All Forum Posts by: Rob S.

Everyone who has contributed anything helpful on BP gets my highest respect and vote. Thanks everyone! @Jay Hinrichs in particular

If you got the secured card 9 months ago and been using it responsibly, you should be getting credit card pre-qualification offers in the mail by now. If you haven't yet got any credit card pre-qualification offers, don't apply for any prime credit card just yet.  Keep using your secured card and make sure only less than 10% of your balance reports to the credit bureaus, preferably 1% to 3%. If you don't already know your statement cut off date, call your bank to find that out then make sure that the balance on your secured card is under 10% before the statement cut off date. Note that "statement cut off date" is different from your "due date".  You may also consider opening one store card using the shopping cart system. There is no inquiry when you open these cards that allow the shopping cart system. You can learn how to do this by doing a google search or ask here. All the best!

To add to the great advice from previous posters, inquiries alone will not affect your credit score that much, and the Fico scoring system counts auto or mortgage inquiries made within a short period of time as one because of the allowance for rate shopping. You will need to start building your credit and your first step would be obtaining your credit reports from each of the three major credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax and Transunion. Once you have your reports, look for any errors, accounts not belonging to you, etc, then start contacting the creditors to correct the errors and/or delete accounts not belonging to you. If you already have credit cards, use them responsibly by letting only one card report a small amount under 10% of your limit then pay it off in full before the due date. If you don't have credit cards, you may want to apply for at least two, then use responsibly as stated above. Do these and watch your credit score soar. Having an excellent credit profile will help you in this business. Hope this helps

@Nicole Pettis  I understand how your experiences can be frustrating, and I want to let you know that this is not just a RE thing, what you are experiencing is true in any business/money making endeavor.  Never give up but you may need to restrategize... Again, it is not easy as you stated in your post but it will be worth it in the end if you didn't give up. You may want to consider getting your real estate license as suggested. I wish you all the best!

I haven't been a member long enough to count for anything but I'm grateful for everyone that has contributed to the wealth of knowledge on this site. My wife introduced me to BiggerPockets and I lurked around for so long then decided to join recently. Congratulations on this milestone!

Thanks @Elizabeth Colegrove  and @Dave Visaya  for the warm welcome

@Daniel Alegre  it looks like Brett already answered your question. Thanks a lot @Brett Russell 

@Joshua Dorkin  I just noticed that the tag didn't even work with you on my previous post, which means that I'm either doing something wrong or it doesn't work for me.  Could anyone help me figure this out? Thanks

@Joshua Dorkin I was trying to mention only people that replied to my post but the tag wouldn't work. I am able to tag you though. Does the @mention work only on colleagues and not on users who replied to my post?

Hi there,

I don't know what I'm doing wrong but can't get the @mention or tag to work for me. I read a different post that suggested using different browsers and I have tried both Firefox and IE with no success. Could anyone let me know how to use the @mention or how to tag a user in your forum post. Thanks for your help