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Hammer in hand... My Progress Thread

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Hammer in hand...


@Anonymous wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

@Anonymous.

 

Looking forward to following your journey.  Congrats on the rebuilding process.  For FICO scoring purposes, you need to have only 1 account report a balance at less than 10% and the others at zero.  Use them however you need to during the month, just make sure when the statement cuts, that only 1 account is reporting.


@Anonymous @Anonymous!  That is where I find that I am still getting confused. 

 

I see that I should have only 1 balance reporting at <10% and the others at 0 but WHEN???  All my cards report at different dates so just because I pay them off before their due dates doesn't mean they are all at currently at those ideal values for reporting. Should I just be picking one that keeps the tiny balance (apparently that should be my Amazon Prime since it is reporting my balance multiple times a month) and then as long as the others always get paid off completely each month then I am good? 


Not that this is bad advice, but I want to clear something up. 

 

The ONLY time you need to do the "let one report 10%, the others report zero" thing is when you are trying to maximize your credit score. For example, next spring, after all your hard work this year, when you want to apply for a mortgage, that's when you do the maximize thing. 

 

The most important thing you can do between now and then is use the cards responsibly, make EVERY payment on time and work on the balancing act between your cash budget and using your cards. Get organized. I keep a spreadsheet each month of our bills. 

 

You can do this! I went from scores in the high 400s and low 500s to closing on my own home in 12 months. If I can, anyone can Smiley Happy Good luck! 


Thanks for the advice and encouragement JJKing54!  I have been paying evverything right away because I am focused on making sure that I don't miss a thing and trying to demonstrate to the creditors that were willing to take a chance on me that they made a good choice when they took that risk, Plus, there is just the fact that I find it so disheartening when my scores drop that I try to avoid any dings to them for a while until they stabilize. I was incredibly happy to see that the damage everyone warned about from opening several new accounts was minimal.

 

Spreadsheets?  Haha!  I am WAAAAYYYYY ahead of you there. I am a data analyst so I have color-coded charts and graphs of EVERYTHING. LOL


Fantastic ... you're well on your way then! When I/we first got serious about budgeting, etc ... I used Mint, and loved the charts and grafs. It really opened my eyes to our spending. Now I just use the spreadsheet, but it does have colors on it! Smiley Wink 

Message 21 of 44
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Hammer in hand...


@Anonymous wrote:



Fantastic ... you're well on your way then! When I/we first got serious about budgeting, etc ... I used Mint, and loved the charts and grafs. It really opened my eyes to our spending. Now I just use the spreadsheet, but it does have colors on it! Smiley Wink 


I do use Mint and a few other sites too. Gotta get all those numbers from somewhere to keep me occupied while I wait patiently for my scores to improve. I really need to find a new hobby!  The charting and graphing everything makes me a real dud at parties!  Smiley Embarassed

Message 22 of 44
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Hammer in hand...

Saw a delightful bump in my TU score (+36) yesterday so I want to update while it is there. I would love for the change to be permanent but I am not positive what is causing it.  I am thrilled to see TU in the lead since it has been consistenly lagging behind all my other scores by quite a bit. MyFico gave the reason as: The total balance on all your bank card account(s) has changed. However I have been keeping them all at 0 or under 9% so there really shouldn't have been much of a change since January although it is possible TU is finally catching up to the other CRAs; they saw healthy bumps earlier in the year. (still not great, just better than before!)

 

Current scores: EQ 642 / TU 646 / EX 637

 

I am getting close to my next goal of having them all 650+. Robot LOL

Message 23 of 44
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Hammer in hand...

Scores continue to climb slowly but surely. 

 

Last week I was shocked when I recieved an APPROVED screen on my Overstock CLI request. Every credit limit request I have made up to this point has been met with a 7-10 response and then a denial. All increases were based on something on the lenders end. That netted me an additional $200 for Overstock.

 

Additionally, this morning, when I logged in to check my balances, I was pleasantly surprised to see a $500 increase on my Discover card occured some time over the weekend. Greedy, I tried to see if the trick of asking for another increase right after an auto increase was working in my favor but it was not. Still, I am THRILLED to have my Discover card growing especially since I won't even reach 90 days until later this week. 

 

2/4/17        Eq 622 / TU 595 / Ex 628
3/12/17      Eq 634 / TU 614 / Ex 641

5/2/17        Eq 642 / TU 646 / Ex 637

5/22/17      Eq 644 / TU 643 / Ex 653

 

TU dropped a bit but I am not exactly clear why. I think I may have had one account a couple dollars above 0 when it reported due to a parking meter payment that was pending when my statement cut. Eh. It'll happen. 

 

Moving in the right direction overall so I can't stress about that too much. I'll catch it next  month. 

 

Cheers!

 

Message 24 of 44
Anonymous
Not applicable

nother Re: Hammer in hand...

and BAM! Just like that.TU slams me again. I had an additonal increase of 3 points since my last post then got an alert from MyFICO today.

 

DOWN 26 points from 646 to 623 because the balance on all bankcards went from $665 to $109.

 

I've been diligent about paying everything down and have been sticking to the garden so I am sure it will rebound eventually just as I was sure TU would #!$% with me when it jumped up to match my other scores but still is makes me a bit sad. *sigh* oh well. Not much I can do but wait it out...

 

Smiley Frustrated

Message 25 of 44
medicgrrl
Valued Contributor

Re: Hammer in hand...

The alert was due to the balance change but doesn't mean the score change was caused by it. Have you pulled your TU report?


EQ 778 EXP 782 TU 729
Message 26 of 44
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Hammer in hand...

Thanks medicgrrl! I just pulled my reports Monday so it will have to wait. My guess is that this is the mystery bump from May 2nd correcting itself. Makes sense if that is the case, but it was nice to have TU on par with my other scores for a change. Even though my items read the same across all 3, TU has consistently lagged behind the others until this brief reprieve. Guess they really do hate me... LOL Smiley Wink
Message 27 of 44
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Hammer in hand...

TransUnion still hates me (maybe Medicgrrl could put in a good word for me since they LOOOOOVVVVEEE her!) but my other scores are coming along nicely. And TU has, at least, regained 10 of the 23 that were lost on my last update. Hope this post doesn't cause them to slap me again. Smiley Surprised

 

Marathon, not a sprint. Marathon, not a sprint. Marathon, not a sprint...

 

2/4/17        Eq 622 / TU 595 / Ex 628
3/12/17      Eq 634 / TU 614 / Ex 641

5/2/17        Eq 642 / TU 646 / Ex 637

5/22/17      Eq 644 / TU 643 / Ex 653

6/7/17        Eq 663 / TU 633 / Ex 669

 

My most recent goal was to get my scores above 660. Two out of three...I'm getting there. Smiley Very Happy

Message 28 of 44
medicgrrl
Valued Contributor

Re: Hammer in hand...

If it makes you feel better, TU was my lowest score by at least 20 points when the FICO God's shone their light upon my report. Wishing you the same good luck!!


EQ 778 EXP 782 TU 729
Message 29 of 44
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Hammer in hand...

Last month I made the "mistake" of paying off all my credit cards instead of maintaining a small balitance so, of course, FICO saw fit to punish me and my scores.

Today a $10 balance reported and I got to see how that affected things. EQ went up +14, TU +2 and EX didn't budge.

2/4/17        Eq 622 / TU 595 / Ex 628
3/12/17      Eq 634 / TU 614 / Ex 641
5/2/17        Eq 642 / TU 646 / Ex 637
5/22/17      Eq 644 / TU 643 / Ex 653
6/7/17        Eq 663 / TU 633 / Ex 669
8/10/17 Eq 675 / TU 635 / Ex 662

Molasses in wintertime is faster.
A turtle walking from Minneapolis to the Taj Mahal is faster.
Diamonds form from charcoal briquettes faster.

Marathon, not a sprint.
Marathon, not a sprint.

$&#@, I could complete a marathon faster and I've got an oval 0.0 sticker on the back of my truck. I don't run.

Message 30 of 44
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