Cubsin07

My business was only 3 months old when I was approved for an Amex gold.

Odd, they just sent me the same thing on an acct that was due to fall off tomorrow. I assumed it was because they reaged the account; I'll find out when the copies of my reports get here. If they did reage it, I have plenty of copies of old reports and intend to fight them on it, especially since it is the only baddie remaining.

I was approved last August but found a better interest rate elsewhere. IIRC, I got an email about a month later stating if I still wanted the loan I would have to re-apply. I'm sure if you talk to the LO and explain about the 30-day delivery he or she won't have a problem with it. Wonderful people at Alliant.

In my experience it takes 2-3 business days for the money to leave my account and arrive at GEMB's account. I guess it gets lost somewhere along the way. Since I always pay on the due date (or Friday before if it falls on a weekend), every month on the day after the due date I get a late fee assessed. It always auto-corrects when the payment hits, and I always print the confirmation when I pay it just in case.

APPROVING BANK-- Chase Auto Finance BUREAU PULLED -- TU CREDIT SCORE-- 702 last time I checked in June CUSTOMER STATE OF RESIDENCE -- AR NEW/USED -- New Toyota Rav4 limited YEAR OF VEHICLE -- 09 MILEAGE -- 9 RETAIL/LEASE -- retail AMOUNT OF LOAN -- ~$23,200 ADVANCE PERCENTAGE TERM CONTRACTED -- 66 mos (paying it off in 60) APR/LEASE RATE -- 6.25% MONTHLY PAYMENT -- $417 (paying $450/mo to get it paid in 60 mos MISCELLANEOUS COMMENTARY: Was preapproved through Alliant Credit Union for 7.73%. I told the Finance person at the dealership that Alliant approved me for 6.5% and asked if they could beat it. Chase came in at 6.25%. In retrospect I should have not told them what Alliant was offering. Toyota denied me under my terms (not sure what they considered my terms to be nor did they offer theirs). Reason for denial was not enough positive history.

It did help, thank you. I submitted applications to both my bank and a mortgage company to see if I can get preapproved, and for how much. Any ideas on how many companies with which should I apply? I don't want the recent inquiries to hurt my score too much.

Thanks for the replies. I did realize that I can get a VA loan without a down payment, that I can finance the funding fee, and that I could try to find a seller to pay the CC. I guess my question was, what other cash-up-front-money am I not thinking about? The plan is to get preapproved and then find a house. I assume it is wise to shop for mortgages. With how many banks/mortgage companies should I apply? How will multiple mortgage inquiries affect my scores?

Thanks to the CB I am now (hopefully) in a position to take advantage of the Government paying me $8000 to buy a house. The (relatively) good: EQ FICO 688 (as of today) TU FICO 702 (as of today) At the job 10+ years Have certificate of eligibility for VA loan DTI virtually non-existent....always PIF and no vehicle payment. The bad: Unpaid CO reporting on all three -- won't come off until next year Short credit history (2 year avg) Limited cash available (I try to do my part and spend spend spend--understand this will have to change) The plan: Get prequalified for VA loan and get a house. I will go ahead and add a pretend car payment to the equation because I will eventually have to get another one. The question: Is it possible to do this with a bare minimum of cash up front? And by bare minimum I mean almost 0. Obviously it would be better for me wait until I get some cash saved, but I want to make sure I get in this year for the 8k. The 8k will go into the bank. Any and all input is appreciated.

Update time: The wait is over my friends. Everything that was to come off in June has been successfully disputed (as obsolete) off. The only remaining baddie is the Cap One scheduled to come off in Sept of next year. I have yet to check my FICO scores to see what affect this has had; I have other things to spend my money on at the moment. It had a major affect on the Juny FAKO score---from 585 to 705. It means nothing, I know, but it is psychologically rewarding nonetheless. In other news, the only other AA I've seen thus far (knock on wood) was Juny rate jacking me from 8.9% + prime to 13.9% plus prime. Their reason? "The cost of doing business". I still PIF every month so it does not matter. Hooters and Wal Mart continue to give regular increases and get regular useage--Wal Mart for groceries and Hooters for gas, bills, and everyday items. Always PIF, of course. Amex is still relegated to CS duty only. I really wish I could use it more for the cash back but I don't need it reporting 60%-70% useage every month. Target and Alliant get sporadic useage and PIF. Next month will be a momentous one. I am going to start the ball rolling to buy a house. I may as well since Uncle Sam wants to give me $8k to do so. That whole process will be new to me so expect to see me in the Mortgage Forum. I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of the CB'ers for their advice and support. I haven't recently asked for advice but once a day I do catch up on all the posts and almost always learn something new. I don't offer advice because by the time I catch up, the advice I would have given was already given. I will, however, take this opportunity to offer advice to anyone who is starting out on their journey. This is by no means new advice. I am merely reiterating advice that has been said here many many times. It works. BE PATIENT. My journey started about two-and-a-half years ago. It seems like yesterday. I didn't get into trouble overnight. I didn't get out of it overnight, either. STAY POSITIVE. Expect bumps along the way. Don't let them get you down. KEEP COPIES OF EVERYTHING YOU DO. ALSO KEEP OLD REPORTS. I'm guessing that this will help me next month when the bottom feeders come out and try to reinsert the obselete baddies after I apply for a mortgage. I can see it now. Them: "You owe us X dollars" Me: "Um, according this report I have this tradeline is past the reporting period. Either delete it of pay me $1000. Thank you." BE PATIENT. Trust me, it's important. DON'T FORGET THE OTHER HALF OF CREDIT REPAIR. I think this was the single best piece of advice I got. After the first couple of rounds of disputes I decided to BE PATIENT let the last couple get near obsoletion and then dispute them off. During this time I worked only on the other half. I think it has paid off. ONLY GET CARDS YOU WILL USE. I am guilty of not following this advice. I did not listen. I wish I would have. Period. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS PIF. Unless you're getting a 0% promo. On a sidenote, here is a conversation I would dearly love to hear someday: Person one: "Dude, I got Amex'd today" Person two: "Bummer"

Update: Checked my FICO's last month. TU is up to 689, EQ is up to 673, and EX is up to 692. I haven't bought a house yet -- I'm waiting on the economy to stabilize. Plus I want my mid score to get above 700 before I take that plunge. Speaking of new economic times, I have not been immune to the consequences, even though I always PIF. Juny decreased my CL from 5k to 2.1k because I haven't been using the entire CL. Into the sock drawer it goes. It will come out every couple of months for a pack of gum. I also switched back to paper statements. Silly, I know, but it makes me feel better. Since I got Amex I had been running bills/groceries and certain everyday expenses through it monthly to the tune of $700-$800 and paying it off. Hit the love button last month to no avail. It is now keeping Juny company and the only charges it sees is CS once monthly. Also switched back to paper statements. Target sees limited action, CL still at $1000. No upgrage. Wal Mart still gives up a small CLI every five months. Gas goes on it. Alliant won't give a CLI without a hard pull so we're at an impasse. It is currently involved in a torrid love triangle with Juny and Amex. Hooters has given regular CLI's. As such it is now the card that pays the bills, groceries, and every day expenses. Regarding baddies, I've done nothing in a long time. FRIC comes off in April, and one of the Cap One's comes off in June. Nothing has been reinserted or re-aged so far. If it does, I will be waiting to pounce.

They got me too, from 5k down to 2.1k. Same reason: "not using enough of your limit blah blah blah" I'm not sweating it, but I did change from online statements to paper statements.

Well said NextelDone. When I saw the news this morning about GM "shutting their doors for a month" I couldn't help but chuckle. Part of my work deals with the transportation between suppliers and the auto plants, so I am fully aware that plants shut down during Christmas, July, and any other time they re-tool. This "news" is nothing more than the auto industry using the media to drum up public support for their bailout.

I also got the bump from $200 to 1k. I looked and they did an AR soft pull on Experian on 10/28/08. Ditto.

I would argue that it was the specialist. I gather you saw the spot. I think it would have been more dramatic if she had kicked the dominoes over instead of pushing them.

I think selfishness and addiction were most certainly part of the problem. Why else would someone purposely sign the bottom line on a loan they could not afford? Stupidity? And I'd wager that there really are some homeless people that are just plain lazy.