To Whom It May Concern (please read).....

[Thomas_Thumb]

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@ShortBus wrote:

My Credit Situation

Credit Debt: $5,621

Total Credit: $11,427 

Installment Account

CA Republic Bank

• $11,071 Original loan amount (auto)
• $10,755 Balance
• Opened 5/29/2015

One late, 16 months old (last pmt on a credit builder loan at a CU).

No charge offs

No collection accounts

No BK

No PR's

No other derogatory

Fico 8 Scores from CCT (generated 8/2/2015)

EX 599

TU 595

EQ 601

Inquiries (all since 4/2015)

EX 13

TU 5

EQ 7

 I felt it’s time to start a “my situation” thread to lay it all out in one post.  I’m asking for advice and pointers.  What do I do first to clean up the mess I’ve started to make?

Goals

• 700 Club
• Get high CLI’s on my existing acts
• Get a decent CC limit (new or existing)
• Get a store card with high limit (Lowes, Barneys)
• Healthy overall total credit limit
• Purchase my first home

 No timetable on a home purchase. That can wait a year or two. I’m happy in every other aspect of my life. I just want to get on the level many of you are already on. I don’t want to be in toy hell anymore with these cheesy credit limits/accounts. I’m done charging stuff on credit and buying unneeded stuff for now. I just want to do minimum spending until my FICO scores are optimized, as I'm becoming disciplined mentally for the long haul. Ask all the questions you want, and I'll provide additional information pertaining to whatever is relevant to this post.

Please and thank you. 

~ inexperienced credit user

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Here are some suggestions and comments:

1) You have plenty of credit cards - allow your accounts to stabilize (Don't apply for any new accounts or CLIs at this time), It would be best to let your youngest inquiries reach at least 6 months age before requesting any CLIs - you will qualify for higher CLIs when your accounts show more stability and your scores improve

2) Pay down highly utilizrd cards to below 80% (max out benchmark) ASAP and to below 50% when practical.

3) Bring aggregate (overall) credit card utilization to below 20% if possible.  Don't need to worry about getting to 10% utilization at this stage of the game - incremental benefit going from over 50% to under 20% is large.  Gain going from under 20% to under 10% is small in comparison.

4) Reduce # cards reporting a non zero balance in a given month from 7 to 3. You will see a benefit from this. Many folks will advise dropping to one card reporting a balance ... but don't worry about that score optimization tactic until much later in the game when you need a new loan.

Once you have accomplished the above then go for some targeted CLIs.

[_NERD]

Thanks I'm trying. Might return my Tempurpedic mattress to the store to bring down my utilization on the big account. I have just over a month left to return it.

That's messed up huh? (=

[_NERD]

UPDATE:
Sold one of my spare cars today and brought my balances down a bit today, most under 50%. My furniture store account is still above 50%. Ugh, I can't see myself charging furniture ever again.

[_NERD]

UPDATE:
My scores went north!

[Anonymous]

Hey SB!  So happy for you that things are improving and that you are developing a PLAN.  Awesome.  Twenty zillion congrats.

In your initial post you wrote:

"I’m done charging stuff on credit and buying unneeded stuff for now. I just want to do minimum spending until my FICO scores are optimized, as I'm becoming disciplined mentally for the long haul."

You are getting some great advice in the thread so far, especially as people try to give you the big picture, e.g. "your big issue is utilization."

I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that the deepest issue you have (and I was in your shoes too years ago) is not maxxing out credit cards or whatever.  Those are symptoms of a still deeper problem which is buying stuff you don't need.  Even if you manage to get your CC debt paid off, you will always be at risk of it ballooning back up until you can identify the triggers and dysfunction that come from searching for happiness in the act of spending.  It will involve a gradual restructuring of your neural pathways but it will be in the long run immensely profitable (literally and otherwise) to begin finding joy in things that are comparatively low-cost or free: going for a walk or a run in the park, reading a book, watching a movie from the ton of stuff that is available now via a cheap service like Netflix, etc.  Furthermore you will find that you can eventually get huge pleasure from the opposite of spending, which is saving.  The same rush you got from buying stuff you can, if you work at it, get from the disciplined act of repeatedly refusing to buy, and instead watching your IRA and 401k and rainy day fund grow.

So here's my advice, for what it is worth.  As you say, be done with buying unneeded stuff -- but cut the words "for now."  Explore what it might be like to make this a fundamental and permanent shift in how you approach money, pleasure, and life.  If you do that, the credit score stuff will take care of itself. 

[Anonymous]

Excellent advice from everyone. Good luck on your credit journey.

[Anonymous]

You are on your way! Agree that the advice is great. My 2 cents: Do your best to stay on course to get those balances erased-of course that isn't easy- and good things (and scores) will follow from the habits and mind-set required to do it. Congrats on the start and good luck!

[_NERD]

Update: I haven't fogotten about you all. Credit scores and CL's updated in my sig.  

I have 3k tax refund coming in a couple week. The only revolving account that won't be PIF is my Feb Retail account (Ashley Furniture/Genesis).  The good news is that my furniture account is under 50% util, and that's with a $1100 living room set we charged to the account in November. Had to, we needed a new couch.  

The credit union we have that 30 day late with (2 yrs old last month) gave us the finger last year when I sent them a GW letter.  I sent another GW letter last month. Next week I'll send another letter with a bunch of movie passes and Starbucks gift cards & see if that does the trick.

I anticipate our FICO 8 scores will clear 700 across the board 30-40 days after the tax refunds wipe out those CC balances. As soon as the PIF's report to the CR's, we are going to begin working with a direct lender - after we pull our 3B ultimate FICO package that includes our mtg scores. I've been over on the mortgage side of the forum absorbing all the pertinent information available.  Pretty soon I'll rotate the FICO 8 scores out of my sig & replace it with the Trifecta scores.

I negotiated a PFD off wife's credit reports. The collection agency happens to be located here in town. I fired the payment off in the mail last friday via CMRRR. They were quick to sign for the payment and DW got the final letter. Any day now the account will be deleted. 

Walmart Sync auto CLI'd me to 900 last month, from 700, and the util was 90%+.  

Cap 1 secured CLI to 626, unsecured.  I only deposited 226 I think. I didn't request the CLI

Cap 1 QS1 CLI to 1500. That was the offer when I clicked the love button. I should've turned it down.

My friend owns a dealership I purchased my car from last May. I also took a hard pull in Oct for a 2nd vehicle but we declined the contract due to sticker shock at the last minute. He was nice enough to have all the hard pull inq's deleted from our CR's for us. I'm also going to write a letter to my auto loan bank to request them to delete the hard pulls also. If they give us the finger, so be it. I actually just want to be able to remove my gold spade in my sig and put a palladium or higher spade, since my next most recent HP will go back to last June (=

I NEVER charged anything to my jewelry accounts again. I sold those Citizen Eco Drive watches to pay down my balances I've got 1 payment left on each of those accounts, then they're PIF. 

Other than that 30 day late from 2 years ago, dropping our util is all that needs to be done. I have no desire to apply for credit anytime soon. Not even after the home loan closes. I hope to be in our new home this Spring dammit. 

Thank you all very much for everything you've shared with me over the last year.  

[Anonymous]

I am happy to hear things are starting to look up for you (other than the Walmart CLD, but that can be fixed down the road). Thanks for the update!

[_NERD]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I am happy to hear things are starting to look up for you (other than the Walmart CLD, but that can be fixed down the road). Thanks for the update!

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Thank you, and you're welcome. 

WalMart wasn't a CLD. That was a $200 CLI. I think when I originally started this post, my CL was $600. A couple statements in, they auto CLI'd me to $700. I was hoping to break 650 TU this month, so I can request a CLI. Ugh.