cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

August 2018 Check-In Thread

tag
Kenny
Moderator Emeritus

August 2018 Check-In Thread

bye-july-hello-august-be-legendary-facebook-cover

I know you are all hard at work with your credit goals.  Have you progressed as far as you hoped?  Were there any unforseen expenses that popped up and may have thrown you off schedule?

 

As a reminder, participation in these monthly checkins is optional, but encouraged. The goal is to help keep you on track, so feel free to post your progress updates here. This is a judgement free zone; feel free to say what's keeping you up at night or give yourself a kudo for having it all together.

 

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! 

Message 1 of 17
16 REPLIES 16
CGeorge
Frequent Contributor

Re: August 2018 Check-In Thread

I made it through my very first month, July - and just changed my Seedling to a Bronze Spade. This was easier than I thought - and I feel SO much better! Very near the end of June - I froze my credit with all three bureaus, and have willingly stayed in the garden for this first month. Not even really tempted to do otherwise - it got very stressful to me most of the time being turned down for "too many inquiries". No more! I'm loving this! Happy August to all!

Message 2 of 17
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: August 2018 Check-In Thread

Well then… What an intense month I’ve had in the credit world. (PLEASE bear with me - i'm LONG WINDED)

  • First major piece of news is that my only collection finally fell off my reports (National Recovery Agency PFD)… and boy did I see a nice jump on my scores:

Scores1.png

  • My FICO Score 3B reports were available mid-July and I noticed something weird… my Equifax data could not be pulled:

scores2.png

Waited a couple days and pulled the final report and saw this:

scores3.png

 ????

All but one account was showing on my report.

Thought that was an error, so I waited a couple more days to see if everything else would show up and when my accounts started reporting on their statement dates they started showing up on Equifax.  Not sure why my report went blank.

Me thinking I’m clever and armed with my nice little scores, i temporarily lost my mind and quickly googled “which banks pull ONLY Equifax”.  While there were few definitive responses, I kept getting Chase as an answer. SO, I applied for the Chase Sapphire Preferred coz that’s what the pre-qualification thing said and coz i'm trigger happy. And

wouldn’t you know.. Approved for the CSP with a starting limit of $6,900.

Funny thing is that the Hard Pull was ONLY on my TU report :/

While I am closer to my goal of 700 across the board, I’ve used up another Inquiry.

 

Other than that, my first month using AZEO went well.. this morning, TU went up by another 11 to 694... guessing the AZEO had something to do with that..

Waiting to see what effect this has over the next couple of months

Net Score increases: 

EQ +68; TU +61; EX +17

 

Goal for this month: Continue AZEO.

 

Good luck to everyone

 

 

 

Message 3 of 17
moosemoney
Regular Contributor

Re: August 2018 Check-In Thread

Still gardening. Still working on my derogs. I didn't have any luck in July in removing any of them, but my EX jumped 20 points (the only reason I can think of is because I have been vigorously paying down on my mortgage principle - it's possible my current balance comapred to the initial-loan-amount percentage changed and bumped me to a different scoring bracket).

 

My initial plan was to garden until November 2018 when a HP falls off my inquiries, but I'm starting to reconsider that deadline and push it back to January when I will have 24 straight months of on-time mortgage payments and one very old 30-day late ages off (an old car loan that has been paid off for years).

 

My TU score remained stagnent, and I don't know my updated EQ score yet. Last month I got it from CCT, but I am thinking of finally signing up for a paid MF account (and I don't want to sign up and get my scores without them updating for August, so I'm waiting a day or two to do so).

 

I'm happy. I'm motivated. I'm looking forward to this month!

 

Good luck to all the rebuilders out there!

 

Message 4 of 17
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: August 2018 Check-In Thread

Hi All!

 

I'm excited to be apart of this - I wanted to get that off my chest first! Thanks for letting me apart of your group. So here is my update:

 

Transunion: 573 - 581

Fico: 592 - 608

Equifax: 561- 579

So I need guidance on a few things - I really want to get out of debt and build a good credit. Most of my debt is in student loan. I started out paying back my credit cards: Capital One secured - $350 limit; Capital One unsecured - $500; Creditone Bank - $600; Blaze Master card - $350; Pier 1 - $350. So far I've paid in full the capital one $500, Credit one $600, and capital one secured $350. I am looking forward to paying in full the other two. I don't want to manage multiple credit cards; I just want to have one that has  a reasonable amount of limit that I can manage while tackling my student loan and saving some money. Should I close the cards that I have paid in full? If I'm presented with a credit increase limit from capital one should I take it? I'm not quite sure how to go about all of this. Any advise will be highly appreciated. Thank you!

 

 

Quick update: I just made changes to reflect my current scores....

 

Message 5 of 17
moosemoney
Regular Contributor

Re: August 2018 Check-In Thread


@Anonymous wrote:

I don't want to manage multiple credit cards; I just want to have one that has  a reasonable amount of limit that I can manage while tackling my student loan and saving some money. Should I close the cards that I have paid in full? If I'm presented with a credit increase limit from capital one should I take it? I'm not quite sure how to go about all of this. Any advise will be highly appreciated. Thank you!

 

 


  • No, don't close them; Just put them in a drawer or cupboard to keep them out of sight (and out of mind).
  • Yes, take any CLI you can (as long as it's not going to count as an inquiry). It will help with your overal utilization.
  • Research AZEO Smiley Wink

Good luck!

Message 6 of 17
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: August 2018 Check-In Thread

Last app was a little over 2 weeks ago. Fico is up to a 739 thanks to utilization, up from 738.

Aging 6 accounts compared to just 2 makes a real difference

Message 7 of 17
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: August 2018 Check-In Thread

Credit One just offered me a new credit line with their master card for $500. I have their visa for $600 which I have paid in full. I know that credit increase is beneficial to my credit report, however, I'd like to have better cards with better rewards... should I accept this new credit line? Should I ask them for a credit limit increase on my visa card?  Or continue to pay down my debt and wait for better offers to come along? Any advice will be highly appreciated.

Message 8 of 17
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: August 2018 Check-In Thread

I really suck at gardening.  I also really suck at sticking to a budget.  In July I went on a bit of a spending spree.  About $1,800 on shoes, and a few hundred on clothes.  The cards are still smoking. 

Unable to resist Nordstrom's Anniversary sale, I applied for a Nordstrom card.  I was offered either the store card or their Visa, I opted for the Visa.  I called in to ask what my limit was, and was stunned by the minuscule limit I was offered.  I wouldn't have risked a hard pull for the measly $1,000. limit I was given.  I asked why the limit was so low, but wasn't given an answer.  I have asked for reconsideration, and have been told I'd receive a letter in 7-10 days with the answer, but it has yet to arrive.

My Discover account hit the 61 day mark, and I asked for a CLI via their web site, and was only given a $500. increase.  J. Crew also increased my limit by only $500., though I didn't hit the Love Button any more than once.  Perhaps I've apped too many times, in too short a period, and am now wreaking the consequences. 

In checking my credit reports, I've noticed that the only report listing any hard pulls is Experian, (now with five inquiries in the last 12 months).  The other two agencies list none.  How annoying. 

My EX credit score since the Nordstrom card has dropped to 707.  I'm going to wait a few days to see if my recent payments will help it rebound before I change my signature, but I'm sure my recent purchases haven't helped my utilization, even with sizable payments to the card companies.

Let's hope August sees better activity from my cards, and greater restraint from myself.


Message 9 of 17
broadnms
Established Member

Re: August 2018 Check-In Thread

Good morning!

 

1) I submitted my final payment to Midland Funding for an old credit card collections account. I need to call them because they have been consistent with reporting my balance, but for some reason, they have not updated my account to zero. And I know they received the check, because I have a copy from the bank.

 

2) Rental Kharma has not affected my score at all. In a negative or positive manner. Which stinks, because I was really hoping on a jump in scores.

 

3) This morning, i made a large payment on my highest CC account (with CapitalOne). My statement closes today, so hopefully that new 27% credit utilization percentage will give me a slight jump.

 

4) I also pulled some updated credit reports. Everything is still pretty much the same; starting in November I will start contacting these OCs, and see if they will still accept a payment in full from me.

 

One thing I noticed during the July 18 challenge; Experian and Equifax are really conservative with the credit score increases. TU seems to be the more lax one. Got two credit cards under 30% and had a collection removed, TU shot me up to the "Fair" category. EQ and EX didn't budge! Guess I'll have to work a little harder Smiley Happy

Starting Score: EQ-590: TU-602: EX-613
Current Score: EQ-590(Jan '23): TU-602(Jan '23): EX-613(Jan '23)
Goal Score: EQ-630: TU-650: EX-620


Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge
Message 10 of 17
Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site are from third party advertisers from whom FICO receives compensation.