Hey Fitness Challengers! Sorry for starting this month's thread so late - promise it will not happen again!
Now that you've had a few extra weeks to get those first of the years' bills in; how have your goals/plans changed? Remember, participation is voluntary and you are under no pressure.
If you want to divulge your plans, set or change goals or just vent...you've come to the right place! 
Hi, I guess I will check in. The last few months have been about cleaning up my credit reports, getting items deleted, opening a couple credit cards for the first time in a few years and paying everything on time. My first goal is to continue to make timely payments and understand that it will take time for my scores to improve. I received a surprise tax refund (I usually just break even) and I am using that to payoff my cards and to take a trip. My second goal is to exercise patience and stay in the garden until some of my accounts age and some baddies fall off. Now that I have had some success it is hard to slow down and just manage things for a while. Very hard.
Starting Score: September 2013 - EQ 548 EX 610 TU 555
This month was successful.
I used my tax refund to pay off all my old credit card debit. I'm hoping to use my Freedom as my main card and pay it off before the statement closes. I also am using my CapOne for automatic payment with utilities and also pay it off before the statement date. I am still in the Barclaycard Apple financing 0%APR at $400 left to pay off til 2015. I'm hoping to pay off $100 each month to get some positive history in. I closed two low CL store accounts that just weren't worth my time in maintenance and I don't shop there anymore. I made sure they ended with good history (VS and Target).
So now my open revolving credit accounts are:
Freedom - 1.3K
CapOne Plat - 2.25K
Barclaycard - 2.9K
Banana Rep. - 2K
This is much more manageable for me and I can really focus on my spending habits with just these. My next goal is remove a 30 day late payment from CapOne 4 years ago with a GW letter. I won't be applying for any more credit and working to pay off my student loan and car loan (1.85% interest, not bad!)
Since I now don't have any debt I need to catch up with, I have been setting my emergency fund and retirement fund up. Any tips on any of my progress would be appreciated! I'm 23 and recently finished grad school. I'm hoping to get set on the right path!
Equifax - 703 (2/1/14, before my payments posted)
TU - 730 (2/9/14, before my payments posted)
Experian - ??
January (and the first part of Feb.) were a net neutral for my goals. Utilized my budgeted inquiries for the year (with one pending... student loans). Considering waiting an extra year to apply for the goal card, but we will see as the time approaches further. Finally, in regards to additional debt payments, I was able to exceed my goal, but only did so on a non-reported debt. So, I will count that goal as complete, but will try to make an additional 2K on top of what I had already paid.
See everybody in March!
This past few months have been successful. I have been steadily paying off my debt, collections, and disputing items on my credit report. My scores have seen a jump since I first started, and I am hoping to qualiy for a mortgage within the next 30-45 days. I have found a lender who is willing to pre-approve me for a loan, but advised that if I wait, I will get a better interest rate. I have one last collection account that I am dealing with- NYS Tax for taxes in 2009 that were paid and they misapplied the funds. (Go figure!) They have been investigating it for over 2 months now, but I cannot wait any longer and will pay it again and deal with getting the money back when NYS figures it out. I am hoping when I get my satisfaction letter, I will see another boost in my scores. Besides my car payment and my student loan debt- I am as close to debt free as I have been in a long time.
My actual FICO scores (www.myfico.com) when I started this challenge in January were at:
Equifax: 519
Experian: 594
Transunion: 591
As of February 15th- when I pulled my FICO scores (www.myfico.com) there are now at:
Equifax: 574
Experian: 622
Transunion: 647
My short term goals are to keep on track with paying my bills, keeping my utilization at 0-5% on my credit cards, and getting approved for my mortgage! I would love to have my scores at 650 at that time. My long term goals include boosting my scores to 750+. Wishing everyone success in our journey together!!
Got the year started with a 655 and am currently sitting at a 669 so were just trying to keep the momentum growing. We only have a single Cap 1 card in good standing and under $1000 (had to buy tires for both vehicles) which turns out to be a very good deal because the payment history has been doing a good job of giving us a score boost at the begining of this year. Still shooting for a 700 year this year so as to go looking for a house.
February has been good to me.
-3 collections removed
-Capital One Secured
-Approved for a small auto loan
-Joined Affinity Plus Credit Union
-Joined EID. My new favorite CMS because of the daily pulls!
Next Month:
-Snowboarding trip to Colorado
-Apply for a USBank Secured (AeroMexico? Or SkyPass? - Want to go to Korea next year)
-A long, grueling winter's end is in sight as another month passes.
Hello March!
I'm new to this party and even though I posted in last month's thread, just now lol, I wanted to post here as well since this is the official February thread. Do you think I should repost what I had there over here, or no? I'm not sure since I just posted it today, but I would really like some feedback on what I posted even though nothing has changed in the past 10 minutes .
I would also love some tips/advise on disputing items on a credit report. Even though I consolidated all my Federal students loans, they still show up on my credit report in a negative light since I missed a bunch of payments on them before they were consolidated.
For me, February has been pretty decent. In January I sent out validation letters for items in my credit report. Some people I heard back from and some I did not. Also, some companies just removed the items completely. My Equifax score rised 24 points from January to February. My Transunion score dropped but there's not really much on that report. I'm using the Equifax triple credit report to track credit scores and reports. I am continuously paying on my credit cards and working on paying off old collections using payment plans. Hopefully once I'm done, those items will be removed.
I do have some accounts that are being difficult...
*Midland Funding never verified the debt and shows no balance at all on my credit report.
*Pinnacle Credit Services has yet to verify the debt as well although my credit report was updated that I'm disputing it.
I have other baddies that will fall off next year that were included in my bankruptcy. I recently hired Sky Blue Credit to see if they have any luck with the things I'm struggling with.
Overall, I'll just keep working on it. Hopefully the month of March is even better.
I do have some accounts that are being difficult...
*Midland Funding never verified the debt and shows no balance at all on my credit report.
*Pinnacle Credit Services has yet to verify the debt as well although my credit report was updated that I'm disputing it.
I have other baddies that will fall off next year that were included in my bankruptcy. I recently hired Sky Blue Credit to see if they have any luck with the things I'm struggling with.
Overall, I'll just keep working on it. Hopefully the month of March is even better.