Chapter 7 BK discharged 3/17/2024
Started rebuild on 4/3/2024
4/3/2024
Targeted offer from Mission Lane Credit Union received. Applied and approved. $3k, No AF and 29.99% APR
Pre-approved email for a Venmo card. Declined.
4/5/2024
Targted offer from Ally received. Applied and approved. $1k, No AF, 0% interest for 9 months then 28.99%
4/18/2024
Discovered myFICO forums. Pulled all 3 scores and then froze all reports.
Scores (for some reason I cannot paste links, sorry)
Equifax - 580
TU - 575
Experian - 588
I have a lot of learning to do on how to "read" and understand my credit reports.
Some things I have noticed. I have no idea on if/how
1 - two paid in full closed by customer personal lines of credit are showing. Paid off in 2021 (small score bump through 2028 possible?)
2 - one paid in full closed by customer store card via Wells Fargo. Paid off in 2022
3 - All credit cards that had a 0 balance are listed as included in BK - paid in full (some even said never late)
4 - Thank you student loans for an age of accounts of 25 years
5 - even with 7 negative accounts stilsl getting a "good score" as 56% of accounts are being as on-time never missed.
6 - mix of credit is considered "good" and lines of credit is still considered "good" (possible that the closed personal loans and closed cards helping again)
All things considered I am very happy with my first 2 cards. Time to "tend the garden" and hurry up and wait.
Starting Score: 575
Welcome CaneVariant, great news to hear about your credit journey. Take it slow and I wait at least 6 months before I apply for CLI on my cards and I rarely do inquiries...Like maybe 2 a year. In my opinion I'd work on the cards you have slowly raising the limits and maybe next year apply for something else. Try to stay below 30% of CLI and good luck!
Thank you for the welcome and the advice. I plan on following your advice to just work the two cards I have for at least a year +. I have already set both to Pay In Full 5 days before payment due date. I also added reminders, for myself, to follow up the day before the payment due date to make sure nothing unusal happens.
The only other "move" I intend to make is wait another 30 days and then open an Ally HYSA and deposit a few grand. I figure the additional relationship can't hurt when it comes to CLI requests down the road. Plus the APY is at 4% ish which is not too bad.
Cheers!