I have been living a debt free lifestyle for just over 8 years now. My situation was never as bad as some, but it sure felt that way in '08/'09. I was pretty mad at my situation back then and vowed to never make the same mistakes again. I intend on making all new ones One mistake was, I didn't try to build credit or at least maintain what I already had. When I paid off an account or card, I closed the card and didn't open any new ones.

The oldest item on my credit report is a vehicle loan that closed on 4/12. There is a few late payments on that loan, but that was 5.8 years ago.

In Oct 2016 I decided that it was time to start building credit again. I foolishly applied for a Chase card and was denied because of a lack of credit history. That's about the time I got back on here and started researching again. Now I don't post much because I hate talking about myself. I figure there might be someone in the same situation as me and this might help them too. I know I appreciate all the advise here when it was given to someone else, so why not. After being denied I sent for my free reports, signed up with Credit Check Total and cleaned up a couple very minor flaws.

In June 2017 I applied for a secured installment loan at my local bank. I also went to my local credit union, opened a new account and got a secured credit card for $500. My local bank didn't have any good options for credit cards. I have been making my payments on time and have been trying to keep my utilization under 30% on the CC. One time I let it get to 94% because I was buying gas on a road trip with it. I paid it off, but it did report that high limit one month.

I've been watching my score climb and I'm thankful that I don't need to fight a bunch of negative marks on my reports. Basically I feel like a teenager that is just starting out.

My scores as of 11/24/17 are Exp 727 Equ 719 TU 716, according to Credit Check Total.

I figured it would be a good time to purchase a decent used car. I applied for a loan at my credit union on 11/28/17, and was denied, because of limited history. My Equ score when my report was pulled was 752. That was a little surprising considering what CCT was reporting. I was a little upset, and started thinking about paying cash again for the next vehicle. I'll be able to save enough in two or three months if I wanted to do so. After sleeping on it I decided to stay on track with this rebuilding process. I have to, if I want to build that new house next summer right? I called the loan officer and asked him if he could use yesterdays report to apply for an unsecured credit card. A hard pull at this stage in the game hurts more than a little bit, especially if denied. He said I had instant approval for $2000. I was also reminded to give it a couple more months and re-apply for an auto loan.

Hard pulls

Right now there are 4 showing on Equ, 1 showing on TU, and 1 showing on Exp.

Accounts showing

Installment loan for $5k closed in '09 Zero lates

Auto loan for $10k closed in 2012. A few late payments. 60 month loan PIF in 48 months.

CC from local CU $500 limit soon to be $2000. Current balance $234. December payment is already paid.

Secured installment loan from local bank $500. Paid on time every month. 12 month loan

Bankruptcy or Court judgements

None, Zero, Never

What is my next move?

Dealer financing at a larger dealer to get reliable transportation?

Wait a couple months for a little bit more history, before applying again for an auto loan?

Apply for another CC? I am a member of NFCU, and I only have $200 in savings. I can start using that account more and open a checking account with them.

Apply for a Menards card? I plan on getting one anyway and using it. Where does it fit into my next move?

Something else?

Who knows this may end up in the Success Stories area!

I joined Credit boards last Feb/2004. I had been denied for an auto loan from a dealer and got a LOAN SHARK loan from a small dealership, I had, had it and I needed to do something about whatever it was that was bringing me down in the credit world.

I had no Idea what I was doing when I started. YES I had attempted a few disputes over the years with the nasty 3, but never got anywhere. Heck I thought a "Credit Score" was the same as a FICO!

Upon joining CB I, like most other Noobs started asking questions w/o reading much (boooo) My one question was answered THEN I was directed to the Noob section where I READ AND READ AND READ, and then I lurked in the forums. After a bit I started pulling all three CR's and to my surprise there were TONS of errors! That fact along with my Chapt 7 BK was killing me!

Starting a new credit life: I removed all the old personal info as directed by the VET's here and the war with the CA and CRA's began!! Some baddies fell off in the first few months! I was charged! Then, I just kept up with Privacy Guard and many disputes and monitoring my credit files. which brings me to today.....

Then:Feb 2004

Chap 7 BK about 6.5 yrs old then

One CC "Orchard" CRAZY APR and $59.00 a year for the card its self (ewwwwww)

Hit Man/Loan shark auto loan 14%

Mortgage 10.5% interest

Many, many errors in personal info on all 3 reports

Numerous IIB (included in BK) accounts some still showing as a CO!!

about a billion Inquiries from loan apps

Government overpayment from the ARMY showing as a GOV DEBT KILLED ME! big time

Total lack of good credit knowledge or any credit knowledge at all!

One year later..March 2005

Chap 7 GONE off TWO CR!!!

TransUnion 100% clean FICO 720

Equifax 99% clean FICO 701 (two OLD 30 lates show)

Experian 89% clean FICO 688 (BK still showing & a unk CO AFNI!)

Mortgage 5.2 on refi Payments went WAY DOWN

Inquiries WAY DOWN only 2 on TU!!

Personal Info 95% fix with EX being the stick in the mud!!

Government OP GONE nothing showing

HOME EQUITY LINE OF CREDIT: 25,000 4.5% APR Woot!!

USAA auto loan REFINANCE 5% payments went way down!! I did not even ask they sent the pre approval for a $50,000 Auto Loan!!<--outstanding!

Now I am helping others here with my experiences and achievements!

AND HERE IS THE REASON I WROTE "MY" STORY

PRIME CARDS AQUIRED IN THE LAST 2 WEEKS:

CHASE Cash Builder PLATINUM $8,000

Chase Travel Rewards PLATINUM TODAY!! $1,500 (TODAY!)

Patleco VISA PLATINUM $5,000 (TODAY!)

USAA PLATINUM $4000

PENTAGON FED CREDIT UNION MC PLATINUM TRAVEL REWARDS $8000 (TODAY)<--denied 1 month ago! BK was showing then!!

PROVIDIAN PLATINUM $3000 <--prime? has a good rate?

I think im missing one too???

My point is ITS ALL WORTH IT, the time, late nights writing letters, all the certified mail fees and so on!!! So I say loud and clear, hang in there and you too will be where I am and far beyond..

BEST OF LUCK TO ALL HERE!!!!! and I know your sick of hearing it but

THANKS CREDITBOARDS and all it's MEMBERS!!!

At this point I had a 2001 BK7 on all three credit reports, 4 TLs reporting IIB, 3 judgments that were IIB, FCNB Visa CO, Sterling Bank MC CO, 4 collection TLs, Student loan default (obsolete). I think thats it. As you can see I had a mess going on. I was so frustrated and disappointed when it hit me that I may not be able to enjoy home ownership if i didn't do something. I knew I had a long ride ahead of me and I knew it would all start with my credit reports. I made some major mistakes in the past financially and believe it or not I was still messing after my BK7.

I became inspired to change my situation by any means necessary (within the law of course). One of the first things I did aside from buying a nice journal was to surf the Internet looking for any information I could find that would help me to turn my financial situation around. While surfing the Internet for credit repair tips, I found CB. What a blessing!!. I started reading the forums and was instantly hooked. I mean I would stay up all day reading and read all night while I was at work. I was so excited to get started but I couldn't stop reading long enough to start. After spending about a week just reading and reading and reading some more. I finally came up with a game plan and was read to start. I loved all the step by step instructions and the resources on CB are invaluable. I mean you even get the letters drafted for you. How sweet is that!!! I was really shy about battling the CRA and CA but hearing other members stories and successes I felt so empowered. I realize now, I felt that way because I was educated and I felt confident that I could handle any scenario they (CRA,CA,OC) threw at me, and I did!!

The support and answers I got from this board made all the difference in my results. My original FICOs were all in the low 500s. After a few months of disputing like crazy, I got an Orchard Card and continued to clean my reports. I used every process mentioned on here from PFD to VOD. I managed to get all 3 CRA to delete the BK7, all judgments were deleted, student loan GONE! FCNB deleted. Sterling deleted from all except TU which the TL is noted "consumer disputes". 2 IIB TL deleted, still have 2 that will fall off 6/06. I have also acquired not only the Orchard card but a Patelco LOC, and drumrollll I got preapproved for a mortgage on 1/6/05, put an offer on a townhouse on 1/14/05, offer was accepted on 1/18/05 and closed on 2/7/05, been on a high every since then......AND I'm loving my new place, no more renting for me ever again!!!

If the advice on this board is followed it works like a charm in most cases. I am a prime example of that. You have to be organized and consistent. The most important is to follow up!! When my scores started climbing it motivated me even more so I soldiered on. Heck, I felt like a expert at doing this so naturally I am not going to stop until I hit the 700+ club.

Originally I thought if I could only get my scores up enough to buy a house I would be satisfied but Ive learned so much from CB that there is no way I'm gonna stop now. When you know better in most cases you'll do better. I am definitely doing better because of the information here. I can even come here to get 401K advice and money management tips. CB is one stop shopping, better then a super Walmart LOL!!!

To all the beginners and those who have been at it and come across obstacles, keep at it. It wont happen over night but it will happen if you stay at it. It took me from 4/24/04 to 1/6/05 to turn my scores around and qualify for a mortgage. Ive set another goal to get my scores to 700 and in 2 years I am going to refinance.

A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL!!!

I have been off and on credit boards over the past 5ish years and knew that if I really wanted to get right then I had to put into action everything I had read on here, so I got to work. I've gotten almost all the baddies off of my reports and just have 2 that will age off in the next year, I've gone from $500 in available credit to over 100k, I've opened accounts with Citi, Capital One, Sync, Barclays, and my new favorite AMEX, I've been able to get a 60k truck at 3% interest rate, I've made back over $5k in points and cashback, and most importantly I've gone from scores in the low to mid 500's to now 700! I hope to keep going and get them all over 700, but to just see that number is proof to me that all my work has been worth it.

Thanks to everyone here who answers questions and puts out good information. I wouldn't have been able to do it without everyone here on CB, so thank you!

Next stop 800!

Transunion: 536 credit score 9 bad accounts

Equifax: 546 Credit Score 13 bad accounts

Experian: 491 credit score 16 bad accounts

Well after multiple lenders said that my wife would take at least 8 - 12 months to fix to even qualify after just 2 months on this board she has the following....

Transunion: 615 Credit Score 1 bad account

Equifax: 626 credit score 1 bad account

Experian: 620 credit score 4 bad accounts (2 are pending removal just waiting on experian to make the move)

Plus a pre qualification letter for our first home to be built. This is after 2 months everyone. This is just to encourage everyone to keep trying. I would stay up to all hours of the night researching this site asking questions searching for answers in older threads. I am still not gonna let up. I have just a few accounts left to get removed which im confident will be finished in the next 30 - 60 days. Thanks everyone!!!!

2006- Had nothing but a checking account. One bank account was closed, various CAs after me, about 10-12k in debts, lots of damage of being 18 with a credit card. (check my post history)

Late 2006- Hung out here lurking a lot, dodging people serving me, understanding the whole process of how I ended up in this spot and how to never do it again. MyFICO wouldn't even pull.. another site estimated at 550-580.

2007- Full on attack, Opt-outs, small clean up on my CRAs, found a way to open up a USAA checking/savings account, became responsible. PFD and DVL. Down to one judgement and 3-4 baddies on each. Closed my last checking account and went into my safe haven of USAA for everything, the accounts no one but me had.

2008- CRAs are now reporting almost nothing but some hard pulls and TU is showing a judgment. TU won't update my new address so I give up with them, I'll attack them later. I call this 85% done, aiming for 100% would drive me nuts.

Late 2008- Open up Hooters 300cl woohoo! and orchard secured- 500$. Charge up and pay off monthly.

Early 2009- Open up secured CapOne for 1k. Now I feel like progress is being made. I have 3 cards, 2 are secured oh well, and positive TLs are being built.

Late 2009-CRAs only show pulls for these cards, and of course TU is a judgement and wrong address, I still don't care. (I should have attacked them here, but why wake a sleeper)

Early 2010- Attack the judgment, found a lawyer, paid about 1k to toss out the 5k judgement. Worth it to me. Still shows on my TU, but I know I can remove it now when I want.

Late 2010- Walk into a dealership and take out a 20k subprime auto loan. Small, but impressive that I got it at this point. Hit USAA for a credit card about the same day, 10k limit. OMG... I am almost a new person. Auto loan, credit cards, it's so close I can taste it. All I have to do is not screw this up.

2011- Sit idle and pay down auto loan, charge and pay off cards, float a little balance on my USAA. 5 years later and I am almost there.

Late 2012- Last week. Now, all my auto loan hard pulls are off, USAA pull is off, I have a clean slate with 2-4 years of history. Yes, TU is still messed up but again, 85% here, I'll deal with them next year. However, I did a mini AoR to see where I stand. 4 attempts, at least 1 on each CRA, 4 WINS! ZOMG. Priceline VISA- 3500, AMEX GOLD, CITI AA- 5000, and USAA #2, 10k. Oh, also opened up penfed the same day. My scores via USAA show 710-721. Not the best, but I am human again. I can only imagine where I will be in two more years. And the biggest win was that AMEX, a card I was never able to get even when I had my previous lines.

Yes, it is possible, but it takes a lot of patience and waiting for those positive TLs to build. Hang in there guys, it's easy to get discouraged. Remember, start slow, attack, build those secured cards, try not to pull until you have to (every 2 years), and it will all be okay in the end. Perhaps the most important part here... do not end up back where you started! Thank you CB!

My EQ myFICO score shot up from 674 to 750 thanks to the last baddie being deleted and the AMEX account that I'm AU on showing up.

So thankful for everyone's help here and for all of the knowledge that is shared.

Last year I was completely freaking out trying to come up with $2100 for some medication for my daughter (insurance reimburses but I have to pay up front) and thanks to this board I don't have to stress about things like that anymore.

Thank you thank you thank you!!!

A little about my history. I became very ill a few years ago and was unable to work for 2 yrs. With 2 children and a only a small amount of child support as income I was forced to file BK13 to try and save my home from foreclosure. On the advice from my atty, I filed a 2nd BK13 to stop foreclsoure again. When my health just wasn't improving, I finally filed a BK7.

When I started my credit repair with CB, I had 3 BK's, a Foreclosure, many collections and 10-15 negative TL's on each report. I had 2 credit cards: Cap 1 for $300 and Orchard for $300. My scores ranged from low to mid 500's.

I started cleaning my report. I got all the BK's deleted from EQ, 2 BK's deleted from TU and none from EX. I've deleted all collections from all reports except 1 collection for $30 from EX which is marked "in dispute.". I've had my mortgage deleted completely off EQ and EX, it shows on TU but no mention of Foreclosure.

I've added 15 new TL's, my latest being a $5000 Visa approval from USAA. I also have $2000 Visa from Providian and $1500 Visa from State Farm. Other cards I've been approved for are MATCU(local CU), Target, Dillards, Walmart, Carecredit, Lowes, Patelco Vacation Loan, Local furniture acct and an automobile loan.

My Fico scores now range from 655 to 670 and are steadily climbing. I hope to reach 700 in the next few months. My plans are to get a Mtg in May so I will just let my accounts age for now.

I just want to thank CB for being so patient with me and giving me the knowledge to be able to repair my credit. I even once posted that I thought my credit was beyond repair with 3 BK's, but with the help of CB I've accomplished that feat.

To all those that are just beginning your credit repair journey, don't give up. There will be times when you will feel overwhelmed, take a break and come back later but don't give up. If my credit can be repaired, anyone can.

Again, thank you CB from the very bottom of my heart.

I joined the CB family in 2011 when my credit was in rock bottom. The concept of FICO was vague and my skores were lingering in the 400s. I had countless of x-day late, numerous COs from AMEX and BOA totaled into the tens of thousands, and a couple of medical related baddies. I was in such denial that I thought to myself, as long as I had decent income, I'd have no trouble dealing with lenders. Screwed the freakin' numbers. Oh boy was I wrong.

Like many others, I started rebuilding with secured cards and I still remember the days when I'd genuinely smile when a lender extended me a measly $500 CL. Today, I have over $150k from various prime banks and over $300k combined.

The work has really paid off, because now, I get to pick which lenders I want to do business with, not whom I have to.

Over this period of time, I earned almost 10 millions frequent flyer miles and hotel points, tens of thousands in cash back, and have flown to 4 continents in First class. DW and I spent a wonderful 7-day vacation in Maldives solely on miles and points.

I qualified for the lowest financing terms in every auto dealership I walk in.

I saved over $10k for refinancing my private student loan.

DW and I will be purchasing a home this year, and I'll likely receive the best possible mortgage rate as well.

None of this would've been possible without the help of the fellow members here. So I thank you all!

Apr 10 2004, 12:50 PM

I've been researching this whole board since last year. I cleaned up all

three of my credit reports. Too make a long story short, I had to file chapter 13 dec of 2000. I wanted a house for my family, so my lawyer

told me I can pay off my trustee early, so I did June of 2002 and we obtain a mortgage and moved into our new home in dec of 2002. The mortgage company here in jersey was great. my wife credit was excellent mines was poor we got 6% interest rate. After we got the house I got the chance to go over my credit report it was a mess. It had sherman acquiston and other misinformation from my chap 13. I then found this board did all the research and cleaned my report up, i whip sherman into submission by contacting the attorney general of there state. 2007 of dec the chapter 13 suppose to come off my credit report. 2003 I was able to get

capital one visa 300

capital one mastercard 500

target 200

providian 1000

household 500

capital one for business 300

my scores are in the mid 600

i have a car note from 2002 im still paying and a pc richards card and mobile card i had for years. the reason i had too file chap 13? I own my owned business at one point in my life. Now i have another in the making.

Thank you again creditboards.com

Here's an outline of my rebuilding story:

2011-I joined CB that summer but didn't start doing anything in terms of credit repair. I read CB non-stop. At that point, I was behind on my bills and needed to get caught up before taking the first step. I wanted to buy a house, and knew I had a lot of work to do with my credit.

2012-in January, I started rebuilding my credit. I had about every negative you can imagine except BK or a judgement. I had NO open credit until I opened my first CC in March, an Orchard Bank Visa with a $300 limit. Fortunately that card is now with Cap1. I opened 4 CCs that year. Most of my time was focused on cleaning up reports. -                                                             -

-                                                                               -

2013-I found out I was eligible for NFCU through my brother and opened a CC, CLOC, a Barclays Rewards MC and a Walmart CC in June. By the end of the year, most of my negatives that could be removed were gone.

2014-The only remaining negatives on my reports at the beginning of the year were some old car loan lates with Santander (burn in hell!) and my student loans, about 40 of them. In February, I was approved for Amex, Chase and Discover. I applied for a lot of cards in 2014 and worked on strategies to build higher limits, and also started chasing CC rewards. In 2014, I also started a rebuilding thread to track the rest of my progress: https://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=524818                                 -

-                                                                                                     -

2015-This was the year of the business CC app for me. Less personal cards, more business cards. I was also able to dispute all of my student loans as obsolete with the CRAs except the 3 remaining on EX that were finally deleted today. I was also able to buy a house in December, the whole reason I came to CB in the first place.

2016-FINALLY done! I was able to get Santander deleted from EQ, but it remains as my only negative on EX and TU. At this point, after trying every trick in the book, I am just going to let it age off.

The only FICO I had when I started was a TU 08, which was 419! My EQ is now 803, which is 384 points higher!!!                              .

-                                                                                                       -

-                                                       -           

What I've learned:

-                                                                                    .

Read CB like a second job. Not only can you do credit repair yourself way better than a credit repair company, the best information and resources on credit repair are right here. You just need to put in some time researching and reading.

.                                       .                                                     .

If you live in TX, read the TX DV thread. That, combined with the 1-2 punch, made the biggest dent in my credit repair.                                      ,

.                                                                   .

Use all of the resources available to you for disputes. I filed disputes and complaints with the CFPB, BBB, TX AG, AG of the home state for businesses, state regulatory boards, etc. in addition to regular disputes.                   .

.                                                            .                                         . 

Work on a real strategy and don't app on impulse. I was able to avoid toy card hell and build a solid profile from the ground up by adding cards in tiers, when I could step up in quality and limits. Once I was in with prime issuers, I worked on strategies for combining limits. Strategy should also include a rewards strategy. All of the cards I've added were for a good reason, not because I heard the signup bonus is good. I have plans on how to use the bonuses.                          .

.                                                         .                                               .

This is definitely a marathon and not a sprint. For those of us that have lived with long term negatives stuck to reports, it can be overwhelming at times. If you rebuild properly though, you can get in with prime issuers with scores in the 600s AND get decent limits if you build your profile well enough. Time heals everything, so you just need to stay focused and on track.                        .

.                                                       .                                                    .

I know this is a long read, but it had been a long time getting to where I am as of this morning.                                               .

.                                                        .                                    .

found the forums in 1/11

1st card since '08 in 2/11 ($400 MC by HSBC)

1st discover card in 11/11 ($1k)

then had 3 fights:

cap one (charge off): failed

Public Storage (public collection?): tie [they will fall off next year so meh]

LVNV/Resurgent (CA for cap one): WON!

in 3/12 MC $400 -> $520

in 5/12 Discover $1k -> $1350

in the last year i have gained a minimum of 50 pts on all 3

8 days ago i was approved for a $900 amazon.com store card

3 days ago i got my very first car! a 2008 Prius touring package #6

it's been a long road & i thank everyone for the advice & encouragement.

10/30/04 I was always too embarrased to post these here.

Transunion 534 (19)

Equifax 497 (15)

Experian 502 (13)

Those negatives don't include my student loan mess. I started to rehab some of my loans right after I joined this board. I finished my rehab in September. Now I didn't owe a lot of money on those collection accounts, almost all of that was from utility bills and stupid little stuff because I moved so often. I dealt with the nastiest of the nasty CA's (I still have one I haven't bothered with yet and want to make certain I'm out of SOL on before I work on that one. It will be ugly because the JDB is the ugliest of them all)

I decided to actually *do* something the day I realized that all the reading here had finally sunk in. Here is what happened: I had gotten a letter in the mail from a notorious JDB pretending to be a lawfirm. Normally this would have freaked me out, but after one month of hanging around here I felt EXCITED. I knew the letter the had sent me and the "law firm" stationary was a joke and immediately DV'd them. That was how I started and didn't stop until most every thing was removed. I still have a some negatives on my reports, lates that won't come off etc.

Today I pulled my FICO to find that CA's from my SL's were removed.

11/9/05

Transunion 648 (2) +114

Equifax 629 (4)+133

Experian 669(2)+171

I don't have many credit cards: FNBMarin, Target, Walmart, Macy's, and secured Wells Fargo.

Here is my advice after one year of this-

1. read and learn the Federal Laws: FCRA, FDCPA, FACTA

2. read and learn your state laws (if you have them)

3. read the newbie section, read it again. read this board and ask questions if you need help.

4. NEVER, and I mean NEVER use the phone or talk to a CA on the phone

5. Start from the beginning, don't try and jump ahead. Your paper trail is very important. It will take a while, but in the long run you will have better leverage.

6. Be patient. You didn't get here over night, you won't get out over night either. But, you will get out, you will.

I haven't been posting much in the last 6 months due to excessive work, but I still read everyday. I'm not done yet, but after a little over the year I think I have been successful and I owe it all to credit boards. Thanks to everyone who has giving me advice- Sassy, Pryan, Whychat and every great post I every read that helped me move forward and FIGHT THE FICO POWERS!

My Success So Far:

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=461668&st=0&p=4414146&fromsearch=1&&do=findComment&comment=4414146

Millennial Financial (EX, EQ, TU)

CenterPoint Energy CO (EX, EQ, TU)

NCO Financial (EX, EQ, TU)

Capital One CO (EX, EQ, TU)

First Premiere CO (EX, EQ, TU)

World Finance (EX, EQ, TU)

Leland Scott & Associates (EX)

HSBC 5 lates, changed to Never later (EX, EQ, TU)

Ameristar Financial (EX, EQ, TU)

Chrysler Financial CO (EX, EQ, TU)

Oklahoma Student Loans(2 accounts) lates (EX, EQ, TU)

Citibank (this wasn't mine, opened when I was 15) (EX, EQ, TU)

Oklahoma County Judgement (EX, EQ, TU)

Escallate (three accounts) (EX, EQ, TU)

Diversified Credit Systems (five accounts plus three duplicates) (EX, TU) This is where I have one baddie remaining...in litigation now.

Copras Care (EX)

Pay Alliance (five accounts) (EX, EQ, TU)

United Revenue Corporation (EX)

Equinox Collections (plus one duplicate) (EX)

So that is what I have accomplished since November of 2010 to present. I started my first steps in repair in November 2010, did okay on my own, and found CB in February of 2011. I'm in Texas, and found out about our great consumer laws from CB, and things have been moving at a rapid rate since then.

My FICO's are TU 666(that one baddie is reported there)

EQ 787(clean report)

Thank you CB! Thanks go to Centex and WaltG55 as well. I wish I could have visited with you on CB. But the knowledge you left here carries on. Special thanks to Cprems, whom I owe many steak dinners. Clambert...all I can say is..., I have way too much fun messing around on this board with you! TxBayCPA and TxSwagg...thanks for all your help as well! TxStars, you are my girl, go get em'; FICO548, we'll get Diversified! Of course thanks to Jack 1212 too...I did use the JA several times!

Newbies...READ! READ IT ALL! SOAK IT UP!!! And don't get mad when the answer you get isn't the one you wanted. It happens, but keep plugging away. This process is slow, sometimes painful, yet deeply satisfying. Good luck to all!!!!

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!!!!

name of institution :American Express Starwood

approved/denied:approved

score:641 Fako

credit limit: $2000

cra(s) pulled : TU

name of institution :MBNA Worldpoints

approved/denied :App

score :680

credit limit :$5000

cra(s) pulled :EX (denied but called credit manager, reconsidered )

name of institution :Patelco Credit Union Visa

approved/denied :app

score :680

credit limit :$1500

cra(s) pulled :EX

name of institution Providian PayPal Visa

approved/denied :app

score :680

credit limit :$500

cra(s) pulled :EX

Like I said in the title, I did all this from Bagdad, Iraq. I want to thank everybody who has ever posted here for the good of the group, God knows ive read enough of them in the past 4 days- research is the key!

Anyway heres my story- happy hunting!

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?s...c=23487&hl=

I pulled My new fico's after my last paid baddie fell of last month-- (the one local CA that just wouldn't budge ( the abreviated version - Paid $76.00 Dental collection - went to new dentist due to new insurance-was in the chair with my mouth open during the exam and the REALLY cute assistant that i had flirted with comes back in and says my previous dentist won't release records/ xrays due to "Long overdue account"?? Could my mouth hang open any farther ??I mean it 's paid - I 've the the receipt that it's PAID and it's showing on my reports PAID!!!. Well I slunk out of there after stating it's a mistake and getting the yea sure routine. Went the next day with all my ammo to the original Dentist, walked in politely and asked about this account - receptionist pulls up my account say's it's outstanding - at which point I let my unhappyness be known. Now I'm not one to make a scene but i had really wished that there were people in the lobby to hear this. The excuse was that they had changed to a new computer system and that's what it said. So I made them apologise and call my new dentist to explain tier error , forward my records and they said they would pull the account from my last remaining report. WHICH NEVER HAPPENED - I was so FED up I gave up and let it fall off naturally. Ok so it wasn't that abreviated)

MY NEW FICO's EQUIFAX 801 !!! EXPERIAN 812!!!!

So my current status

1paid Auto loan

MBNA Plat 10,000 CL PIF 2 yr hx

Wells fargo gold 8000 CL PIF 16 yr hx

Credit union visa 2300CL 10% util 4 yr hx

Chevron 2000CL PIF 2? yr hx

Signature loan 2000 $700 left 6 mo old

Check overdraft 300 0 util 4 yr hx now i'm thinking i should apply for something but content with what i have - i should probable get another bank card or 2 for back up and a store card or 2 for fico mix purposes, don't think i want an AMEX. Thanks CB!!!!!!!!!!!!

BOA

Chase

Amex

USAA

Citi

Patelco

DCU

Household

Providian

05/2004

TransUnion-661

Equifax-601

Experian-615

Problems were: very high utilization, one 30-day late with Macy's & one 60-day late with First Premier back in 1999.

Total revolving CL were around $15,000.

Thanks to CB, I was able to get rid of the lates, and improve my utilization dramatically.

Now my total credit lines look like this:

PERSONAL CARDS

Discover Platinum - $10,000

Chase Platinum - $4,300

Providian Platinum - $1,500

Citi Diamond Preferred - $10,000

Citi Home Rebate Card - $10,000

Citi Platinum - $10,000

National City Elite - $2,000

Patelco Visa - $12,000

Amex Green Rewards - N/A

Amex Starwood - $6,900

MBNA Sharper Image - $5,000

MBNA Merill+ - $10,500

Chase Toys R Us - $10,000

Circuit City Visa - $5,000

Bank One Disney Visa - $7,900

MBNA Bluenile LOC - $5,500

Thomasville GECC - $10,000

Levitz - $3,500

Sears - $875

Home Depot - $9,000

Best Buy - $10,000

OfficeMax - $1,100

Macys - $5,100

Chevron - $1,500

Shell - $300

JCPenney - $2,500

Target - $200

Total Personal: $154,675

BUSINESS CARDS

Amex BlueCash Biz - $17,400

US Bank Worldperks - $7,500

Bank of America Plat - $2,000

Chase GM Biz Plat - $15,000

Marriot Rewards Visa - $7,000

Amazon Corp - $1,500

Best Buy - $7,500

Home Depot - $3,000

Expo Design - $3,000

Office Depot - $1,000

Lowes Revolving - $1,200

Walmart Revolving - $1,500

Sears Net 30 - $5,000

Tiffanys Net 30

Viking Net 30

NEBS Net 30

Uline Net 30

UPS - weekly billing

Total Biz: $72,600

--------------------

Total Biz + Personal: $227,275

My most latest scores are in my siggy.

I still learn something new each day when I log onto CB, and share as much as I can of my experiences in order to help and motivate in my own little way the others on this board.

CB has been my saving grace, and I've also come across some of the coolest people because of this board.

Edited to add:

Also because of this board, I am now the proud homeowner of two homes (one I am doing a rent to own on, and the other, my dream home that I now live in). I was also able to successfully launch my own business and gain business credit for it, and got a new 2004 Sienna last year with a great rate.

I've been pimping CB off to all my friends and family, saying this board is better than sex, and that they should all join!

Thanks CB and my score was actually 420 before I started MyFico, already had a few deletions prior

Still estatic I still can't believe my journey's over =)

I reached my primary goal- AMERICAN EXPRESS!

But not only that i have alot of credit! Well coming from a guy who started with this-

6 Crappy credit cards-

Providian: $1925

Crapital One: $300

Crapital One: $300

Crapital One: $300

First Premier Bank: $300 (RUN! dont walk away from these guys!)

Household Bank: $500

BADDIES-

1. American General Loan: Closed was 120 days late (all 3 CRA's)

2. Crapital one- ($700 limit)closed was 150 days late!account closed by credit grantor (i closed it, not them)

3. Crapitol one- ($500 limit) closed 30 days late 6 times

4. Crapital one- ($700 limit)closed was 150 days late! YES, A SECOND ONE!

5. First Hawaiian Bank Yes Check (overdraft protection)- closed30 days late (ouch, that one stings a little)

6. First Premier Bank- ($300 limit) open 2 30 day lates, neither my fault, will explain later.

7. First Premier Bank- ($450 limit) closed was 60 days late

8. First Premier Bank- ($600 limit) closed was 30 days late - Reports on TU only, No idea who or what this account is/was.

9. Military Star Card (Department store card) CHARGE OFF $3125 balance, acct status open

10. NEX Card (Navy Department store Card) CHARGE OFF $3816 balance, account staus open on EQ and TU, closed on EX

11. NCO Financial- everyone loves these guys! Collection Account for $1286 Verizon wireless (long story short- Sig other got me a phone when mine broke, stopped paying bill)

12. Providian- open was 30 days late , on EX was 30 days late 6 times!!

13. Vericheck- Returned Check reporting on EQ only

14. Vericheck- Returned Check reporting on EQ only (yes a second one)

15. Verizon Wireless- CHARGE OFF $1286 see #11

16. VW Credit- car loan, closed, open on TU, 2 30 day lates

WHEW!

Talk about having my work cut out for me!! So here is my story-

In 1998 i went through a divorce, i was in the military still so i told the wife she could have everything except the car (in my name only), the computer, and the entertainment center with everything in it. The rest was all hers, furniture etc. The only problem with that was i still had the bills for some of that stuff. Well i was now making less money (single military guys make less $$ than married guys in the military) but still had the same bills. I picked up a second job while active duty as a security guard making a little extra money but working like a dog. But being newly single and still young i wasted a lot of my paychecks on things i HAD to have but didnt necessarily NEED. On top of that going out parting with the other single guys spending more money didnt help.

Slowly but surely bills started getting behind, i didn't think it mattered being late to pay a bill, i'd just "double up" the next month!Soon after that happened i started to apply for more credit. I understood the importance of HAVING good credit, but not really the importance of KEEPING good credit. After many denial letters i figured my credit was really messed up.

Fast forward to Oct 11, 2001, the month after Sept 11, 2001. This was the month i was getting out of active duty and was supposed to go to work at a great paying job i had lined up back in July. Well, i live on an Island (Hawaii), the economy is tourist based. There were not alot of tourist flying around in the months after 9/11. Therefore there were massive lay-offs in Hawaii. This included that job i had lined up. I then had the National Guard (one weekend a month, 2 weeks a year) as my sole income! I found Temp work here and there, but it sucked. On top of that, the ex wife wanted $480 dollars a month that she was getting while i was active duty! I was getting $990 in unemployment per month! Things were getting ugly!

Its now March 2002, my credit is crushed due to 3 Charge offs, tons of late payments, living on credit cards (easy to max a $300 credit card) and no Job.

Well thanks to my NEW Significant other (GF) she helped me along through these rough spots. I lived with her (would probably be homeless on the income i was making). Things started looking up, i got a job i have wanted to do since i was a little kid! I am a Cop NOW! The Pay wasnt all that great for Hawaii, but there is something about going to work and being happy, vs a well paying job you hate. I chose the first, mainly due to my sweetheart supporting me in my choice of wanting to do something i loved.

I was making payments now, mostly on time, i went through a bill consolidation company called Clarion, which is good and bad, they lowered my total payments to one single payment instead of going in all different directions. The only trouble with that is that they closed (or the creditors) most all of my credit accounts as a condition of lowering my payments.

Fast forward again to August 2004, my National guard unit came down on orders for Iraq! If any of you are military or married to one, its a mixed feeling of being scared and looking forward to the adventure. I wont get political here by making any statements. But its something i trained for 10 years to do, and suddenly i was going to do it for real.

While training in Texas to goto Iraq around October 2004, i was making much more money than i had as a cop, so i started looking at my credit again, i wanted nicer stuff! The irony of it all lol. That thinking is what got me into this. So i started using the internet to find out about my credit. I think i waded through 30 sites before i found this one, most of them wanted you to send them money for credit repair kits, or they were speaking all kinds of credit jargon that i didnt understand.

Then i found Creditboards! HOLY CRAP! This is what i had been looking for!! It was the best organized, easiest to navigate, and had a Noobie section just for me!! So i started reading in my spare time, and reading, and reading, and re-reading, and reading, deploying to Iraq in February, reading, getting internet in my room re-reading what i had forgotten, and reading some more. I wanted to make sure i understood what i was doing, as well as what others on the creditboards were doing and what they were talking about. More importantly i was deftly afraid of asking a question that had literally been asked thousands of times before. SEARCH FUNCTION IS YOUR FRIEND!

AND SO I BEGIN

Well Back then in April 2005, i noticed that most people that were serious on Creditboards (CB from now on) were subscribing to Mycreditkeeper. So i did what those that were successful were doing, i joined too! This would be my daily monitoring credit report. Then i got a copy of my credit report from each CRA (Credit Reporting Agency)online, Man talk about almost falling on the floor when seeing my credit report for the first time! I then decided to buy a FICO score so i could use it as a benchmark of my success/failures. (see above score). This was done in one day, i spent the next week pouring over my plan of attack and CB.

After reading the noob section so much i knew the first thing to do was OPT OUT, that was easy. Then dispute all names and addresses. This seemed trivial to me at first, I WANTED THOSE BADDIES OFF! But this is one of THE most important things to do. If the bad addresses and misspelled names are not on your credit report, then thats one less thing that the CRA can use to verify with.

ADDRESSES

Now this is important- I WANTED THIS STUFF GONE! So i did the address and names by Phone (a normal no-no but it mostly worked, i would not talk about anything else on the credit report to the CSR (Customer Service Rep) at the 3 CRA's. I would simply say that i was looking at my credit report i got online and noticed that these names were obviously mis-spelled, i never lived at these addresses, which was true because in my mind if there was any mis-spelling, anything out of place, anything different than my real address spelled correctly then it is NOT MINE, i don't spell it that may, the post office don't spell it that way, so its wrong. For example- 1450 Huron lane is my address, not 145 Huron Lane, not 1450 Hurun Lane. I dont know where those places are much less if they exist, therefore they are NOT MINE.

I then marked the ones the CSR said were tied to a trade line, I did not want to argue or anything on the phone, I made small talk (being in IRAQ helped), and i got all my names corrected, an erroneous SSN deleted, and about 12 address removed from each credit report (give or take one or 2 address).

After getting off the phone i went straight to my barracks room and prepared a Certified Return Receipt requested letter to remove the remaining addresses. Within 2 weeks almost all were gone Experian is the pain in the flowers here. They only removed a cpl of address, they are there to this day. EQ AND TU all address were deleted except my current home addresses.

TRADELINES/BADDIES

I know this is getting long winded but i wanted to tell the [b]whole[/b] story and what i went through. Keep in mind that all of this was done in Iraq, in between Patrols, i did not have a cushy desk-job. I would come back to my room exhausted, but couldn't wait to check my credit report to see if anything new had happened

My first plan of attack-

Its Now the Middle of May 2005.

When i saw the first addresses start falling off the Credit reports i knew they had my letter, so i fired off another letter disputing all 16 negative tradelines to all 3 CRA's.

At the same time i prepared:

NCO- a 1-2 punch

Vericheck- A Nutcase letter

Verizon Wireless- A goodwill letter combined with a pay for deletion. This was my dumb mistake (the debt), it was money i owed them, i didnt wanna try to get rid of it, i wanted to take care of what i owed.

NEX- goodwill/payfor deletion letter

RESULTS- (20 days later) June 7, 2005

NCO- Folded! OFF ALL 3 credit reports!!

Vericheck- PFD letter sent to me, i owed 35 bucks apparently, and deleted

First Hawaiian Bank- shows current, no lates, after a not mine

NEX- Received Pay for deletion contract in writing

Verizon Wireless- Received an acceptance of pay for deletion if i call in 4 days ( i called, we made terms, payed first half then on the phone, second half at end of month. Was in contact via email with a nice woman with verizon named Jeanette, letting me know when the deletion letters were being sent out ect. (PM if you need her email)

LETTERS I USED, CLICK HERE

FICO in 2 months

NEXT ROUND-

My next plan of attack was to start picking on inaccuracies since most of the Not mines came back verified. Things such as demanding deletion due to innacurate reporting of accounts open, when they should be closed, never late on everything. And to also start applying for some secured cards to raise my score.

RESULTS-

American General- never late on EQ, pay history deleted on TU/EX, but still showing late 90/120

Capitol One- 150 day lates Deleted! Current pays as agreed on all 3 CRA!

Capitol One- 30 day late, 6 times deleted! current never late on all three!

Capitol One- SECOND 150 day lates Deleted! Current pays as agreed on all 3 CRA!

First premier- Unknown account on TU- updated to pays as agreed never late - ok, ill take that

Military star card- Charge-off updated to account transferred or sold. Better than charge off i guess, 0 balance

Navy Exchange - CHARGE OFF- deleted off EQ , reinserted on EX

VERIZON- CHARGE OFF- DELETED off all 3 CRA's! Reinserted on TU PFB!! Click here for thread

VW- NEVER LATE! all 3!!

new credit since repair started:

1) US Bank Korean air (secured $1000) at THIS thread

2) juniper carnival cruise card at THIS thread. $1500 limit

3) Providian CLI from $1925 to $2925!!!! due to fico jump albeit! auto increase after nothing for a year. yahoo.gif

4) Bank of America $99/$500 card on the way (got the offer after phone reconsider after denial for regular credit card)CALL FOR RECONSIDERATION!!

5) household bank (orchard) CLI from $500-$900. Still sock drawered! java script:emoticon

6) New military star card- $3000 limit! Applied and got approved the day i paid off the charge off!!

NEW FICO! 3 Months after starting, ALMOST TO THE DAY!!

PHASE 3

Its now the middle of AUGUST, i Have my first Purple Heart, second will come in October, as well as the loss of a close friend.

Plan of Attack- APPLY for better Cards, close Junk Cards, delete any old trade lines for age that were baddies keep hammering away at tradelines that wont budge. Go after re-inserted address that popped back on. Mostly all done using online disputes.

RESULTS-

Household Bank- CLI from $700 to $900

Second Juniper Bank TL - Tesoro card

and , DRUMROLL PLEASE!!

DELTA PLATINUM AMERICAN EXPRESS!!! $5000 CL!!!!!!

My GOAL REACHED!!! COWBELLS!!!!!!!

Credit scores at this time (10/1/2006)

TU=667

EX=651

EQ=617

From here on out i slowed down dramatically. I wanted an AMEX and i got it, that was my goal.

I worked on my credit off and on mostly applying. Some baddies fell off. others did not.

My Current FICO-

So now my next goal is to break 700

Here are my BADDIES as of 12/23/2006

TU

1) Military Star- Still listed as -transfered or sold account, was collection account . TU has it also listed "was a charge off. It IS a charge off, a paid Charge off!

2) American General- 90 day late

3) First premier bank- 30 day late

4) Capitol one- This is what sucked. I disputed a TL that said it was open when it should have been closed and got my 120 (was 150) late back!

5) Capitol One- again disputed something else on the TL got a 30 day late back!

EQ

1) Military Star- Currently listed as 120 days past due! i think i would rather it say transferred or sold lol it was paid off in may-june of 2005

2) American General- Currently 90 days past due- paid off in 2004

3) First Premier- was 30 days late

4) First Premier- was 30 days late

5) VW credit - was 90 days late

6) Providian (aka washington mutual)- was 30 days late

EX

The bane, i hate Experian the most. They wont even investigate something online when u show them its wrong. Then try and look for their address anywhere on their website, call their 1800 number and their address is buried in voicemail recordings. I was surprised they even gave me an option to re-play their address, i assumed i had to hang up and remember how i got down the phone tree to their address!

Account current status Worst Delinquency

1) MILITARY STAR- Account transferred to another office Charge Off, Collection, Or Bankruptcy

2) CAP ONE BK- Credit line closed/not paying as agreed 150 days delinquent

3) NAVY EXCHANGE Paid account/was a collection account, insurance claim or government claim or was terminated for default I HAVE A PAY FOR DELETION you $%$&$!! Charge Off, Collection, Or Bankruptcy

4) AMERICAN GENERAL Paid account/was 120 days past due date 120 days delinquent

5) VW CREDIT Paid account/was 60 days past due date 60 days delinquent

6) FIRST PREMIER BANK Paid account/was 30 days past due date two or three times 30 days delinquent

7) FIRST PREMIER BANK Paid account/was 30 days past due 30 days delinquent

8) WASH MUTUAL/PROVIDIAN Current account/was 30 days past due date six times or more 30 days delinquent

Well and there ya have it, mostly all lates. this is off of fico reports.

Can Experian really list your deliquency in your current status ? i mean putting "was" in front of it makes it ok?

Now my Credit lines!!

AMERICAN EXPRESS- Inital 5k limit and 19%apr Now - $15000 and 14.5% (luv Button! and calls)

I would call AMEX and say "hi i am a cardholder and i just got a new USAA card with a higher credit limit, i would like to keep AMEX as my day to day spending card (they luve that, they see $$ signs) but the USAA card has a higher credit limit/lower intrest rate. You think u guys can at least match it so i can keep spending my money with you instead of USAA? They usually jump through Hoops!

Then i would call USAA and have the same conversation, just change the names around. LOL

USAA! - started at $2500 17% apr, CLI to $5000 and 14%, Did balance Transfer from AMEX $7000 CLI and 4.9% LUVING USAA!! Nobody can touch their insurance rates, least for me anyway.

Bank of America- $500 They unsecured my cash after only 6 months and refunded it to me! I have my daughter as an AU on this account. I will keep it at $500 limit thank you very much

JUNIPER- CARNIVAL Sea Miles - $1500 limit (my first credit card approval ) 20.24% intrest been sockdrawred

JUNIPER- TESORO Gas- $1000 limit- 17.24% sock drawer

JUNIPER- ITUNES!- $2500 limit! Man i was happy bout that!! thought it was one i would use alot! till i saw the intrest, 22.74% guess small charges and PIF each month!

CAPITOL One- Combined the 3 $300 dollar Cards into 1 card (i picked the oldest account for age) got automatic CLI from $900 to $2000. still sock drawered!

Household Bank (AKA 1-800 india) - Called for a CLI from $900, this is one of my oldest cards! Was told "i understand why you feel that way" more times than i care to remember in a thick indonesian accent. I swear i dont think they understood half of what i was asking. I was on the verge of testing this therory by saying "it Burns when i Pee!" "Oh Mr. Lupoman we understand why you feel that way" anyway they asked be for $20 to raise my limit $200!! lmao get real! i hung up on them.

MACY's Card- Really only got it for the 20% off first purchase. $600 limit

MILITARY STAR- Its a Love hate relationship. On the one hand they have this charge off on my credit report. But the day they recieved paymenton the charge off, is the day they issued me another card with a $3000 limit! Now that card's CL is up to $9225!! Do they ever learn? but thanks for the second chance!

US Bank- Korean Air Secured ($1000 limit) I CLOSED this account after 1 year, i used them to help up my scores and get better cards. Nice to use them, they seem to always use us!

TOTAL CREDIT At START OF CREDIT REPAIR- $3625

TOTAL CREDIT At This Point of CREDIT REPAIR- $38,425

Thanking CB and Hearing COWBELLS!- PRICELESS!

There are alot of peeps to thank, George, Pryan67, Breeze, StupidCredit, Dolemite73, NurseyPoo, and all the words of encouragement from everyone!!

If i could do this in Iraq, well, whats your reason for not sticking to it, dont loose the faith- faith in yourself, you CAN do it and you WILL do it. But the peeps on this board wont do it FOR you. Step up to the plate, you got it in ya.

Starting my trek to 700! Wish me luck!

Just keep on pushing guys, there is no secret, it all on this website plain as day... If you put in the time, the results will definitely come... Thank you all again.

My APR sucks, but it's just nice knowing you have 25k on a card. Hopefully some of my other cards will follow suit with big increases... damn this made my day!

When I started I had all kinds of stuff on my credit. An unpaid electric bill, DirecTV, IBC Bank, Medical Bills, defaulted student loans. A foreclosure as well!.

Through patience and a lot of reading, mostly here on CB...I was able to learn the tricks to mold my credit into a tool that I can utilize to benefit myself, and not something holding me back from my full potential. It has opened up doors that have never existed for me. Suddenly, becoming a real estate investor became a plausible reailty in the near future for me.

EQ is baddie free, EXP and TU have like 40 4+ Year old lates Sallie Mae has graced my reports with...but those will eventually age off and the accounts will turn positive, thats it! Ill take that!

All of my scores are well into the 700s and rising fast.! Im so happy! Ive NEVER had credit like that before!

I owe it mostly to the information gained here on CreditBoards.Com

I try to educate people and refer them to this site. I hope that I can help others and give back what CB has given.

Thanks a lot everyone!

The real object of this forum is to snag those stories that say "this is where I started - and wow! look at me now!!"

Up until now, the posts just happened - a few have been collected over time, with the idea of moving them into a separate forum to inspire people just getting started, or having a tough time of it, tired of fighting.

I think all of us admins and mods have probably received requests to allow someone to post something here. The posts that go here will be moved into here from the credit forum, or the mortgage forum, wherever it happens to land when you lay out a start to finish story.

When you see a post that you think qualifies, or you think your own posts qualifies, you can PM one of us with a link, or just hit the alert button (it allows you to say why you you clicked alert, and you don't have to decide who to send it to. Don't be bashful, we want them, we just don't want to take the day to day "Sherman folded" or "got another deletion" posts and put them in this forum.

I hope this is clear enough - probably like mud. This forum is not an elitist group, no one really knows when their "I made it!" post will get put in here - it's just a group of inspiring stories.

I'll make this a sticky for a while, and if you have questions comments, etc, we can discuss them.

Jul 2 2004, 03:00 PM

I started my credit repair journey 8/03.

My FICO scores looked like this:

EQ:526

EX:492

TU:455

Prior to CB my CC accounts were:

Providian: 1k

CCB:1k

HH bubble card:$700

Crap 1:$250

Total:$2,950

After reading till my eyes bled, asking questions, using trial & error reasearch, deleting old info, CRA disputes, nutcase letters, 1-2 punches, ITS letters, a little luck and having my parents add me to their CCs as an AU, I was able to completely clean up TU and EQ and have 1 paid CA & paid judgment on EX.

I started my application spree in May '04 when I did my scores looked like this:

EQ:758

EX:701

TU:672/704 (split file)

Since May '04 I have applied and been approved for:

Amex Platinum:No limit

DCU:$13.5k Visa Plat

HH Trio:$22.5k total

FNANB Ciruit City visa:$10k

PenFed Visa Plat:$30k

PenFed PLOC:$25k

1st Tennessee Visa plat:$10k

Chase:$7k

RNB Target Visa:$700 :shock:

Total:$118,700

BTW, everything but Chase is reporting and my scores looked like this today:

EQ:727

EX:693

TU:670/702

I think that I am going to take a rest on the applications for a while.

THANKS TO EVERYONE AT CB...I COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU!

To the newbies & frustrated people...DON'T GIVE UP!!!!!

PS. If admin is interested in started a thread called "success stories" I would be proud to add my story!!!

WELLLLL, approx. 1 month after buying that car, I found this forum. I started at that point to read, read and read. Ya' know this place really becomes addicting! My credit has improved tremendously after taking advice from many people, right here.

As of around 10:00 am today, my car is now refinanced with a local bank at........ 8.75% and went from a 60 month loan to a 36 month loan! It was soooo good not to be denied or screwed over! I feel so GOOD! My daughter is 20 years old and for the last couple of months, I have used things I have read on this forum to.....preach (for lack of a better word) just how important her knowledge of credit is.

So to all of you members with good credit and bad (I've learned alot fom both) who post here, I APPRECIATE YOU!

There and Back Again

A Walnut's Tale of Success

by Lil Walnut

Over four years ago a woman lost her future story with her husband's death. And in the process stopped caring about a lot of things – her Credit was one of those.

Fast forward those four years.

She decided that she was tired of living the way she lived and that there was nothing stopping her but her from moving forward. Getting a house and going back to school became rather high on her priority list. Both, however, involved getting her act back together. So she did the unthinkable and pulled her Credit Reports.

They were ugly. They were very ugly, and for a solid week she stared at them utterly lost for hope, because everything she wanted to achieve now lay under the ruins of her Credit. Armed with the Internet she began to search and learned a few things. The biggest thing was that she had nothing going for her in terms of positive Trade Lines, and lots of baddies out there. Turning to her family, she convinced her father to set her as an authorized user on his best card. That was her starting block that gave her FICOs some body. Unfortunately she'd not found Credit Boards first, so she doesn't have that very first set of FICOs to post, but it's safe to assume they are all around the same level as her original EQ of 522.

She began to eat, sleep and dream credit. Spending countless hours after work reading and re-reading, and learning what she'd done wrong, and how to make it right again. Letters to CRAs went out, and in most cases baddies were deleted because they were so old. Letters to CAs and OCs went out asking for PFDs, and those accounts were paid and removed. A single paid medical account remains, it's destiny tied to the HIPAA laws and step by step instructions she followed from WhyChat. When there were originally fifteen listed.

One OC has refused to work with her, and posted the same TL twice, so she sent a PR to Equifax asking them to justify the verification of the accounts, and they haven't responded yet. They told her that it was illegal and wrong to do a PFD, and had she not found Credit Boards, she would have paid them, and there would be a paid collection on her report with a current date rather than the two years ago. This is an ongoing battle for they are in the wrong with the billing.

Another CA had an account listed as both paid and unpaid and failed to respond properly to her Validation letters. On one report, the collection is gone, on the other, the clock is still ticking, for the second round of letters.

And finally there exists the remains of the defaulted Student Loans. Paid via garnishment, the loan has aged off of all three reports, yet two entries remain. Letters are outstanding to the CAs so she can learn just when they will fall off. They do list no balance.

That's what remains of the evil bad trade lines. But, removal of the bad is only one step. The other of the duo is the increasing of positive trade lines. Realizing her folly in not having credit of her own, she quickly applied for First Premier and Orchard Bank - getting an unsecured approval on both. Buoyed by her successes she applied for a Store card (the same one that had shot her down months before) and got a modest TL on it, which of course, she charged up. Another lesson to learn. Still needing to improve things she applied for a Chevron card only to get the rebuilder. Not idea, but it works and it reports. On the heels of that she applied for an AMEX, thinking there was no way she'd get one – but she did. And to date that line is twice what she had requested, such a beautiful testament to what she didn't have before.

In the midst of all this work and learning, she started pulling her FICO scores, and learned just how much utilization really hurts. Leaving her with a driving goal to never let anything grow beyond 50% again. And as of April 9, 2006, nothing is over that mark. Her goal is to get everything down under 5%, but that's going to take some work. Why, you may ask, when she makes good money, would she not pay things down quickly? That answer is simple, and it can be found in the Mortgage Forum. That's right, she has taken the step. The big step and the plunge, finding a Mortgage Broker there who was willing to work with her and help her make her dream of home ownership a reality. A dream that is about to blossom to fruition.

But remember, she had two goals – the other was to get back in school. After reading the Student Loan Boards and learning that she wasn't alone, and that she wasn't terrible, and most importantly, that all was not lost, she took another plunge, and in the fall will be starting back to finish her bachelor's degree. The school has a semester starting in June, but with buying a house, the potential for risk was too great. However, since school is expensive, she had to get loans. And with that came the fear of the "what if". What if I fail again? What if this and what if that. The Moderators and Members let her know that she wasn't alone, and that it was normal to feel like that. She qualified for both Subsidized and Unsubsidized Stafford Loans, leaving a balance for Private Student Loans. That loan won't be acquired until the Mortgage is finalize, the fewer hard pulls the better.

In this journey, she battled and won over the dreaded NCO and RMA, for they had no proof that she ever owed them the money. In addition, she won over the horrific and unbending Unique National Collections, who had no right to collect in her state.

Armed with her success, she works with her colleagues to help them understand the merits of good credit, and to help those that now know, after messing up, how to take charge of their credit and clean it, while not letting the past hold them back. The only thing that holds someone back from a clean credit report is themselves and a serious lack of knowledge of the law.

What next?

She will continue to fight on the HIPAA medical account, assured that eventually it will come off. In addition, she has high hopes that the CA will not be able to prove that the unpaid collection exists, and if in the unlikely even that they do, she'll go to the OC with a request for delete. For the account is so far out of SOL (Civil and criminal) that it has mold growing on it. The Student Loans offer little hope other than to just age off, though when the two letters are finally given a response, she'll know how many more months she has to live with them. And in the end, that leaves the evil OC apartment complex. They will be tackled after the mortgage is completed, at the corporate offices, not the local ones, with an attorney if necessary, for in the midst of all this, they've proven that they know little of both landlord tenant and credit laws.

In short, Credit Boards has turned her life around. She smiles and laughs and her future looks bright. Not only because she's tackled the challenge and won, but because she learned, far more importantly, that bad credit happens to good people, and you are not your credit report.

I began this journey in 2008 with credit scores in the 400's.. literally. I believe my EQ score was 476 or something like that. It was very bleak. I had a MASSIVE number of CA's, CO's etc.. all stemming from my BK dismissals. That's right PLURAL! I had 2 BK 13 dismissals to contend with on this journey.

I found out about myself, my issues, my spending and learned to control everything. I learned how to effectively utilize my credit for what I wanted. I am still not in the "applying" world but at the end of my wonderful journey I will be a homeowner -FINALLY.

Last night, I had my broker complete my credit pull and after all these years and fighting until my knuckles bleed here is where I ended up:

EQUIFAX: 660

EXPERIAN: 658

TRANSUNION: 720

Let me tell you, I have NEVER and I mean NEVER had a 700+ score in my life. Now I do... I am well on my way to 700's across the board and now it is just time which I have plenty of. My goal is to finish closing on the house and app for a card at NFCU. I think that should satisfy me completely (for now) until everything else heals.

Thank you to everyone especially: Centex, Pryan, Breeze, Jack (awww my sweet Jack lol), JEN!!!!!!!, Stryker and Radi. They supported me throughout this entire process.

Thanks to each and every one of you that I didn't single out as well. We are all a family and should remain that way!

Now for your reading pleasure (whenever you are FULLY bored lol) here is my entire journey!! (And yup I know this is really long lol)

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=328976&st=0&p=3032628&fromsearch=1entry3032628

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=329413&st=0&p=3036892&fromsearch=1entry3036892

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=330245&st=0&p=3046799&fromsearch=1entry3046799

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=330755&st=0&p=3051661&fromsearch=1entry3051661

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=330900&st=0&p=3053138&fromsearch=1entry3053138

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=331941&st=0&p=3063182&fromsearch=1entry3063182

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=333832&st=0&p=3081913&fromsearch=1entry3081913

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=337011&st=0&p=3114729&fromsearch=1entry3114729

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=340093&st=0&p=3144115&fromsearch=1entry3144115

Exception to the rule!

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=332504&st=0

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=334299&st=0&p=3088769&fromsearch=1entry3088769

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=334539&st=0&p=3089169&fromsearch=1entry3089169

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=334723&st=0&p=3091280&fromsearch=1entry3091280

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=340770&st=0&p=3152056&fromsearch=1entry3152056

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=341164&st=0&p=3155461&fromsearch=1entry3155461

the Midland trail

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=336314&st=0&p=3107517&fromsearch=1entry3107517

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=337785&st=0&p=3124012&fromsearch=1entry3124012 (and for what it is worth now.. I should have sent my original thought process letter)

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=339954&st=0

I think I should just say thank you.

I came to CB about two years ago, my scores in the upper 400's, my morale and self esteem were lower than that. Ironically I got here courtesy of the Dave Ramsey website. I had a crappy car and was staying with a friend (rent free), I had a new job with great pay (for me), but I had more debts and collections than I could bear.

Since I got to CB I managed to get my scores above the 650's, I have two vehicles, I got rid of all but one bad debt. I settled on 4 bad accounts saving about 12K in the process. I got out of the sub-prime realm. I have an AMEX, a Juniper Visa and Mastercard, one store card, and a gas card. Grouped altogether, they total about $17,000 available credit. Not as much as some people on here, but well enough for me. I am not looking for every card I can get, I got exactly the cards I wanted. And the clincher was last week when I finally closed on my first home, I got a really good deal on a brand new home.

I cannot thank all the people on here enough!!! You guys are the greatest!! The amount of information and its value is so vast and powerful that it may never be truly appreciated until individual goals/milestones are achieved. Which is why I am saying thank you again!!!

I was a bit hesitant at first, I didn't like being told to go out and read or search for the answers to my questions. I wanted to fix everything then and there, I wanted someone to show me how to do it. I am so grateful that no one did!!! Since I had to research just about everything and read, again and again, I learned!!!! I kept on learning and I still am. This was not an easy road to travel and I did experience a lot of failures and plenty of rejections (PFD's are a quick way to learn about rejection).

To all the newbies, READ!!!! and then read some more, you'll either learn or the seven year reporting period will end!!!

da chief

My credit repair adventure started in 2003.

My first pulled credit reports had:

No positive trade lines

Equifax: 11 collection accounts (4 paid)

Transunion: 8 collection accounts

Experian: 7 collection accounts

No repos, no BK, no public records. Just a lot of small accounts. (nothing over $500)

My Equifax fico was 503. Experian and TU were 520-540.

I started off with the personal information. Transunion had a SSN that wasn't mine, and an incorrect birthday. I disputed my old addresses, and got them removed (with the exception of Experian).

Then I followed the advice of this and another credit forum and delivered the 1-2 punch.

My first round of disputes were accounts that were listed on all 3 credit reports I had 6 of these accounts, 3 of them where deleted from all CRAs!

After the first round of disputes, I did a blanket dispute on my paid collection accounts on Equifax. All 4 were removed. Lucky me!

I arranged a PFD with a bank I owed money to, this TL was listed on all 3 reports.

Things where moving along pretty quick...

I cleaned my Transunion report up, minus 1 baddie, in less than a year. I still had no positive TLs...

I got 2 medical bills removed using WhyChat's hippa method...

In August of 2004 I got approved for a car loan. My first approval since I was 18!

Then, I got burnt out. I still had a few baddies scattered around that were sticking like glue. It seemed that I have leeched all I could get out of the 1-2 punch.

For about 6 months nothing much really happened. I checked my credit once a month or so to see if anything new had shown up, but that is about it.

My wife and I started talking about buying a house, and that motivated me to start chipping away at my report again.

I disputed two 7 year old TLs as obsolete. Both were deleted off all 3.

I got a National City secured card, and applied for the target guest card and was approved.

Down to 2 baddies!!!

Then we made a big mistake! Without opting out, my wife asked a friend of hers to pull our credit reports to see what type of mortgage we could get. A week later Allied Interstate showed up on all 3 CRAs

I did a simple dispute, and got it deleted off all 3 easily in less than a couple weeks. Again, lucky me.

CBCS was one of my last 2 baddies. They never replied to any of my validation requests. Not wanting to take the time to sue, I sent an letter to Equifax explaining to them the trouble I was having getting a hold of CBCS. This must have been a BIG ongoing problem with CBCS because Equifax deleted within 24 hours.

TU and Experian did not show me the same love though. I fired off a complaint to the BBB. About a month later they caved in and deleted the account from my other reports.

After these deletes I had one baddie left, and it was only on my Equifax report. The CA was Firstpoint Collection Resources. It was for the huge sum of $58. It was for an old Insurance account that I closed in good standing.

This was by far the toughest to get rid off. They sent me proper validation of the account (but not the debt) monthly. They would not PFD. Even the CEO denied my request/goodwill letter for a PFD. It was time to find out just how much this $58 account was worth to them...

So I fired off complaints to the AG, BBB, and the Department of Insurance all on the same day. I disputed with Equifax, this time in a hand written letter explaining to them that the account was closed in good standing. And just when I was about to give up, I checked my credit reports. After 2 years of disputes it was finally deleted!

Now my credit report has:

No baddies

1 car loan (12 months)

$250 Secured National City (8 months)

$200 Target (7 months)

$400 Chase Platinum (3 months)

Soon to be reporting:

$2500 Bank Of America Unsecured (1 month)

$6300 Amex Starwood (1 month)

$7800 Amex Blue (1 month)

$8300 Amex Optima Platinum (1 month)

My report is very young. These new accounts are going to hurt more scores for a few months, but a year from now I hope they will rebound enough to get a good prime interest rate on a mortgage. By then I will have no inquires, my utilization will stay under 10%, and have nothing but good trade lines.

My suggestions to people who are just starting:

Never give up. This isn't going to happen over night. It takes many of us years to completely clean our reports.

Get a couple of secured cards NOW. Don't wait until after you cleaned house like I did. Now I have high scores, but short history and still get denied for many cards my scores say I should get approved for.

Don't think that the 1-2 punch is your only weapon (though it should be your first line of defense), especially with low dollar accounts. The BBB has been VERY good to me in dealing with unfair CAs. Send complaints to the BBB, ACA, AG and the Department of Insurance and send them all at the same time! Keep them busy, and have them question whether or not this $30 account is really worth all of the work they are putting in to it.

This place has been good as gold to me. Thank all of you for making Credit Boards the resource it is today.

I was very hesitant at first bc I really didnt know what to do, but once I found credit boards and equipt myself knowledge, I became addicted. I would have dreams of receiveing credit cards, suing CA's, shopping with CALady, debating with Sassy and winning(kill me now)and you dont want to hear about the dreams I had when I was asleep.

To make a long story really short I was very irresponsible in my teenage years, especially my Army years. I didnt have anyone to teach me about money, credit and debt. I have learned more from this board and the veterans on this board in the past 4 months than I ever thought possible.

With that knowledge this is what I have acomplished.

EXPERIAN

Started with 30 baddies and 3 pos

Credit Bureau of lancaster-medical(7 accts)-deleted by cating them on 8 violations

Collectrite Inc- not mine

Cbcs- not mine

Honors Credit Agency- not mine

Park Dansan- Not mine

Apex-medical (8 accts)- 1-2 punch

IC Systems(2 accts)

SCA Collections- not mine

Marlin Intgr-not mine

Mercury Finance- not mine

MFC Finance- not mine

Universal Underwriters Acceptance (2 Accts)- not mine

Left with RMA, 2 APEX, and UGI(validated and said not to PFD, Ill get them !)

EXPERIAN

started with 26 left with 14

ASG- not mine

Honors- not mine

IC Systems(2 Accts)- not mine

MFC Finance- not mine

North american collection- not mine

Park Dansan- not mine

SCA collections- not mine

Scana-not mine

The Finance Company- not mine

Universal Underwriters Acceptance(2 Accts)- not mine

left with Apex (11 accts), SCE&G, and Credit Protection

and last but by far the best

TRANSUNION

all deleted not mine

UGI

SCE&G

Universal Underwriters Acceptance(2 Accts)

MFC Finance

IC Systems(2 Accts)

Credit Bureau of lancaster-medical(8 accts)

American Agencies

Consolidated Coll Srvc

Powell Rogers and Spea

NCO Finance

Credit Protection

North american Cable Coll

IC Systems(2 Accts)

3 medical bills were added after all of these were disputed off

Positive accounts on all reports =

I have 2 deferred student loans totaling 3,786.00, AFFES (1995 oldest TL), and Chase-got it in DEC after the big deletion (very small limit-300)

Keep in mind you may not receive the same results. I disputed not mine twice with EQ and EX then tried disputing on other things within the TL. I used CMRRR for every piece of mail I sent out and stayed off the telephone (other than to dispute name and inqs) I read the Newby section alot, used the search function alot and asked questions when neccessary. I dont work so I spend about 3 hours per day on my credit and BF's credit.

My scores still arent impressive and I dont know why .....but i guess its bc i dont have many pos TL.....IS that correct? I am not dissapointed but dang!

GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL

I started my original credit repair process sometime in early 2005, after only being able to be approved for a car loan at 21% through a buy here-pay here place. I think my score was around 500 (maybe less) but I didn't bother to check. Furthermore, the knowledge that my credit wasn't going to be good enough for a mortgage was a huge incentive for myself to start repairing my situation.

I stumbled around at first, paying off a few CA's, starting where I left off in paying old debts. I disputed a few random tradelines, essentially blindly trying to deal with my situation without really knowing how to accomplish that. Luckly a few TLs fell off, and I was able to get one TL to report correctly -- still very negative, but at least it was corrected to be less negative than it reported as.

I finally found CB a month or two after starting my original mission. Many late nights were spent reading and going through thread after thread. I was able to add Orchard and Total cards to my First Premier, my first credit cards in several years. The majority of my bad debts were all judgements at this point. Unfortunately the majority of the knowledge I gained about how to deal with CAs went unused. Through everything, the majority of my CA TLs fell off, and a paid PR here and there.

I hit one major snag after being here for several months. I was a little to aggressive with trying to negotiate PFDs with a couple of the CAs that had judgements against me. I made payment arrangments I wasn't able to keep, and a couple garnishments caused everything to fall behind. I also had an ex- default on our mobile home loan, adding that to the plate as a deliquent item. I was able to salvage Orchard, the FP and Total cards had 2x30's and 1x60 day lates reported. Eventually I was able to straighten everything out, fix an employment situation that bit me in the midst of it all. I was lucky, the Total card was shut down and they deleted the TL. The Orchard card never was 30 days late, thus keeping it as a perfect TL. The FP lates stuck, a lasting reminder to tread carefully.

After dealing with the judgments earlier this year, I pulled my annual CRs and FICOs, disappointed at what happened but determined to fix everything. I negotiated with the CA for the mobile home OC for a settlement that released myself only from the loan, for only 12% of the balance. I was able to get the last of the CA's and PR's off my reports. Probably 15 baddies were removed from each of my reports since early last year. The mobile home TL was deleted from all three, and this left just a handful of baddies left, which remain to this day.

With the raise in my TU FICOs to near-650 range I decided to go for a somewhat selective app spree. I was approved for 6 new TLs, and was able to settle my last judgment (not reporting) for several hundred off through a loan. It is high interest (from American General) but I have the option of paying via BT for 0% now. My CLs are higher than they have ever been, even before getting myself in this mess.

While I still have a few baddies left, they are paid and old enough to not cause me a major problem anymore. I have accomplished what I set out to do and things will only get better. For now the age on my TLs are what will cause difficulty for more approvals. In 6-9 months I should be in great shape and have established multiple relationships with worthwhile financial institutions which will lead to higher CLs.

Regardless of where you are in fixing your credit, just remember you will get there. I once thought I was in a hopeless situation with very low scores and (relative to my income) tons of debt. My stack of paperwork related to old unpaid debt was staggering. I worked through all of it and managed to pay everything off and reestablish my credit at the same time. It can be done, thanks to Creditboards!

May 10 2004, 09:46 AM

.......for the great advice that has educated me in regards to making sure my credit info reports correctly and making creditors follow the law.

I AM GOING TO BE COOL THIS SUMMER!!!!! Just got approved for 3500.00 w/ Lennox/CitiFinancial - air conditioning - here I come. I thought I wasn't going to have a chance since i had an OLD CO with citi (though they could never bring any info up that I had ever done business with them based on my SSN). They pulled TU, which is my best report that has a few baddies (including my discover CO and a couple paid collections).

Again, thanks for the help!!!!

My credit has been in the crapper since the early 90s due to irresponsibility and medical bills collected from my wife's fight with cancer. We overcame that and we are now overcoming our credit problems!

I found CB a couple of years ago when I was just learning about my credit and how important it was, my average FICO was in the low 500s. A buddy of mine pushed me to start dealing with the issues that were haunting me and to find someone to "fix" it. Fortunately, I'm kindof a hands-on type of guy and I've always known that nothing is too far out of reach if you do your research and learn. So that's what I did, got on here daily and read and read and read about all the things I didn't know about credit and how to straighten out all the negatives I had collected.

I started writing letters, disputing issues and taking care of the ID Theft that I found. Slowly but surely the trade lines cleaned up, dropped off or were deleted and my score began to recover. Today I sit in the lower end of the mid-600s and on the rise. I was able to buy a new truck a few months back and today was approved for an Orchard Bank CC with a humble $320 limit. It's the first true credit card I've had in almost 20yrs and I now know how to make proper use of it and make it work for ME.

Thank you CB! I owe you a beer.

I lurked for a while and became a member exactly 15 months ago. I read and read and read and printed things up and carried CN threads around with me and asked questions and read some more. It wasn't easy and it was time consuming but I was determined to succeed. Writing letters and visits to the post office were a new way of life for me. But the hard work paid off.

Thank you to the founders of this board. Thank you to all the experts I learned so much from, Whychat, pryan..I read everything you guys wrote. So many of you contributed to my new knowledge! I was on the credit forum a lot months ago and then something happened. I'd cleaned up the reports enough to prequalify for a house. We signed the contract in April and I jumped over to the mortgage forum and started to ask questions there. I continued to work on our reports and asking and getting great advice here on this forum.

To re-establish credit, I started with crown jewelers and orchard. I didn't dare apply for anything while we were waiting for our house to be finished. Last Friday we signed our loan documents and did our walk thru. Boy is it beautiful! When the loan processor called to say our loan was funded I cried. DH picked up the keys to our new house today.

Our current FICOs are me 691 708 686 and DH 646 682 660.

I went to Home Depot to see about getting that beautiful new frig, applied for credit..bingo $2600, I hadn't done that in years!

Then, I went on an application spree....

Citi 7-10 day notice

Juniper 30 day notice

GAP card approved

Bombay card approved

JC Penney wait notice

Even if some of those are denials. I'm happy, in 6 months I"ll try again.

There are no words to express how grateful I am to everyone here! I never could have done this without these boards. I am ecstatic with our FIRST HOME! Believe me if we did it, anyone can! Thank you CB, I am out of credit card he@%!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

CB & Its Members -

Thank you for all the information you have shared with me. Over the last 6 years I have been able to wrangle in my personal finances and credit. Starting at a FICO of 515, I now have over 770.

Over The Past 6Yrs I have -

2003-2005 -- Established Positive Trade Lines w/Creditors Opening Charge Accounts and CCs

2005 - Bought a new truck with 3.9% financing (best rate offered /Tier 1 @ dealership)

2006 - Bought First Home with a FICO that got me a rate better than published rates on BankRate.com

2007 - Established a $25,000 Line of Credit with BOA

2007 - AMEX approved me for $25,000 Credit Limit on their Costco Card

2008 - Bought a new car for wife with 2.9% financing (best rate offered /Tier 1 @ dealership)

2009 - Bought our dream home in TX -- $266,000 @ 4.375% w/5% DP (rate better than published rates on BankRate.com)

2009+ Working on establishing my Real Estate Investment Business & looking to retire in 10 yrs @ 45

Thank You so much!

Paul

PS >> Newbie's please hold on, I know at the time it seems like it takes forever, but stick with it!!

I must say Thank You to all who have replied to my questions and even those who did not reply, you may have posted something that I read and took into consideration to try. This was a long journey and I know its not over yet but I must pat myself on the back for coming this far. Thanks again to everyone. These are my scores from when I first started repairing my credit till now. I must say that I have recently paid my credit cards down to about 5-10% balance so I hope to see an improvement when I pull them again. 

 

MY Fico Scores

 

Dated 3/7/04

 

TU 518

EQ 525

EXP 525

 

 

My Fico

 

Your Latest Scores

TransUnion

624Date: 2/4/2005

Equifax

620Date: 2/4/2005

Experian

638Date: 2/4/2005

I joined Creditboards at the end of January, 2004. At that time my husband and I had just signed on to a one-year settlement agreement on two over-the-limit credit cards, and our scores were horrendous.

I spent a little while reading on the site, and then jumped on in. I decided to work on my own credit files first; my highest score was a 536. I disputed off all my old addresses, and fixed my name variations. Then I decided to tackle the stinkiest thing on my own report first - those two horrendous credit card tradelines. They fell without a fight - one letter to the CRAs, and they were deleted from my report. I was an AU, not a joint account holder, and that made all the difference. A difference I wouldn't have known, if it weren't for Creditboards.

Over the months, I had CAs delete. I had one that had been calling me daily for almost 2 years - it had gotten so bad that we stopped answering the phone - and through a link to the BBB (shared with me on Creditboards), I got them to stop harrassing us, and they deleted their tradeline completely. My kids are allowed to pick up the phone when it rings now!

I applied for and received my first personal credit card in May 2004. I've guarded those accounts and paid on time, and my scores are now in the mid 600s.

When I turned my attention to my husband, his highest score was 486. The little things were easy to clean up, but those two stinky credit cards kept haunting him. We finished off the settlement payment plan in December - an entire year of paying Chase Bank almost $500 a month. It had all but broken our budget, but it was done. My husband's score got up to 592, so we applied for a home loan, and were approved.

However, to our dismay - Chase Bank never cleaned up the two credit card tradelines as promised. They changed monthly, but were never correct. A few weeks ago, they changed them to currently late, with 30 day late payments for every month of the 2004 year. My husband's score lost 30 points, and we no longer qualified for a our mortgage. I was a wreck inside, but I stayed calm and followed the advice I had been taught - document everything, and if someone can't help you, find someone who can.

After 3 weeks of phone calls - calls that left me crying outwardly and dying inside - Chase Bank finally fixed things. BETTER than I had asked for. I wanted deletion, but instead my husband received something better - squeaky clean 8 year tradelines with NO lates and no derog comments. His lowest score is now 697!

We are supposed to close on our home on May 2.

We owe it all to this website. Thank you.

I was fresh out of college. Not only was it a thin file, but I had 2 open accounts, 3 closed, 1 in good standing (my student loan my parents paid), 3 currently past due and 3 negative.

I couldn't get a credit card which meant I lived paycheck to paycheck and on cash only. I was denied a great apartment because of my credit. I couldn't get a car. And I lived in FEAR of the phone. Creditors were constantly calling me. They even called my parents, told them how much I owed and asked them to pay for me (my parents were like "no way, she got herself in this mess she can get out of it"). Sure it's bad to owe people money, and sure it's terrible to live in fear of your phone, but the worst part about bad credit is how it makes you feel about yoruself. I felt stressed, like a loser and it was depressing. I felt like I was unable to take care of myself and that makes for some low self esteem, which can affect other aspects of your life.

I finally started making a few changes in my life and one of them was my finances. I found a co-signor for a car, I paid off one charged off credit card and I agreed to make payments to another one at a cost of $200 a month for almost two years.

Things were getting better (low 600's for my score) but last July when my boyfriend talked to me about buying a home together I knew I was in trouble. He knew my credit was bad, thankfully I wasn't hiding it from him, but I could not accept that my credit may cost us thousands of dollars in interest and I vowed to do something about it. We agreed not to purchase until at least the end of the year which gave me six months to get my credit cleaned up. I returned to Creditboards which I had stopped at a year before but at the time was not motivated enough to clean my credit at the time.

This time I was motivated. This time I meant it. At first I just tried posting questions and expected people to help me and fix my problems for me. Then, after about four days of no real results I got down to business. I read the newbie section and I USED THE SEARCH FUNCTION. Do you know that 99% of the time the question you are about to post has really already been posted. No matter how unusual and different it is, it probably has occurred to someone else here before. (It took me a few months to figure out how badly I was repeating questions, and then I would get so upset when people wouldn't answer me.) What is a great resource here is not so much the ability to post questions at the forums, but the newbie section and the search function. The search function is by FAR the best feature of CreditBoard and IS THE REASON my credit is now clean.

I own my own car and it is now financed in my name only at a GREAT rate. I own my own condo (www.brittaniecrain.com/amber.htm) at prime rate. I have several store cards and a handful of major credit cards as well, including my first Amex which I was just approved for last week. I even applied for a Macy's store card and was automatically upgraded to the Macy's VISA for my great credit. All three major CRA FICO scores are in the 700s. I have ZERO negative accounts. Nothing charged off, not even a paid charged off account. I'm building age and my limits are increasing constantly. I did it all in about six months.

You can, too. BUT IT TAKES WORK. Believe me, it takes work. I made files, I sent letters, I sent more letters, I filed letters away, I sent more letters. I spent HOURS researching, drafting, proofing. . . And it costs money. I spent about $100 on postage to clean my reports. Though, I saved thousands with us able to get prime rate.

The best part? I feel good about myself. I'm keeping my credit clean and in check. My utilization is LOW. We're talking 1%. I pay off every month. That makes me feel good. But I feel even better that I fixed my past mistakes ON MY OWN. I did it, me. And my self esteem has never been better than it is right now.

I own a home. I got engaged two weeks ago. Work is great. My finances are wonderful. Life is GREAT!

Thanks CB!

After spending time on this board I read about the Amex corporate card policy in which if it's paid it should be no longer reported on your credit report.

This corporate card was not amex but about a month ago I thought I would give this line of thinking a shot...I called the card issuer, they said "sorry your company wants it reported this way, you can speak to the card administrator at the company". I called card administation of my former employer, explained the situation, explained how it was affecting my credit, and told them that the card issuer clearly stated that my former employer WANTS this negative on my credit report - she was not happy to hear that the issuer told me that. Flash to multiple calls to both the card administator and the card issuer over the next month. This week I speak to a different supervisor from the card issuer... and I was told to redispute it, it will be removed.

Then he said, "I have other good news for you"...He stated that because of what happened with me, the company I used to work for in conjunction with the issuer is changing it's reporting policy to mirror the amex policy (i.e. if it's paid, it can and should be removed). This is only for the company I used to work for mind you however...

This company is squarely on both the forbes 500 and fortune magazine largest company lists, this company is in the top 3 media companies in the US and has over 125,000 current employees.

Because of you guys...the info I found on this board...and you guys allowing me to empower myself in the credit repair process, you just helped the CRs of current and former employees of this media giant to get a fair shot at getting an account removed that they were not fully responsible for to begin with!

You should all give yourselves a hearty round of applause!!!!! :-)

Prior to my becoming a member of creditboards my FICO scores were in the low to mid 400 range. Look over to the left at when I joined.

Depending on which scoring model is used I now range from mid 600's to low 700's.

I applied the same techniques and things I learned by searching to both myself and my SO's personal credit file. SO's file was worse than horrid and now consistently is in the 735 range across all three CRA's per FICO.

To be true there are still a couple of baddies left lingering, but I have cleared the most massive and damaging inaccuracies from both our files.

I have improved our peace of mind, our security, our financial well being, and I credit all my success to creditboards.

And I still have much much more to learn.

I'd call that success in a big way.

Thank YOU CREDITBOARDS!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you to all the helpful members who constantly and consistently contribute sound/sage advice.

I bow to you all, and express my heartfelt thanks!

I am very proud of what you guys and gals have helped me to accomplish in the time I have been a member.

I forgot to say, that with the help of creditboards, I have successfully removed a dismissed Chapter 13 BK accross all 3 bureaus. Removed Tax Liens across 2 bureaus. Removed multiple collections accounts across all 3 bureaus.

Removed reposessions across all 3 bureaus. Removed and or corrected Cap 1 and Providian accounts accross all 3 bureaus.

Just a few of my bragging rights with crediboards help.

May 10 2004, 06:46 AM

Since January I have been working night and day to improve my credit scores and I received my first ever credit card - a Target Guest card - a few months ago. I was denied for all 3 of the HH trio and Walmart. So I was pretty discouraged even after I received my Target card.

After much reading and questioning I decided to give DCU a try. I called and explained my situation (stay at home mom, not wanting to put my husband on the account with me) and asked if I could get approved for a VISA on my own. This was on Friday. The rep told me that I would have to call back today. I was so nervous. Then this morning I called and a different rep told me that they had no answer yet, but hold on and she'd try to get one for me. In less than 10 minutes - I WAS APPROVED FOR A DCU VISA WITH A $1,000 LIMIT!

I am crying, I can't believe it. I have never had a real credit card in my own name before. It is all because of CB. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

July 2005: I wanted out of my apartment since it wasn't the prettiest neighborhood in the city where I live and the building was being taken over by a new landlord. He seemed extremely unprofessional and me and my roommate wanted out.

We found this really nice apartment in one of the nicest parts of the city. Rent was double what were we paying, but considering what we were paying, it was a steal. All we had to do was submit an application for credit.

We sent our payment in for the credit check and I was a little nervous considering my roommate had filed BK before for such a small amount of debt, but I thought with our incomes, offering to put down three months of rent and a little begging, that it would help. It did not. They didn't even bother to get back to us.

August 2005: I wanted to know what was on my report, so I applied for a Discover card, JUST to see what was on my report. Of course, they turned me down. No positive revolving tradelines. The only good thing was that my student loans were listed as a positive.

I searched for how to get my credit score up, and read at CB that I should get a FICO score. I decided to pull all three to see where I was. My EQ score was 537, my EX score was 513 and my TU score was 582. As you can imagine. Not too good at all.

September 2005: After getting a collection off my report from AT&T Wireless, and some new student loans started reporting, my score increased to 585 on EQ. With the information that I read, and from reading the Credit Approved thread a million times, I applied for the Target card. Instant approval for $200!

This was my FIRST approval for any type of revolving credit in at least 4 years. I was psyched. Could I get the Walmart card as well? YES! Instant approval for $300. I made some other mistakes as well. Before then, I signed up for a New Millennium Bank secured card and a First Premier card. I was desperate, what can I say.

Things were looking up, but of course as soon as something good comes along, a bad thing happens. A collection pops up on EQ and drops my score 30 points! I was real upset since they report said the collection had been placed with them since March 2003. Why did they wait so long!

October 2005: I was getting very easy collections off of my TU reports, all at one time. Most of the collections on TU were for medical things that insurance was never billed for, or didn't pay properly. I had to deal with each creditor and harass them to get it done correctly, but eventually, they came off after I could prove I did not owe.

During this whole time, I was disputing another TL that was listed as a CO, FCNB/Mastertrust. Who the hell were they? This seemed difficult, but in early October, I sent out a long DV letter and hoped that this would help.

October 9, 2005: My apartment catches fire, and I lose basically everything. My computer, my clothes, papers, clothes, and so much more. You name it, I lost it. Most importantly, I lost my pet, my friend, Kitty Kat. This really upsets me alot and I stop doing any type of credit repair. Too upset, somehow, the fire burned away my passion for credit repair. By now, I have also obtained a National City secured card and a Bank of America secured card and I think that is enough for now.

January 2006: I realize that I have to get out of this rut and get back to fixing these reports. If I honestly expect to go to grad school for business, I know that I might need to borrow a ton of money and who would hire me with horrible credit?

I go back and dispute a collection for over $1,000 that was for something insurance did not do correctly. I don't know how it happened, but I go online to EX and dispute it as NOT MINE and it falls off! Same on EQ! I call the ambulance company for the city, and harass them as to why they haven't billed insurance for the $400 bill. They say "Oh, Joe Q. left, he never processed your claim". I say this is not my fault, you are ruining my credit, fix it now! By the next day, it's gone! Target has also shown me some luv by now and my CL is now $500 from it's approval of $200. I have also received approval for Dillard's and Bloomingdale's. More approvals, things are even better now!

February 2006: A collection pops up and some salamander claims I owe Comcast for a box that I turned in months ago. I almost cry because now Verizon has started reporting and they have that it was a collection too! I immediately send the salamanders Comcast sent after me incorrectly and within 2-3 weeks, the item is gone. I call Verizon, tell them about the fire, and they correct my TL in one day! This oddly enough boosts my scores into the 600's for the first time on EQ! I was able to get approved for a Orchard Bank Platinum Mastercard and a BestBuy charge!

March 2006. I am still trying to deal with this FCNB nonsense. Who the hell are they, were did they come from and why are reporting a collection as a revolving account? From an earlier convesation with the people at "FCNB/Mastertrust" they claim they are collecting for Bank of New York or something of that nature and they won't send me any statements at all until I pay the research fees. I know my rights because of this place and I send NO money.

I am sick of this FCNB nonsense so I do some heavy duty research. FCNB does not exist any more. Four entities are trying to collect on this debt. First National Bank of Omaha, Platinum Recovery Solutions, InfiStar Corporation and Federal Bond and Collection Service, Inc. I find out the first three are the people behind this nonsense and get all the information I can about this place. CEOs, registered agents, head of credit card processing, or whatever it takes to resolve this.

I send a nice nutcase / ITS / DV letter to all of their email addresses. I get a response from the managing attorney who tells me this is not her issue since Platinum Recovery Solutions is handling this. I kindly tell her that the FNBO address is reporting and list at least 50 infractions of the FCRA and FDCPA. The tradeline is removed within 2 days!

I am now able to get my Providian, Juniper, Bank of America, Union Plus, and Chase cards approved all because the CO is off my report and my scores skyrocket! This joins my Old Navy, Bloomingdale's and other revolving TLs too.

Two major things are left. My student loans have duplicates on EX. I dispute for the 6th time with "This is a duplicate for the 6th damn time" and it falls off in a day. I have the collection from a Bank of America checking account on my EQ and EX reports. I tell FBCS that there name alone "Federal Bond and Collection Service, Inc" is a violation in itself and I want this collection off my report in less than 10 days. Within two days, it is off of BOTH reports!

I am working with the loan people to straighten out the derogatory marks on my report , but EQ has already said never late, so that is done, and EX is being an salamander as usual, but I will make them submit!

I could have never in a million years done this without the help of all of you. I especially want to thank pryan67. He has answered every dumb question I have sent him. Thank you so much!

Over just the past two weeks, I have been able to secure about $20K in unsecured credit. This may not seem like alot, but considering that just two weeks before I had under $5,000 in total credit, secured and unsecured, this is great! I have two Juniper cards, Bank of America, Old Navy, Best Buy, Macy's and USAA. Places I literally dreamed about having!

My EQ score has gone up to 730 (+193), my EX score is 662 (+149) and TU score has gone up to 771 (+189). All within about 8 months time. Never ever give up. There is light at the end of the tunnel. I will try to Pay It Forward and answer every silly question I can if somoene needs help I'm here!

I was working on BF's credit so that we could buy a house together. His scores started in the high 500's a year ago with 10-15 baddies on each report. His scores are right at 700 on all three reports now and we closed on our house on Friday with great interest rates. His reports aren't completely clean (yet) but they are much better. He even got a Home Depot card with a $1500 limit on Friday. His first unsecured card in about 10 years!!!!

We couldn't have done all this without Creditboards and the people here. It's such a great place.

THANKS CB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here we sit a year later and I have completed my quest to get back into prime country. Now Im not done yet but I just got approved for the last piece of the puzzle. Now keep in mind my records still have a couple of marks that are being difficult to remove but Im still going.

In just over a year I went from a $300 CapOne to:

Citibank AAdvantage

Citibank Home Rebate

Chase Plat.

BestBuy

Corvette

Sears

AMEX Green Rewards

AMEX Blue

State Farm Plat.

Chase World Points

Bank of America Plat.

These total about 30K in limits. Now I know there are those with higher limits but after the mess I was in last year, I'll take it. I am not posting this to show anyone up , rather I am posting to show what can be done if you dont let them keep you down. They will kick, scratch, bite and pull hair but you have to do it right back.

Good luck to all and dont forget to show CB a little dontation love if you can spare it, this website...excuse me...community is the most wel deserved on the internet.

to be good at writing, but I made myself a promise to share my story when my goals were met. Life threw my wife and I some devastating blows a few years past. In early 2002, I made the decision to move my family to the Denver Suburbs from Oklahoma City. I was out visiting my sis on vacation and fell in love with the area. With no job prospects at all and $14K in a 401K, I told my wife what I wanted to do and she backed me up(thinking im crazy no less). I figured $14K would get us by six mos and I wouldnt have a problem finding work. The money was gone in about four mos and I was still unemployed. I finally landed a great job with the same OK company, just in Denver and things were looking up. My wife was given a full time position with a company she was temping at and things were going great. I had fell behind one payment on our 99 Suburban but made arrangements with GMAC to make up the two payments on the following Tues. They agreed and even said all was fine on Mon but still came and repo'd that same night. Within one week, my company went bankrupt. My wife was involved in a serious accident(not her fault). She was unable to work for six mos. I quickly found work, not wanting to put us in the same situation we were in earlier in the year. The job was great and offered me lots of hours to make some headway. Our credit was in the low 500's. Numerous collections, repo, medical bills and no open credit accounts. I couldn't even get a checking account. That's when I ran across CreditBoards. I spent countless hours up late reading every post I could. I was determine to change the lifestyle my family lived. I bought Microsoft Money and stuck to a very strict budget. Tracking every dollar we spent. In the meantime my wife got better and started working through a temp service again. I was able to open a checking/savings account and continued working on my credit disputes and paying off what I could. I then concentrated on getting a credit card. I was able to get a Household Mastercard with a $200 limit. Followed by Target, Chevron, Jared Jewelers, etc. I paid EVERYTHING on credit and either paid in full at the end of the month or at least $50/monthly.

Then following Marvbear's advice tried Chrysler for an 04 PT Cruiser. It was approved no prob. My wife told me she would be permanent status at her job very soon. Six mos later, I was making good money and wanted to buy my wife a nice, safe vehicle. I applied to HSBC auto finance and they told me I was approved for $41K...ROFLMAO. One week, and twenty different vehicle test drives later I bought my wife an 04 BMW 325. The following weekend my wife got a call and they told her she was laid off. I told her to keep the faith and call the temp agency Monday. She did and they landed her a temp job with a major employer. She loved the job and was hired full time a few months later. My credit score was now in the low 600's. We started looking at houses figuring we might be able to buy in a few years. After countless hours on the mortgage forum we decided to have a new home built. Most mortgage brokers told us no way could we qualify with our credit scores. I kept knocking on doors and reading. Long story short we secured financing through Countrywide (3yr ARM) and moved into our 4000sq ft home three mos ago. Another goal was to start a small business on the side. I read everything I could on the business forum and now have a small home based business license, phone, 3 cell phones, Home Depot Card and just yesterday was approved for AMEX gold for business. My point......don't give up, knowledge is power. You reap what you sow. Finally, I must give credit to the Man upstairs. Through all the bad, and good times, I have remained in constant prayer and always give thanks to God. He helped me through it all. I couldn't have acheived my accomplishments if it were not for the people responsible for CreditBoards and God. Thanks Creditboards!!!

Who says hard work, determination and credit repair don't work?

WELL....

Today, after spending most of the night reading da boards, making notes, re reading PM's, and trying to help others as much as I can, I decided something at 6 am this morning. I had nothing to lose....

After 25 deletions of errors, after laying all over my mortgage company to do their job in reporting correctly for 3 weeks and being turned down by Orchard Bank,( now that is bad ) I decided to go for it.

Armed with stacks of folders of nearly a month and one half of credit repairing, copies of letters, copies of EX-TU-EQ papers, my earnings, letters from my mortgage co who says it is correct, then turned around and sent me a fax of the history to show me they have made 18 of 24 months in reporting mistakes.

I walked right into a local bank today and layed it all out.

Story line by story line, reasons, back up with paperwork, showed were I was 45 days ago to today, proved beyond any doubt that 25 errors gone, and 18 of 24 mistakes by mortgage lender, I was able to convince a loan officer that my score FICO was a fake, it was a fraudulent scoring attempt my other lenders, CAs, OC's and CRAS to hurt my chances of getting anything decent in loans.

In showing in details like you would in a court room, I loaded each mistake by mistake down on paper, with a trail that showed this officer that the CRA's are not up to snuff, that lenders are not doing there job and that only 1 item out of 40 is rightfully mine and it WAS MY fault, I was told this...

" anyone who has spent this much time and this much effort in repairing wrongs and making them rights deserves a shot, with your proof at hand, I firmly believe your purpose was to only get things right, but also just as important is the fact you honesty told me from the start, I do have one bad item that is mine, and the fact that you actually read scripts of the FCRA, case laws of mis conduct and the fact that you are ready to sue NCO for 8,000.00, tells me your are damn serious and with that in mind, I too feel the system has failed you.

The system that is in place to be 100% accurate has caused you more harm than I have seen in 25 years of lending. So,

"WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU TODAY ???"

I about fell to the floor, with FICOS are 494, who in the world would have ever thought...... With only 3 TL's to my name.....

I went into my mode of facts again, I need a better car, I need to pay off that one problem and I need to add more trade lines to my report so I can re fi my home.

Miracles do happen folks, there really are honest lenders who see things other than that FAKE FRAUD score we are having used agaisnt us...

I walked out with a piece of paper so I can get a 14,000 +- car loan at 14.9, a small credit card limit of 500, and 1000 cash personal note and 3 brand new trade lines.

Thanks to CB, mircles do happen and hard work, determination and GEORGE's kick flowers attitude that I adopted in my credit repair, I went for it, and it paid off.

I still have work to do yet, but who would ever think a 494 FICO ( I call it now FICO FAKE scores )that I would be able do get a thing let alone all this.

Now, how can I sit here without people who personally help me get this far, and I am not stopping here folks..... These people were like a backbone, always always ready to help with little or big questions. I am so so so so happy to have ever met these wonderful people it makes me really believe in what I have said. Im sure I will forget someone. But heres my list of people who I would love to say thank you for your time, thank you for your help, thank you for your always kind words, thank you for your generous offering of help.

WHYCHAT, PRYAN, CARGOJON, STUPIDCREDIT, CLOAK&DAGGER, BREEZE, GEORGE, RADI8,

SPACECOWBOY, and many, many others who pm'd me allot of info and help.

Along with posters who I have read and learned from, many of you who dont even know even your littlest post sometimes helps others by just the info you give and your opinions.

I AM SO FREAKIN HAPPY TONIGHT....

IT HAS WORKED FOR ME... AND I WILL TAKE CARE OF MY CHANCES AND WILL CONTINUE TO BE ALL OVER THE BOARDS TO HELP OTHERS IN ANY WAY I CAN.

He ETS'd from Army, and 2 months later, I filed for divorce (NOT SOON ENOUGH) While serving a tour in Korea, I was sent a POA for the last vehicle we purchased. Upon returning from Korea, I quickly learned that he let it get repo'd.. This was the official shot gun start of my credit education.

I remarried and slowly re-established credit in my name with his. Couple of small CC's from Cap1 & a new car (Escort, we got taken a bit at 9%).. We've both learned from past mistakes, and vow never to be anywhere near that boat again.

In August of 2002, "we" purchased our first house, in my name alone. My only bump in the road was that auto repo, it was showing collection account from the Asset thugs. I gave our broker my divorce papers, etc.. I spent $40 on USSearch.com (having a SSN is great), located his possible addresses & sent CMRRR's to all 3 CRA's, the OC & the CA. Asset wanted to settle for $5K, but I told them I couldn't poop that amount in the 2 days they wanted it in From there out, they were off my back (I'm inclined to believe the letters worked). We used the VA Home Loan program, and refi'd 2 times in less than a year. We went from 7% (8/2002), to 6% (1/2003) to 5.25% (8/2003) Can ya' get any lower without paying points or a DP?

I couldn't fathom going through a BK again.. I had no choice but to file, and in hindsight, am glad I did it. My only revenge is that he's suffered tons more than I did. My only debt now is my mtg, truck & 2 CC's ($396 & $1100)

I've ordered my reports at least 2x a year, and I recently joined the PG & MyFico watches.. I may cancel the PG thing, not sure yet.. My most recent success was my BK being deleted from TU (& a derog AU acct).. 2 down, 1 to go (EQ) With recent payoffs of 4 CC's, I'm hoping my score will increase dramatically. (i'd be happy with 15 points)

These are inspiring stories.. Hope to read more of them!

Ciao!

My story- Attempted to obtain mortgage in spring of 05. Turned down. Horrible credit. CA calling day and night. Mistakes of the past catching up with me. 1 new baby and 1 on the way (blessing-lol). Found CB in May05. Started research, realized BK was the correct route for me to go, though it was stressful, CB helped me along the way. Thanks radi8 & pryan, etc... Got thru the BK, discharged in 8-05. Scores in the high 400's low 500's. Started to work my CR's. Followed the advice of many poster's. Thanks Whychat, Breeze, Peekaboo, Smush, etc... With the help of you and others, scores raised to 620 by Jan06. Researched mortgages parrellel to work on cr's. Made contact with Liverichly from the Mortgage Forum. He was/is incredibly effective, professional, honest, and truly is the most concentious Broker a person could ever have! Continued working on scores, Liverichly found right mortgage product for my situation. Scores arrived at mid 667 in Mar06. Found house, made offer, offer accepted, mortgage app. taken, mort. approved. Closed TODAY!!!!

CB Team,

Thanks to all of you who over the last year have made this dream come true! Thanks to Liverichly for making the homebuying process go so smooth and for being the Professional that you are. Of course, I had good motivation over the last year and it was my 3 kids, 1 19months, 1 7 months, 1 8 years. Whenever I got tired of disputing or working 2 jobs (2nd job payed for BK and my CR work), I simply looked at them as I knew they deserved the simple pleasure of being able to run out the door and play in their yard. Without all of you, today would not have been possible. Thank you for your advice, Thank you for your time, Thank you for helping this real life dream come true!