cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

May 2017 Check-In Thread

tag
Revelate
Moderator Emeritus

May 2017 Check-In Thread

I know you are all hard at work with your credit goals. Have you progressed as far as you hoped?  Were there any unforseen expenses that cropped up and may have thrown you off schedule?

 

As a reminder, participation in these monthly checkins is optional, but encouraged. The goal is to help keep you on track, so feel free to post your progress updates here. This is a no-judge zone; feel free to say what's keeping you up at night or give yourself a kudo for having it all together.

 

Did you hit any potholes or speedbumps? Achieve some milestones, either small or mighty? Change your goals or add new ones?

 

Let us know how you're doing! 




        
Message 2 of 31
30 REPLIES 30
iheartwings
Valued Contributor

Re: April 2017 Check-In Thread

Been a few months since I checked in and updated.

 

2017 Goals Review and Update 

1) ...completely rid my CRs of my 2007 BK7.  All done! With the BK7 off my CRs, each one of my FICO scores increased 50+ points. 

 

2)...continue gardening. Ongoing. With all my CR free of BK and student loan debt $245k @ 6.0%, compounded daily for 30+ years - I took a step out of the garden to see if I could refinance. It was a worthwhile trip out, and I got incredibly favorable terms (2.95%, 7 years, simple loan). Now, I am back in for the forseeable future with frozen reports.

 

3)...close at least one credit card. Done. Closed Williams-Sonoma Visa (no CLI in 6+ months) and BoA Cash Rewards (wasn't willing to take a HP for a CLI, and redundant in my portfolio. 

 

4)...get my FICO8 scores above 780, preferably 800.  Current FICO08 scores are in the 792-804 range. Scores haven't stabilized because new loan hasn't yet reported.

 

5)...spend less time on MF. Also ongoing. Still check in daily, but really only to read Garden Club thread, which has substantially dropped my time on. 

Message 1 of 31
Revelate
Moderator Emeritus

Re: May 2017 Check-In Thread

So things are going fine though I enjoyed myself too much in Singapore and am just getting over whatever Asian plague I contracted over there heh.

 

On the financial front I'm a day away from paying of my HELOC and then outside of the mortgage I am debt free; also I finally become eligible for my company's 401K so I will be maxxing that out if they don't let all the contractors go first haha, not sure where that leaves me with my employer of record and whether they'd find a different project for me or not... hard to say.

 

EX and EQ deleted my 60D late, which I have mixed feelings about as sadly I lost points on virtually every Experian model as well as EQ FICO 8... rebucketing for the loss.  That said I'm down to just my Cali tax lien on those two files now and too many inquiries on those two bureaus as my only negatives besides having a comparitively short history.  I also somehow hit 739 on Transunion 04 which is a mortgage score with that 30/60D late still on the bureau... I have no idea how but hey I'll take it.  Also my final inquiry falls out of scoring range today (or tomorrow depending how FICO counts it, 5/3/16 on an aborted refinance app) and will be down to 0 scorable inquiries there which is something I haven't been at in a good long while.

 

Did up a little worksheet of my credit events to come to try to keep my focus after so long doing this, marking off months now Smiley Happy.

 

Good Credit Changes:

May 2017:
Two inquiries off Equifax - 3 left
One inquiry off Experian - 4 left
One inquiry off Transunion - 0 left
EX and EQ deleted my remaining lates; lost points across the board, not thrilled

 

June 2017:
Two inquiries off Equifax - 1 left
One inquiry off Experian - 3 left

I think my lates will come off here for TU, maybe

 

July 2017:
July 1 - NCAP implemented for tax liens, fingers crossed!

 

Nov 2017:

If I don't get my tax lien whacked above, it should come off EX/EQ here.

 

Dec 2017:
Two inquiries off Experian - 1 left

 

Jan 2017:
One inquiry off Experian - 0 left

 

Feb 2018:

I hit AAOA of 4 years
1 inquiry off Equifax - 0 left, 0/0/0 for scorable inquiries, just the tax lien on TU if it doesn't get whacked by NCAP and a truly dumb 30D late on TU as my only blips.

 

Long-winded post, I hope everyone is doing well and continuing along with their own credit plans!

 

 

 

 




        
Message 3 of 31
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: May 2017 Check-In Thread

Hey Revelate! Thanks for starting a May thread.

 

Update:

  1. Garden - May 28, 2017 = 8 months.
  2. Increase CL on a few cards - Nothing new to report
  3. Combine Cap 1 accounts - Nothing new to report.
  4. Reduce utilization - Paid off 3 credit cards with small balances while still making weekly payments on the BIG one. 
  5. Reduce inquiries - 2 fall off this month.

There's really not a lot going on credit wise for me. I am staying focused on my goals and patiently waiting for my Gardenversary

 

Stay positive & focused so we can meet our goals!!Smiley Happy 

Message 4 of 31
JGGM
Frequent Contributor

Re: May 2017 Check-In Thread

Everything is progressing well in my credit world. I've got the credit cards I want - no more subprime (like first premier).  All my collections have been either PFD'd or are reporting paid in full, which I'm ok with. Just going to keep saving money and look forward to mortgage app either end of this year or first part of next year. 

Current Score 7-1-21: TU: 812 EX: 805 EQ: 839
Goal Score:ACHIEVED - 800 Across the Board
In My Wallet: Cap1 QS - PenFed Power Cash Rewards - PenFed Promise - AmEx Delta Platinum - DISCO - NFCU Cash Rewards - Chase Sapphire Preferred

Message 5 of 31
loyalsudz
Regular Contributor

Re: May 2017 Check-In Thread

3-30 day late fall off EQ,EX, TU this month. These are the last of the baddies. Still waiting on two of the bureaus to stop reporting them. Fingers crossed*

Staying focused, this is delayed gratification as I was too close to wake this sleeping dog when I started reading the all the information two years ago on myFICO.
Message 6 of 31
llpooj
Member

Re: May 2017 Check-In Thread

Sooooo my credit score is not going in the direction I want it to move.  However, it was expected.  Since November I have closed cards which were costing $ with no benefits, opened new cards with no annual fees that give me benefits. My new cards or credit line increases turned out to be huge line of credit (for me anyway).  

 

 

Learning Experience....

 

At first when I got my new credit lines (24K CC & 15K LOC with Navy Fed, 10K CC and 10,500K LOC NASA,  20K Bank of America, 12,500K PenFed) I was wildly thinking of all of the things I could buy.  It was a world wind of exotic vacations, home remodeling, cars, shopping and more shopping.  Now the dust has settled, Most of the time I am not consumed with such thoughts and I am glad I did not use the cards to just buy stuff.  I now use my card for the benefits. I use my Bank of America card for miles, getting between 3K and 4K miles a month. I use my PenFed card for gas purchases, 5 points for every $.  Each card has a purpose for which gives me benefits, and gets paid off monthly.   I carry a little balance for credit reporting, but paid off before interest hits.  But some days I really want to spend money on stuff.  

 

The Unknown...

 

Last month I found out I lost my jobs after 16 years with the company.  You may know the saying you spend what you make.  I am no exception.  I will continue to work until June 30th, then I have 22 weeks of severance pay which is a good thing.  With saved vacation and severance I will be paid my regular wages until mid December as long as I don't leave before then or get fired of course. I am hoping to find a job which starts in July and use the severance to pay off my car loan and live off the new income.  At this time it is just wishful thinking, but that is the goal and I am working towards that.  I didn't realized how much a resume has changed in 16 years, or that need a  linked email web address.  Big learning curve for sure.  I know there is somthing better waiting for me, well on most days I do.  But some days I am just scared to death of the unknown ahead of me.

 

Thanks for reading and good luck to everyone this month.

 

 

Starting Score: 634 EX - TU 633 - EQ 631 (01/06/17) Fako
Current Score: 770 EX - TU 778 - EQ 761 MyFico (3/9/17)
Goal Score: 800+


Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge


Message 7 of 31
Revelate
Moderator Emeritus

Re: May 2017 Check-In Thread


@loyalsudz wrote:
3-30 day late fall off EQ,EX, TU this month. These are the last of the baddies. Still waiting on two of the bureaus to stop reporting them. Fingers crossed*

Staying focused, this is delayed gratification as I was too close to wake this sleeping dog when I started reading the all the information two years ago on myFICO.

Congrats!  It was a long wait for me too (12/2011) after finding this forum, and sadly wasn't anything I could do to accelerate that really unless I get a bone thrown to me and my lien is excluded via NCAP.  One can always hope haha.  Nice scores for still having a deliquency on there too!




        
Message 8 of 31
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: May 2017 Check-In Thread


@JGGM wrote:

Everything is progressing well in my credit world. I've got the credit cards I want - no more subprime (like first premier).  All my collections have been either PFD'd or are reporting paid in full, which I'm ok with. Just going to keep saving money and look forward to mortgage app either end of this year or first part of next year. 


Congrats on your successes!!! Keep up the good work!!!

Message 9 of 31
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: May 2017 Check-In Thread


@loyalsudz wrote:
3-30 day late fall off EQ,EX, TU this month. These are the last of the baddies. Still waiting on two of the bureaus to stop reporting them. Fingers crossed*

Staying focused, this is delayed gratification as I was too close to wake this sleeping dog when I started reading the all the information two years ago on myFICO.

Congrats on your successes!!! Keep up the godd work!!!

Message 10 of 31
Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site are from third party advertisers from whom FICO receives compensation.