topic Re: July Check in Thread in Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge!

July Check in Thread

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 08:16:00 GMT

Summer is here and the fall will be here quicker than we think. I know you are all hard at work with your credit goals. Have we progressed as far as we hoped? Were there any unforseen expenses that cropped up and may have thrown you off schedule?

As a reminder, participation in these monthly check-ins is optional, but encouraged. The goal is to help keep you on track, so feel free to post your progress updates here.

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! What have been your biggest accomplishments and obstacles so far in the myFICO Fitness Challenge for 2014?

Re: July Check in Thread

BGoneDebt — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 13:05:46 GMT

Feeling very good as July begins.

Scrubbed TU report and the one judgement is now showing as paid. That's the last fo them. I'm tired of writing GW letters to the other baddies. All the lates are 30 days and almost 4 years old. It's not worth the effort at this stage.

Still scrubbing Equifax and Experian, neither is as responsive as TransUnion. Both have a different variety of TL on them, Still don't get that, but I'm dealing with it. I have one old CO that I negotiated from $16k to $4k as I was a guarantor for an old business. Payments will be done by December and I can start 2015 clean!

Scores steadily rising - that is gratifying. I know I need to stay strong in the garden and not be tempted to add anything else right now.

Goal is to get everything in as tip-top shape as possible before I ask PenFed to recon my file. I asked once via chat and was told it would be another hard pull and to be honest, that's the worst thing I have on my reports right now - lots of inquiries. I explained that to them, that the score has risen significantly, but they'd be just adding more to what they already denied me for by repulling right now. He didn't get it, but again, it's not a requirement and I'm willing to wait.

Otherwise, finances are good, vacation is paid for so I can go with a clear conscience, school is out and its finally acting like summer around here!

Re: July Check in Thread

Alberio — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 17:18:29 GMT

I have reached(ish) my goal! I started the year in the mid-600s across the board and in the process of buying a house. After I closed (what a harrowing journey!), I apped for a number of new cards to ultimately lower my util and give my score a boost in the process. I just saw from my credit monitoring here at myFico that the last of those new cards is now reporting, and I am up to 718 (EX) 709 (EQ) and 707 (TU). My goal was 710, so I made it on one bureau and so close on the other two.

I am hoping that once the negative impact of the INQs for the new credit lines (and the mortgage application) is reduced by the passage of a few more months I will see more of a bump!

Then I'd like to set a new goal of 750.

Hope everyone is doing well. Happy July!

Re: July Check in Thread

Goat14 — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 18:05:03 GMT

Just checking in! I have two remaining judgements, of which only one I will be attempting to pay off sometime during the rest of this year. I just finished paying off PRA judgement. Hopefully those snakes will vacate the judgement in court. We;ll see...

Re: July Check in Thread

Kenny — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 02:22:05 GMT

This past month in June, I accidentally let small balances report on about 9 cards! I know, I don't know how that happened. :-/ So EQ score dropped some. Oh well, it will come up this month. (Not too worried.)

Re: July Check in Thread

bhartline2612 — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 13:03:11 GMT

Hello,

I did not check in during June. I had a lot going on. I was doing really well, but circumstances forced to run up my CCs. My utilization is high, but I am working on getting it back down. The good news is that I met one of my goals. I closed on my new townhome yesterday with a rate of 3.75% which is better than I thought I would get. I am not teaching summer school due to low enrollment for my class. Everything is working out due to giving me more time to move and we recently came into some money. Now to work on the other goals. It might take me a little longer to hit them, but I am not worried. I can do it.

Re: July Check in Thread

Tony275 — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 19:03:40 GMT

Coming in a little late to the party, though I've been watching my credit closely for months. It's time to take this to heart and get my credit on track.

On June 21 I went in to my local VW dealer and traded in my previous leased VW Jetta GLI for a new VW Passat - my main goal was to drop my payment from my ridiculous B Tier lease I had of $466 per month (My magic number going in was $350/mo on a different vehicle). Talked to a salesman, then the GM of the dealer, and finally the finance manager, I walked out paying $378/mo, still a B Tier customer, but SO close it was ridiculous (difference I would've had in payment from A to B Tier was about $20/mo). I was upside down on the value of my old car, which I went in knowing, but wanted to drop those payments, I barely ever drive since I car pool to work, but when I do drive, I need a reliable car that gets good mileage. I'm okay with the $378, and it IS a lease, and I can trade it in basically at any point after 2 years and "break even" so to speak.

That really shot me down as my credit score they pulled was 688 from TU (which I expected with Discover/Barclay/Walmart). B Tier was basically from the new accounts over the last year (stupid, stupid stupid of me to get the shopping cart trick cards, and random cards that I didn't need, just "wanted" at the time.

I'm now taking my credit full on, getting BTs in the works to lower my monthly payments and consolidate a few cards with 22%+ interest rates to my DCU card with 13% APR.

I'm not in a bad place, but I'm also not where I want to be. I have a lot of 0% interest out there, and hoping for a decent tax return this year with the purchase of my new house and wife being in school, not holding my breath, but all of that money will go towards CCs this year! Payed off the DWs cards last year, but those are climbing back up as much as I wish she wouldn't use em!

July starts a good year for me! I have a lot of inquiries going to drop off in the next 6 months, and when I get my score up to 720-740 area I'll be axing my useless cards and going for the prime cards! And then pay CASH for everything (charge to a card, let it post, then PIF)

Looking forward to seeing my score hit the 700s!!!

Re: July Check in Thread

Anonymous — Sat, 05 Jul 2014 16:26:17 GMT

Finally realized what has been holding my score down.

(This from my last credit report)

You have too few credit accounts.

Number of your credit accounts in good standing 35 accounts

FICO High Achievers have an average of 17 accounts in good status.

I have also complained to the CRA's that they seem to have missed the first 25 years of my financial life. My records date back to just before I retired, missing ten cars I financed and three home mortgages I have had and paid off. I am afraid I have lost confidence in the competency of the CRAs.

Re: July Check in Thread

9CLINE — Sat, 05 Jul 2014 18:29:41 GMT

My #1 goal for this year has been met -

1. Get last baddie off credit (100.00 med. coll.) Accomp. April '14

goals still in progess-

1. paydown debt (36% Util.) Down to 22% now

2. let accounts age by not applying for anything new @ least till Fall- have frozen reports

3. let all inquires hit 1 yr mark

4. Stay in garden and continue to learn more about credit and scoring

Re: July Check in Thread

Kennie02 — Sun, 06 Jul 2014 09:52:13 GMT

Checking in for July! I have had a big score bump and I am ecstatic about it! I am hoping that as I decrease my util I will only see it go higher. I currently have two collections I am working on (1 TU and 1 EXP) and maybe I can get an Amex. My lates w/ NFCU have hit the 1 year mark this month so maybe a little bump from that too? We will see. I am grateful for any increase in my score considering when I started I didn't think I would get past 620 in 10 months. My score has jumped more than 100 points in that short time.

Re: July Check in Thread

Stanic413 — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 02:16:04 GMT

Checking in. Halfway through the year and doing better than I expected. Previous goals were getting 3X CLI w/ Amex, limiting spending/paying balances and staying in the garden. I've been gardening for a month and enjoying it! I did get my 3X CLI from Amex, which was exciting. I'm not doing so well on limiting spending/paying balances. I've made progress but an unanticipated trip popped up and my balances are climbing. I'm paying more towards CCs than usual, and hoping to continue to do so to help me with the great CC payoff challenge. By the end of the year, I hope to have gotten CLIs with a few cards, pay down balances significantly and only have a balance on one card to get to my goal of 750.

Re: July Check in Thread

bdhu2001 — Wed, 09 Jul 2014 07:21:35 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Summer is here and the fall will be here quicker than we think. I know you are all hard at work with your credit goals. Have we progressed as far as we hoped? Were there any unforseen expenses that cropped up and may have thrown you off schedule?

As a reminder, participation in these monthly check-ins is optional, but encouraged. The goal is to help keep you on track, so feel free to post your progress updates here.

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! What have been your biggest accomplishments and obstacles so far in the myFICO Fitness Challenge for 2014?

July check in. Joined challenge ‎04-24-2014 08:41 AM
As a reminder my goals for 2014 were:
I want to improve my FICO score to the 760-850 range. TU bankcard 792; EX bankcard 818; EQ 794
I want to buy a new house near my children (keeping my current home as rental property). Have offer out, but contract that returned didn’t show finance contingency. Waiting for corrected language.
The FICO score I want to improve by 9/2014. I want to be preapproved for a home loan by 11/2014. Pre-approved & offering on homes.
July updated goals: I’ve met goal # 1 & # 3. I’m moving forward on goal #2 and will include it; but since that is beyond my control, I’ve set new goals effective July 2014.
I want to buy a new house near my children (keeping my current home as rental property).
Save a 2K-3K per month until find new home or rent new place (paying down student loan or debt, will also count toward meeting this goal). I may rent a place up north so that searching for a new home is easier. Right now it takes over 15 hours of driving to search for home up North. Also renting may allow us to wait out the summer buying frenzy.
Ongoing goal: Maintain a FICO score between 760-850.

Re: July Check in Thread

parkbuilder — Wed, 09 Jul 2014 16:03:37 GMT

Finally joining the Challenge! Scores were all low 600's beginning of this year then suffered a huge drop due to HIGH utilization.(78% overall). I just paid all accounts down to 30% or less yesterday. Hoping to notice an increase once new reports update!

Re: July Check in Thread

ethan17debttackler — Sat, 12 Jul 2014 19:04:44 GMT

@parkbuilder - Congrats on joining the challenge. I'm sure you'll see a bump in your CS! Keep us updated.

Re: July Check in Thread

ethan17debttackler — Sat, 12 Jul 2014 19:12:25 GMT

Checking in for July...

Reached some much awaited milestones this month! Several baddies I've been working to get off my CR finally came off, brought my utilization back down, and my Barclay MC Rewards gave me an auto CLI. This has allowed me to finally join the 700 club!!

Still working to get the rest of the baddies off as well as to garden current CCs. Patient endurance definitely pays off!!

Re: July Check in Thread

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Jul 2014 19:37:04 GMT

I've been lurking since May. I've finally joined and now this is my first post. I want to say how fantastic these forums are! Using the information from all of you, my credit score has gone from 620 to 717 (TU). I've disputed inaccurate information on my bureaus and applied for and received new credit . Because of this site, I finally understand how to use credit to maximize my score. I'm telling my whole family, lol! Anyway, my goal is to get rid of one last medical collection and for my scores to reach at least 750. Thank you all!

Re: July Check in Thread

DD60 — Sat, 12 Jul 2014 21:46:49 GMT

The slow erosion os my FICO score continues. I think I may have found the reason, though. It was still stuck on 813 in March, where it had been since January 2011. Then, in March, I made the final payments on all three of my auto loans. That left me with no installment loans and all my credit cards with no carry-over balances. The result was a drop to 800 in June and now to 789 in July. Apparently, being debt free is not good for one's credit rating.

Re: July Check in Thread (and some love from CAP ONE)

aquastell — Sun, 20 Jul 2014 03:11:54 GMT

I am so JAZZED.

My first (and so far only) CC I opened a secured $49/$200 card from CAP ONE. I am not enrolled in credit steps because they told me that is by invitation only. I upped my limit with a $25 deposit at the third month and again last week at the 6th month. In my 5th month I changed my due date, as I had read elsewhere that this triggers an account review. So my CL should be $250. Well imagine my surprise when I logged in today and see

Credit Line: $525

WOOT!

(Still gardening this one. But YAY!)

Re: July Check in Thread (and some love from CAP ONE)

bdhu2001 — Sun, 20 Jul 2014 18:05:49 GMT

@aquastell wrote:
I am so JAZZED.

My first (and so far only) CC I opened a secured $49/$200 card from CAP ONE. I am not enrolled in credit steps because they told me that is by invitation only. I upped my limit with a $25 deposit at the third month and again last week at the 6th month. In my 5th month I changed my due date, as I had read elsewhere that this triggers an account review. So my CL should be $250. Well imagine my surprise when I logged in today and see

Credit Line: $525

WOOT!

(Still gardening this one. But YAY!)

Congrats

Re: July Check in Thread

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 23:55:01 GMT

Checking in for July. This is my first checking. My goal for August is to attempt to contact all inquirers on my credit report by writing to them and requesting to remove duplicate inquiries or multiple inquiries from the same agency. I dont know what difference this is going to make but will test and report.

As goal plus, I am hoping that I can share my letter sample with the community and share the response that I receive from the other party. Is this a good goal ?