I'm back. Sort of.

[Remy X]

I've been gone for over a week, so some of you may wonder what happened, why i disappeared and if i had given up on my projects or decided to run from it all. I can assure you i haven't.

It's just been a crazy, stressful and hectic week me... i'm in the process of moving and that means packing stuff as well as finding a place to move into.. so, while packing up my stuff is a very straightforward activity, the latter has been complicated for a couple of reasons... Due to the market conditions in our area, Mom and i decided it would make more sense to rent a place together.. easier to afford, and i don't really mind as long as i have my own room (and the door locks).

The only issue is i don't have a credit history, and that's turned out to be a much bigger problem than i'd ever thought. We did start looking for a place in advance, but since filling out a plain old rental application doesn't guarantee anything (when one has to go through a real estate agent, not knowing who the owner is), it's made much more sense to have an agent ourselves. Should have been fine except for the fact that they stop returning calls as soon as they find out that nothing comes up if one runs a credit report on me... two of them, we are now onto our third agent (who seems better), and i'm moving my stuff into Mom's storage unit.

So you can probably see how it is for me... always on the phone, running around, not much sleep. Everything else ends up a distant third priority. But i'm fine and i'll make time on the weekend to get some rest and catch up on my usual stuff, the forum and homebrew. I don't know how much i've missed on here but i'll make a point to go over it... i definitely missed you guys

[HelloNNNewman]

Welcome back, Remy X! You've been missed in the forums! Hope everything works out quickly and well for you and your hunt for a place!

[GMMan]

Nice to see you back. Now back to the hectic schedule of reading your posts!

[Remy X]

Originally Posted by HelloNNNewman

Welcome back, Remy X! You've been missed in the forums! Hope everything works out quickly and well for you and your hunt for a place!

Thank you. I hope so too... i just wish people had the guts to say upfront that they aren't able to help, rather than wasting the customer's time. After losing almost three weeks, i'm kind of.. peeved.

Because now, instead of just throwing everything in bags and taking it to a new place, i have to pack tightly and seal everything with tape. Worse yet, i don't have a key to my Mom's storage unit, if i suddenly needed something.

I've never been on a company payroll, never had a credit card (regular debit card just made sense).. when i split bills with someone, they were never in my name... But i'm still a person. While i understand the need for a credit rating system, i wish the human element was a little more flexible and didn't see me as this scarecrow... i'm only 22, and hey, i don't have $100,000 worth of debt unlike some people my age... so it's like what's wrong, anyway?

[Remy X]

Originally Posted by GMMan

Nice to see you back. Now back to the hectic schedule of reading your posts!

Not quite yet.. but i will at least keep an eye on what's happening, even if i don't have time to reply. I will most likely try to finish the stuff i promised, so that means more coding, less talk. And then the silicone mold stuff for spare parts, i gotta reply and make sure everything works out well without me...

I really do wish i could just relax and spend an evening in front of the screen, talking to you guys...

[laingman]

I did start to wonder. Balckberry Z10 is out, cant wait to hear what you have to say

[Remy X]

Well, i don't really care about it at this point unless we can poach some interesting OS features from it. I am however keeping an eye on the Oppo Find 5 as a possible piece of donor hardware.

My priorities now would be to finish the patches i set aside (being kind of depressed, I couldn't even keep up with work as much as i'd like.. but I'm somewhat better now.. I bottle up my feelings, but sometimes that fails all at once )

Then as soon as my living situation is taken care of, I'll really put every bit of spare time towards this stuff..

[Cyclingdaddy]

Funny you mention the Z10. Been spending time at Crackberry to see what all the hubub is.

[geekpeter]

Originally Posted by Remy X

Thank you. I hope so too... i just wish people had the guts to say upfront that they aren't able to help, rather than wasting the customer's time. After losing almost three weeks, i'm kind of.. peeved.

Because now, instead of just throwing everything in bags and taking it to a new place, i have to pack tightly and seal everything with tape. Worse yet, i don't have a key to my Mom's storage unit, if i suddenly needed something.

I've never been on a company payroll, never had a credit card (regular debit card just made sense).. when i split bills with someone, they were never in my name... But i'm still a person. While i understand the need for a credit rating system, i wish the human element was a little more flexible and didn't see me as this scarecrow... i'm only 22, and hey, i don't have $100,000 worth of debt unlike some people my age... so it's like what's wrong, anyway?

i remember those days, at one time i had bad credit, not because i did anythign bad but after some online checks on myself i paid for, it was due to the fact id never bought anything on finance before and wasnt on the electoral register and my "home" at the time was a military base, seemed mad that to get credit i apparantly needed to be in debt but wasnt.

seemed funny to me that i was denied even a contract phone back then due to failing credit checks mostly in part because id never owe'd a company cash, id always bought stuff in full, i did have a credit card, tho that didnt help and always got told that a credit card and phone on contract would typically be all you need, but alas, no.

for me the issue was never fixed until id left the military, got a "normal" home, and after a year of normality in a normal address suddenly my credit rating was good, which is a shame as i couldnt even buy a car on finance either, had to buy them in full, which sometimes got me them cheaper than normal as i had all the cash ready for the dealership and they gave me a nice discount here and there.

nice to see a familiar name back and hope you sort that credit issue out and people stop wasting your time.

[Remy X]

Thanks Peter..

What you said really made me feel a lot better now. The whole situation made me feel like a freak.. a cash and cheque, bill-splitting freak.. perhaps i shouldn't feel bad, since we are the ones who are more responsible with money

[OldSkoolVWLover]

Good luck to you brother, we have all been there in many ways, seems the only way to gain credit is to have a ton of money, or build up credit and pay it off.

[laingman]

A good way is one of those expensive credit cards like first premier and don't use it, just pay the fees. Any credit card with a low balance and on time payments get you moving in the right direction.

[ananimus]

Good luck, Remy. Yeah, all that stuff's a nightmare.

For my recent move I found it best to arrange all my own rental viewings, skipping the apathetic agents. TBH, my credit rating isn't stellar from mistakes of youth. I've turned that around in recent years, so I went to the viewings where there was onsite building management.

Would meet the managers and go with, "Hi, I'm so and so. Notice how my prior landlords loved me as a good tenant who always paid his rent. And now that you know me, please also note that this credit report looks dismal. I'm aware of that. But also note this very good job I'm getting started on."

It's honest and it worked for the couple places I actually wanted to live. Leveraging the "human element" you mentioned. The managers would go to bat a little bit for me with the owners. It helped being able to demonstrate a solid work and rental history and showing the offer letter for the job I was taking (cash monies!). Dunno if that's your case as well. Of course they asked a slightly increased deposit with all other terms equal.

Otherwise yeah: long term you'll just have to start building up that credit wherever you can. Which is funny since no one wants to initiate lending to someone who's never needed it!

Wishing you and mom all the best!

[kataran]

missed you dude

[Remy X]

Originally Posted by OldSkoolVWLover

Good luck to you brother, we have all been there in many ways, seems the only way to gain credit is to have a ton of money, or build up credit and pay it off.

Originally Posted by laingman

A good way is one of those expensive credit cards like first premier and don't use it, just pay the fees. Any credit card with a low balance and on time payments get you moving in the right direction.

I've heard someone say once that buying groceries on credit and then making sure that the balance is paid before the end of the billing cycle also does the same... do you think that would be just as effective?

Originally Posted by ananimus

Good luck, Remy. Yeah, all that stuff's a nightmare.

For my recent move I found it best to arrange all my own rental viewings, skipping the apathetic agents. TBH, my credit rating isn't stellar from mistakes of youth. I've turned that around in recent years, so I went to the viewings where there was onsite building management.

Would meet the managers and go with, "Hi, I'm so and so. Notice how my prior landlords loved me as a good tenant who always paid his rent. And now that you know me, please also note that this credit report looks dismal. I'm aware of that. But also note this very good job I'm getting started on."

It's honest and it worked for the couple places I actually wanted to live. Leveraging the "human element" you mentioned. The managers would go to bat a little bit for me with the owners. It helped being able to demonstrate a solid work and rental history and showing the offer letter for the job I was taking (cash monies!). Dunno if that's your case as well. Of course they asked a slightly increased deposit with all other terms equal.

Otherwise yeah: long term you'll just have to start building up that credit wherever you can. Which is funny since no one wants to initiate lending to someone who's never needed it!

Wishing you and mom all the best!

Thank you. Since i live in Southern California, i think the market is a slight bit more aggressive here, but your approach does make a lot of sense. Oh and those agents aren't just apathetic, 99% of them are amoral too. I should know, i worked with them during the real estate bubble (as an IT helpdesk / graphics guy)

Originally Posted by kataran

missed you dude

Missed you guys too, missed the whole atmosphere. Being away for a few days really does put everything into perspective.

[laingman]

As long as the credit you using to buy the groceries report to credit bureau then yes. Low balance is good, high balance is bad even if you pay on time. But better than paying late.

The key is to pay on time from now on so that all bad info is old and new info is good. The old ones start to carry less weight and eventually drop off.

They look at how many different credit lines you have and how long. Also one need different types of credit: revolving (credit card) installment (car note, student loan etc) and mortgage. For example I can't get to 800 score and the reason they give is lack of mortgage account.

So my advice to any one trying to build credit is to first get a credit card (or two) pay those on time and then try to get different types of credit when the score gets good enough. And never be more than 30 days late