FIXING MY CREDIT, this is how I am doing it. Its working !!!!: Credit Gardening VS Credit Hunting

Let me guess, you are about to read this because, like me, you are so tired of living an artificially expensive life, not because you want to, but because your credit is your 'master' and it's forcing you to live that way.

My journey in the quest for better credit has not been an easy one, but must say a fun one, because I choose to have it so. After all, can it get any worse than it already is?

I must let you know that I am not a credit specialist, financial advisor, nor am I a counselor. My reason for writing this is solely for the purpose of sharing with those that might relate to my story and find the strength and inspiration to start working on their own situation sooner rather than later. Every person's circumstances are different, but the goal should be very similar.

Some will find this helpful will others will need professional help.

Please be advised that this is not a credit repair site or credit repair organization. What I bring here is a personal story when it comes to experiencing the ups and downs of real life in the world of credit.

I encourage you to read on and also follow the posted links to other credit forums for extra help. It is a large community, so don't feel ashamed or alone.

If you sometimes find you're asking yourself some of these questions: Why was I not approved for a credit card? Why am I not approved for a service, phone, cable, sorry this, or just, not at this time, you need a big down payment, you need a security deposit, they say you don't pay your bills, you have no established credit. How can I fix my credit? How can I get an Auto Loan at a low rate? Should I file bankruptcy or should I get credit counseling? These are some of the many questions I, and a many other people out there, struggle with and keep asking themselves. Many are too embarrassed to ask for help until they start getting things repossessed or homes foreclosed on that they think of doing something about it.

For years I never knew how I was going to get out of the credit mess I was in, I could never get financed at prime interest rates for anything, cars, credit cards, personal loans, you name it.

After being turned down so many times by banks and credit card companies, I had come to accept the fact that, life for some was meant to be hard and for a few lucky ones easy. I believed I was in that 'Hard' category.

Little did I know it takes discipline, hard work and dedication to have a solid credit rating.

Everything was always very expensive, whenever I was short to pay my bills, I had to run to a Pay Day loan store, very bad idea, borrow 500.00, and you are paying back 1900.00 after 3 months.

I couldn't even change my mobile phone carrier all because the other carriers would only approve me for pay as you go plans like go phones and all. I was stuck with a cable bill so high I couldn't shop around for better deals all because of credit.

I started asking around how I would get out of this without filing bankruptcy, my debt was too little for that, 2 high interest rate car loans, 3 low limit credit cards that were constantly maxed out and was very high interest, I think something like 39% APR, I was paying the minimums on and off with late fees and over limit fees, I would pay on 1 one month go 2 months wothout paying, while paying the other 2, collection call would be ringing off the hook, and a few medical bills, was that a mess. Higher FICO Scores = Lower Monthly Payments

I went to bar after work for couple pints of guiness with some co-workers, there was a BlackHawks game on, and the table next to us was a group of people discussing debt consolidation with someone. My guess was this guy was a freelance financial advisor.

I was eves dropping on there discussion, and that my friends was the start of my financial turn around.

Enter the game of Credit Monitoring!!!!!

When I got home, I went straight to the computer and started researching credit monitoring services, wow, was it a jungle out there, so many to choose from, all offering services from identity protection to credit score fix ups, and so on. Get Identity Protection. Don't allow thieves to use your information. LifeLock helps you. Enroll Now.

I signed up with http://www.freecreditscore.com/ an Experian company, and was shocked to see how bad my credit was. Had there been debtors prisons in this country, I would have made a home in one of them for doing such a poor job of managing my credit.

Free Credit Score - See yours at CreditReport.com!

When people ask you when was the last time you checked your credit after they run it, they are seeing something you ought to be concerned about. Get an Equifax 3-in-1 Credit Report Now!

Freecriditscore.com is a nice easy read layout, gives you your Credit Score in big bold numbers, this is based on the Experian Scoring model called the Plus Score, yes it is confusing, because there are different scoring models out there. They also have your credit summary by 'credit and debt', 'negative information', 'length of history', 'hard inquiries', 'account types' and many other features to help you stay on top of your credit. I was told how bad I was but not how to fix it. If you already know how to go about fixing your credit, its a great service to have.

The problem I found later was that their credit score (Plus Score) is not widely used by lenders,

it leaves you guessing how you fair with the lenders.

With that, I decided to join another credit monitoring service, this time, TrueCredit 3-Bureau Credit Monitoring , a Transunion company, very similar to freecreditscore.com, they send you alerts whenever something changes on your credit report, but they have there own Credit Scoring model, they give you a (Vantage Score) The numerical score ranges from 990 to 501 equaling grade ranges from A to F. I found some companies that use this scoring model like American General Finance and a lot of utility companies.

It is another great service for credit monitoring and just to see how you're trending in terms of scores.

Both FreecreditScore.com and Truecredit.com have helped me monitor my progress in my credit rebuilding quest. FREE Credit Report & Score? Click to Find Out More!

Although I never signed up with them, most credit forums also recommend Equifax credit products. Get Equifax Credit Products Now!

Equifax credit monitoring programs include Fico scores, a great program, which I wish I had known about earlier. Get Equifax Credit Watch Gold 3-in-1 Now!

For those that have already achieved their credit goals and would still want to keep an eye on there credit and protect their identity, most forums have recommended ID Patrol.Get Equifax ID Patrol Now!

Also LifeLock is a great service for identity protection. Get Identity Protection. Don't allow thieves to use your information. LifeLock helps you. Enroll Now.

But the best of all of them out there is MyFico.com with FICO® Monitoring, and here is why I say that:

First of all, about 90% of lenders, as I have come to find out, use Fico scores, mortgage lenders, auto loans and 99% of credit card companies mostly use Fico scores.

Secondly, a credit check with Fico scores will cost more that your membership with MyFico does for 6 months. FICO® Score & Credit Report

I found out my Fico scores were always the same as what the lender like credit unions and auto dealers where generating.

Most of all, myFICO.com provides credit reports, credit scores, and other credit products and is a division of Fair Isaac Corporation(FICO) whose clients include:
- 100 of the Top 100 U.S. Credit Card Issuers
- 9 of the Top 10 Fortune 500 List Worldwide .

They have different products including Suze Orman's FICO® Kit Platinum and a lot of other free tools to get you on your way. 20% off Suze Orman FICO Kit; use promo: SUZEFKP

The downside is that you can only get Transunion and Equifax Reports and Scores, but who cares, I still had Truecredit and Freecreditscore.com for Experian reports, although not the Fico score.

Here is how I did mine, and I must say, I am still working on it:

After signing up with Freecreditscore.com, I compared the accounts and items that were reporting negatively,

the collections were too far gone (old) most of them 5 years and older, the late and past due account were my priority. The important thing is to start somewhere. I called the credit card companies and asked them how they could help me get current without me incurring all those fees.

I closed the accounts and started paying down the debt.

At the same time, I opened a very high interest credit card with First premier bank, with a credit limit of 300.00. this was going to be my redemption card, for all I needed was a clean payment record.

I used this credit card for gas and very minor purchases, but had set up online bill payments with my bank so they would always send 50.00 to the card every week from my checking account, so you can see, I would never be late.

Even when this card was very high interest, I never carried a balance, by the statement due date, the card had a zero balance. I would wait for the statement to print, then a week later would start using it again.

All this time my credit score started inching up slowly, from the low 400's Fico to the low 500's just after 3 months of on time payments.

By this time I had also signed up with FICO® Monitoring . I started going to the forums on the MyFico site and learned a lot more.

FICO® Score & Credit Report

Next, I got caught up with my auto loans, I had called Americredit and asked them to help me get caught up, they defered 2 payments, which game me room to breathe and pay Capital one auto financing for the smaller auto loan payments that was also 2 months past due.

In about 4 months, I was paying my bills that reported to the credit bureas on time.

I now started looking at the collection accounts, because they were a little old, I did not know what they were for. I decided just for the heck of it to dispute them first with all 3 credit bureas, Transunion, Experian and Equifax. Get an Equifax 3-in-1 Credit Report Now!

After about 3 weeks, I got notification that 3 collection accounts were deleted, just like that.

I found this link to be very informative in dealing with collection accounts:http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Bouncing-Back-from-Credit/ct-p/bouncingbackfromcreditproblems

This is month number 10 since I started working on my credit and I am pleased to say that my Fico credit scores on both Transunion and Equifax are over 640, not great but way better than were I was 10 months ago. I have not missed a payment and don't plan to for as long as I can help it.

I continue to monitor my credit with the subscription services from Truecredit and Myfico. I feel that I took the first step to financial independence and I can almost smell all those wonderful things that come with responsible credit management.

Its actually fun to see those numbers that define an individual swinging up and down, but mostly up.

I encourage you to start your journey today, there is never a better day.

Click on the links to sign up for your monitoring services, most of them offer free trials, it's a more cautious way to figure out which monitoring service you will stick with.

Keep checking back here as I keep updating this post with my progress.

If you have anything that you can add to help all of us that are reading this do it even better, or if this has helped you in any way, please share.

Stop credit hunting and start credit gardening, for the fruits of your labor are juicy.

There is a saying out there on one of the forums I found very interesting:

'Credit Is A Wonderful Servant, But A Terrible Master.'

JULY 2010, Current: TU 663 FICO, EQ 658 FICO, EX 676 FAKO. Sweet!!!!

Highly recommended great books in my quest to better credit are here:

Good Credit Is Sexy

and

BestCredit: How to Win the Credit Game, 2nd Edition

Other credit resources:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/What-Steps-Do-I-Take-Do-I-DV-PFD/td-p/337142