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Another newbie joining the site trying to sort things out to prep for a morgage. I had the same job for years with a good income for my area until the market crash took my job and my families home. We ended up declaring bankrupcy after our c/u went back on a deal we had made to short sell and pay the difference. Years and a 750 score was out the door in the blink of an eye.
Now my wife and I are about 4 months from being @ the two year mark on our b/c discharge with the only financial history being a used car that we bought, 3 months after our b/c, through Cap1. The car was $8000 and we put 1000 down, it is currently paid down to around 5400 or so of which we have never been late on, ever. I have a student loan with roughly 2200 left @ 1.9 which has also never been late since I've been out of school, around 14 yrs. I'm reluctant to pay the s/l off purely due to the fact that its cheap to maintain and is still providing good history(hope this is good logic, we could pay this off any time). To the best of my knowledge my rating has changed little since we bought our car, only because they mentioned that we were in the 600s.
We do not have any credit cards or any other revolving credit which we know may have to change in order to improve. I'm really not sure what to look at or how many but I have no need for garbage and 0 desire to have a wallet stuffed with plastic as a general rule. I've only had two cards in my life a Discover card and a hsbc GM card both of which were insane limits just from little to no use.
Our main goal is to be able to buy a home at a decent rate by next year which will most likely be under 100,000 if we buy at all. We live in our current location for free other that untilites and upkeep so we have no reason to move right away.
Thanks for everyones insight and help!
I am joining the challenge this year for myself and my husband. My goal is to rebuild my credit from a foreclosure that is going to hopefully end next Month in February. I have 5 baddies that I need to take care of with DV, PFD, and GW. Some are scheduled to fall off before we do the big pull 3 years from now so I have decided worse case scenario I will let them fall off. My short term goal is to move from a myfico of 503 to a myfico of 620. Baby steps. My long term goal is to be at a 700 by end of 2014. My husband and I plan to buy another house (he wasn't on the first loan) after my 3 year wait time.
My goal for 2013 is to reduce my CC balances. I made major strides in the last 18 months, bought a house in February 2011, added new CCs- Macys 1200 limit, Cap One 500 limit, Discover 1000 limit and Lowes 1000 limit, all in 2012. Also purchased new car in October 2012, so that is a 20K balance with Toyota Financial. All in all pretty good, and scores have been fairly consistent. New goal for 2013 is to continue to reduce the card balances, and to increase scores across the board to 750. This forum has been invaluable to me in correcting so many issues and ading me in making better decisions.
I just want to focus on paying stuff off. Focus on being on time for every payment and paying down credit card debt.
My score has gone from 740s to 680s within the past year or so due to overuse of credit. My goal in 2013 is really to focus on getting myself out of debt. I'm not sure I will be able to get in done in 2013, but I really want it to be a main focus. At the very minumun, I'd like my debt cut in half this year.
Hi Everyone.
I'm new to the challenge and the site (this is my first post!), but I've been lurking for a few months. Finally worked up the nerve to pull my credit today. I also signed up for the USAA monitoring system.
My scores are as follows:
FICO: 610
Exp: 553
EQ: 567
TU: 567
My goals:
Finish the rehab program for my student loans
increase FICO to 675 or better
No late payments
Increase secured credit card amount to $1500 (currently $700)
Dispute or PFD baddies that I can afford to pay off
Have over $5000 in savings at the end of the year
Hello all, I just joined the challenge today. I'm so excited. My goal for 2013 is to pay off my small balance cards first. I currently have a car loan that will be paid off in April. After my car is paid off, I plan on taking my car note payments and paying on my larger balance cards beginning with the cards with higher interest rates.
I am working on eating that elephant one bite at a time. Now, if I can get my husband on board with this plan of action, we'll be headed in the right direction.
Good luck to everyone!
Quick history and how I found this site..
We unfortunately lost our home 12/1/11 and in that process had to file BK (Used CC’s to try and save home STUPID!!) 5/2011. So, in Dec. of 2011 we rented a home from a friend. We then had to move from that home 12/2012 as they had to sell it.. Yippee ( Hate moving!!!) get to move again…. While searching for a new place to hang our hats a property management company suggested (MYFico) I look and see what my scores were as this could help us in finding a home. Fearing the worst since we had the BK in 2011 I joined and to my surprise I was at 642-EQ and 632-TU. I can’t tell you relief I felt when I saw that! I know crummy score, but at least it was not in the low to mid 500’s, which could have made getting a new place very hard. We got a new place 12/18/12 and it is very nice! No pool this time. As of 1/16/2013---2671 pages read –20 replies -- 5 topics started. I have learned so much from this site just reading..
Dec 2012 :
12-03-12 – found site began reading and reading and…..
12/03/12-- $0.00 revolving, did not think I needed it WRONG (learned from the site) need some..
12/28/12 – first apps since ????
12/28/12 – Now have $1900 in revolving credit keeping UTI very LOW (learned from the site..)
12-31-12 - first Q posted
2013
No more apps till SEPT-OCT maybe longer…
Try for some small CLI…
Hit the 700 club..
2015-16
Buy new Home
Swiss
Hello all, another new member here checking in for the myFICO Fitness Challenge 2013.
I didn't see anywhere for introductory posts, so I will make a quick one here. My credit score has been less than stellar since before I knew what credit was, due to parent/student loans that were not paid on time (or at all) during/after college (the first time), and my aversion to debt (no CC/personal loans, etc. until I was in my 20's). I have been watching my credit with various monitors over the last couple of years hoping that it would fix itself over time, but it seems to have stalled where it is over the last year. In 2012 something finally clicked for me financially, and I am now on a quest for financial independence. Here is a quick recap of 2012 for me, and my 2013 goals (financially/credit wise, because it all ties in together I think):
2012 Recap:
Paid off vehicle loan
Established an emergency fund
Increased credit limit from $1500 to $26,500 (not a typo)
Didn't carry a balance on any CC
Credit Score from 620ish to high 670's
2013 Goals:
Learn as much as possible about credit scores here
Open at least 1 more CC (I have 1 Visa, 1 Mastercard now)
Credit limit increase/switch cards with Capital One ($1500 currently with $45 annual fee)
Hit the 700 club (I think this is feasible?)
All thoughts/comments/suggestions welcomed.