanted to have enough open credit to charge it without maxing any cards or going over 50% utilization on any card. All I will say is that it is scheduled for September, hee hee. Goal 6) Havent done this yet, but I want a cc with a 20k limit. Goal 7) to buy dream house without the complication of writing letters explaining my crdit history, etc. So....so far, 4 out of 7...not bad for starting in Oct. One thing I have learned...there's no such thing as almost done, lol. Keep it up, people!
My scores are all in the low, low 500's. I started working on my credit year before last, knocked off some negatives and got very focused on my company. I rationalized not continuing to work on my credit by saying that I didn't WANT any credit, that's how I got in trouble the last time. Silly. Now I want to get my credit in order because I want to buy a home by this time next year. And the fact that I don't even have a secured credit card on my credit report doesn't help. Equifax cannot even generate a score for me because I have no activity in their records for the last six months. Plus, I have a theory: with technology becoming what it is, I think there is a time not far in the future when EVERYONE is going to know exactly what your credit history is. There will be no multiple bureaus reporting different things, no ability to argue "not mine" (even if it isn't), and very little cash will EVER change hands so everytime you do a transaction, all of your creditors will know (forget privacy). Imagine buying your kid a bike for his birthday and your mortgage company is notified. Maybe I'm exagerrating, but a LOT of people are only able to function because their creditors don't have access to the information needed to justify denying them credit or to attach their assets. I want my credit straight and a long credit history BEFORE that happens. Anyway, a home. And in the next 6 months, I want my scores in the mid-600's range. Oh, and I really want that Amex Blue. In that order.
Before I got married I had impeccable credit. After I got married to a wife who had a boatload of medical problems manifest themselves from 2000 - 2002, my credit went down the toilet to the point where my wife and I had to file BK. We got our discharge in March 2003. We will be pulling credit reports in the next couple of weeks so that they can get cleaned up. Once we've pulled them, I'll be formulating plans for credit repair and sharing them to get ideas. My goals are: 1) To buy a house of my own 2) To buy a new car 3) To avoid the situations that got my credit down the toilet to start with. Without #3, #1 and #2 are less likely to happen. Just my 2¢, John
