Some Success Stories I Would LOVE To See Posted

[Why Chat]

A refinancing at a lower rate of mortgage or car payments gave me enough extra to start a SERIOUS savings/emergency account.

 

Paying off my high interest cards and "sock drawing" them for emergency use gave me the incentive to budget and shop more carefully on a "cash" only basis.

 

Although I probably could get a "junk" jewelry store or other trashy CC I prefer to not BUY things I don't need on credit just to increase my score.

 

Now that the pressure is off from bill collectors, I can spend quality time with my family and enjoy all the FREE fun and entertainment available in my Town.

 

With my new found self confidence of having repaired my credit, I am able to increase my personal job skills,and education and reach out to help those less fortunate.

[Guest picantel]

The ones who do all of that move on with their life and stop posting.

[Why Chat]

The ones who do all of that move on with their life and stop posting.

Are you becoming cynical?? There are SOME posters here who have stuck around to help others even though they have become prudent and frugal and saving. At least I HOPE SO!!

 

I would hate to think that all my efforts to help others have resulted in an increase in more crass consumerism and the disposable life styles that are destroying our economy and our society.

[soldiergurl74]

I would hate to think that all my efforts to help others have resulted in an increase in more crass consumerism and the disposable life styles that are destroying our economy and our society.

 

In your opinion.

[searpr]

Hmm...let me try. First of all, I no longer am afraid to answer the phone because my debts are out of SOL and CB is the reason I know to tell anyone that does call where they can go

 

I got my scores up to the point that I am confident that I will not be turned down for everything except the superprime stuff. (Still working on it!) Funny thing is, if and when I apply for any other credit, it's just so that I can have it, because I don't really use it. I have learned how to manage the new credit that I do have. I PIF every month and have never been late on anything since 2003.

 

Now I'm showing my best friend the light of CB and helping her improve her scores with the knowledge I've gained here so she can buy another house. I also helped another friend who was in tears after being harassed by a debt collector by sending her the limited C&D and telling her how to use it and sending her the link to CB so she can get her credit education.

 

I was pre-approved for a home loan, no problem! Owning a home has been my dream since I was 18, and now it's finally happening thanks to CB!

Edited April 7, 2007 by searpr

[wes m]

A refinancing at a lower rate of mortgage or car payments gave me enough extra to start a SERIOUS savings/emergency account.

 

Paying off my high interest cards and "sock drawing" them for emergency use gave me the incentive to budget and shop more carefully on a "cash" only basis.

 

Although I probably could get a "junk" jewelry store or other trashy CC I prefer to not BUY things I don't need on credit just to increase my score.

 

Now that the pressure is off from bill collectors, I can spend quality time with my family and enjoy all the FREE fun and entertainment available in my Town.

 

With my new found self confidence of having repaired my credit, I am able to increase my personal job skills,and education and reach out to help those less fortunate.

 

Sure, no problem

 

After three or four years of endless spending followed by "whoops, can't make that payment," I hit the end and filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. This period was marked with STEEP overdrafts in my checking account, along with basically not paying anything short of the electric bill (sometimes) and getting more charge-offs than any one person should reasonably have.

 

After 12 months in bankruptcy, I bought my house (a 27-year-old house in good condition and a quiet neighborhood) through FHA's financing program. I also bought my truck, to replace the car that went back in bankruptcy, through a buy-here/pay-here place. Since exiting bankruptcy, I decided to clean up my credit by paying some people (mostly original creditors) and disputing other entries away.

 

I vowed to NEVER have another credit card again! This lasted for about six months, until I realized that I was destined to be overcharged for everything (insurance, anyone?) or never be able to not pay a deposit again, unless I had some form of good credit. I made dang sure to never pay anything late again, never have an overdraft and, for the love of Pete, have some savings.

 

It's been almost two years since discharge, and I'm there. I have a nice chunk of money in savings, I'm contributing to my 401(k), I haven't been late or overdrawn in over two years and, bless their insanity, I even have three "real" credit cards. One is Patelco (for the low rate), one is GEICO's MasterCard (as a low-limit no AF rebuilder) and the third is Juniper's Sea Miles (to earn credits towards the cruises we want to take, and the higher limit). I have used these ever so slightly, since I don't want to charge anything I don't have to. The charges I run through (mostly auto-bill stuff) is used to keep the accounts active and generate a payment history. All three cards are less than 3 months old, so they're definitely "baking in the oven."

 

I'm closing out my Orchard Bank card (got it right after bankruptcy to have *something* report as positive) at the end of this year and not looking back. My disputes have been going very slowly, since I seem to have been cursed with creditors and CAs who make no mistakes I can argue about . My bankruptcy and IIB accounts will drop off in 2009, which will help my scores climb above the low to mid 600s.

 

I don't buy things "willy nilly" anymore, and that's a GOOD THING. CB has been a great resource for me, even before I joined to start posting. Thanks, CB!

[direred]

A refinancing at a lower rate of mortgage or car payments gave me enough extra to start a SERIOUS savings/emergency account.

Well, I paid my car off, so I have been saving significant $ since then. I don't plan on financing another car until I have one of my student loans paid completely off (unless I happen to need to finance before then).

 

ETA: I maxed my 401k last year, and plan to again this year.

 

Although I probably could get a "junk" jewelry store or other trashy CC I prefer to not BUY things I don't need on credit just to increase my score.

I no longer feel the need to do this. In fact, I'm going to be closing tradelines.

 

Now that the pressure is off from bill collectors, I can spend quality time with my family and enjoy all the FREE fun and entertainment available in my Town.

I'm definitely more able to do this, but I'm taking a class at a major university that I really wouldn't have even dreamed of. Is that close enough? (It's not free, but it's not nearly as expensive as I feared it would be.)

 

With my new found self confidence of having repaired my credit, I am able to increase my personal job skills, and education and reach out to help those less fortunate.

My income has tripled since I started on CB 2-1/2 years ago. I'm still working in the general field of IT security, I'm just in a better position.

Edited April 7, 2007 by direred

[greenhair]

Thanks to those here, including you Why Chat, I have peace in my life. I am debt free except for my mortgage, which is only around $700 per month. I have an emergency fund set up in case of emergency, and we are maxing out our 401(k). My husband and I volunteer at the Boy's Club and are active in our church.

 

I don't even care about my credit score. It is just so nice not to be constantly worried by scumbag collectors.

[shartreuse]

great thread whychat

 

i don't know if this is what you mean but here it goes --

 

improving my credit saved my marriage. i don't hide the mail from DH. we don't argue about how to scrape through the month. i answer the phone w/o fear. we can now communicate about money but also everything else. there was so much tension we couldn't discuss much.

 

we bought a house and have refinanced to a better rate once. we're looking at buying an investment property this summer. we've got a small emergency fund and maxed out 401Ks.

 

right now we're focusing on paying down about 10K in old debt. we were able to pull it from CAs and BT to low interest cards. now we have all our debt in control and shrinking. and all those CAs off of our reports.

 

i spent so much time working on my credit that my work suffered. last year i made it a goal to get all of our scores in the 600s from the 400s. this year i am focusing on my career and job. it has paid dividends. i'm working on new projects and likely to get a good promotion next year.

 

the next step for us is finalizing a very very detailed, penny pinching budget this month. it may not sound like much but we've never had the best control of our finances. DH has finally agreed to a detailed budget.

 

i have shared what i've learned with others when appropriate. i continue to utilize CB as an important resource as work on the remainder of our credit issues. however, i spend some of the time now studying various financial sites and resources.

 

most importantly, i am not scared anymore. i am more prepared to deal with challenges head on than i ever have been...not just credit repair.

[arlyn]

Here's a bit of my story:

 

I hit my version of rock-bottom in 2000. I'd been divorced for a couple years, and raising a child on my own with minimal child support. I racked up over $20k in credit card debt (mostly due to living expenses beyond what I was earning, sadly) and signed up for CCCS. Worst mistake I ever made - they never re-aged my accounts like promised, and they paid everything late. I had late payments on EVERY account I had, which are just falling off this year.

 

I got out of CCCS and started paying on my own. I learned to live on what I made PLUS pay off this monster debt. It was a very slow process, and I'm down the the last part of it now ($4k). My mom opened a joint account with me in 2004 with 0%-4.9% interest rates for me to transfer my old debt to and pay off. I am forever grateful to her, as I paid off this debt much faster and established an excellent tradeline on my credit with my first 5-figure limit.

 

I bought a car when my credit was bad and financed at 13.9%. I was determined to keep and pay off so I would carry a positive tradeline. I paid it off last month - finally!

 

I started with CB a month ago and have already knocked off half of the remaining baddies on my reports. They were all minor - nothing over $200 - but I never had the confidence to try before I came here.

 

My scores have improved from the mid-500's in 2000 to upper 600's/lower 700's today. Yes, it has taken me 7 years to do it because I didn't know how to start. But I'm proud of myself for learning to be responsible for it. I have credit lines with prime lenders these days, and I know I'll never carry another Crap One again!

 

I got engaged in October to a wonderful man (with great credit, very sexy!) but with lot of debt from his divorce. I slowly took over his finances (with his approval) and showed him what I had learned. We've almost paid off his 3 sub-prime cc's (2 Crap One's and a Household) and then he's going to start applying for good cards. We budgeted out to pay off his divorce debts, and we're down to $18k from $25k over 7 months. He bought a new car a couple of weeks ago at 4.9% and was just over the moon! It's been so wonderful sharing my knowledge with him, and showing him that he really is in better shape than he knew and that he's finally got good credit (mid-700's) for the first time in his life!

 

Anyway, life is finally starting to feel good. I'm feeling like a responsible grown-up these days!

[direred]

improving my credit saved my marriage. i don't hide the mail from DH. we don't argue about how to scrape through the month. i answer the phone w/o fear. we can now communicate about money but also everything else. there was so much tension we couldn't discuss much.

 

we bought a house and have refinanced to a better rate once. we're looking at buying an investment property this summer. we've got a small emergency fund and maxed out 401Ks.

This is such a great story, thanks for sharing.

[Tools McTool]

Well, I was able to get my credit to a point where I am able to lease an '07 Ford Escape for LESS than I paid a month on my co-signer purchased, high milage, '01 Ford Explorer. That and I still save monthly.

I used some of that extra dough to enroll in my work's 403b plan. I don't even miss the dough.

 

I am also helping more than a couple people at work with some baddies on their reports. Walking two through COMPLETE credit repair.

 

Tools

Edited April 7, 2007 by Tools McTool

[vff]

CB has been a godsend. Best of all, showed me how to obtain business credit for a legit and cash starved business. NO ONE, not banker, accountant, business counselor, SBA, could ever answer questions on how to finance business without PG - which tanked my personal credit. Then found CB, and in 6 months, company got over $250,000 in much needed business credit (We were operating a $1M construction co on CASH - virtually impossible!) And personal scores went from 400's to 620's in less than two years. Am passing on the info to everyone I know, and mentoring new business owners on how to start a business without making all the mistakes I made (and still survived) THANKS TO CB!!

[Shawnee]

This is a great point. Too many people equate consumption with success. The emphasis it seems is how much you can spend on a credit card, luxury auto, or travel. Success is measured in assetts, not spending.

 

Flame suit on.

[Shawnee]

 

 

I would hate to think that all my efforts to help others have resulted in an increase in more crass consumerism and the disposable life styles that are destroying our economy and our society.

 

In your opinion.

 

Have a look around this board. How many times have people defended AMEX "because AMEX cardholders spend more". $50k+ cars. $10k vacation flings financed on credit cards.

 

Open your eyes.

[toopooor]

The ones who do all of that move on with their life and stop posting.

Are you becoming cynical??

 

Unfortunately, he is mostly correct. Yeah, a few stay... but many others move on with their life at some point. I don't expect to stay here forever - in part because this bad habit makes it hard to have selfcontrol with apps.

[toopooor]

BTW - i don't think this is true at all - at least I like to think most of us learned from our past mistakes.

 

I would hate to think that all my efforts to help others have resulted in an increase in more crass consumerism and the disposable life styles that are destroying our economy and our society.

[Shawnee]

The ones who do all of that move on with their life and stop posting.

Are you becoming cynical??

 

Unfortunately, he is mostly correct. Yeah, a few stay... but many others move on with their life at some point. I don't expect to stay here forever - in part because this bad habit makes it hard to have selfcontrol with apps.

 

I've managed. Once you track your score for eight months with no new accounts it becomes obvious that continuously opening new accounts is not good for your score.

[toopooor]

Have a look around this board. How many times have people defended AMEX "because AMEX cardholders spend more". $50k+ cars. $10k vacation flings financed on credit cards.

 

if they have the income to support that kind of spending, whats the problem? We spent close to $10000 on our first vacation in years and charged nearly everything - but also had it completely paid off within 3 months after returning home. (i carried a largish art purchase we made for while on vacation for about 2 months. Later, more expensive purchases were PIF on the due date. I suppose you could make a big deal about spending a lot of money on art, but we consider it an investment and it looks great in our new house.)

[lorcat]

I am far from completing my credit repair but I have hit some milestones I never thought I would achieve. Last June, I received a letter from my student loan holder saying contact us or face wage garnishment. My income tax had already been used as offset the last two years so I knew I couldn't bury my head in the sand over this debt anymore. A friend of mine pointed me towards this board and I read the student loan forum until my eyes bleed that weekend. I called my holder first thing that following Monday morning and the rep got me started on a rehab program. In less than 10 days I will be making my 9th payment and on June 11th I start school again.

 

I still get more rejections than I get approvals on credit but I have learned so much from these boards. I now have a money management plan and for the first time in I don't know how many years I have an actual savings. I don't take much from my check each week but what I do adds up fast. I don't even miss the money I am putting towards my savings account.

 

I thank TPTB for providing this board and for everyone who takes the time to answer questions.

[toopooor]

I've managed. Once you track your score for eight months with no new accounts it becomes obvious that continuously opening new accounts is not good for your score.

 

Self control is actually getting easier for me - in part because i have too many to use regularly and not have too many reporting balances. This summer i plan to close some of cards i got last fall.

[Shawnee]

Have a look around this board. How many times have people defended AMEX "because AMEX cardholders spend more". $50k+ cars. $10k vacation flings financed on credit cards.

 

if they have the income to support that kind of spending, whats the problem? We spent close to $10000 on our first vacation in years and charged nearly everything - but also had it completely paid off within 3 months after returning home. (i carried a largish art purchase we made for while on vacation for about 2 months. Later, more expensive purchases were PIF on the due date. I suppose you could make a big deal about spending a lot of money on art, but we consider it an investment and it looks great in our new house.)

 

The problem is spending everything you have and then some leaves you between a rock and a hard place if you run into trouble.

 

I wasn't talking about things like art. I'm talking about vacation loans, financing $5000 televisions, and other luxuries.

 

I speak from experience. I made some good money in the 90s and spent every dime of it. I had been living without credit, but still with what I made I should have been well off. I suffered a nearly fatal illness in 1999 that left me in medical institutions for six months and without an income for two years. By time it was over I was flat broke and into family for five figures.

 

That experience taught me the importance of having assetts, not luxuries. I again made some good money from 2001-2004 and this time lived like a miser. Every dime outside of basic living expense went to pay off the small mortgage on our property. After that was taken care of I invested everything into municipal bond funds which now are worth almost twice my available credit on cards.

[Shawnee]

I've managed. Once you track your score for eight months with no new accounts it becomes obvious that continuously opening new accounts is not good for your score.

 

Self control is actually getting easier for me - in part because i have too many to use regularly and not have too many reporting balances. This summer i plan to close some of cards i got last fall.

 

I got tired of the sockdrawer routine. I've closed a lot of accounts lately reducing my available credit by about one thrid. Down to 14 personal accounts and have two more I plan on closing.

[western]

I think this is one of the most positive threads I have read.

 

Of coarse there will be folks that never "get it" about money management, but over all I think most get helped

 

Stability when something hits the fan is what I want to achieve, incase something happens such as what Shawnee went through, the unavoidable stuff, been there done that too..

 

The unique feeling in thiese threads is a sence of peace far away from the CW syndrome..

Thanks guys

[jtoast]

Ok...you asked for it..here goes.

 

In January of 2002 life was good. I had decent job working for Chase Manhattan Bank making around 35K/yr, loving wife(I thought), kids, the whole thing. The only downside was that I was did a lot of travel (IT guy.) Me and my wife both worked and we had no budget and no savings. We just wrote checks on payday and we paid things late when the money ran out.

 

In April I came home from a business trip to find my house completely empty with an eviction notice on the door. It turns out that my wife, who had been handling bills due to my travel, had taken everything. She maxed out ALL of our credit cards( around 18K at the time), scheduled online payments, waited for them to post, and then emptied the bank account before the ACH hit. This put me around 30K in debt to the CC companies and around $1500 negative on my employee checking account which cost me my job with Chase. I was also homeless. The one brightside was that she was not an AU on most of those cards so I was able to dispute away most of the money..but that took me a good 6 or 8 months of phone calls to resolve. At the end all of her unauthorized purchases were removed except for $3K on Capital One which is now my only chargeoff (and is up to 8K) and the money to the bank.

 

I looked at my situation and decided that there was no way I could make it without some help. I sold the only thing I had left of value (the laptop I took with me on my trip) for $500, called my father, bought a plane ticket, and headed back to Oklahoma. I slept on my fathers couch for a week to try to sort things out.

 

I came to the conclusion that I could not afford both rent and my child support (no court order but A man pays for his kids regardless of the mouse he made them with) so I moved under a bridge within walking distance of my new job in Tulsa Oklahoma. I lived under that bridge for 5 months while I saved enough to get an apartment and a car. During that time I learned to budget. Every penny I made was accounted for and decisions such as "should I grab a coke out of the vending machine" were no longer obvious...I would deliberate before spending that 75 cents and usually decided against it.

 

I managed to get back on my feet but for the next 2 years I barely made ends meet. I was turned down for several good jobs due to my poor credit and lack of a bank account(mandatory direct deposit) and ended up doing telephone tech support for $12.hr. I checked my credit scores around Nov 2004 and they were in the low 400's. I had pretty much given up at that point on ever being able to pay my bills, much less fix my credit.

 

I managed to scrimp and save and take an online class here and there and finally managed to get a few software certifications under my belt and started applying for better paying jobs again.

 

In April of 2004 my life changed. I managed to get an IT consulting job that jumped me back up to $32/hour. The contract was only supposed to last for 90 days but, 2 years later, I am now a permanent employee making ~$70K. It took me about a year to get things "right" financially. By this I mean to do things like get my student loans out of default, catch up on back rent and back child support, etc. The first indication that things were finally getting better for me credit wise was when I was able to finance a car through Ford Motor Credit at "only" 13.5%.

 

In April of 2006 I decided that it was time to fix what was left of my credit so, on the advice of CB, I opened a National City secured card for $300. 6 months later I opened several other starter accounts (Orchard, Hooters, Juniper, few others) and then finally in January I opened another 3 or 4(Best Buy, Walmart, Circuit City.)

 

My scores have gone from the 530's in October 2006 up to a high of 717 per the ScoreWatch Alert I got this morning.

 

In the last year I have refid my van and purchased a second vehicle, both at 7.5%, sued for and won primary custody of both my children, purchased my home, am helping to pay my fiance's way through Sonography school, and still managed to sock away ~10K for retirement.

 

Granted there are still a few baddies on my reports (Damn you Capital One!!), but I really don't care too much anymore. I have enough credit right now to do what I need to do, when I need to do it and that's all I ask. I am starting to close out the low limit starter cards (National City closes tomorrow morning unless they offer me an unsecured card to go with it) and I will let the other accounts age while I concentrate on CLI's.

 

Until you have been down and came back up, you have no idea how much of a relief it is to KNOW that the electric bill is paid or to KNOW that the phone ringing is one of your friends and not yet another damn collection agency.

 

The one thing I want to say to anyone who reads this post is that, no matter how bad your situation seems, there is ALWAYS a way out. You may not like the solution (move to a new state and live under a bridge while you get on your feet...lol) but the solution IS there and as long as you never give up, things WILL get better.

Edited April 8, 2007 by jtoast