Obsessed with Credit Cards/Credit Profile

[Anonymous]

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Desmoire wrote:

Every day when I wake up, I check my email on my phone hoping for a myFICO update. When I get to work, I sip some coffee, check the forums, and look over credit card prospects for the future. My coworkers and roomates say the same things, "you're obsessed" or "you've got a problem man." Maybe I do maybe I don't.

I can think of 4 cards right now that I want. AMEX(any) - Discover - Citi DC - CSP. I also want a mortgage and to fast forward 5 years to log on to myFICO, see 800+ score, and think, "wow man, I did it"

Is anyone else as obsessed as I am? Am I crazy?

Happy Halloween btw haha

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Nope you are far from crazy. It takes a certain level of dedication to properly manage your personal finances, because one slip up can cost you dearly. It seems you are goal oriented, and very proactive so to say you are 'obsessed' no...you know what you want, and you have taken steps to get there. Look up any successful, goal oriented individual in any field and all of em were dedicated to their goals!

Keep it up!!

[ztnjpv]

JWGeagle said:

"What'd you do differently to earn those low 800 scores after three years?  From 600s to that is pretty impressive.  Especially since that's where I want to be in a couple years and I'm a little higher to start.  688 TU and 723 FICO.  Anything you can tell me would be appreciated.  I'm trying to drop the apps.  I haven't app'd in six months and I understand that it should be about rebuilding credit rather than sign-ups... for now at least.  lol."

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Sorry for the delay. I haven't been at the site in over a week. Everyone's story is different because everyone's starting point is different. 

My case was that I had a reasonably decent sized credit file of good accounts (13-18 good accounts) that went back to the early-mid 90s. So I had some pluses in my favor. For the negatives, I was able to get 3rd party collections to remove some bad accounts from my report. Gone. I employed Lexington for a period of about 8 months, while I did the heavy lifting my pay-for-removals, they did get some older stuff removed/switched to good standing....not sure how or why. The switching to good standing was mainly student loan accounts. I even won a battle with CapOne to removal a collection account (because I was right) by using that personal finance protection bureau. YMMV

That was  mostly all in a furious storm of activity in Sept-Oct 2011. So once my scores hit the upper 600s. I apped for 2 cards on my own in mid Oct 2011. 2 approvals. That's when patience settled in. Frustrating time because I was in between low credit and very good credit for prime cards. March 2012, I had some success with business cards. Then my scores continued improving as time passed. I also got an old Verizon collection (in my name but not my phone) to switch status from collection to owner disputes and somehow it helped my score immensely. Not sure why. It's still there but fading. By summer 2012, my score was more or less where it is now. 

SInce then, I have used my credit for new cards and loans. My score has fluctuated by it's getting more resilisient to inq's and new accounts because pof AAoA and number of accounts.

[Anonymous]

Gotta love Lexington!!

[Anonymous]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

Only a real problem if it takes over your life and stops you doing other things you would enjoy.  (And even then, it depends: if you would enjoy going out at night, breaking into homes and killing sleeping children, it's better to be obsessed with credit cards).

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HAHA!

I'm the same way. I check myFico every morning, I have a spreadsheet layout out all of my accounts, util, total util, AAoA, etc that I keep up-to-date.  That's probably because there's so much room for improvement on my end right now.  I've paid all my cards down to 20% util, will have them downt o 1% by end of the year, and my reports are still reporting 50% util so I know that there's a large chance of seeing score increases over the next 30 days.  

Eventually it'll get to a point where there's not much more I can do other than draft up GW letters to remove the remaining baddies on my report and just hang back and watch my score increase over the next couple of years.  But for now, I'm obsessing rabidly until I hit a wall with my score rising. 

[masscredit]

I can't say that I'm obsessed but I do think about it every day. I plan my purchases based on my statement closing dates and payments to keep my utilization in the low single digits.  I have a list that shows each credit card, which credit bereua they pull from, the date my payment is due, date the statement closes, date/amount of each credit line increase and date that I'm due for another one.  I'm always searching for new ways to improve my credit. Utilization is the one thing that I can control and see immediate results. Time is required for other improvements. That includes my BK falling off in Feb of 2020 (sooooo far away) and baddies falling off of my report. Those are from the period when my credit started to go down with the economy in 2008/'09. Those accounts will start hitting the 7 year mark so they will fall off soon.  Don't know if I'll gain any points when that happens but I can hope.

For me, credit is an important hobby that I can financially benefit from. I had a basic knowledge of credit before mine took a dump but I didn't know all of the details. I had very good income, a pile of credit cards (highest single limit was about $75k), over $250k in cars, a few car loans and no problem getting a loan or mortgage whenever I wanted. I never had to plan for any of that. It just happened when I wanted it to. I realy wish I could find out what my scores were from that period of my life. More importantly, I really wish I would have had more knowledge then and also listened to others when they told me to save more.  Life is a lot different now. I appreciate things more and enjoy having an active role in improving my credit. 

I think I have enough cards for now. I really don't care to app for anything. I only have 2 inquiries reporting from two car purchases this year (first was totaled). I want those to goto zero. I paid off my state tax liens so I'll be working hard to try to get them removed from my reports instead of just being marked as paid. After that, I'll just keep making my payments and let time take it's course. 

[MarineVietVet]

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@masscredit wrote:

I can't say that I'm obsessed but I do think about it every day. I plan my purchases based on my statement closing dates and payments to keep my utilization in the low single digits.  I have a list that shows each credit card, which credit bereua they pull from, the date my payment is due, date the statement closes, date/amount of each credit line increase and date that I'm due for another one.  I'm always searching for new ways to improve my credit. Utilization is the one thing that I can control and see immediate results. Time is required for other improvements. That includes my BK falling off in Feb of 2020 (sooooo far away) and baddies falling off of my report. Those are from the period when my credit started to go down with the economy in 2008/'09. Those accounts will start hitting the 7 year mark so they will fall off soon.  Don't know if I'll gain any points when that happens but I can hope.

For me, credit is an important hobby that I can financially benefit from. I had a basic knowledge of credit before mine took a dump but I didn't know all of the details. I had very good income, a pile of credit cards (highest single limit was about $75k), over $250k in cars, a few car loans and no problem getting a loan or mortgage whenever I wanted. I never had to plan for any of that. It just happened when I wanted it to. I realy wish I could find out what my scores were from that period of my life. More importantly, I really wish I would have had more knowledge then and also listened to others when they told me to save more.  Life is a lot different now. I appreciate things more and enjoy having an active role in improving my credit. 

I think I have enough cards for now. I really don't care to app for anything. I only have 2 inquiries reporting from two car purchases this year (first was totaled). I want those to goto zero. I paid off my state tax liens so I'll be working hard to try to get them removed from my reports instead of just being marked as paid. After that, I'll just keep making my payments and let time take it's course. 

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A very wise path to take.

On time payments and time can heal many credit problems.

[vpae]

I have a bit of OCD and am a maximizer when it comes to things, so yes, I am obsessed. WIth my cards and my scores.

The lowest score I can find documented anywhere is from 8/30/2004, 514 EX, 482 EQ, 513 TU. When I realized how important credit is, I worked hard to improve it. My highest score was 7/20/13, 817 EX, 802, EQ, 776 TU.

Since then I've opened a lot of cards and added an auto loan so my scores are back in the mid 700s. I've stopped obsessing with the score and don't frequent the forums as much (I was on it hourly when I was preparing for my app sprees). Now, I just check my card sites a few times a day. I'm not even sure why, I just do.

[Anonymous]

It is kind of sick but I find it fun strategizing an app spree when I have daydream time...which card should I app for first, BCP or BCE...yada yada

[Anonymous]

I think most of us on this forum are trying to achieve goals of having a clean credit history with decent credit limits on the credit cards they carry and watch out for pitfalls using recommendations and learn from experiences from other. We are all trying to achieve a goal that will make our lives a bit more secure and bit more easier on a thing (credit given to us) that we have some control of regulating from our practices.

[Desmoire]

Wow I am quite surprised to see this thread is still alive! Cool to see so many people are in the same boat as me =P