@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Have you considered, requesting a 4K increase from 6K to 10K first, then when you're eligible for another increase, do the 3x request 10K-30K. Will get you to that 50K. Amex did approve my 3x 10K to 30K request last year, so it's possible.
Hmm, I was under the impression that after the first 61-day 3X CLI, additional CLI requests would be every 182 days? If so, doesn't it make more sense for me to request $18,000 immediately at 182 days versus requesting $4,000 at 182 days and then $30K at 364 days? Or am I confused here?
Nope, you're not confused, but I was thinking by requesting the larger CLI later, your scores will be stronger (assuming all things) and maybe increase your chances of approval since that seemed to be a bit of concern in your original post.
For me, since I can only use BCP for groceries and my monthly high usage MIGHT be $600, there's really no purpose in me having more than $600/.089 = $7000 credit limit on the card, so anything over that is just a cherry. But Amex is a nice prybry for Chase/etc so naturally having a higher limit on my grocery card might get me a useful limit on my (future) travel card!
@Anonymous wrote:
Have a ton of inquiries fading out of score-territority between March and May. Will be down to 1-2 scorable inquiries on most bureaus then.
My goals for 2018 are really simple: gardening 365 days (until 6/1/19 actually), but hoping to get CLIs to get me from $20,000 in $50,000 in total limits. I know this is extremely unlikely but holding out for Amex 3X from $6000 to $18,000 if possible, and maybe getting the unicorn auto CLI on Chase FU, along with my other cards hopefully showing some luv. We'll see.
I just started my 60-month CD Ladder this week with my first roll-over into a 12-month, a 24-month, a 36-month, a 48-month and a 60-month set of CDs. This is exciting to me because if I face no emergencies and can "survive" cutting my expenses as much as I did, I'll actually be able to get a "paycheck" from myself to myself for 5 years. Not a great "paycheck" but more than I spend on essentials.
I think I will scratch 800 by the end of 2018 -- not at 800 FICO8s but in the 785-795 range on at least EX and EQ.
Only "goal" for this year other than gardening and expanding the CD Ladder is to get my unpaid tax lien nuked from TU.
I also have the goal of a 60-month CD laddering - love the idea of it too - but I'm about a year or two from implementation.
I lucked out this past quarter because I needed to rebalance my portfolio -- my crypto was way out of whack so I sold a bunch, AND my stocks were also crazy out of balance, so I sold some there, too, leaving me with underfunded bullion and cash savings to put the profits into. So I went from expecting to do just 24-month CD ladders to having the available cash assets to do 60-month CD ladders. I really should sell a rental property right now but I am still doing the math, but the smart money says to sell my cheapest rental property and diversify the proceeds into more bullion + cash.
The BIGGEST issue with 60-month CDs is that interest rates appear to be going up, so locking in a 60-month rate now might mean not getting as much later, but in reality as rates go up, the new 60-month CDs I open will get the better rates.
True, but since you're laddering them, 12 different cds will be maturing every each year, so you'll get better and better rates as time move forward (assuming other factors). Still better than tying up all of them up in a 5yr term right off the bat.
I expect my FICO scores to go up 30-40 points before May, and another 30-40 points before December, based on my own analysis and the calculator-estimator I wrote. I definitely know 800 is just around the corner though!
@Anonymous wrote:Starting scores as of January 1 were
Experian - 663
Transunion - 667
Equifax - 723
In the garden for the full year. I will only come out for a pre-approved intro rate card like a discover with at least 12 months no interest for consolidation purposes, and only if the limit is significant. No more toy limit cards, my next card will be one of my final five keepers. I have reached that point.
Six accounts (no longer listed in my sig) have either been closed or are being left open with their cards destroyed until the creditor is bored of keeping them open.
Wow. I would like to trim my line as well after my mortgage closes, but I'm not sure I have the will to do what's needed. Strangely attached to these cards.
This year is all about aging and thickening. I have 18 open accounts all less than a year old as of right now. At the end of 2018 I should have 12-15 accounts all just under 2 years old. Then I will be in a much much better position. This year is the turnaround year and by the end all scores should be about 720.
Having those card aging together...Nice!
So my goal score for all three bureaus is 720 (even though EQ is already there, I wont consider my goal met until all three match it)
Here's to 720 ATB! 
Hello Fellow myFico Challengers!
I just pulled my 3B and TU removed the last two remaining 30-day lates which resulted in a 52pt gain!
2018 Fico 8 scores:
EQ: 850 -> 850
TU: 791 -> 843 (the last remaining two 30-day lates deleted from TU CR)
EX: 850 -> 850
2018 Mortgage scores:
EQ: 817 -> 817
TU: 783 -> 800
EX: 811 -> 811
2018 goals:
Get Fico 8 850 across the board
This essentially means increasing my TU score and maintaining my current EQ/EX scores.
myFico simulator indicates that TU should reach 841 by April. I think this is very likely since two late payments will fall off of my TU CR within that timeframe. Even if I reach 850 ATB, those scores won't hold after the mortgage closes and post to all the CBs, but I only need 850 ATB once within this year to meet this goal. TU Fico 8 increased by 52 points, but 7 more points are needed for a 850 trifecta!... The simulator is basically telling me not to hold my breath. 
.
Save 5% down for mortgage
2% already saved.
Saving will go slowly in the beginning as there are several major family/friends events this year that will require significant spend but progress should quickly gain speed when those things are done.
Garden until June 2018
There is still a possibility a CC from last year may appear on CR in 2018. This will reset my garden clock, but no other new TL should appear.
My local CU still shows the CC in question as open and the new replacement CC hasn't posted. I'm hoping it will remain as such as long as I don't activate it.
Start Savings Garden - Emergency fund
Save atleast 3 months of expenses by EOY.
Anyone know what happened to the Savings Garden from last year? I would like to join it this year, but can't find anything on myFico.com. Oh well, I guess I don't need it to do what I need to do, but it would have been nice to communicate with others who had savings goals also.
Life happens...Adjust accordingly.
@javonnj wrote:It seems like every year I tell myself that I will get my financial situation in order, and every year I take two steps forward before massively going backwards. I have decided that this year will be different, because I now have some personal and professional goals that I would like to attain. I have also been put into a situation where I will need to start looking for a new place to live at some point this year, and having good credit obviously makes things easier.
For 2018, my financial goals are to be responsible and stop the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck. I have set some challenges for myself this year including not incurring any overdraft fees or late payment fees. I never realized just how much these fees add up over time, and how that money could be better spent elsewhere. I also want to keep my utilization to 15% or lower this year. At one point, as recently as a few weeks ago, I was at over 200% utilization on my cards. I maintained that utilization for months, until I finally decided that I needed to become serious about my financial future and started working towards getting that number down. At the end of next month, my utilization will hopefully be at below 10%.
I am looking forward to reading everyones stories through their journey this year, and wish everyone the best of luck.
Hey javonnj!! I know the seat you're sitting in. Many of us do. I had a couple cards with $200 limits & both had balances of over $450 from all the nasty fees I so rightly deserved. But...there's only one way to go & that's up!!
If you were at 200% limits & they didn't close your accounts...send them a thank you letter!! (jk)
Just using those cards responsibly will be huge with those lenders. In time, they will see your responsible behavior & reward you with some higher limits, or better yet, lower interest rates.
One thing people often overlook is that when your balances become higher & higher, don't just look at those #'s...look on the statements & look at the changes in your interest rates!!
Over time, even if you don't ask for a CLI, ask for a lower int. rate. That way, if you ever do have to carry balances for a bit, the rates are more in line with your credit worthiness. I'd say by july or August, see if they have lowered your rate & if they haven't, give them a friendly call & ask them to do so!
Keep on the path you've laid out & you will soon be seeing higher scores!
One more thing...did these companies post lates to your reports?? Just curious.
Well I am starting the new year with baited breathe, waiting for the results of my dispute with the three bureau's to get the bogus mortgage that is reporting deleted from my reports. I did get a new report from Experian informing me that the mortgage account will go into positive status February 2018, which will be seven years from what they started reporting in June 2017 was my date of delinquincy. Nothing makes any sense, and I just want it gone.
I am starting the year with scores all over the place. 554, 622, and 669 TU takes me down 10 points, and then a couple of days later, up 10 points. No rhyme or reason. The positive is that I have zero lates, other than the bogus mortgage, zero collection, and only one hard inquiry. When the mortgage is delete, my score should soar. There is nothing that should stop it. Right now I am down from credit limits of $56K, to a drop to $43K, due to credits lowering my credit limits due to the mortgage reporting. Hopefully once its corrected and deleted, I can get them to raise my limits back up to their previous levels.
If they don't remove this mortgage, does anyone know how long it takes for the FTC to investigate? That will be my next move, although I hope it doesn't come to that.
Starting Score: 593
Hello BungalowMo!!!
Thank you so much for the kind words and advice. Yes they did report the lates to my report. The company is actually Capital One, and they have been very patient with allowing me to bring the balances back to a reasonable amount, at a pace that works best for me.
Starting Score: 500
@Anonymous wrote:True, but since you're laddering them, 12 different cds will be maturing every each year, so you'll get better and better rates as time move forward (assuming other factors). Still better than tying up all of them up in a 5yr term right off the bat.
Yup, current 24-month CD rates are actually higher than 36+ month ones, so I'm going 24-month with bigger amounts and after they mature I'll review likely interest rates going forward.
It isn't that much money tied up, regardless, it's just a nice automatic "paycheck" that comes every month like clockwork while earning me a mediocre return that's still better than high yield savings. Since I'm retired (age 43), creating a well balanced portfolio is important, but I can't tie up all my funds in non-liquid investments! I'd honestly be fine with 10-year CDs if they paid 3%, but they don't.
My CD Ladder should eventually be about 4-5% of my net worth total (let's say locked up for 10 years x 120 CDs maturing monthly). My CD value isn't that big because I own my homes and have no debt or loans outstanding, so the amount of money I need to survive isn't very high. My estate planner says I should only do 2-3 year CDs anyway because that's way more than enough time to liquidate assets if something terrible happens later, but I honestly prefer set-it and forget-it when it comes to such a tiny portion of my net worth. I earn more in cashback on my organic spending than I do on interest on my CDs, lol. Expectations on CDs might be $2400 a year (long term expectation), but cashback on organic spend is closer to $3600 (long term expectation).
Goofy that spending money organically earns more than saving it.
I wish Amex or Discover offered a cashback match promo for rolling rewards into a CD or something. Wouldn't cost them much and they'd retain the money long term!
Today I received a letter from Transunion letting me know that they deleted the bogus mortgage info and late payments that have been reporting since May 2017. Hope to see a score update soon. Equifax still shows an investigation in progress, and no word at all from Experian. It seems that most creditors use Equifax to pull reports, so I am hoping that they delete the info soon.
Not much else I can do to improve my scores, except garden and pay down what debt I have. Transunion and Experian are showing no inquiries, and Equifax is showing two.
@Oorah wrote:Today I received a letter from Transunion letting me know that they deleted the bogus mortgage info and late payments that have been reporting since May 2017. Hope to see a score update soon. Equifax still shows an investigation in progress, and no word at all from Experian. It seems that most creditors use Equifax to pull reports, so I am hoping that they delete the info soon.
Not much else I can do to improve my scores, except garden and pay down what debt I have. Transunion and Experian are showing no inquiries, and Equifax is showing two.
Yes!! Congrats on that TU success! Here's hoping the others follow suit!
