December Check in Thread

[09Lexie]

Seasons Greetings! As this is our last check in for December, time to reflect on the past year. Have you accomplished your goals? Are you prepared for the inevitable charging that comes during this time of year? What changes are you prepared to make in your credit so that you can say that you've met your goals?

As usual, check in is strictly voluntary but we would love to hear from you!

[notfancy]

Good morning! I just posted in the fitness thread, so I think I answered most of your questions there, but Season's Greetings, and Merry Christmas! Checked in  for December and hoping 2014 sees me further ahead in my credit worthiness journey!

[newmomnewme]

Good Morning all!! I met most of my November goals. I joined myFico forums at the end of September with scores in the mid to low 500s.

My scores as of today are TU:640 EQ:647 EX:665.  I have two unpaid Midland accounts that are under CRA dispute (to be complete 12/6).  I reached out to my mortgage broker last week to find out if I should start applying now or wait until January. USDA review approval submitted 12/20. Hope to hear something back before the end of the year.

I plan to use one CC for most of my holiday shopping and make sure that I pay the balance down to 5%. My statement cuts 12/20.  I plan to GW the last baddies left on my report. 2 paid charge offs, 4 paid collections (1 from 2012) and late payments on VS, Target, and Suntrust (all from 2011 or before; so I may give up on these) Target deleted the TL for me 12/16 Yay!!!!

I joined the garden last month, then applied for Macys yesterday...because of 15% off.. back in the garden I go.   Still haven't used the card yet, I will make sure I activate it before next year.

Best wishes everyone! Oh, and happy holidays!!!

I would have NEVER thought I would say I was addicted to rebuilding my credit! I came up with the following plan for December 2013. I have to say thank you to all of you!!! I have gone from 30 negative accounts to 9.  I don't have any unpaid baddies on my CR!!!! Now, its time to get rid of what I can and maintain my new TLs. I guess it may actually be time for me to join the Garden Club for at least 6 months. I plan to start applying for mortgage loans Spring 2014.

I will work my credit report following a priority system for communication efforts:

PR, Charge Offs, Unpaid Collections, Paid Collections, Lates on Open Accounts, Lates on Closed Accounts

1. Cap1 CO: 11/7 Received phonecall from EO said they would call me back after reviewing my accounts Send GW removal letter during holiday season
2. Unpaid CA: 11/5 Midland Funding (Gap and Verizon) BBB Complaint---Midland re-aged accounts that should have been excluded11/27 BBB response rejected; Midland sent bogus verification. UPDATE: Both Midlands deleted from EQ, One from EX, started TU investigation (call to check-in 12/12) 12/12 Paid Midland (Verizon Wireless) NO MORE unpaid collections.
3. Paid Collections: Portolio Recovery Accounts (HSBC and Cap1) inaccurate reporting (12/6 dispute deadline) UPDATE: Remains
   
4. Paid Collections: Send GW Removal letter to Fair Collections Outsourcing; joint liability connected to judgement 12/8 sent another letter
5. Late Payments Open: 11/5 VS 2- 30 day lates from 2011 Send GW Late removals during holiday season 12/8 sent another letter
6. Late Payments Closed: Cap1, Suntrust  (auto), and Target Send GW Late removals during holiday season 12/12 send Target letter
   
7. 11/30 Applied and Approved for Macys $15% off first two purchases I plan to use it for the holiday season.
8. Start contacting CRAs to get dispute comments removed (after 12/6 dispute over) EQ and TU completed 12/5

 I will pay my balances before the due date and make sure the balances are $0 before statement cuts. 12/18/2013 is still my magic date.

[Roarmeister]

Financial Goals for 2013:

1.   My promotion and salary increase are effective today  Done and in spades!
2.   Open a TFSA account for additional savings ($5500) and continue my RRSPs  Deferred TFSAs to 2014 but bumped up my RRSP.
3.   Continue to payback on my RRSP withdrawals for home loan  Done.
4.   Look at increasing my charitable contributions  Done.
5.   CLIs on credit cards  Done on 3 cards.  I suspect the other 2 would only get a CLI if I got another HP.  I unexpectedly picked up a PLoC as well.
   
6.   Pay off credit cards and overdraft (current debt utilization of 8.9%, looking for 1%)  Getting better, 3.1% at the moment partly due to Christmas spending and higher than expected vacation spending.  But at least the majority of my credit I carry is very low interest of 0% and 1% on promotional offers.
   
7.   Build up savings account to create significant down payment for...  Hmmm, some of my savings went to debt repayment.  Deferred building up savings account to 2014.
   
8.   Purchase new vehicle in the fall.  Nope. Don't need one yet.  This Ford refuses to die.
9.   July 30 was my last credit app(2) so the effect of hard inquires should disappear, looking to upgrade to gold and platinum spades. Dipped back into the Garden but back on track for gold spade early next year. 
   
10.   Bring my credit score back up above 800 by year end.  I modified my expectations this year but strangely enough my TU came back to 800 (on a 300-900 scale!).  EQ is almost back to 765.

I think financial goals should be balanced and tackle all aspects of fiscal health not just "pay down the debt".  They should also address short, medium and long term issues.  Kept all of the above in mind but my investments were a mixed bag.  Some really good and 1 not so good.

Lastly, I want to figure out how to put both FICO Challenge logo and Spade logo on at the same time!  Hmm, looks like I did, eh? 

[singleindependentmom]

Hi All,

My November goals were met..

Paid off a car repo - also sent GW letters to remove the duplicate entries on my reports through Wells Fargo - Done

Paid off a 2 collections account and sent a GW Letter, 1 account was deleted. - Done

Made all my payments on time for the rest of my good standing accounts. - Done

Brought my credit card utilization down to less than 10% - Done

December Goals:

Pay off Kohls collections account - Send letter to remove duplicate entry with CO and Kohls - set to pay off 12-6-13

Pay off Amazon collections account - Send letter to remove duplicate entry with CO and Amazon - set to pay off 12-6-13

Keep Credit Card ulitization below 10%

1 hard pull inquiry due to fall off 12-9-13

Possibly pay off a large Capital One charge off account

Continue to send GW letters to remove duplicate paid accounts if they have not been removed when my Credit Report is updated for the month of December.

Start to build up enough savings to pay off my 401K loan...

[TrulyyBlessed]

Hi All,

I'm still working on my goals of getting baddies removed from my credit report. During November I was able to remove 1 medical bill, and I hope it reflects upon my credit score! Good luck to everyone on their credit journey.

[lunch]

I have achieved all of my stated goals:

Paid off all credit card debt

Paid off one of eight student loans

Raised credit score to ~780

Just closed on my first house

New goals:

Replace high interest/no reward credit cards 

Start investing some of the cash I have for higher income

Thanks myFICO community for all the good information and support.

[NatureDawg]

I started working on cleaning up my credit in October.

Two collection accounts were removed thanks to GW letters.

With a GW to Credit One, an old charge off acount was removed.

I refinanced my car loan to a rate that was half the rate of my previous loan.

I paid off a little installment loan account.

I opened three new credit card accounts. (the limits are low, but I have to start somewhere)

All of my accounts are current.

And one of my three scores (EX) is above 600.  

As for the holiday season, Thursday, I found out that I am receiving a bonus from my employer(totally unexpected), so my plan is to use that money for shopping and leave my cards alone.

I still have work to do.  My scores are no where near where I want them to be, but my focus now is to stay current on all of my accounts and manage them effectively.  Hopefully, over the next year I will see improvements in my scores. (I am a little impatient).

[BeYoutifulNikki]

Hi all, so far so good. I finally broke 600 after several set backs this year. I am working hard and anticipating good things in the new year. My goal for the next 6 months is to pay off all credit card debt. I'm happy with my progress and will keep working to reach my 700 Goal. Good luck everyone and happy holidays!!!

[MONICA-GIG]

looking forward to starting the 2014 challenge! newbie that has been trying to fix those little 3 numbers all alone. i now have a brand new friend to guide me and give me advice