Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge 2014!

[dmpavao]

Hi All,

I finally decided to stop ignoring all the problems in my credit report and try to fix it.  Went through some rough times in 2008-2009 that were hard to dig out of.  Have made a small dent since starting my journey in January.  The forums have been a huge help!  Wish you all the best of luck!

[armichic]

Hello all,

I am relatively new to the forums but I have subscribed to myFico since shortly after I filed bankruptcy after my first divorce in 2003. I have certainly come a long way since then but with financial success comes some failure and much stress (how does the song go? more money more problems...).

Just a little about myself and why I feel I need to have financial goals (apart from the obvious reasons), I am in my early 40s with two teenagers-one college freshman one high school senior and in the beginning of what will likely be a messy divorce. About a year ago my 'hasbeen' decided to quit our marriage because it was more important for him to have nice things like a new truck and a boat than a family. No biggie even though I went from depending on a combined income of approximately $170,000 including rental income to roughly $80000 ish  but with 4 mortgages and other commitments which he has chosen to no longer be a part of, it made things very tight. He had also filed bankruptcy back in 1999 but apparently had never learned anything from it because when we got married in 2006, his score was in the high 500s and he was living paycheck to paycheck. Initially I used my 'good' credit which I had reestablished after my bankruptcy and was at low 700s and added him to my accounts. He boosted up quickly to 700 after we bought new vehicles in 2007 and our first 2 properties in 2008. In 2011 we relocated from Tennessee to DC after he left the military and purchased our 3rd property. Then last year, we purchased the 4th property about a month before he waked out. At that point we were both teetering on a fico score of 800.

After the separation, he decided to play the 'mine and yours' game so I live in the new house (since its bigger and the kids are with me), he lives in the condo and we share expenses on the rental properties back in TN. He provides no support whatsoever so I have had to make some decisions that have impacted my score and put a damper on my goals and ability to reach them. Last year I opened 5 new credit cards to separate myself from the joint accounts we had and to take advantage of the 0% APR offer they had to give me time to get it together. Prior to the separation I carried no credit card balances. The only debt I had were 3 of the 4 mortgages (one was paid off) and my student loans which total about $120K. I since bought a car for my daughter ($19k) and transferred balances we once shared to myself for the things which I retained (new furniture and appliances for the new house. We are also government employees who were furloughed twice in 2013 and while I didn't have to rely on the credit cards I helped out friends and family members, paid for my daughter's college tuition and expenses for those of friends or family members also affected by layoffs so I have an amassed balance of approximately $18K.

My goal is to pay off by September and restore my credit rating. I am currently at 730 due to the high usage of the newer cards. I have several credit cards I have opened over the years since my 2003 bankruptcy but I rarely use them, only enough to keep them open. Having gone through bankruptcy and various programs such as Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman, I know what I need to do, I just know that this kind of transparency helps me to keep it in the forefront. My plan to achieve this is to scale back, take on a part time job and I have applied for a reserve commission to return to military service to hope to bring in even more income. Not sure how I will balance it all but just taking it one day and a time...

Here's my list: NAME/CREDIT LIMIT/BALANCE

New cards (<1yr old):

MARRIOT REWARDS CHASE/20K/1200

USBANK/14K/9000

CAPITAL ONE/10K/6800

DISCOVER/5K/2500

AMEX BLUE CASH/2K/900

Others with current balances that change monthy (cards are >7 years old):

SEARS VISA/8K/200

USAA MC/7500/500

TARGET VISA/5K/1000

Other deferred finance furniture (> 7 years old):

MACYS/6300/2700

Others with no balances (>7years old):

PIER ONE/1400/0

BANANA REPUBLIC/1300/0

AMERICAN EAGLE/550/0

SHELL CARD/600/0

[NewKid4Credit]

My credit journey is a short and spendy one. 

At just over a year of credit history I'm still a baby when it comes to credit. 

Started off with Bankamerica Cash Rewards Platinum Plus and Playstation CC's and resently was approved for the new BestBuy MasterCard.

I did a lot of spending with my credit and always had atleast about 50% util but I've learned from my small errors and am on route to pay off all my debt in the next 3 months.

My goals of course are to pay the cards off and bring my credit up to low-mid 700's.

Next step would be to attempt to get a car or motorcycle with a low rate finance.

And start a worthy savings account...

Hopefully all my mid-year. optimism.

[Brown2016]

I am a first timer with the myFICO Fitness Challenge. A few months ago, I began the process of cleaning up my credit. I am the single parent of a junior in college. She attends college in a different state and over the last few years, I have been paying her educational and living expenses out-of-pocket. My income is in the mid-100k range so she does not qualify for much financial aid, including student loans, due to the way Expected Family Contributions are calculated. I have been delinquent on some of my accounts, which has severly impacted my credit score. I also found during the process, there were several errors on my credit report but there were also some paid charge-off and collection accounts that had not been updated. My daughter will finish school in 2015 and my goal is to improve my credit in order to purchase another vehicle and another home.

[sakalsg]

Just recently finished grad school and started my first job. I am using this as a serious push to start paying off my student loans and be smart about my credit. My goal for 2014 is to continue paying down both revolving and installment debt, let my accounts age and spend less. 

[wvchell78]

Well my credit dilema started years ago when I was entirely too carefree.  I have serveral medical collections that have accumulated over time.  Now my husband & I are wanting to purchase a home and my past carelessness is haunting me.  I have a civil judgement from my previous marriage that has been on my credit since May 2008.  The company that the judgement is to has since shut down.  I now have a steady job of 3 years and have even had promotions and raises.  I am hoping that this year will bring all the score increases that we will need for us to purchase a new home.  Good luck to all on your credit journey!

[KBreininger05]

I'm here to buy my first house!

My credit went from 720 down to 485 in a matter of a few months after I separated from my ex husband (6 years ago) and have continued to struggle with credit card debt, in that I have NO real limits and maxing out $1800 across 4 cards is easy to do.  I've used them for emergency financial situations with no means to pay them off as I used them and $1,800 plus high interest rates and annual fees continued to keep me in a 90-100% utilization rut. 

I am TIRED of being denied credit to improve my financial situation so I will be taking my score in to my own hands.  For starters I am paying ALL my credit card debt down to 0-10% utli.  Once that is done I will just be watching and waiting for my score to sky rocket!  I have student loans I pay on-time monthly, a car loan I pay on-time monthly.  So There should be nothing else holding my score back!  I'd like to start mortgage shopping with a 640 score by June!

Wish me luck!  That's a 60 point jump in 4 months!  I'm wary of my ability to reach this goal in that amount of time!

[ForeverGardening]

Hey Everyone!

I am a long time reader, first time poster. I plan to continue paying off debts and maintaining positive TLs and hopefully getting a few more in the process

[aelli614]

Well here we go.

My credit is horrible. Alll charge offs and a repo. My Goal this year is to buy a new car.  Road starts here. Good luck all.

[Kathieeeee]

Yo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So like many of you my credit has been in the "no bueno" category for awhile.  I am 30 years old, never had a credit card...about 4 negative accounts on my report(s), all of which are paid in full, 2 are due to fall off next year.  I had kids young, and never had steady reliable income which made it easy for utility accounts to fall into the red. 

I am finally financially stable income wise, in a great career, going to college, and started contributing more to my retirement. I  have had an auto loan with toyota financial for about 2 years, and every payment has been on time.  I was just approved for a wells fargo secured credit card with a $400 prepaid limit, and I am looking forward to slowly regaining my dignity, haha.

That is all for now!