Cloak's success story

[Sultan]

Cloak&Dagger, You have seriously impressed the hell out of me.

 

Keep yourself focused, on track and prioritized. -

 

Take what you have learned and spread the word as you have done, I'm a firm believer in abundance

 

Abundance is the basis for Creditboards!

 

Scarcity causes some to grasp at straws.

 

Double thumb up buddy!

[Cloak&Dagger]

Thanks Sult! It's a good thing there are people like yourself in here to keep us on track. I definately benefitted from you and the other people that have been here and have shared what they know. It's gotten me to this point and I am eternally grateful for the help (and more than willing to share what I know to help others).

 

This place kicks (well..you know)!!

 

[bwdodge]

Wow! I just read your story for the first time. When I scrolled down to the pic of the new house, I teared up. What a great story!

 

[Cloak&Dagger]

Thanks bdub! It was a long journey to say the least. I finally have a place that really feels like home.

 

Good luck on your journey!

 

[Ineedadrink]

Wow, that's amazing!!!! I am very new to this board (This is my first post). Me and my husband both have horrible credit right now and I'm tired of paying twice as much for what we want or need because of it! I also hate renting and paying someone else's morgatge. I figured since he has the income and I'm a stay at home mom, we'll tackle his credit first. Most of his are collections from small hospital bills...a charge off...and a collection resulting from the charge off, but his scores are really low and he doesn't have any posative credit to back it up. I'm a little nervous right now as this can be so overwhelming at first, but you guys have been so helpfull and encouraging and I want to say THANK YOU!!!! I have set a goal that in the next 2 years we will be able to qualify for our own home. I don't think I'd have the courage or willpower to do this if it weren't for people like you...so THANKS AGAIN!!! And good luck to everyone else on here that's going through the same thing!

[Cloak&Dagger]

Ineed you sound exactly like me last year at this time! It's amazing what you can do once you have the knowledge on how to "diy" your credit health. I always said if I could do it anyone could do it. It's definately not an overnight thing but it is addictive (and fun!)

 

I'm just happy I have a story to tell. Good luck to you on your journey and make sure you stick around and ask plenty of questions. This place is a hall of answers!

 

[papaspot]

Fast forward to today...as of right now I have 2 reports over 700 and I have gone from 32 negatives when I started at CB to 1. The one is a doozy but I know I am coming down the home stretch and I know I can get this last one off EX and ride off into the sunset with three clean reports and FICO scores over 700. My goal now is to give back when I can because I know what it's like to be a newbie and I know what it's like to be depressed, frustrated and dissapointed with my credit. I can never give back what this board has given to me...and I owe each and every person here a big THANK YOU for helping me get to where I am today.

 

There is one final reward (at PRIME)...but I think I will let the picture do the talking for me:

 

 

 

Thank you CB!!!!

 

 

OMG, that is so awesome. As a newby myself, struggling to repair my credit and get back on my feet, I appreciate you sharing your story. I'm on my way. Got all three reports, disputed with two of them, and waiting to hear back. I qualified for a Credit One card with a $250 limit, and a Home Depot card with a $800 limit. But still do not have any credit watch subscriptions. I dont' know much about them right now, still learning, but doing my best to get out of this debt. I only have about $2k to go and I'm free again.

 

Again, thanks for sharing your story. You're living your dream, and that means alot to those who only have hope.

[Cloak&Dagger]

papa you'll get there...it sounds like you've already accomplished PLENTY. I swear if I knew then what I know now...thankfully this place is here to educate us and get us on the right track.

 

Don't get too wrapped up in the credit watch stuff. It's nice to be able to track your progress but it daily monitoring certainly isn't required to get the baddies off. I would check out TrueCredit (do a search in the credit forum...there is a discount link to sign up so it'll only run you like $7.46/mo) if you're looking for something that will help you in the long run.

 

Good luck!!!

[GoEagles]

C&D, everytime I look at this house, I am still floored and amazed and it is a continued source of motivation. As an update to my situation, I FINALLY got FCNB/Mastertrust off my account and the FICO scores say alot:

 

EX FICO +31

EQ FICO +32

TU FICO +99 (At 771 NOW!)

 

I have a few baddies lingering myself, but after seeing all of those TLs and with Amex no less, it gets me going! One last thing...

 

E - A - G - L - E - S! EAGLES!

[titsmagee]

A hearwarming story, congrats!

[Cloak&Dagger]

C&D, everytime I look at this house, I am still floored and amazed and it is a continued source of motivation. As an update to my situation, I FINALLY got FCNB/Mastertrust off my account and the FICO scores say alot:

 

EX FICO +31

EQ FICO +32

TU FICO +99 (At 771 NOW!)

 

I have a few baddies lingering myself, but after seeing all of those TLs and with Amex no less, it gets me going! One last thing...

 

E - A - G - L - E - S! EAGLES!

 

 

Fly GE Fly

On the road to (credit repair) victory!!!

 

Keep it going!!! Your TU score is so awesome too...!

[Cloak&Dagger]

A hearwarming story, congrats!

 

 

thanks t!

 

Tryin' to keep the mojo going after cleaning it all up!

 

[Jaidyn]

This is my very first post and I must say you have me crying tears of joy for you. This is soooo encouraging to me!

 

Thank you all so much! I'm ready to dive in and do what I need to do to get my life back.

[k3rwin]

congratulations. you sure do give inspiration to others.

[Cloak&Dagger]

Thanks Jaidyn and k3! It's been almost a year and things are going great. I just wanted to pop in and let everyone know you can start from nothing and get a whole lot of something if you're persistent enough!

 

Good luck to everyone on the road to recovery (and good luck to the people already there!)

 

C&D

[Beachfamily]

Thanks Jaidyn and k3! It's been almost a year and things are going great. I just wanted to pop in and let everyone know you can start from nothing and get a whole lot of something if you're persistent enough!

 

Good luck to everyone on the road to recovery (and good luck to the people already there!)

 

C&D

 

Where to heck have you been ?

 

Thought you fell out of the 4th floor of that mansion you built

 

Beachfamily

[Cloak&Dagger]

 

Hi b!

 

I was hibernating. I figured I better get back before I end up on the CB milk carton saying "Have you seen Cloak?"

[CreditDespair]

I thought I would write a little bit about what it took me to get to where I am today. I think before you can get somewhere you have to know where you're coming from...so I will post a few of my early posts so people can understand how I got started. Here are some early quotes:

 

March 8th, 2005

All of my scores were below 500 in August. I've been lurking for a long time and just started posting. They're starting to see the light of day (TU up from 491 to 620 as of 2/21/05). So it's never as bleak as it seems!

 

Good luck...tons of good info here.

 

03/10/2005

I'm right there with you.

 

My three are:

 

First Premier (ugh) $250

Merrick Bank secured (ugh) $300

Household Bank (yay!) $900 (opened with $300...all CLI's initiated by HH)

 

To diznieb:

 

I know what it's like to have nothing (and be denied for everything). If not for the information from this place I'd probably still have all three scores below 500. It'll turn around if you work at it...I always go up to the success stories area when I feel like I'm running in place (like Experian with my previous addresses situation).

 

Good luck!

 

03/28/2005

 

Score Change From 503 to 526 - What your score means.

Your score rose above your target score of 503.

 

I lost 5 pts when Fred Hanna decided to do a hard inquiry BUT Mr. Hanna is no match for the power of CB!!

 

I know it's not a big jump compared to others but it's certainly a start. MCK hasn't updated yet so I can't tell you exactly what it was that contributed to the jump (Score Watch gave me some idea...there was no alert so it may have just been age or util going down).

 

It's a start!

 

March 29th, 2005

I'm a newbie and I try to help when I can. This is like having your own support group with all sorts of people who have gone through what you're about to go through before. I've learned that if I can't find an answer to my own questions I sure can get the answer I'm looking for by asking. Most people around here are great with answers (you may have to bump your question once in awhile but they will get to it!)

 

Ask away! That's what a forum is for anyways (at least IMO).

 

 

That gives you an idea of how I started out. Wide-eyed and excited to get my life back together. I spent a month just reading the newbie forum and this forum before I finally had the nerve to start attacking the negatives. I had them all. You name it they were on my reports at some point. Companies like:

 

Allied Collections (2)

Berks Credit and Collections

Central Credit Audit

IC Systems (2)

Collection Company of America (3)

Certified Recovery

Arrow Financial Services (2)

OSI

Gulf State Credit

Sherman Acquisitions (2)

CompuCredit

Collection Service Center

 

Charge-offs (Paid and Unpaid)

Structure/WFNNB

Verizon (3)

Bank/Checking

Fairlane Credit

SST

Aspire Visa

 

Public Record

Satisfied Judgement from 1999

 

I spent the last 5 years paying cash for everything and living in really small apartments in "not-so-nice" neighborhoods. My scores were horrible including a low point in 2002 with a 390 TU score. I had to buy a car in the Bronx that barely ran but was basic transportation so it worked for me. I was alone and believed there was nothing I could do to fix my credit. It came to a boiling point in 2004 when I was told by a realtor that my credit was "embarrassing" and that there was nothing she could do to get me into a home...at least for another 4 or 5 years. I had had it. I had 3 credit cards by then...and my total revolving line of credit was about 1500 bucks(when I started I had the $300 Merrick Secured, the $250 First Premier and a $500 HH card...that was the existence of my positive TL's). So I made a New Year's resolution to do what I could to repair my credit. I looked at CCCS and attorneys and BK and those PDF's you can download that offer to "improve your score in 7 days!" and I read everything but nothing seemed to make sense. I didn't want to throw good money after bad and I am a very independent person so I wanted to find a way to do this myself.

 

Enter CB...

 

I didn't know what to make of this place at first. I kept looking at people's signatures and reading the posts of people that had WORSE credit than I did and were able to improve it to the point where they were actually picking out what credit cards they wanted and were getting instantly approved. I didn't believe this could ever happen to me...but I was hooked after reading some of the other people's success stories. So I went to work. I lived in the newbie forum and the letters forum for a month before I got the nerve to start posting. I signed up at the end of February and started asking questions. On March 7th I received my credit reports for the first time in a long while. On March 13th I signed up at MyFICO and PrivacyGuard and started pulling daily tri-merge reports. I opted out and after receiving my first reports directly from the CRA's I disputed all the outdated personal info. TU and EQ were quick to oblige, EX of course wasn't, but I wasn't deterred. I also signed up for EQ Score Watch after finding out I could track an actual FICO score. I wanted to know everything. My first SW update was a DROP of 5 points. My first TU FICO change was 2 new collections added and a 40 point score drop. I knew I had awaken some sleeping dogs and they were coming after me and I had to fight back. I did.

 

I went with an initial dispute and saw immediate results. I disputed ALL negatives as NOT MINE on each of my reports at the same time. I invested in PDF maker software so I could print and save PDF's of my reports whenever I pulled online. I bought an accordian file and set up files for each bureau. The results were 5 deletions from TU, 4 deletions from EQ and 4 deletions from EX. My scores jumped up a bunch. I had a 101 pt increase from EQ after successfully getting a C/O installment and an unpaid collection off on my 2nd dispute. If you do a search my post is still around here from that day. I was so psyched. My scores were starting to creep into the 600's. I was seeing B and even though I was still getting denied for most cards I knew it was only a matter of time. If I kept plugging away one bad TL at a time I knew I could get something. Then June 7th, 2005 happened.

 

I wanted to get engaged in the worst way and didn't have the credit to afford a ring that I wanted to get for my to-be DW. I had applied in the past at Kay and been denied. Well after I had gotten the majority of the negatives off I figured what the heck...Kay seems to be the easiest to get when you're rebuilding so I gave it a shot. Approved: $3000 (upped to $4000 in store) with a TU FICO of 634. I practically fainted! I was able to go to Kay and purchase a $7500 ring (I paid half cash/half credit) and got engaged to the love of my life. That same day I felt so good about my accomplishment I decided to go to the one place I thought I could never go to for an approval, American Express.

 

AMEX to me was the highest point. They were the epicenter of good credit. They were "forbidden fruit." NO way could I ever possibly hope to be approved for an American Express card. Well I had applied for Blue and Blue Cash and been denied in the past so I read and read and read every AMEX thread I could find. I kept reading that Green was the easiest to get. I had seen in the Credit Approved thread one person had been approved for Green with a 651 score so I went for it. I held my breath waiting for the denial within 60 seconds.......APPROVED! You will receive the card in 7-10 days. I was floored. I was approved for an AMEX! I couldn't wait for that card to show up. When it did I was so proud to show it off! I had an AMEX. I had reached a peak in my credit journey. I was psyched! Then 2 weeks later...less than 4 days after I had gotten the card, I read about AMEX credit products.

 

I had read about the "Delta" card and how someone wanted to know if they would be approved with a 670 score. Well I had a 671 by then (6/21/05) on TU so I figured well I'll give it a shot and report back. Instant approval 10K! I went back and reported how I had gotten a Delta SkyPOINTS card with a 10,000 limit instantly. The OP said "Thanks Cloak but I was wondering about the SkyMILES card." I didn't even know there was more than one Delta card! I went back and said "well I will apply for the one the OP was looking for and see what happens." I got the 7-10 day message and expected a denial. In fact I read another thread about the Starwood Hotels card and said to myself "well that Starwood card would be great to have...but AMEX will probably deny me." I applied for 3 cards on 6/21...after about 3 days of checking the app status page every hour or two both said "approved." Again I was floored! When they showed up in the mail the SkyMiles Gold had a 10K limit and the Starwood card had a 15K limit. Now keep in mind up until this point I had $1500 bucks in total revolving limits. I didn't know what to do!

 

I continued applying for cards from issuers I knew that pulled TU because TU was the first report to have such a dramatic increase in FICO points. I had the AMEX bug and when someone would ask about whether they could be approved for this card and if they had a high enough score I would go for it. I never had an instant approval since that first SkyPOINTS card but I kept getting approvals for all the cards (at 10K limits). I now carry 10 different AMEX products. Not only does it help my utilization but it helps me keep low balances on the cards so I don't get too crazy on one card and ruin my util. I also went after a couple of cards from Chase (Starbucks and United Mileage Plus Visa's) and had gotten approved for both.

 

Fast forward to today...as of right now I have 2 reports over 700 and I have gone from 32 negatives when I started at CB to 1. The one is a doozy but I know I am coming down the home stretch and I know I can get this last one off EX and ride off into the sunset with three clean reports and FICO scores over 700. My goal now is to give back when I can because I know what it's like to be a newbie and I know what it's like to be depressed, frustrated and dissapointed with my credit. I can never give back what this board has given to me...and I owe each and every person here a big THANK YOU for helping me get to where I am today.

 

There is one final reward (at PRIME)...but I think I will let the picture do the talking for me:

 

 

 

Thank you CB!!!!

 

 

Cloak, I know I am over a YEAR late with this reply...but as a recent member of CB...I can only say that your story is truly a huge inspiration to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The picture of your new house brought tears to my eyes. I am so happy to have found this board! It's SERIOUSLY the greatest forum of all time! CONGRATS!

[Cloak&Dagger]

Hi CD!

 

From one CD to another all I can say is I wouldn't be where I'm at today without this place. They got me motivated and they kept me motivated and I have tried to do just that with this thread. I'm glad you can get some inspiration from it!!

 

Thanks...and I actually want to put up a more recent pic when I can (with grass and landscaping!) It can be done...thanks CB!!!

 

Here's the recent pic:

 

Edited February 13, 2007 by Cloak&Dagger

[Stephanie1]

Oh my gosh Cloak, you were so right on about that AMEX thing ! First let me start by saying at the tender age of 21 ( before I started screwing up my credit ) I had an AMEX gold, which was closed at credit grantors request Years later I applied for the miles card and got denied. Last year ( thinking my new small business would help ) applied for the Open.......denied ....again.

After reading your post about applying for the green, I did it, and finally have an AMEX again !!!

I love this board, your guys' info is invaluable to me. I don't really post but I read and re-read and get a lot of comfort from knowing there are others in my situation . Thank you so much !

 

Cloak, the house is beautiful !!! Congrats

[elevationaudio]

Hello All,

 

I just joined today and i have been looking over the site and after reading this, me and my wife have really started to belive that maybe , just maybe there is hope for us! we have been down a bumpy road with our credit, some stuff not ours and some stuff that is! but we are so stuck right now its crazy! and wow, so stressful! but non the less, we have read through this thread tonight and i wanted to post and see if its possible for someone to give us an outline to follow or just some advise in regards to what to start with and what to do next! if any one has some thoughts or the ability to point us in the right direction we would very thankful for your time and efforts. Thank you and hope to hear from any one with some ideas on were to start, as the last help we got, a buddy pointed us in the direction of a local guy that had a biz that did credit repair and well...............after $1500 of our savings, he did nothing and has closed his doors and gave us more false hopes that just crushed us! but again thank you for your efforts in advance, my email is jbelmonte@elevationaudio.com

 

thanks everyone

Joe

[Cloak&Dagger]

Steph! First off thanks and I'm so glad I could help with AMEX! They have been the best to me on my road to recovery (though I do have to keep them on their toes with the APR's from time to time ) and were really the first grantor to open up to me. I owe them a thank-you for that.

 

Hi elevation and welcome to CB! I'll give you the same advice I give everyone that usually is looking for some...spend a lot of time reading in the Newbie section and on the Credit forum and you will find a lot of good information that will get you on the right track. A lot of questions can be answered just by reading as many topics (sticky topics at the top too...there is a Newbies Start Here thread and everything) as you can. I did probably close to a month of reading and asking questions in the credit forum before I really even started the road to repair.

 

There are a lot of people with a lot of knowledge that post regularly on this board that will be extremely helpful in getting you on the right track. If you're ready to commit yourself to the process it can be very fulfilling. It's not always easy and there are always bumps along the way but with this place it's hard not to get consumed with do-it-yourself credit repair. The way I look at it is no one cares more about your credit than you do. So it only makes sense that you'd do the most for your client (yourself!)

 

Read, read and read some more and post all your ?'s in the credit forum and it'll be worth the effort. Good luck and welcome!

[sooveryconfused]

I'm a newbie this is my 1st post. Thank you so much for this. I almost cried when I saw your beautiful house.

[Cloak&Dagger]

Thanks so! I'm living proof this place can change your life for the better. This place is great!

 

Good luck on your journey!

[Dom.PAtoneS]

Thank you very much for sharing your story.

 

Like the above poster did. I almost cried too. Congratulations