I want to be open and honest on my blog. I am hoping that someone will read something here and it will help them. I also hope they will keep coming back to my site too! (;

So people my credit was, at one point, horrible! I was turned down for secured credit cards. How does that happen. I tried using a credit repair agency.  Jeff Broome at KreditKoncepts.com sorta helped.  I paid his company $399 and for 6 months they sent letters to my creditors and the credit bureaus to delete bad marks on my credit. It honestly helped, a bit. Kredit Koncepts worked to remove things like:

• incorrect information
• charge offs
• duplicate accounts

However, that wasn’t what was really bringing my credit down. I was so irresponsible in my 20’s. My student loans had overwhelmed me. I had a hospital bill from 2007 on there. I had missed a car note or two or five. I neglected to pay a gas bill after I moved out of an apartment.

Life was hard. I don’t know if you all know but I LOVE to travel. I paid for all of my trips cash. Meaning I needed to save up for them; which is probably the best way to pay for travel anyway. Traveling THAT way is the hard way. Sidebar: So if you like to travel AND you’re a planner, I suggest using Bookit.com.  They have a payday option that you can use that is very helpful for paying cash for trips.

Back to my credit issues…. So I moved to NYC. I stayed with my cousin until I could get my feet wet or whatever. You know, learn the city; save some money. However, he lived in a tiny studio apartment. Two grown adults can’t live like that. Still I’m so grateful to him for letting me stay there, RENT FREE, for a little while:). After about 2 months I really needed to find my own place. Great. You don’t have to show anyone your credit until you start wanting to sign papers. I was declined 3 times. I didn’t give up though. Finally, I was approved. It shouldn’t have been that hard though. These are just some of the downfalls of having bad credit.

So what works? How do you fix it? Here’s some tips:

• Don’t pay off debts over 5 years. Just wait 2 more years and they’ll drop off automatically.
• If you receive a settlement offer, take it ONLY after they have agreed to erase the debt off of your credit report. GET THIS VERY IMPORTANT DETAIL IN WRITING!
• Use Credit Karma or Credit Sesame to keep track of accounts and credit scores. They’re both free. Not completely accurate but very helpful in my credit repair process. When I say not accurate, I mean that the scores were like 10 points off. I’m not really sure why either. Credit Karma and Credit Sesame both recommend credit cards to help you build good credit. Credit Karma has reputable credit cards and Credit Sesame offers some predatory cards, in my opinion. Which brings me to my next point.
• Read the reviews for each card before you apply. Personally, I read the reviews for everything before I buy it. You learn from other people’s experiences. Like I hope you will learn from my experiences.
• Keep track of your bills. Pay them on time.  I use Mint to help me keep track of all this information. It sends reminders whenever a bill is due. It also helps you budget. Telling you how much you’ve spent on several things.

My credit is nowhere near perfect but, I’m in much better shape. I was pre-approved to buy a home a couple weeks ago which is an AMAZING thing. Trying to find a house in NYC is another story though. I’ll talk about that in another blog.

Hit me up if you have any questions, comments or tips. Here’s to making Beauty in Chaos.

 

-Tash