I paid my car off and my credit dropped 83 points because I “closed an account”. I’m so pissed. I hate credit. This my first time paying a car off in full off a lot. Got it in 2022. I felt so proud of myself only to be shot down by the credit Gods.

How is such a wonderful moment of accomplishment a bad thing ? The total was $17K. I worked hard !!!! I don’t understand.

I’m 24 and I destroyed my credit when I was younger, I tried to get my first apartment 7 months ago and was denied because my credit score was a 539 and I had two things in collections. One was from Verizon and the other was Anytime fitness. I decided to just pay off both debts and it came to $1300 total. I was able to get a pay to delete for Verizon. And I got the Anytime fitness debt deleted off my report. I got a secured credit card from Discover with a limit of $200 and have been using it and paying it off every month. I then got a capital one credit card with a limit of $300 and have been using both simultaneously and paying them off. Today, 7 months later I finally got a Experian Fico 8 credit score of 711!. I’m so happy and just wanted to share. I got most of my knowledge of how to fix my credit from Reddit. Hopefully this time when I apply for an apartment I get it!

One year ago today I was sitting at a experian Fico8 score of an embarrassing 491. After one year of reading damn near every post on here, asking questions and everyone's help its now sitting today at a Experian Fico8 score of 646. I know I have along ways to go but seriously, thanks everyone.

Hi, I’m not used to posting on any forum so I’m sorry for any errors I may make. I have a shared credit card with my mom, and it’s my only line of credit. She maxes the card every month and it’s slowly ruining my credit score. She hasn’t made a late payment since it’s been opened, but because of the usage %, it’s still impacting me negatively.

How can I build credit in this situation ? I’m not very educated on the concept of “building a score” and I don’t like using credit, hence the card we share, so overusing isn’t a problem for me. I know that this isn’t a “bad” score per se, but is is really frustrating that I haven’t used it once and it’s this bad. Thank you!

For reference, I was homeless about 3 years ago but got my life back on track. I had 8.5k in debt and got it down to 3.3k last year. My credit score went from 550 to 514. At this point I don’t know what to do. My neighbor totaled my car last year and I desperately need a new one. I’ve done without one for almost a whole year in hopes I could get my credit up, but it went down instead 😭

What now? Try to get 850? Please and thanks

I started addressing my destroyed credit back in November. I had 9 unpaid collections (furthest back was 4 years), and a charge-off from a few years back as well. I followed the advice of this subreddit, listened to a ton of podcasts and began aggressively negotiation with my debtors. I directed the majority of my income to tackling this debt and now I can proudly say that I have 0 Collections and 0 Charge offs across all three major bureaus.

Rebuilding credit in a short amount of time is possible! I started rebuilding in January with a 475 credit score - YIKES! I followed what many have said in here and it worked. I paid off all of my collections, disputed credit report items, got the discover secured card, keep utilization on all cards below 9% utilization and pay everything the same day I get the statement. I’m crazy underwater on my car and desperately needed a new one for a while now. When I applied last year to get one, they required $8500 down and wanted to charge 26% interest! Absolutely did not accept that. I changed jobs and with the newfound financial freedom, I put the money to work. As of this morning, I’m putting $1500 down and got a 9% interest rate on a brand new 2025 Nissan Kicks due to a 673 credit score. When I say that so many of you helped me get here, I am not kidding. Thank you to all of those who responded to posts and comments! If you’re in the position I was in, don’t take offense to some of the blunt feedback, read it to understand and soak it up.

Raised score by 30 points! Have 2 more to pay off and a credit card I paid off and closed waiting for it to reflect as paid.

Paid off two charge offs this passed week as well

I was struggling paying my minimum debt payments and I signed up for Freedom Debt Relief back in October 2024 (yes, I regret it now)

Currently I have $26,840 enrolled debt with FDR There were 5 accounts 2 have been paid off (settled for less than owed) 2 I am currently repaying 2 waiting to be negotiated 1 currently being negotiated

I had good credit before, never late on payments, no collections. I just couldn’t afford the amount monthly.

After signing up with FDR, I have one account in collections, one account that is still not closed. Rest are closed but still have balances.

I also co-signed on my ex’s car back in 2019, he recently stopped paying and lost the car. My credit took a big hit with that as well.

I have (in good standing) multiple debts: Secure CC $177.50 Auto Loan $16,350.77 Therapy bill $700 Medical bill $1,485.97

I do have a credit builder account that I recently started but it doesn’t seem worth keeping open.

How do I fix this? I need to get my life together so future me can buy a home someday. Thank you for reading and any advice is greatly appreciated!!!!

between this and my credit one goodwill success, i now only have one negative mark on my reports 🫧 i’m so grateful to this community who taught me to face the music while simultaneously advocate for myself!!!

it’s 100% possible - this was my first attempt at contacting capital one. :)

Just a heads-up for anyone who might be in a similar situation: My credit score tanked from 801 to 628 (couldn’t update the title) in just six months, all because of a $3.99 unpaid balance on synchrony card(opened in June 2024 and used only once at the same time ) which I wasn’t aware of.

It started as a small pending payment, but since I didn’t see the statements, it racked up late fees and interest until it hit $55. And missed payments were reported from November to February. I only found out when I randomly checked my spam folder last week and saw one of their emails. By then, the damage was already done.

Lesson learned: Make sure autopay is on for all your credit cards, even the ones you don’t use often. And check your spam folder for any missed statements or payment reminders. Small charges can snowball into serious consequences.

I had around 11k in CC debt that I havent payed since 2018ish.

Last year, I did a settlement option for 1 CC debt and the other fell off my report. Should I still pay that? Lol

I believe my score went up about 50 points after I settled that CC debt.

I somehow got approved of a car loan March 2024 which I have made on time payments that helped as well.

I refinanced my car loan a month ago and they pulled my credit score as 733

I believe self helped a bit. I just treated it as a monthly subscription and the money I "subscribed" to was given back to me with deducted interest.

Not sure what else to add

Recently got approved for a $300 credit line to start building my credit. What’s a good way for me to build credit with this card.

I have a 600 credit score, two charge offs, and 3 collections. I applied for a Chase freedom flex card and was instantly approved. My limit is only $500. I thought Chase only approved good credit scores? Is this a common thing?

Hi.

I’m a 25 year old man currently making about 48k a year before taxes in New York (fuck me lmao)

I’ve got about 23k in debt and due to the fact that I’m an idiot and wanted to pretend like student loans disappear when you don’t look at them, my credit score was tanked from 670 to what it is now.

I’d like to work towards rebuilding my credit. Obviously the main and first thing I should be doing is paying my loans and paying them faithfully. I’m going to try and see if I can restructure the payments in a way that makes sense for me financially at this time. That being said, I’ve never had a credit card and I’ve heard that using your credit card the way it’s supposed to can help in tandem.

My question: what is the best credit card I can qualify for right now that will help me build my credit the fastest. I’m a part of a credit union through my parents; would that even be better?

Edit: thank you for all your help! I updated my information on Edfinances and they brought my score back to normal. I will be making sure I maintain more diligent with my credit and not let anything like this happen again. Thank you everyone who helped!

About a month ago, reality started to set in for me about needing to get my ish together financially. I’m doing okay for someone who’s 26. I’m married, stable federal job, pregnant with my 3rd child, and realized… damn. We need a new house and a new car with this 3rd baby. I told myself I would pull my weight on getting my score right so we can combine our income on a new house. I make about 90k on my own. Combined income is about 190k

Then I checked my score for the first time in a year. FOUR SEVENTY EIGHT.

I wanted to cry lol. My score was never just phenomenal, but that’s the lowest it’s ever been.

LUCKILY. I took action quickly. I had 2 accounts in collections. All together, they were like $600. I paid both of them, and made sure to call the companies to make sure they delete trade lines after they are paid in full. Both agencies assured me they would. (Both trade lines are still there, so hopefully my credit will skyrocket once again after they fall off.)

Then the big monster… STUDENT LOANS. My loan servicer was super helpful though. She said if I can prove of some sort of hardship throughout the time my payments started back, they would take off the late payments. She said in the meantime, she would put it on forbearance for 30 days to put my account in good standing. THAT’S when my score jumped earlier today.

Sometimes, all it takes is a little attention on your accounts. Good luck everyone!

Facebook ad says it's the Atlas rewards credit card, can be approved with "less than perfect credit".

Their website claims no credit check and no income required. It seems too good to be true, right?

I've been working diligently on improving my credit score for the last 26 months. My score was in the 500s. I got a car loan, then a low limit credit card, then an Amex. I had small balances (like under $100) on each card. Carrying these small balances, my credit score got up to 690. Last month, paid off those small balances, and now caught a 20 point decrease back down to 670.
This is nothing but a scam designed to keep you in debt. Never been late on a payment even once.

I know credit karma isn’t optimal, but I like their chart and it’s very close to my experience fico score.

About 15 months ago my score was 512 on credit karma, couldn’t get a credit card or car loan to save my life. Using the information on Reddit I have boosted my score, eliminated almost all debt, and got collections removed with PFD!

If I keep it up, Reddit may have been truly life changing for me.

Decreasing utilization, and pay for delete my collections. My lowest score was 580 .

This seems irresponsible and unethical. Is there some redeeming factor I'm not considering?

I was working hard on my credit. It was at a 550 and then my student loans (fafsa) hit bumped down to 475 now it’s at 450. Student loans are really taking a hit on my credit and I’m currently paying off my debt from when I was young and dumb. I already plan on going back to school. Using my G.I. bill and FASFA. Does anybody have any ideas on how to remedy the situation? Should I keep paying off my other debt then focus on my student loans? I’m really trying to get to the 600s in a couple years.

I have been in the 780s literally for years. I had two nearly maxed out credit cards, sometimes going over limit and declining: 788 score. I finally work hard to get out of debt as I was on the verge of having to make some serious choices about how to even pay them and I was able to pay about $500 per month against around $15k in credit card debt (16.15% and 27% interest) my score never changed. Month after month I pay these cards without using them and month after month my score stays the same. I paid the last payment bringing the lower interest card to $0 last month and now I dropped 13 points.

My wife who has been in collections and never paid anything ever and has no income, no credit card, no assets of any kind is at 752 and I'm at 775. Just seems like its all made up bs. Why is there an all zero penalty? And how does one break into the exceptional score? I randomly was bumped up there in 2019 when I got a deletion of a past due I fought but then it quickly went back to 780s and now they want to dump me back down to 770s for being frugal, really defeating.

i had a 703 credit score, and i just got an email from credit karma that my score changed, so i checked it not knowing what to expect and my score dropped significantly due to overdue student loans. i had neglected making payments lately, the amount left is less than $500 and i was foolishly sitting comfortably ignoring it. and now i'm terrified as i just submitted an application for an apartment today as my lease is up early this summer and i need to move.

i know i should have been making payments and moving forward that's all i can do now but i'm terrified, i didn't expect a drop this big or the due date to hit like this right now and i'm feeling filled with fear