I originally found this board in the midst of fighting off an Asset Acceptance lawsuit and discovered the power of knowledge, letter-writing, and the law. When I started in Spring '04, I had at least seven baddies per report. Several chargeoffs, a handful of collection accounts, and multiple lates. I was mired in sub-prime land (Household bubble, Orchard, Merrick, and CrapOne were my only credit cards) with scores in the 500's.

Since then:

Citi AAdvantage (now PremierPass): 4800
Home Depot: 2000
Dell: 1500
Tiger Direct: 1500
Bridgestone: 750
Patelco Platinum MC: 2000
Target: 200 (with no CLI love after nine months)
Walmart: 100 (same as Target, though I admit, I never used this card until last week)
Chase Plat: 1500
Kay Jewelers: 2000

Total Revolving Credit acquired in 11 months: 16350

Yeah, I know its nothing compared to some of the vets on here, but that's mostly my fault due to utilization. I'm going to make a concerted effort to get some of that paid down this year.

I've got a clean TU report, and 2 baddies left on both EQ and EX. I've got an MBNA paid charge off that falls off in May that I'm going to dispute as Obsolete (which has worked for me in the past), one repo falling off later this year, and one paid BofA chargeoff that I'm fighting. I hope to be completely CLEAN by this fall.

And none of this would be possible without CB.

Congrats! You've certainly have made great progress! You should be very proud of yourself....and it is great motivation to continue the great work!

Just how do you start?

How do you start, i am in the same situation as you were?

The newbie thread is a valuable resource and will give you more information than I could possibly remember.

Congrats! thanks for your story!