End of 2014 credit journey

[Anonymous]

I did well this year. I went from 2 $2,000 limit cards to 3 cards totaling $23,300. Without the help of this forum I would still probably only have those 2 cards @ $2,000.
I was able to go from $2,000 to $6,500 on my BofA Rewards card through Recon. I could have gotten more, but I'm please with over a 3x's increase. My Discover card went up a measly $800 on an auto increase. My plan to take $2,800 & turn it into around $7,000. I have $30,000 in the bank with then, so it's not an unreasonable request. Then I got an AMEX BCP card at $5,000 & went to $14,000 @ 61 days. Overall, I'm happy

[Anonymous]

My credit journey started in September of this year and was totally unexpected. I was getting preapproval letters in the mail from capital one and thought it was just a fluke and I would get denied. After receiving continuous preapproval letters I decided to give it a shot and was approved with a 1k starting limit which was pretty good from what I've read their starting limits usually are. Fast forward to the present I went from $0 of credit in September to about $5k in credit in December. I have 2 Cap1 platinum cards, Discover It card, and a few store cards. My credit score hads gone up about 60 points. It would be higher but the utilization on 2 of my cards have been high and I'm working on that. Very pleased with my progress so far and hoping to reach a 700 score next year.

[Anonymous]

Congrats on everyone doing well in 2014. The stories are inspiring! 

I just have a small story.

I didn't have goals. I didn't really know what my credit score was. I just "knew" I was in the "bad section". I went from 0 cards to a secured card in June. And then from that gained 3 unsecured cards (2 store cards, but I will actually use these and I went for them for the rewards) in October. My "rebuild" (I guess I'll call it that) is still a work in progress. I learned tons from this forum that I had no idea about previously. I also went over my credit reports in detail and realized that my "terrible history" that I was sure I had is not so terrible after all. Can't wait for a similar thread to this for the end of 2015. I hope to have a lot more progress next year, as I didn't start doing anything this year til June. I'll have all 12 months next year to work at it. 

ETA: Fixed a spelling error. 

[bdhu2001]

I surpassed my goals for this year and learned a lot of things about credit that I hadn't realized. I also learned that I just can't handle owing money to different accounts, not even for the rewards. The more bills I have out there, the more I feel like I'm missing or forgetting something.  Even if I have them on auto-pay, monitor them on mint, and pay them off before the auto-pay hits.  I've just bought a new house and have new bills associated with it.  

Perhaps after I get accustomed to the new bills, I'll be able to juggle my cards for points and not obsess over it.  I've always had one favorite card for points FNBO, an AMEX costco -that I use solely for Costco, and an Amazon VISA (that I use at Amazon). Now I'm checking to see who will give me the best points and making an auto-charge & pay on Discover just so I can see my FICO score.

[Anonymous]

Wow, where to begin.  First, this forum was a blessing in many ways for me and my journey.  Earlier this year while I was carrying my secured WF visa I could only sniff the premier card, ugh.  Thanks to what I have learned here I am now in  with Amex, a secondary AMEX WF card, and now (2) with Chase.  Even to boot I finally have some good limits which I will only focus on in 2015 to grow.  The FICO model still frustrates me given I don't have installment accounts (paid for home and car) but I now know "the game" I have to play and understand things inifinitely more now.

[Anonymous]

It's a mixed bag this year, I got into prime credit card territory with Chase Freedom, and a few store cards (Thanks, Synchrony) and I'm that much closer to telling "I fought the Credit and the CreditOne" to go pound sand. On the other hand I have had some new medical debts pop up that I'll need to take care of, and some balances to pay down to get to below 1 percent utilization. I'll keep growing with Chase and Synchrony, try getting in with Barclays toward the middle of the year, and maybe get CSP or something similiar by the end.  MAYBE even AMEX BCP or a charge card if things go really well. 

[Little_Lulu]

I came really far. I tried really hard last year to get my first student card and kept getting denied. Everyone said my file is too thin. In March my sister added me as an authorized user on her brand new Cap1 Journey and I think that's what opened the door for me because I was then approved for a Cap1 Journey and a Discover Student. Shortly after I got a VS and Express card (both stores I shop at), Sportsman's Guide, 2 NFCU cards, walmart (not sure why I opened this, lol) a chase freedom, and 3 amex's. I'm really happy with what I accomplished this year. I've also helped my family tremendously with their credit. I'm very thankful to these forums and the people on it.

[Ragelog]

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@Anonymous wrote:

It was going amazing until this week~!!!  I made it very clear to the dealership that I either needed to make a payment to avoid being 30 days late or they needed to get the payoff to the lender BEFORE December 15.  I told them I could make the payment right then, but they told me no, that would mess up the payoff figure, and they assured me they would get it there on time.  They further assured me that if for some reason it did go 30 days late, that they would get the lates removed.  I found out today that both my Experian and Equifax took a 49 point hit and am waiting for the shoe to drop at Transunion.  The dealership is working on getting the lates removed, but it REALLY hurts to see my score drop so drastically after working so hard to get them up.

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I'm led to understand by this that the Dealer was supposed to make the payoff before November 15th originally. Or were you already late when you traded the car in?

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When I went to the dealership to get the appraisal I had been waiting on loan paperwork from my CU for a couple of weeks, so my payment was 2 weeks late.  At the appraisal, the salesman said they could beat my CU rate, which they did.  I told him right then that I needed to make a payment because my loan would go 30 days late on 12/15.  I stressed to him that under no circumstances could my loan ever go 30 days late.  He told me that making a payment would mess up my payoff.  When I went into the finance offic, I told the finance guy the same thing I told the salesman and got the same response.  He assured me that they would rush the payoff and it would be received by my lender before 12/15.  He also assured me that if for some reason the payoff was late, that they would get the late payment cleared.  I wish I would have followed my gut instinct and just made the payment from my phone, but I listened to them.  As we speak, the dealership is working on getting the late payment sorted out and the manager assured me that he can clear it.  *fingers crossed*

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Yeah...I hope this doesn't come off the wrong way but I really would have gone with common sense on this one and made the payment regardless of what they said. This issue was completely preventable from your end.

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Agree always be current if you had paid and been timely all that would have happened is you would have received a refund check for the portion the payoff check overpaid. At least this has been my experience with refinancing a vehicle.

[Imperfectfuture]

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@red259 wrote:

So 2014 is winding down. How did everyone do this year in their credit journey? Did you meet the goals you set out for 2014 last year? What, if anything, did you learn this past year in the past year with regards to credit?

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I made out like a freakin' bandit.

I would however have liked to break 700 on at least one CRA.

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Nix is the man, he does more with 680 than anyone I've ever seen.

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Haha, thanks.

I didn't expect to get this far with 670-680's on EX/TU and 630-650's on EQ when I started this AOR.

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What is AOR?

[Anonymous]

My credit score rose, on average, 116 points. A very good year. Hoping for another 116 points next year. Oh! wait, that would put my score at 905. No can do. Hope to raise it 61 points next year. Perfection would be nice.