First, I want to thank many of you who have helped me realize the importance of having good credit (here in the US). This sub has taught me a lot, and a lot of the information I've read on this sub over the last year has really stuck with me.
To give some background, I grew up with my grandparents who didn't have a solid financial understanding, so I didn't understand the importance of credit at all growing up. Hell, I didn't even know what a credit score was until I turned 26. However, I understood the value of saving because growing up in a household with three siblings and two retired grandparents were not easy for them. So, I lived my life paying cash for everything. A trip to Vegas, cash. Christmas gifts, cash. Twenty-day Eurotrip? Cash, cash, cash.
At the age of 28, I met my current girlfriend who is six years my senior and much more successful - work and financially. As things got serious, we started talking about finances since I was always paying big purchases items with my debit card (which is fine), but she asked why don't I use credit for a few of these purchases to rack up points. I looked at her with the most confused face and asked what points are. Her eyes lit up, and she realized that I did not know how credit cards, scores, and the whole system. We downloaded one of those free credit motoring apps and checked my score. BAM! 450. She showed hers -- 820.
I felt embarrassed and knew I had to do something. She told me that she would help me better understand how it works and how to get started. We opened a secured card with $200 to get started. That was it.
Why was it a 450? Well, at the age of 19, I got a credit card in college and never paid my bill. It went to collections. Pretty obvious.
The first six months was a waiting game. Making purchases, paying the card off. I always maxed out the card, but still paid in full when the bill was due with auto pay. Around month 7, I get an email from the credit card company saying they will send back my $200 deposit, and now going from a secured card to unsecured. AWESOME! My limit was now $1000. My score went from 450 to 550. Now I'm checking my score on my app every other day. I know it's not going to change much from day-to-day, but I enjoyed staying on top of it. I slowly see it climb by being responsible for paying the card off IN FULL every month.
Having a better understanding of the system, I applied for a new card that's ideal for people who are rebuilding credit. Applied, fingers crossed, approved for a $3k credit limit! This is awesome! I go through my entire budget, switch bills I used to pay with cash to my credit cards, set up auto pay and done.
A year later, the excitement of checking all the time has worn off, but I went on just to see how things are doing a few months back. I check my score, and I'm at 720 with a 30k revolving limit. Thinking this was a mistake, I'm searching through the entire app until I see why. My GF added me as an authorized user on one of her cards that has a 26k limit with an 8-year history and paid in full on time every month. That was her gift to me for sticking with it. She trusts me enough to hold the card in case of an emergency.
But I want my own big boy card now even though I'm fine with what I have now. After a couple of months of doing reviews and prequalify checks (which I didn't pass), I bit the bullet and applied for the AMEX Gold Card. Approved! I'm sure there are better cards out there, but I thought this would be great for me. It was something I always wanted as a kid, and now I have it. All because of staying focused and a bit of luck.
So, that was my journey from 450 to 720. From only having a debit card to 4 credit cards. The habits I learned over the last year and a half will stick with me forever, and now I have a new goal to pass my GF's credit score.
Sorry for the long post.
Edits: grammer
Submitted March 07, 2018 at 10:10AM by TyBoogie http://ift.tt/2G4SBKg
