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Hello all! I'm excited to be a part of CB. I have been reading and reading and reading, and I'm ready to ask for help. Here's my story. I have a discharged Chapter 7 - DECEMBER 5, 2014!!! Yay me! TU and Exp scores are about the same (628). The site I use is down so I can't give the exact number of negative accounts reporting. My question is this. Where do I start? I feel so overwhelmed with all the info I've read in the PsychDoc transcripts and member posts, and I'm just not sure where to start. Will someone please give me some help? My goal is home ownership. I'm not in a major rush and would like to do things as thoroughly as possible with as much informed help as possible. Thanks so much you all!

I am currently rebuilding my credit and recently got approved by Barclays with a small limit. I need a larger limit but how do I increase my chances that they will comply and how long do I need to wait before asking?

Hello All, It's been a while since I've been on here and unfortunately my credit situation is much worse than it was the last time I was around. FICO scores used to be in the mid to high 700's, but now they are hovering around or just below 600. I went through a rough patch in the income situation and built up ~ $50K in credit card debt. I started working with a non-profit debt management program (Greenpath - very happy with them) to get back on track and get things paid off. I have/had many late payments (30/60/90/120, etc), several charge-offs, and one account that was sold to a collection agency. I secured a great full-time job and over the past 11 months I've paid off around $15K of the credit card debt (plus paid off the rest of my new car loan ($1,500 in payments, plus an early $5,500 lump-sum payoff in Feb. Note: never missed a payment on this loan in the 4 years I had it) and a low-balance student loan. All of the debt that I have remaining is ~$35K in credit card debt. I'm paying consistently through the debt management plan plus adding extra when I can strategically to different cards. I have 8 cards currently in the DMP, 2 that were in the DMP but which I have since paid off, 2 Citi cards that I setup an arrangement with them directly that I'm paying, and 1 that I didn't include in any arrangements and have been paying normally (AmEx Blue). All credit cards are either closed or will be closed at the conclusion of the DMP, except for my AMEX which I didn't include. I'm very pleased with the progress I've made so far because last year I felt very overwhelmed and wasn't sure what to do. Having said all that, I have two questions. One, I'm looking for comments/advice on my situation to see if there is anything else that I could be doing better or that I should be doing. For example, before I ruined my credit, I had success removing my one single late payment from a student loan (using a goodwill letter sent to the lender) and it ended up improving my score greatly. I'm wondering if I should even try to attempt doing that with the vast array of mistakes haunting my credit reports, or if they're past repair at this point (except for just waiting for the negatives to fall off). Two, For my job, I'm going to be doing some traveling pretty soon and I've learned that I'll have to apply for a Corporate credit card through Chase in order to charge travel and expenses. I've done some research and found different stories on trying to get corporate cards with bad credit, but 99% of them have been with AMEX corp cards. I haven't been able to find any information about Chase. Does anyone have any experience with corporate cards with them? I'm not sure if the card will be personally guaranteed and/or if Chase will pull my credit to determine my eligibility. I'm terrified of going through this process only to be denied by Chase and then have to explain it to my employer. In my field and industry of work, having bad credit is not a good thing and I would rather not see what happens if that comes to light. Any comments/advise would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I started with a CapOne platinum card in their credit steps program and today my limit was increased from $300 (lol) to $1800. I know it is not much, but it is the highest limit card I have at the moment so I will take it! I just used the hell out of it and PIF twice a month. I also emailed the EO office earlier this week, so hopefully it goes up a tad more. I just wanted to share my success and let others know the $500 they say you'll get after 5 statements isn't necessarily the CLI you will get.

I presently have two charge off's on my credit file that I want to address- goal is to become mortgageable in about 10 months. Capital One- $1600: On this one, I presently have two open cards with Cap 1 as part of my rebuilding process, a secured that I put $500 into and they CLI'd me up to $800 a couple months ago and a Quicksilver with a measly $300 limit. I will have the money to pay this in full next month, but from my research Cap 1 is apparently not very willing to PFD. Anyone have success as a current customer? Or I've read a bit about having them reopen the account but from what I gathered this may not/likely wont reopen the original account, therefore leaving the original tradeline in tact? If anyone has any experience in that, thoughts would be appreciated. First Premier- $480: Again, from my research they seem unwilling to PFD, but if anyone has had experience to the contrary, would love to hear about it. My question with this one is, on my Equifax and Experian reports, it only lists 90 days of delinquency then charge off. I'm locked out of TU currently so I cant check there. I thought an account had to be 120 days past due before being charged off? Any options with their incorrect reporting?

Hi, guys, I'm rebuilding my credit after getting some really bad baddies off and now I'm basically starting over almost from scratch. As for credit, I've had a car loan for the last two and a half years, and one Cap 1 secured credit card for just over a month. I'm trying to figure out the best way to rebuild and others have suggested adding other lines of revolving credit. I doubt any of the majors (Chase, Citi, Discover) etc. would approve me for a credit card with such a thin file, but my credit union might offer me an unsecured card (they don't do secured). They only report to Experian, though, so that won't help build a solid history across the board. Do you think it's worth it to apply for my credit union's CC -- or just wait for five months or so and try for one of the biggies? Thanks for your advice.

Hello, I'm hoping you fine folks can help me in my attempt to repair my sisters credit. I've read through the Beginner's section but I'm still confused on where to start. My sister is 27 and her credit report includes a charged off credit card and 4 misc debts in collections (rent, cable, phone, and 1 i'm forgetting). All told the debts are around $2500. As a family we are trying to teach her and her husband about the budgetting/finance side of things that got them into this situation. What I'm looking for here is help fixing her credit. Some other facts: - The debts are within the SOL - She has been contacted by some of the CAs for her debts - She has moved a fair amount so there are 4-5 old addresses on her report. I believe her plan of attack should be: Get old addresses removed from report (she's moved 3-4 times and may have her maiden name on her report as well). Have the CAs go through validation/verification process (not sure how successful this will be if the CAs are already in contact with her). Questions: Anything I'm missing? Should she cease contact with the CAs? She's not currently paying anything off. Thanks!