Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge for 2012!

[Steelersfan904]

A lil update

Slowing working on things, I am shocked at some of the things that were on my credit report. I literally had 3 collection accounts all of them under $50. I got them to do a PID so far I have had 3 collection accounts deleted, another 2 will be deleted by the end of this month once I am done paying on them.Another colleciton from 2005 will drop off in a few months. I have 7 payments left on my student loan rehab and once that is done they will delete the derogs. I noticed  two collection companies have my same account from Sprint. How is that even possible? I filed a dispute with Equifax with one of them. Now just the waiting game on a few disputes I filed.

Question about an auto loan charge off. I have about 2k left on an auto loan charge off, will paying that help my credit? or should I only try if they agreed to change it from a charge off status?

edit: Also opened up a secured credit card from USAA so far the CL is $1k

[Chiguy411]

Ive reached my goal already for 2012 so just writing to encourage people not to give up. Stay the course and stay focused! My three (3) keys to success have been: 1. Regardless of the advice, I paid off ALL of my COs and then went back and negotiated to get them removed via disputes. I got 75% removed and now down to 2-3 per Cr which I will then write GWs on. 2. Dropped my CC utilization down to 4% on 2 CCs, I'm only using 2 cards since that's all I really need. 3. I have relentlessly stayed on top of credit monitoring and tracking the dispute status. The letters I have written have been very concise but non-threatening and customized for each bureau based on what I was asking them to change/update/delete. I have had great success so far with this approach. Now I just have to maintain current status by "gardening" vs repair. I have four tax liens due to under reporting my income while working as a foreign employee with earned income which the IRS ended up going back and correcting my tax returns for several years. Have to pay down balance to under $25K and then I will get them removed from CRs the IRS "fresh start" program. Once this happens, I will instantly jump mid 700s for sure. I expect this to be done by end of the year. So if I can do this anyone can. It's hard work, and you have to be relentless but now knowing I'm "average" at this point in terms of credit is a good feeling considering where I was. And, the fact I really don't need credit right now for anything is even better! Stay the course and don't give up!

[AZHeather]

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@Chiguy411 wrote:
Ive reached my goal already for 2012 so just writing to encourage people not to give up. Stay the course and stay focused! My three (3) keys to success have been: 1. Regardless of the advice, I paid off ALL of my COs and then went back and negotiated to get them removed via disputes. I got 75% removed and now down to 2-3 per Cr which I will then write GWs on. 2. Dropped my CC utilization down to 4% on 2 CCs, I'm only using 2 cards since that's all I really need. 3. I have relentlessly stayed on top of credit monitoring and tracking the dispute status. The letters I have written have been very concise but non-threatening and customized for each bureau based on what I was asking them to change/update/delete. I have had great success so far with this approach. Now I just have to maintain current status by "gardening" vs repair. I have four tax liens due to under reporting my income while working as a foreign employee with earned income which the IRS ended up going back and correcting my tax returns for several years. Have to pay down balance to under $25K and then I will get them removed from CRs the IRS "fresh start" program. Once this happens, I will instantly jump mid 700s for sure. I expect this to be done by end of the year. So if I can do this anyone can. It's hard work, and you have to be relentless but now knowing I'm "average" at this point in terms of credit is a good feeling considering where I was. And, the fact I really don't need credit right now for anything is even better! Stay the course and don't give up!

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That is awesome!! Congratulations on your accomplishments!  

[owensgirl10]

Hello everyone!

I am new to the community/site.  I honestly didn't realize that the scores you get from each individual credit bureau was NOT a FICO.  

Currently, I am in a horrible situation.  My FICO for Equifax is 493.  Long term, I'm shooting for anything over 775.  Short term, I would just like a 580--the minimum to get a mortgage here.

During my younger years, I was not concerned at all with credit, collection agencies, or anything of the sorts...it's now biting me in the ass LITERALLY!  

Let's see--the negative things I have:  

Judgment from 2009 for $2100 (paid)

2 defaulted student loans (paid)

Medical Collections for $344 (working with CA to PFD)

Several (approx 5) CA accts totaling about 1200

On another note, I have something listed on my credit as an educational loan from a credit union, but I honestly have NO IDEA what that is.  My only education loans were from the Dept of Education.  

3 Returned checks from a stolen checkbook from 2006.  Have provided all agencies w/police report to no avail (guess I should just pay it)

The positive things I have are:

Installment loan (auto) $11,051 balance.  (only 2 months old)

Installment loan (education loan--2 months old)

Installment loan from actual bank 6 month term.  Paid as agreed & closed

Skimming through the site and several posts, I see that some of you have had really good success raising your scores.  I would be open and accepting to any suggestions anyone would have.

Also, I have a few questions....If I am, in fact, successful with the PFD's, any idea on how much that would raise my score.   I have heard that if a collection account is over 2 years old, it doesn't affect your score.  Does anyone know if this is true?  Also, w/the returned checks...any idea how much these would improve my score if I just paid them??

Thanks!

[llecs]

Welcome to the forums, owensgirl10! I have no doubt your scores will bounce and rebound into the 700s, given time and effort at rebuilding credit. For detailed info on your credit situation and for help in removing those baddies, be sure to check out the Rebuilding Your Credit board. You can definitely get more detailed help and info there. And no, collections hurt to the very end. Some have seen large double-digits gains when their last CA naturally aged off at 7 years.

[Sarah]

Hey Fitness Challenge folks! Just a quick housekeeping issue: some of you noticed that the link to "Take the FICO Fitness Challenge" in your siggy wasn't working -- this was do to an error that's now been fixed. But to make the fix, you'll need to manually go into your siggy and paste in the new code. Instructions and the corrected code can be found here:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/NEW-Take-the-FICO-Fitness/Official-FICO-Fitness-Challenge-Signature/...

Remember to replace the placeholder numbers in red with your score and goals

Thanks!

[supercreditgirl13]

I want to join the challenge even though I am kind of late. This forum is so informative its dare I say..addicting! I am fired up to get my credit on track after years of being complacent and just  plain irresponsible. I am living with those repercussions though and plan to finally do something about it. My goal is to own a home in the next two years. Right now the issues with my credit are: accounts fairly new, uti is high, cls are low, several hard inquirys due to my cc shopping. Question- there is a public records of a garnishment(paid)on my cr, is there any way I could have this removed?

[jshapiro]

Approved for Smart car by Mercedes Benz Financial Services

18k Smart Car

Approved for lease/finance.

One word. STOKED.

Love the car 2012 Passion Coupe

[JRH1973]

Hoping to achieve my goal of a 775 FICO score by Christmas of 2013.  I currently have a 695.  I have a few late payments that happened 4-5 years ago and one public record which falls off my report this July.  I have a mortgage, Ford Credit auto loan, 2 credit cards, and one department store card.  I did just co-sign for my mother for a 12,000 car loan through capital one.  I have decided to make the payments myself and have her reimburse me.  This way I can be sure that there will never be a late payment.  Good luck to all in achieving their goals.

[Steelersfan904]

Got a nice20 point score increase due to my secured card with a limit of 1k finally reporting. I got another collection company agree to PID and they settled for $100 on a $400 account. My question is should I continue adding more money to my secured card I already have or add another card?