While sitting waiting for the bus, I thought I am earning enough to buy a car and open up my job options. You really can't find meaningful work without a car in Los Angeles. Well I decided against it because I wouldn't really be able to enjoy having a car until I found that job. I also didn't trust getting a car I could afford and using it for things like delivering pizza.
So continued to donate and collect plasma....
In the meantime I bought some things I wanted, some things I needed and went on a trip to Mexico City for a couple of days. I went to connect with a Brazilian woman who I found on another forum that discuss meeting and marrying foreign women accept this site is bias towards Latin America.
That connection failed, it's okay.
I have flirted with the idea of a podcast; a podcast that would talk about what I am doing. What am I doing? After trying things the conventional way, I am going to try it MY way and thus far, it has worked. That podcast is still coming but I think I will save it when I make my next move, which I have talked about from time to time, if you have been paying attention.
After 4.5 years of being unemployed and earning about $6,000 a year. I felt the next step was to work on my credit. I've never had good credit. I mess it up originally by buying a car, not taking it all that seriously and getting it repo'ed. In fact, I've had two cars repo'ed. Two taken by the police because they weren't registered as well. I have tried hard to learn from all these costly mistakes, but the key was to find a job I could tolerate and fix my credit.
The one job I could tolerate where the ones I didn't have to work weekends. The only job in the last decade I had that didn't require working on weekends was Merchandising.
I was already employed by Footprint, but the original project I was hired for was cancelled and accept for a Wal-Mart project late in the summer of 2014 I missed I wasn't contacted by them for any new projects.
Around that time I started spending less time here and more time at myFICO.com. I read as much as I could about repairing my credit and how to build credit. Once I formalized a plan, I went too it, that was Oct 2014.
I started with inactive credit report, an EX score of 635, TU of 550 and a EQ of 530. It could have been worse but the last repo wasn't on my report because it wasn't under my name. The only other negative I taken care off back in 2008 when I used some of the life insurance money to pay off the Capital One credit card I had.
I found I could get a secured credit card without any income verification. There are a couple of them now, but at the time I know found that the State Dept Credit Union offered this with the lowest interest rates and lowest secured deposit. I had to re-apply for GR (General Relief) anyway and usually get a lump sum when I do. So I did that and got my lump sum. I took the majority of that and got the secured card from SDCU.
If your interested in getting this card go here - https://www.sdfcu.org/
They report to all three Credit Agencies. For me it's the about 7 days after my due date (which is the 15th) my payment shows up on my all three CR's.
The theme that kept coming up while reading myFICO was to get maximum scoring on my credit reports, I needed three revolving lines of credit, IE credit cards and at least one installment loan.
So after getting one card, I was told (great forum) to get Capital One secured card. Since I had paid off my other Cap One card, I knew I wasn't black listed. When I first applied, I stated I didn't have a checking account. I was denied, I waited for the letter stating why. Turns out it was because I didn't have a checking account. First I wanted to confirm I was not in the Chex System. This is easy to do, just call them up https://www.consumerdebit.com/consumerinfo/us/en/index.htm and ask for them to send you a free report.
I got my report about 5 days later and there was nothing on it which is a good thing. I immediately took my own advice as since Occupy Wall ST LA I have supported banking with credit unions. I looked around for a suitable CU in my area, I decided on Logix which is the former name of the Lockheed-Martin Federal Credit Union. I deposited $50, $5 of which went into the savings account which is what the bank uses for investing it's on portfolio.
I asked on the myFICO forum if I should re-apply to Capital One, I was told to wait about 90 days. Well a few days later I said screw it and called the number on the letter I was sent and applied over the phone. I told them I had a checking account and was instantly approved to put $99 down for $200 secured card. I deposited $129 actually to get ahead of the annual fee.
By the time I got my second credit card, it was late Nov 2014.
Spent Dec seeing if I could really buy a car. Since I didn't have much cash (it was wrapped up in the secure cards) I had to find a way to get a reliable card without any money down.
I figured with both cards reporting now that I would give it a shot, stay tuned for that.
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Saturday, August 29, 2015
Short Story, My Life from 2009 to Now - Part 1
As we head into September, I thought I would share what has happen since I stop posting here regularly.
I was getting really frustrated with with I can't do anything about my life attitude around here. It continues with visiting stupid sites like Slut Hate... Also assumptions of White Supremacy based on the fact a few men like White women, which I am a member of that club.
I'll address these things some other time, both are stupid on the surface, underneath and all around it.
So grab your favorite beverage and on with the story -
Sept of 2009 my car was repo'ed but not under the usual circumstances that his occurs. It's a tired story I get tired of explaining, the point is it's on my credit report as a charged off amount of just over $2,000.
That was the start of the fall from grace. In Jan of 2010, I had been fired by Pep Boys who I had worked for since late 2005. It was just as well, I wasn't going anywhere and I didn't want to take on more responsibility for slightly more money.
Luckily I was still living at home otherwise I would have a serious problem on my hands. Now some would say, you allowed yourself to get fired because your single, suffering from peter pan syndrome and have no responsibilities. Funny, this is almost exactly what my friend Steve said before his long time GF left him. He was jones'in so bad for a relationship in a moment of weakness, he fell for a divorce single mother of three girls... To further understand the context of what he was saying; he was forced to do something when his mother and her husband (step father) told him that they were moving into the her mother's house after she had passed away, which was paid for already. Yet another example of Baby Boomers throwing Gen X and Gen Y under the bus.. Anyway he lived with a short time with his father, but never really got along with his father, so he and his GF decided to move to Garden Groove for those of you familiar with Southern California, to be closer to her family.
So he had been living on his own for the last decade or so, while I lived at home and only briefly lived outside of my parents house with my ex-GF a total of about two years.
I've had other friends lob this criticism at me which is why they have slowly moved away from maintaining contact. I am not going to continue to communicate with people that don't make an effort to return messages, email or phone calls.
I should mention that none of these people are particularly successful. None of them own any real assets IE housing. My buddy Steve just shacked up with his new wife in the house she got in her divorce, don't we talk about sh*t like this all the time?
Anyway, with no car and no job in the City of Los Angeles = Death?
After my savings had run dry (completely) and I closed a credit card I got just a few months earlier that I still owed money on, I decided to look at my options. To keep my parents off me, I decided to enroll in the local occupation center (job training) for A+ training. My friend suggested I should apply for disability. I was eventually refused/denied but during one of the phone calls from a social worker, she asked how I was making any money. I said, I was selling stuff (which I was) she countered with didn't you know about General Relief? I said no, she explained to me it was offer from the same office I got EBT from. But what I didn't know at the time was that the branch office I was using didn't offer GR, but the office 12 miles away did. I wouldn't have ever known without this person telling me.
Initial I only got $110 a month but got a lump sum of $330 at first since they back dated my claim. Around this time my mother offered to add me to the Family plan that her and my sister were on. I got a decent feature phone (Java Browser + A-GPS) and started to attend classes (Jan of 2011).
While in class one day, one of my classmates came in with a bandage around his arm. I asked him what happen and he said nothing that he was donating Plasma. I was like, doesn't that hurt? He said no and that they offer you $30 for your first donation and then you call to confirm nothing was wrong with your donation and that you would be scheduled for a second visit and given $50 for donating again. Apparently they have a problem with retention....
I asked him where did it and told me there are two places in the valley but one is much better/cleaner than the other and that's the one he used. I decided why not, if it didn't hurt. Initially I thought I would just do it, so I can have some money to attend Long Beach GP. I succeeded by donating twice, getting $80 and went to the race.
I continued to go after that however. I figured, add this to my merger GR amount and I could start to make some things happen. Since my basics were taken care of (food, shelter) but I was cash poor. If I donated twice a week I got $70. Eventually I a tetanus shot (I needed one anyway) and got additional $5 a week and $10 when on my sixth donation.
So 4 weeks in a month, I would make $385, in Feb I would make about $310.
I was donating all the way up a few months ago, because I couldn't alternate arms like some people do, I developed quite a bit of scar tissue that started to clog the needle when it was inserted. I am suspended from donating indefinitely, it's possible I could return, I may...
By the end of 2011, I had two sources of income. My GR had been increased as I attended mandatory job training and hit $221 + another $75 for transportation during my "job search". I was getting $380 or so a month from donating Plasma. As long as I ate a low fat diet and drank about a gallon of water a day, I had no side effects from donating six, seven, eight times a month.
Totals -
$200 in EBT
$221 in cash assistance
$385 donating plasma
All non-taxable income or credit.
I was getting really frustrated with with I can't do anything about my life attitude around here. It continues with visiting stupid sites like Slut Hate... Also assumptions of White Supremacy based on the fact a few men like White women, which I am a member of that club.
I'll address these things some other time, both are stupid on the surface, underneath and all around it.
So grab your favorite beverage and on with the story -
Sept of 2009 my car was repo'ed but not under the usual circumstances that his occurs. It's a tired story I get tired of explaining, the point is it's on my credit report as a charged off amount of just over $2,000.
That was the start of the fall from grace. In Jan of 2010, I had been fired by Pep Boys who I had worked for since late 2005. It was just as well, I wasn't going anywhere and I didn't want to take on more responsibility for slightly more money.
Luckily I was still living at home otherwise I would have a serious problem on my hands. Now some would say, you allowed yourself to get fired because your single, suffering from peter pan syndrome and have no responsibilities. Funny, this is almost exactly what my friend Steve said before his long time GF left him. He was jones'in so bad for a relationship in a moment of weakness, he fell for a divorce single mother of three girls... To further understand the context of what he was saying; he was forced to do something when his mother and her husband (step father) told him that they were moving into the her mother's house after she had passed away, which was paid for already. Yet another example of Baby Boomers throwing Gen X and Gen Y under the bus.. Anyway he lived with a short time with his father, but never really got along with his father, so he and his GF decided to move to Garden Groove for those of you familiar with Southern California, to be closer to her family.
So he had been living on his own for the last decade or so, while I lived at home and only briefly lived outside of my parents house with my ex-GF a total of about two years.
I've had other friends lob this criticism at me which is why they have slowly moved away from maintaining contact. I am not going to continue to communicate with people that don't make an effort to return messages, email or phone calls.
I should mention that none of these people are particularly successful. None of them own any real assets IE housing. My buddy Steve just shacked up with his new wife in the house she got in her divorce, don't we talk about sh*t like this all the time?
Anyway, with no car and no job in the City of Los Angeles = Death?
After my savings had run dry (completely) and I closed a credit card I got just a few months earlier that I still owed money on, I decided to look at my options. To keep my parents off me, I decided to enroll in the local occupation center (job training) for A+ training. My friend suggested I should apply for disability. I was eventually refused/denied but during one of the phone calls from a social worker, she asked how I was making any money. I said, I was selling stuff (which I was) she countered with didn't you know about General Relief? I said no, she explained to me it was offer from the same office I got EBT from. But what I didn't know at the time was that the branch office I was using didn't offer GR, but the office 12 miles away did. I wouldn't have ever known without this person telling me.
Initial I only got $110 a month but got a lump sum of $330 at first since they back dated my claim. Around this time my mother offered to add me to the Family plan that her and my sister were on. I got a decent feature phone (Java Browser + A-GPS) and started to attend classes (Jan of 2011).
While in class one day, one of my classmates came in with a bandage around his arm. I asked him what happen and he said nothing that he was donating Plasma. I was like, doesn't that hurt? He said no and that they offer you $30 for your first donation and then you call to confirm nothing was wrong with your donation and that you would be scheduled for a second visit and given $50 for donating again. Apparently they have a problem with retention....
I asked him where did it and told me there are two places in the valley but one is much better/cleaner than the other and that's the one he used. I decided why not, if it didn't hurt. Initially I thought I would just do it, so I can have some money to attend Long Beach GP. I succeeded by donating twice, getting $80 and went to the race.
I continued to go after that however. I figured, add this to my merger GR amount and I could start to make some things happen. Since my basics were taken care of (food, shelter) but I was cash poor. If I donated twice a week I got $70. Eventually I a tetanus shot (I needed one anyway) and got additional $5 a week and $10 when on my sixth donation.
So 4 weeks in a month, I would make $385, in Feb I would make about $310.
I was donating all the way up a few months ago, because I couldn't alternate arms like some people do, I developed quite a bit of scar tissue that started to clog the needle when it was inserted. I am suspended from donating indefinitely, it's possible I could return, I may...
By the end of 2011, I had two sources of income. My GR had been increased as I attended mandatory job training and hit $221 + another $75 for transportation during my "job search". I was getting $380 or so a month from donating Plasma. As long as I ate a low fat diet and drank about a gallon of water a day, I had no side effects from donating six, seven, eight times a month.
Totals -
$200 in EBT
$221 in cash assistance
$385 donating plasma
All non-taxable income or credit.
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