WildOne

I agree but for one thing, I call my emergency fund a savings and there is virtually no emergency that I would touch my savings for unless it was the end of the world

good job! I was at 629 in May 2009 the first time I looked it up on myfico. I don't know what my number was last year but it had to be around 500. Pay your bills early and write lots of letters and eventually your score improves, well, thats how it worked for me. i still have more work to do though, hoping next year to be above 750+

Nice work! Have you looked at the Citi Forward card? thank you and no I haven't looked at citi but I will check it out right now

that is so awesome!!! i need some of that luck, can you send some my way?

I have been seeing CLI on my accounts so I payed the fee and used myfico to see my score and it's at 701 YEAH!!!! Now I am feeling very confident, I might go apply for a rewards credit card. i currently have a Macys, capital one, a chase and a chevron gas card. I really really want a cash back or rewards type cc because I PIF every month. Anyone have any suggestions that i could qualify for? I tried wells fargo (I have a checking acct there) 15 months ago when my score was 656 but got declined.

I had this account a long time ago and they decreased it to $100 when I was inactive but when I started to repair my credit I read that if I was to activate the account again I would get a bump in my score(length of time of credit card history). I re-opened the account and they bumped my limit up to $600. I used it 3 months in a row PIF each month and now it's increased to $2500. It really helpd my score, first when I re-activated it since it was originally opened in 2003, it looks like I have been current with it for 8 years on my credit history. Now it has increased my score AGAIN because with the CLI it brings down my debt to credit limit ratio.

I checked my Macy's account and noticed my CL increased from $600 to $2500. Wow, first cap one increases my limit from 1500 to 5500 and now this. My good credit worthiness is starting to show, finally! I am starting to get enough confidence to apply for a new credit card but I think I will hold off till febuary when my cap one card will be 2 years old. I understand you get a score bump when your account ages at 2 years.

congrats, it's a great feeling.

just curious. I know there are criminal and civil fines levied by the office of civil rights dept of health & human services but just curious if the victim gets any of the fine.

I followed whychat's HIPAA process almost to the "tee" and the health provider simply refused to comply. I actually wrote more letters then whychat recommended because I had the CEO responding and incrimminating himself. I wrote letters CRR with the actual laws he was violating and warned him numerous times I WILL follow through with my threats to file a complaint with the OCR's dept of health & human services. His last reply was basicly, go ahead. I did. I sent all corresponce including the green RR copies and then waited. The first letter I recieved from the OCR was not promising but a generic looking letter that they were very busy but would look into it. About 3 weeks latter I recieved a phone call from an investigator that wanted to hear my story. After talking with her she informed me because it was a collection or billing that different rules apply but she would still look into it. Well, about 3 or so weeks past and then I recieved a letter from the regional manager of the OCR and he stated, "After careful consideration, we have determined that we will pursue action in your complaint against this entity." The letter further states, "This allegation could represent a violation of 45 C.F.R. $$ 160.103, 164.502(e), 164.504(e)." note: the $$ represents paragraph signs not dollar signs.

thank you everyone. I should add that I use between $500-1000 of credit every month on the card and PIF every single month with out fail. I even charge my timewarner cable/internet bill. I think the large payments helped a lot. The best part about it is that it was a complete surprise. Yes, this thread is partly me bragging but it is also there to give someone else hope that is going through the same hell I was going though less then 2 years ago. I know the feeling of shame and helplessness but just keep doing what you can and eventually you'll be here bragging as well!

I got the card in Feb 2007 while my credit was completely shot. Since then, I have paid in full every month, never been late and never gone over the limit. I also have gotten a lot of baddies off my report since 2007 but still have a few left including a judgement. About 3 months after I got the card they increased the limit from $1000 to $1500. I asked last year for an increase from the $1500 and they denied me. I checked my due date today and find they increased the limit from $1,500 to $5,500. I was so shocked, I called them to verify and yes they did increase and told me I was a perfect customer for the reasons previously stated. After you do all you can to remove the baddies a feeling of frustration sets in but just stick to your guns and use your cc everytime you can and PIF every month and eventually the good credit worthiness catches up to you. Sure feels good to have such a large increase. This will definitely bump up my credit score which I am looking forward to.

I would call and ask, I just got a HUGE increase this past week which I will brag about in a seperate thread. The key is to never be late and never go over your limit. It also helps to use it a lot. Good Luck

thank you for your reply

I remember reading this was illegal but can't seem to find it anywhere. Can someone help me out with this one. Is it legal? if not, what is the law that prohibits this. Thanks