MooseMoney's Progress Thread!

[Anonymous]

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@moosemoney wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
I was thinking of opening a discover secure - I was approved - do you think that’s smart for me - what’s your experience - I’ve been reading it’s a good way to go

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That's what I did. You're starting ahead of me currently, and wayyy ahead of where I was when I got my secured Discover (I was 552 at that point). I am thrilled with my experience with Discover, so my personal opinion is to go for it.

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when is your card due to graduate? I  might just pull the trigger and put $200 down. I don't really understand how it works. So i put $200 but $200 is available for me to spend immediately? I need to keep the utilization at 5% ? but I can put more money on it whenever I want? It's supposed to graduate i n7 months. do I have the idea right? 

[moosemoney]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@moosemoney wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
I was thinking of opening a discover secure - I was approved - do you think that’s smart for me - what’s your experience - I’ve been reading it’s a good way to go

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That's what I did. You're starting ahead of me currently, and wayyy ahead of where I was when I got my secured Discover (I was 552 at that point). I am thrilled with my experience with Discover, so my personal opinion is to go for it.

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when is your card due to graduate? I  might just pull the trigger and put $200 down. I don't really understand how it works. So i put $200 but $200 is available for me to spend immediately? I need to keep the utilization at 5% ? but I can put more money on it whenever I want? It's supposed to graduate i n7 months. do I have the idea right? 

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My 8th statement will be my August's, I believe. A lot of people graduate with their 8th, some people have to wait longer. What happens is when you "graduate," your card status is changed from a secured card to a regular card. Some people receive credit limit increases as well. 

You can add money whenever you want, correct. I opened mine with $200 then two months later added another $200 for a total limit of $400. When my card graduates Discover will mail me a check with my $400.

For utilization, the general consensus is less than 8.9% (so $17.80 of $200, or $35.60 of $400). 

[joltdude]

Im curious.. do you have some sort of installment loan reporting on your CR?

Also you still might be able to get some points for a third CC... but id wait untill the dust settles just a little bit... esp since your expecting another score bump.... perhaps in Aug?

Congrats on the progress...

-J

[moosemoney]

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@joltdude wrote:

Im curious.. do you have some sort of installment loan reporting on your CR?

Also you still might be able to get some points for a third CC... but id wait untill the dust settles just a little bit... esp since your expecting another score bump.... perhaps in Aug?

Congrats on the progress...

-J

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Thank you

Open accounts I have two credit cards and a mortgage.

[moosemoney]

June End / July Start Check-in!

June Start	Action Taken	June End
Account in Good Standing Discover Card $400 limit Reported Balance $20	Used multiple times throughout month, made payments throughout month Accidently paid in full before statement cut leaving $0 balance on statement (dated 6/2), but in a stroke of good luck they reported $19 (4.75%) to the credit bureaus	Account in Good Standing Discover Card $400 Limit Reported Balance $19
Account in Good Standing Comenity (Ulta) Card $300 limit Reported Balance $0	Used card twice through month, paid in full for both purchases as soon as it would allow	Account in Good Standing Comenity (Ulta) Card $300 limit Reported Balance $0
Account Current Mortgage 63/84 payments on-time	Attempted GW for removal of late payments reporting - request was denied Continued making mortgage payments on time. Will show 63/84 on time (75%) until August 2019 when one 30-day late will age off	Account Current Mortgage 63/84 payments on-time
Derogatory Account Applied Bank Charged Off $920 bal	Did not work on this in June - will tackle soon	Derogatory Account Applied Bank Charged Off $920 bal
Derogatory Account Credit One Charged Off $0 bal	06/08/18 - I emailed CEO requesting deletion due to it having been paid years ago 06/13/18 - Received email back approving my request 06/21/18 - Deleted from all three (TU, EQ, EX)	no longer reporting
Unpaid Collection: Midland Funding	Successful Pay-For-Delete	no longer reporting
Unpaid Colletection: The Bureaus	06/01/18 - Enlisted Collection Shield 360 06/07/18 - Received email from CS360 saying they filed dispute 06/11/18 - Received packet from The Bureaus verifying debt 06/21/18 - Deleted from TU 06/28/18 - Deleted from EX and EQ	no longer reporting (possible reemergence)
Paid Collection: ERC $0 Balance	was paid years ago - did not work on this in June - ages off in September 2019	Paid Collection: ERC $0 Balance
Closed Account in Good Standing Credit Card #1	This card is 16 years old. Always paid on time and closed many years ago due to inactivity. Actually surprised it's still showing on my report.	Closed Account in Good Standing Credit Card #1
Closed Account in Good Standing Credit Card #2	This card is 9 years old. Always paid on time and closed many years ago due to inactivity.	Closed Account in Good Standing Credit Card #2
Closed Account in Good Standing Auto Loan	Car was paid off in August 2012. Perfect payments the entire time except one 30-day late in January 2012. Just waiting for that derog to age off in January 2019.	Closed Account in Good Standing Auto Loan
Closed Account in Good Standing Student Loan	All payments made on time, paid in full March 2007. Surprised is still being reported but I'm not complaining.	Closed Account in Good Standing Student Loan

Scores:

• June Start:
  • TU FICO 8: 601
  • EX FICO 8: 605
  • EQ FICO 8: unknown
• June End:
  • TU FICO 8: 615 (+14 this month, +140 overall)
  • EX FICO 8: 617 (+12 this month, +142 overall)
  • EQ FICO 8: 652 (no prior data)

Inquiries:

•  June Start:
  • TU: 2 (age off Nov 2018 & Mar 2020)
  • EX: 1 (age off Nov 2018)
  • EQ: 3 (age off Nov 2018, Jan 2020, & May 2020)
•  June End:
  • gardening, no change

Derogatory Accounts:

• June Start: 5
• June End: 2

Plans for July:

• Work on that Applied Bank Derogatory
• See if I can convince ERC to stop reporting that paid collection
• Keep fingers crossed that The Bureaus collection doesn't reemerge
• Use Discover card and pay down to $15 (3.75%) before statement cuts
• Use Comenity Card and pay to zero before statement cuts
• Keep trucking along on the mortgage, consider another GW attempt
• Keep gardening (I get my bronze spade on July 1st )

[moosemoney]

I'm looking closely at my CCT report, and apparently the ERC Collections is not showing on my EQ. That explains the huge difference between EQ and EX/TU. Hopefully I can get that ERC off, and maybe the other two will jump up ~40 points

[moosemoney]

July End/August Start Check In

Well, I did very little in regards to credit repair in July. I tried more GW letters and emails to my mortgage company regarding the late payments reported during my retention process (the last one is December 2016), and they refuse to budge. So, I just have to live with those and wait for them to age off. I'll have zero late payments on that account in.... January 2024 

The only other derogs I have left are:

• A paid collection that is reporting to TU and EX, but not EQ. I tried disputing it with EX because it's with ERC and I heard they are no longer able to report/verify, but it came back as confirmed so I can put that rumor to rest. I may try just straight-up asking them if they'll stop reporting, but I"m not holding out much home. It ages off in September 2019, so not too much longer on that one.
• A single late payment on an old car loan that ages off January 2019. I sent them a GW letter a few years ago and never heard back, so it is what it is. I'll leave it be.
• An old credit card that was charged off but never sent to a collection company. It's with Applied Bank and I've heard if you call them and offer full payment they will stop reporting, so I am going to try that. I just need to save up the money to do so because I refuse to touch my savings for credit repair. 

Now for the changes this month:

• Debt
  • I have been paying extra on my mortgage principle all year, and this month I had a new notice on my EX score (from the Discover scorecard site). The "Substantial Installment Loan Repayment" section is new. 
  • I paid down all but $5 on my $400 limit Discover It before the statement date, which is lower than previous months.
  • I paid my Comenity card in full before the statement date so this one reported a zero balance as usual.
• FICO Scores
  • EX FICO 8 jumped 20 points from 617 to 637. The only thing I can think of to cause such a significant jump when I did not remove any major derogs is the above mentioned notice about "Substantial Installment Loan Repayment." 
  • TU FICO 8 remained steady at 615 - Kinda bummed about this but oh well I guess.
  • EQ FICO 8 - I do not have my August start score for this one yet. I canceled my CCT account because I am going to get a paid MF account instead, and I am waiting a couple more days so I know the score I get is updated from last month. 
• Inquiries
  • No changes from last month
    • TU: 2 (age off Nov18 & Mar20)
    • EX: 1 (age off Nov18)
    • EQ: 3 (age off Nov18, Jan20, & May20)

August, I'm ready for ya! 

[moosemoney]

Side note, my first Discover IT statement was in February (account opened in January), so I may be up for graduation at the end of this month. My September statement will by my seventh, and I have been a perfect client, so I am hoping they will graduate me and give me a CLI.

[Anonymous]

Keep at it, OP! Your post encourages me to start good-willing. 

Keep us posted on your progress!

"Nevertheless, she persisted."

[moosemoney]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Keep at it, OP! Your post encourages me to start good-willing. 

Keep us posted on your progress!

"Nevertheless, she persisted."

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Thank you! It's very rewarding to see the changes in my scores every month. If I can do this, anyone can. (I started out with a TU FICO 8 score of 475 in July 2017! LMAO!)