APP spree EQ hit - ouch !!(but kind of nice)

[jaxstraw]

I took a 69 pt plunge on my EQ score from the end of March to today !

I've been pulling my FICO's every Sunday for about 5 weeks to see the patterns of when and how they are changing so after 8 weeks I'll know when it's best to pull them once or twice a month when I need to.

Anyway, on March 30 EQ was 652, on April 5 it was 726, and on April 12 it was 748, and on April 19 still 748.

Today when I checked it was 669. OOOOOOOUUUUUUUCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHH !!!!!!!

But it wasn't all bad. I'm talking about the EQ only pulling spree I've been on for two weeks.

Now my other scores during that time were similar both ways. EX moved only about 10 pts up over the same 4 weeks, but TU jumped from to 720 and has stayed there .

Anyway here's the plus. During that two week window when I was 748 I app'ed at PenFed,NFCU, and USAA. I know it was going to be bad someday for my score (not this bad)but I ended up w/ some GREAT CL's that will only help down the line.

Here's what I got.

PenFed - 15k Rewards Visa
-10k Visa Gold
-5k Sig Loan
USAA - 15k Amex
- 15k Visa
NFCU - 12,500k Sig Loan
- 15,000k NavChek LOC
- 17,500k goRewards Visa

I'm done and I took my penalty. Although I don't know if my score jump up was a mistake by EQ. I'm wondering about that now.

My previous CL's before this were from $200 to $3500. And the $3500 was just added in March. Previous to that the top was $500.

Anyway, that's my story. It was painful this morning to see that number. I've only got one score in the 700's now.

I just want these cards to start reporting and growing, let my two installment loans show on my report as a good mix of credit. I hope it was worth it in the long run.

FICO'S
4/6 4/13 4/20 4/27
EQ 726 748 748 669
TU 690 720 720 720
EX 648 653 653 657

Jax

Message Edited by jaxstraw on 04-27-2008 03:48 AM

Message Edited by jaxstraw on 04-27-2008 03:51 AM

[Anonymous]

Good Morning Jax,

First of all, Super Congrats on all the new credit limits!!!

Between PenFed, USAA and NFCU you have a nice mix that will serve

you well over time.

However, success has its price. In this instance, it cost you a temporary

loss of 69 points on Equifax.

So you know the deal: pay early...worst case on time. Keep your balances

wayyyyyy below 10% uitilization. And enjoy your new credit. Responsibly,

of course. But enjoy it just the same.

Once again, congratulations on your credlit limit success. You've certainly

come a long way in a very short period of time. Take a bow, Jax. You should

be very proud of yourself!

CanDo

"The right attitude is everything"

[jaxstraw]

Thanks for the kind words.

I was feeling kind of low when I saw the screen this morning.

The post was more to remind myself that there is an upside as long as I keep following the advice you just gave.

I appreciate it.

Jax

[haulingthescoreup]

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@jaxstraw wrote:
Thanks for the kind words.

I was feeling kind of low when I saw the screen this morning.

The post was more to remind myself that there is an upside as long as I keep following the advice you just gave.

I appreciate it.

Jax

---

Been there, done that, got the T-shirt! For me, it was 75 points on EX. (shudder)

It's already back up 25 points, although part of that is reducing the util on a BT card. It really will get better, and faster than you think. Some people like to creep up slowly on an improved credit profile, and others of us would rather grit our teeth and do it all at once.

BTW, do you use TrueCredit to monitor your reports? If you're still working on other stuff, that's a good way to determine when it's worth paying for FICO's. Not be seeing what its FAKO scores are doing, but by seeing changes on reports and learning from experience which changes are likely to affect scores. (You can do the same with the other 3-in-1 monitoring services; I like TC because it shows reporting dates as mm/dd/yyyy, except for Equifax.)

Anyway, I feel your pain. We'll watch our scores come back up together!

[jaxstraw]

Thanks also HTSC.

I do subscribe to TC , although I've only had it for about 10 days. It seems to be the preferred method around here. I still have CreditKeeper ( thanks to the push by Orchard, my first card after all those years).

I'm a observer now too, didn't like the feeling this morning. I really preferred the feeling of watching them rise. So I'm with ya'.

Jax

[Anonymous]

jaxstraw wrote:

.....Anyway, on March 30 EQ was 652, on April 5 it was 726, and on April 12 it was 748, and on April 19 still 748.

Today when I checked it was 669. OOOOOOOUUUUUUUCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHH !!!!!!!

But it wasn't all bad. I'm talking about the EQ only pulling spree I've been on for two weeks.


Anyway, that's my story. It was painful this morning to see that number. I've only got one score in the 700's now.
....
I just want these cards to start reporting and growing, let my two installment loans show on my report as a good mix of credit. I hope it was worth it in the long run.

FICO'S
4/6 4/13 4/20 4/27
EQ 726 748 748 669
TU 690 720 720 720
EX 648 653 653 657

Jax

---

Hey Jax -- Question: Did you start apping only the week of April 19?  When you dropped,  is that the first report when all those inquiries showed up?

I did a lot of apps in March.  They appear on the EQ report, but my scores have gone UP by 13 points  (though utilization has also dropped as I paid off some cards). 

Congrats on a really, really good strategy there. 

Sovi

[jaxstraw]

No, I actually started about the 10th (PENFED) and went through until just this last Fri.
Funny, I didn't think of it as strategy until you mentioned it. I just wanted to run with a good thing because I never had a score like that before.
The inq's were showing up as I did them because like I said I was pulling the reports every Sunday.
Early in the month though my scores rose twice and I was app'ing quite a bit then. Who knows. Like I said , maybe EQ just messed up and I took advantage of their mistake.
Or maybe I did it to myself.
PS. I forgot to tell you , I have an app under review from NASA, I'll have to see what becomes of that. It might have slid in under the high score.

Thanks

Jax

Message Edited by jaxstraw on 04-27-2008 11:04 AM

[Anonymous]

---

jaxstraw wrote:
No, I actually started about the 10th (PENFED) and went through until just this last Fri.
Funny, I didn't think of it as strategy until you mentioned it. I just wanted to run with a good thing because I never had a score like that before.
The inq's were showing up as I did them because like I said I was pulling the reports every Sunday.
Early in the month though my scores rose twice and I was app'ing quite a bit then. Who knows. Like I said , maybe EQ just messed up and I took advantage of their mistake.
Or maybe I did it to myself.
PS. I forgot to tell you , I have an app under review from NASA, I'll have to see what becomes of that. It might have slid in under the high score.

Thanks

Jax

Message Edited by jaxstraw on 04-27-2008 11:04 AM

---

Hey Jax,

Hmmm... I do wonder if EQ is getting it 'wrong' and we have to get while the 'gettin' is good?!  My scores with all these apps are going up on EQ too.

 Please do  let me know about NASA, becuase that was actually next on my list after my May lower utilization (2%) hits... hopefully sometime early in the month.  Who did they pull for you? Are you waiting for review of your membership or CC app - or both? 

Thanks for all the advice/comraderie!

Sovi

[haulingthescoreup]

General note for all those planning app sprees: the hard inq goes on your credit reports while you're still on the phone, and the CSR says, "So do I have your permission to check your credit?" or when you hit "submit" for the online app. Literally. No joke.

You normally don't get much of a score drop for just the inq, unless your scores are really high, but the inqs are definitely viewable when you app for subsequent cards or loans. When the actual accounts start to report, that's when you get the score drops, but the scores do start to recover as soon as a month after the account opens.

If you plan to app with a CCC that is known to be allergic to apps, plus with other CCC's, you definitely want to hit the allergic one first.

I app'd PenFed first, then Chase Borders, then Citi Home Depot, then BofA. (Then a month later Barclays Barnes and Noble and American Express.) So PenFed didn't see any other apping before they approved me. They did soft me a month later, and heaven knows what they thought, but a got an online CLI several weeks after that, so I guess by then they were comfortable with me.

[FretlessMayhem]

Congrats on the awesome CLs!