January Check In Thread

[makeupho]

resolving my mortgage reporting with EQ and EX is what i'm trying to work on right now. 2014 was a good year (BK13 discharged, bought 2 cars, BofA secured Visa unsecured and CL raised, got 2 store cards).  2015 will be pretty much about keeping utilization below 10% and just being careful overall.

[fbh31118]

Great news for January!  All scores went up 4 pts or better, the sticking TU finally went up!   TU seeems to be my slowest moving score, I'm just not sure why.  We only have two installment loans totaling less that 8G a student loan that has never been late in 10 years, and a revolving acct that has never been late.  I should mention that is was slow even before we took out the trailer loan or the CC.    My plan at this point is to pay off the CC in six or eight billing cycles and take the bump in points every month and any tax return refund if any will go to the next highest intrest rate loan, which would be the wifes car.  There's only $2200 left on the car at this point so it should be paid for yet this year, the student loan is also very close to being paid off as well.  Lots of oppertunity right around the corner!!

[guydiver]

I decided to dive into the 2015 Fitness Challenge.  I've been lurking on these boards for some time.  I've been a member for quite some time.  I read A LOT on here, mostly looking for any advice I might give on the road of "Been There, Done That" stuff.  My reports have been clean for over two years now, as I started off at about 595 back in 2007.  I basically just need to get my utilization under control now.  I've almost paid off a credit union loan for various auto and home repairs, so that will free up some income to pay down my cc balances. My goal this year is to get another of my cards paid in full, and all of my balances below 50% of my credit limit.  I got a nice increase from Lowe's last year, and that card is paid in full. Going to try and get my CL maxed out on that one this year, then work on Sam's Club.  I've been at 10K on that one forever, and I think I can get it raised this year once I get my balance paid down some.  I really would like to get my car refinanced down from the 3.7% I'm paying Ford, but I don't want any more inquires right now.  I took a new EQ hit when I opened my DCU account a few months ago, and I have a bunch of inquiries on EQ that will hit the one year mark next month.  That will leave me inquiry free for a full year.  My TU and EX are inquiry free now.  Just have to tighten my belt and pay stuff down a bunch.  I wish everyone a Happy New Year and best wishes on your myFICO credit journey!

[Anonymous]

Checking in for January.  I didn't pay much on my existing CC balance for December due to holidays but at least I didn't charge anything.  At the end of December, I have one CC that has a balance of $9,500.  I've already have it down to $8,500 as I'm writing this and should have it down to $7000 at the end of the month.  My TU went up finally by +4 points to 768.  It was 769 in October and dropped to 764 in November At least it's is going up slowly now.

I've debated whether to take a CC balance offer and may be split up my balance amongst two different cards.  The balance offer would have $0 transfer fee at 5.99% or 0% interest with a 4% transfer fee.  The current card sits at 14.99%.  I'm planning to have the balance paid in full by May 2015 any way.   Should I transfer partial amount, full amount, or keep as is.  Thoughts?

[New_Beginning]

Good morning! Just checking in for the month of January. Still trying to get back in the groove of things! I didn't realize it but I had been gardeing for 6 months now, hadn't been on much due to alot of family concerns, but boy did time fly...felt good to change my spade! Now just working on getting things paid off and get my fico in shape! Good luck everyone on their journey! Happy New Year 

[Anonymous]

Great News everyone.  I made it a goal to pay my christmas balances off down to 30%  Because I managed to do that my scores have gone back up!  I am not at EQ- 661 Transunion 661 and Experian 675.  You can do it! And it doesn't take long.  I looks like this house may happen after all!

[Anonymous]

Just gonna break down what's happened so far... Lender pulled credit to see where wife and I stand to look into getting a house and I surprisingly came out with a 627. He mentions I should have 3 open lines in good standing (I had 1). Current card is through Cap One which had an Auto-CLI just recently to 3k from 2k. Wife is good with a 720+ with multiple good lines under her name and all her student loans in good standing. Two days ago I start looking for more cards to get the 3 requested. Was denied for 3 but got another one through Cap One with a starting line of 1k. I purchased my 3 reports from myFICO for the year and see that the denials and new card have brought down my score. Before speaking with the lender it was already my goal to start working on my credit this year. Oh, and the reason for speaking with the lender was because we currently are renting a house and have been here for 1.5 years. Our landlord messages the wife and tells her/us she'll be looking at selling in about 6 months. Fun stuff, but I'm excited to get everything in order and make my way into the 700 club in the future.

[Anonymous]

I posted an introduction in the "Rebuilding your Credit' forum, and will paraphrase here what I said.

I'm 30 years old and just finally starting to get serious about credit. Homeownership is a goal of mine in the next 24-36 months, as now I'm married and renting is a temporary solution. It's easy to float when you're a bachelor.

On my credit card I have derogatory CCs from Amex, Bank of America, and Citicard... as well as two student loans ($10k total) that went into default.

Luckily, in the past 18 months I've settled the debts from BofA and Citi, and the AmEx settlement is getting paid a week from tomorrow. I also successfully rehabilitated my student loans last spring and now overpay Nelnet every month, to the tune of my next payment isn't due on paper until June of 2015. It feels good.

Once the AmEx payment goes through, I'll have no outstanding bad debt. I have three Capital One cards (Platinum, which I just PCd to Quicksilver, Quicksilver One, and a Spark Classic)... which I PIF each month. My scores are in my sig, and my goal is to end 2015 with a 700 across the board. I hope and think I can do it.

The simulator tells me that when my Spark card gets reported ($2000 CL) and the AmEx debt gets cleared, my score will get into the 660's and 670's. Unfortunately, my first baddie doesn't fall off until December 2016... the majority of them disappear in July 2018).

This is exciting, and for the first time in my adult life I'm optimistic about my financial future. 

[ZsRebuilding1]

Checking in for January! So far this month I've had a 29 pt bump, but I expect it to lower a bit since I added 4 unsecured cards ( MY FIRST! EVER!) to my credit profile. I have two tax liens coming off by month's end, and hopefully will be scoring my first PFD next week. Bring on February!!

[Anonymous]

So I am very very new to these forums, but I figured I may as well check in for my first month. This month has been more of an action month than an update month...

For last month's CC cycle, I paid all but one card down to under 25% (one is high around 50%). I saw a small increase to all scores, except Experian, which for some reason tanked 30 points after my new utilization posted. Only thing I can think is there was some administrative error in their system initially, and it's self corrected, since the new score aligns with the other bureaus more closely anyways. EQ went up 7 points, and TU 3 points. Small successes, right?

I reached out to members on the rebuilding credit board, and got some solid advice to take care of the baddies sitting on my report. Have a couple things wrapping up in dispute so we'll see what those results are and then take action from there. Also, this month's CC statement I have paid ALL cards to between 9-15%. I am looking forward to see how this affects my scores in February.