My story thus far

[WorkingItUp]

First off I just want to thank the forum, I have just been pouring through stuff recently and learned some tools to help.

 

I am 32 and once again a college student (4-year graduate level degree in health sciences, have 2 bachelor's and a master's from before, all without debt because of scholarships/TA's/working)

During my 20s I was very skeptical of big banks/gubernment, lived a mostly cash economy from my job, etc. I had at varying points: GAP ($500), Macy*s ($200), Kohl's ($100), Discover ($2000), and Capital One ($4900) cards, all of which I ended up not using enough and got cancelled, excepting the Macy*s card.

 

My recent story:

 

 

Summer/Fall 2012: denied for grad plus for incorrect info or bills I never knew about. Fix these, some of which come off my report, and some don’t. Get approved for the loans. At this time my checking/savings is online with INGdirect, which later becomes Capital One 360.

 

11/12: find out about travel-hacking, thepointsguy, etc. Sweat a US Airways card badly. Apply for this and United MileagePlus card and am denied. Call for recon and find out that I basically have NO credit history. Scores +/-600. Ouch.

 

3/31/13: After 90+ days, apply again for some cards: DiscoverIT, AmEX Delta (heard it was easy to get), Chase Freedom. I guess I didn't do enough research that I don't qualify- all those travel sites say to apply for a couple on the same day. Denied for no credit history, accounts not open/long enough, low income. Score drops even lower. One or two of them also talk about charge-offs for earlier. I didn't know about pay for delete. Whoops.

 

7/13: Apply for secured card through USBank and local credit union. I am denied. Didn't know you could get denied for a secured card! Start to worry a bit more seriously.

 

10/13: Apply for some bank bonus accounts to have a stick ‘n’ brick account. Denied! I didn’t know you could get denied for a checking account. Great.

 

10/13: Decide to try in person @ Citibank. Very friendly agent who wants to help. I find out I was put on chexsystems for a negative bank balance @TD Bank years ago, which I had closed to my knowledge with no balance. How could I even get money back when I closed if there was a balance? Ugh. Fix this and get removed or at least clear with Chexsystems. Unfortunately all this comes through too late for giant ThankYou points bonus.

 

Also realize I still have a Macy*s account open. Reactiate/get replacement card.

 

1/13: After twp months of using Macy*s card again (I bought about $10 of underwear) I find out my limit is decreased from $200 to 100, when I try to buy about $170 worth of clothes. WTF? Clothes ended up being good even though I paid in cash mostly.

 

end of 1/14: Decide to stop waiting for a good bonus to roll around, and take what I can get. A little unnerved by experience abroad during xmas where bank ate my card and I had no way to get money for days. Go to Citibank where I open checking and savings accounts with a monthly points scheme. Denied for credit card. He says to resubmit materials and we wait.

 

beginning of 2/14: Go back into bank to resolve some other stuff and see what the H is going on. Apparently they never applied for the secured card, which I had told him I wanted if I didn't qualify for unsecured. Uh….duh? I get annoyed. We resubmit and I’m told I’m approved.

 

later in 2/14: still wondering what is going on. I ask bank in person, they don’t know, tell me to wait. I finally call and they tell me because I waited so long to verify ID they have to do it over again. They sent everything to wrong address. Then they don’t like my actual address (Mailbox service that usually works; I live in an RV), give them my friend's. Getting really nervous since they are moving end of month.

 

3/14: Friend tells me they aren’t moving until April. Phew? Still hope her BF doesn’t see (he makes 200k+/yr and is a bit judgemental).

STILL no card, what the F is going on? Also random charges, a lot of calling, going into the bank. Debit card stops working a couple times including in China. Getting really annoyed.

 

Realize also in the beginning of the month my macy*s card wasn’t reporting since I always paid the balance on it too early. Leave some so that it reports, voila! Score increase.

 

4/14: Debit card stopped working AGAIN and still no CC. I go back in the branch and freak out. Then call on the phone and really freak out, with worst customer service reps I’ve ever dealt with. Finally it sounds like they are going to send me my card after about 40 minutes of holding and another 40 of arguing/mostly not being listened to. They refuse to verify anything which is totally ridiculous. However, 2-3 days later I finally receive my secured MC w/limit of $300!

 

4/14-5/14: I use my new MC card a lot but also pay it down leading up to 5/9 which is billing cycle date. Aim to have less than 10% but more than 0% usage on my cards (nothing due until end of May).

 

5/7/14: Check scores on creditkarma and credit sesame.

CK: TU 693, Vantage 762 (both same since opening Citi Secured)

CS: 701 (up 14 in a month!)

 

I decide to search around credit boards again and see what I can do to help score. Considering taking out a loan somewhere and securing it w/a CD to diversify credit.

Read about the shopping cart trick and decide what the hell, I was on Victoria’s Secret the other day anyway. Go and am automatically approved for $500! Wow, more than doubles my credit line. Doesn't look like I qualify at any other stores...I have no use for plus size clothing anyway

 

Flit around a couple other sites and look at pre-approvals...it says I will qualify for DiscoverIt and some of the Barclay's cards. Reading more I find out about people's preapproval offers disappearing. I freak out and apply...am denied for the unsecured one but approved for the secured one. It actually looks pretty good, so I put the offer on hold for 3 days. I get back to the US this weekend and will try to call just to see if I can get a reconsideration for the unsecured, otherwise I'll go with the secured card.

 

 

So after all this nonsense I feel the speed picking up and am excited for the future. I hope to document my progress here as I come along.

[Guest]

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