I've checked this site out a few times over the last year or so and figured I'd get to it one day. I think that I just wanted to keep my head in the sand (or in a hole). I figured I would just have bad credit forever. I went through a couple of un-employment/under-employment bouts and was generally irresponsible with my payments back in the 90s - that's how I got into this situation. Over the last few years, I've gotten an excellent job and have just dealt with everything by using a Debit Card and cash-on-hand. I had an old car (12 yrs old) and I wanted to get a newer car, so I shopped around for a used car that I knew I could pay cash for. I went to the dealer and told them that I would like to re-build my credit instead, so they got me a ~20% APR loan (horrendous, I know, but it was credit at least). I gave them a $7K down payment and am paying the other $7K off over a 3-yr loan. That was a year and a half ago and I've paid them on-time since day 1. BTW - they pulled my credit at the time and my score was ~530 or so. I haven't looked at it since... In the last year, I received a few CC pre-approvals that seemed OK and actually got a few unsecured low-limit ($300) cards and have been paying them on time. I was thinking that all of my old "stuff" was ready to start falling off due to SOL, but I received an "offer" yesterday from Cap1 to open a Platinum Account that would include my old Providian charge-off of ~$1K. So, I figured I better come here (had it bookmarked) so that I could figure this out. I've read all of the INTROS and "Must Reads" today, and will order my CRs in the next day or so to look at the ugly reality of my financial/credit score card. FYI - My previous debts (from what I remember) total ~$4K from 5-7 different sources. I'm fortunate that I can now handle paying that off. However, I know that that may not be the best strategy. I have a goal of getting a mortgage by the end of the year, so I know that I need to get it together ASAP. Thanks for your support....
This is a problem that I didn't see addressed and couldn't find info on through the search: I was thinking that all of my old "stuff" was ready to start falling off due to SOL, but I received an "offer" yesterday from Cap1 to open a Platinum Account that would include my old Providian charge-off of ~$1K. So, I figured I better come here (had it bookmarked) so that I could figure this out. Thanks.
