Success Stories and Encouragement

[renaboo01]

Hey Everyone,

I joined the forums this past Nov. I have learned so much in the little time that I have been here. I have been successful at getting some collections (3) off my reports by using a PFD's. With those gone, I was able to re-fi my high interest auto loan from Chrysler (19.5%) . My CU gave me a cool 9% !  I would have not been able to this without the help of everyone on this forum. To anyone that is having a hard time, remember that GW's and PFD's do work. Keep sending them until that get up the chain. Someone will notice. Good luck to everyone and Happy New Years.

Starting off the New Year with a low interest auto loan

03/08/07 - 19.5%

01/03/08 - 9%

Message Edited by renaboo01 on 01-03-2008 07:15 PM

[Anonymous]

I haven't been at this long, but have had two big successes!!  Two paid collections removed via GW emails!!!  Haven't seen them come off the reports yet, so I don't know what impact it will have on my score (hope it's a BIG one though!)

[Anonymous]

Where do I start...

DV to Portfolio - poof it was gone (waiting for it to reapear with someone else because they just removed it).  Wish they were all this easy.

Fought with Verizon for 4 months on a $66 bill - they realized that something was up - zeroed the account and removed from CR.  Got the letter Christmas Eve

Shot down bhy the last one (the med OC to boot) will only mark as paid not remove. Still working on them from other angles.

Have the courage to GW the state to remove a paid tax lien - it was less than $200 in taxes and it's killing me. Six years left if I can't get them to do something.

When Verizon removed, I lost 2 years of credit history (score crashed) - but that is solved with time (and a whole lot of patience).

Scores are down because of the loss of history and high util - BUT in a way that is success because I am paying off everything this month and I prefer "100% PAID AS AGREED" in my evaluations.

All of my accounts will be 1-2 years old in 2008 - so having only positive history will be better than a longer history with derogs.  I am not buying anything important (house or car) in the next year (probably several) - so an immediate high score is not my goal - a 'clean' report with a high score is.

Message Edited by Lady_Scarlet on 01-11-2008 05:57 PM

[MidnightVoice]

Patience and time - the really hard part.  But well worth being part of the master plan

I got everything I wanted to do, done this year - all baddies gone, all scores over 720, 5 cards (including an Amex Amex and an AU that maybe going away if FICO '08 ever arrives), high enough CLs (although I will be nudging Juniper and Amex) and a car.  When the last card and the car hit (next month) my scores will probably take a hit, but then everything will start to age nicely.  In fact due to the kindness of EX I am 3 months ahead of schedule 

So no more cards, no more inqs, no more cell phone plans - unless the unexpected happens!

[Anonymous]

If anyone remembers I recently reopened a store card that I had closed back some years ago.  Well I have been using it for months (small transactions and leaving a few dollars to report each month), but my new balances weren't getting reported to the CRAs.  The account was showing a zero balance and since it had been that way for years, the account was most likely inactive (it appears the account was never actually closed and that was why I was able to "reopen" it).  I disputed on EX "incorrect balance" to get my recent activity to start updating....  my EX went up 22 points from this!!!

This is my oldest TL, so I guess it wasn't helping me much being inactive.

01/15/08 EX FICO 722

[jaramill]

I agree, patience is truly a virtue and I check my credit (reports & scores) every 6 months and, I knew one of them would go down a bit due to applying and being approved for 2 credit cards, but also I did have 2 hard inquiries but those were NOT credit related (applying for new apartment, and new phone service).  FICO says those don't affect your score.

But after paying down 4 small student loans all last year, all my credit cards, a personal loan, all that's left is a student loan.  So when I checked my scores this past weekend I was pleasantly surprised!

1. TransUnion - 757
2. Equifax - 733
3. Experian - 700

Experian I have the lowest because that one is used by creditors the most here in California.

[Anonymous]

A BIG congratulations to you.  I can't wait until I can say the same.  Although I believe it will take a while longer than 6 months.  I have six credit cards maxed out with the exception of one, and with a credit limit of $5,000.  So I know that will take me a while to lower the utilization.  But congratulations!

[jaramill]

Thanks "Trying_to_climb".  A year and a half ago I was barely cracking the 700s and the patience pays off.  Just know that EVERY on-time payment, every dollar reducing your debt, every day increasing your credit history affects your FICO score in a positive way.  It's all a mental discipline just like trying to lose weight.  There's no magic pill (just exercise and dieting, as well as paying down debt (the quicker the better).

Now once you reach the 700s, you start to build momentum (same with weight).  Once you see pounds fall off (you really start to focus on working out even more and more and eating right).  Again it's all mental and how badly you really want to lose weight and how badly you want to stop paying high-interest rates or get good credit.  You'll get there "Trying_to_climb".  Keep at it.

[haulingthescoreup]

For any readers brand new to credit:

My youngest (20 years old) has two open CC's, a Gap card ($500 CL) and a USAA MC ($1K CL.) She got the Gap card thirteen months ago and promptly got a late due to problems with the online payment process. She got the MC 6 months ago. She actually had a Discover ever-so-briefly but was terrified of it, and we helped her close it, not knowing any better. She has never been an AU on any account.

Anyway, she pulled her scores last October, and they were:

EQ 629
TU 656
EX 664.

Not bad, considering a very thin file and an 8-month-old late. She has been playing the pay-it-down before the statement posts game since then, although it she winds up calling me three times a week in confusion, and in three months, her scores have gone up to:

EQ 675 (+46)
TU 681 (+25)
EX 698 (+34)

This is just from timing her payments, keeping util lowish (12% on the MC, 0% on Gap), and not being late. This is with only 2 open accounts to work with, and the 30-day late hasn't gone over 12 months yet. So for those of you starting out, you can do more than you realize with just two CC's in your name. Just figure out how the timing works, keep your calendar updated, and work the system!

[Anonymous]

Hello FICOfriends,

I have joined this FICOfamily NOV 2007. Since then I have gained a wealth of KNOWLEDGE and have been diligantly working on my three credit reports. I have been able to have 2 collections removed via GW with another in the process and I am about to send off 2 more GW's to hopfully have the last 2 collections removed.

I have been making ALL of my payments ON TIME and have not been delequent on ANYTHING since April 2007

My scores are as follows.....

NOV 07       EQ: 585     TU: 595      EX: 598

JAN 08        EQ: 608     TU: 641      EX: 646

Total Jump   (+23)          (+46)         (+48)