My goal 2 weeks ago was to reach 810 by Dec 2016 but as of a few days I reached that score on one of the CB. My other two scores are 793 & 796 (sig) so I plan on being over 810-820 all across by next Dec. My other goal is to not go over 1% UTL overall which equals $591 (CL is $59,100). No point on carrying a balance since the interest will kill the 1% miles/cashback/points credit cards offer.
My goodness, do you really have all those cards, Musiclover? Boggles the mind.
I'm not really in the Fitness Challenge--don't know how to get into it. I just mosey along and take care of business; financial, i.e.
I will be getting a new car this year, so I expect a drop in numbers perhaps. Otherwise, doing just fine staying the course.
Hi There Kenny-
Apologies for jumping in here, but I am excited to join in the fun for 2016. Will there be a challenge? I've sat on the bench for a year and a half and I am now ready to commit.
I am new to myFico as a MEMBER but have utilized the wisdom of many participants over the last two years with much success in rebuilding my credit. Yay! Time really does fly.
Any info you have is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Kay
Starting Score: 500
Ok I'm officially frozen as of today, I've seen my scores take a hit but I was able to get a few more credit cards and increase my CLIs but too many inquires as well as the fact that I need to garden. 2015's been a great year, closed on my new home in March 2015 and it's been all good since then, but I know its time to get off the apps and mingle in the garden for the next year or two! I'll be on the forums to learn and to encourage all but for now my goals for 2016 is to garden, clean up reports (inquires) and bring my UTL to below 10% across the board. Thanks for all I've learned here and I look forward to 2016!!!
What a year.
It's almost crazy to think that last January, I had 7 collections, no real credit whatsoever and no idea how to get anywhere.
Reporting 1/2015:
Collections: 2 EQ/7 TU/5 EX (7 accounts total)
Credit lines: 3 store cards, 1 subprime card/ 20 Student Loans
Lates (30/60/90/120): 1/1/1/0
Other: n/a
Reporting 12/15:
Collections: 1 EQ/3 TU/3 EX - 1EQ/TU/EX falling off early 2016, 1EQ/TU being removed within the next week - leaving me with 1 old, inactive collection!
Credit Lines: 13 - 6 store cards, 1 subprime, 6 prime lenders, ~$80K available credit / 20 Student Loans
Lates (30/60/90/120): NONE!
Other: car loan at prime rate ($30000 @ 1.74%)
Reflecting on the good, I can't believe how well I was able to get the negative items off of my report. I love to read the success stories in the Rebuilding Your Credit forum, but always felt a bit bummed to see stuff like "10 collections ALL removed, WOO!" because of how hard it actually was to get those moving. Don't let anyone ever tell you it's not a difficult and frustrating process. It was hard. Some companies didn't want to PFD. Some I disputed because I'd never heard of them and they still stayed on. The remaining ones are a collector known for being a real SOB and the only way they're going to come off is with an early exclusion. But the perseverance paid off and I'm happy I was able to get a majority removed. My report will be clean without any further intervention by 2017 - and I'll keep pushing until then on the last negative.
On the bad... I got too trigger happy with credit. Initially, the shopping cart trick was my gateway to credit, along with the subprime card. No inquiries? No problem! The good in this was these, along with a crappy subprime card, allowed me to build a history so that by March of this year, I was able to get 2 prime cards and a car loan. The initial loan was higher interest than I wanted, but I saw a big score boost in July and decided to pull the trigger on a refinance - and more apps with it. The last card I applied for was in August, and I am working on gardening now for a long time - and retiring several cards to the sock drawer until eventual closure. I have overlap on spending categories and just do not need/want to manage a spreadsheet just for card usage.
On the ugly... new cards = new spending. I'm disappointed with myself here. Card usage = positive history in my book... and then I decided to 0% finance a vacation... and then had two major emergencies come up, and financed those too... and with holiday spending... I wound up with balances across 5 cards, totalling over $9K. UGH. The positive is that they are all getting paid on time, and more than the minimum; and at the end of the year I will have an extra $3K to pay that down, but I still obviously need to learn to manage my finances better, and rebuild my savings so I don't have to rely on credit when emergencies arise. I should be able to get all of that paid down by June 2016, and until then ALL cards are in the sock drawer. I'm also revamping my personal budget and tracking my spending daily until I've built better habits. There's always something to learn I guess :/
But, this year is almost over, and I'm excited to formulate my new year's resolutions for my credit/finances! I can't wait to see what everyone else is able to do on their credit journey as well 
@Anonymous wrote:What a year.
It's almost crazy to think that last January, I had 7 collections, no real credit whatsoever and no idea how to get anywhere.
Reporting 1/2015:
Collections: 2 EQ/7 TU/5 EX (7 accounts total)
Credit lines: 3 store cards, 1 subprime card/ 20 Student Loans
Lates (30/60/90/120): 1/1/1/0
Other: n/a
Reporting 12/15:
Collections: 1 EQ/3 TU/3 EX - 1EQ/TU/EX falling off early 2016, 1EQ/TU being removed within the next week - leaving me with 1 old, inactive collection!
Credit Lines: 13 - 6 store cards, 1 subprime, 6 prime lenders, ~$80K available credit / 20 Student Loans
Lates (30/60/90/120): NONE!
@Other: car loan at prime rate ($30000 @ 1.74%)
Reflecting on the good, I can't believe how well I was able to get the negative items off of my report. I love to read the success stories in the Rebuilding Your Credit forum, but always felt a bit bummed to see stuff like "10 collections ALL removed, WOO!" because of how hard it actually was to get those moving. Don't let anyone ever tell you it's not a difficult and frustrating process. It was hard. Some companies didn't want to PFD. Some I disputed because I'd never heard of them and they still stayed on. The remaining ones are a collector known for being a real SOB and the only way they're going to come off is with an early exclusion. But the perseverance paid off and I'm happy I was able to get a majority removed. My report will be clean without any further intervention by 2017 - and I'll keep pushing until then on the last negative.
On the bad... I got too trigger happy with credit. Initially, the shopping cart trick was my gateway to credit, along with the subprime card. No inquiries? No problem! The good in this was these, along with a crappy subprime card, allowed me to build a history so that by March of this year, I was able to get 2 prime cards and a car loan. The initial loan was higher interest than I wanted, but I saw a big score boost in July and decided to pull the trigger on a refinance - and more apps with it. The last card I applied for was in August, and I am working on gardening now for a long time - and retiring several cards to the sock drawer until eventual closure. I have overlap on spending categories and just do not need/want to manage a spreadsheet just for card usage.
On the ugly... new cards = new spending. I'm disappointed with myself here. Card usage = positive history in my book... and then I decided to 0% finance a vacation... and then had two major emergencies come up, and financed those too... and with holiday spending... I wound up with balances across 5 cards, totalling over $9K. UGH. The positive is that they are all getting paid on time, and more than the minimum; and at the end of the year I will have an extra $3K to pay that down, but I still obviously need to learn to manage my finances better, and rebuild my savings so I don't have to rely on credit when emergencies arise. I should be able to get all of that paid down by June 2016, and until then ALL cards are in the sock drawer. I'm also revamping my personal budget and tracking my spending daily until I've built better habits. There's always something to learn I guess :/
But, this year is almost over, and I'm excited to formulate my new year's resolutions for my credit/finances! I can't wait to see what everyone else is able to do on their credit journey as well
I love the gift card idea! Thank you for posting this.