January Check In Thread

[Anonymous]

For me 2015 is a year of keeping my balances down and hopefully increasing my limits, if I am able to get a prime card then fantastic but if not then I can hang on with what I have for now.  

Another goal of mine is to refinance my truck for a lower apr, hopefully with NFCU, I am 4 months out of a CH 7 and they said to wait 6-12 months to app for the refi, so anywhere between April and July I can start that process.  

2014 was a good and bad year, I foreclosed on my house and then went through a CH 7 BK, so it was sad but seeing my score come up almost 200 points this year has been great.  Before I filed for BK my score was in the low 400's because of walking away from my house, seeing it now between 617-638 is amazing!

[Anonymous]

I'm new to myFICO and this year I hope to raise my scores as high as possible. No set number since my file is very short and I'm still considered a risk. I'd like to increase my credit limits and pay 35% of my auto loan. So far I've paid all my balances in full and pay them off immediately. Very excited as I plan to purchase a home in the future and want to receive the best rates possible (on everything) from here on out.

In January, I started out with an average score of 425. I was surprised to see scores over 700 when I signed up today. Prior to this, I had been using Credit Karma until I established some new accounts.

FICO scores - As of 1-3-15

Equifax - 703

Transunion - 725

Experian - 730

[Anonymous]

Happy New Year everyone!

I have been credit awakened since last year.  I am 31 and I decided I didn't want to be 40 trying to get it together.  Ordering the credit monitoring product has been the best investment I have made.  I started out last year on this journey and I was in the low 500's.  I got a new job at the beginning of last year and was able to get one secured card in my husband's name that opened us up to credit opportunities.  I couldn't even get a cap one secured CC on my own.  I paid 70% of the bal each month.  This opened him up to more credit that he could add me to.  He was approved last year for a cap one secured (I'm an authorized user) then Zales (authorized user) and Macy's (authorized user).  I got my first credit offer in my name in Sept 2014 it was $1000.00 limit credit card.  I was last approved for a chase freedom in November 2014 with an $800 CL.  I also was approved for  $30,000 credit autoloan with a 3.86% interest rate.  In November, I peaked at 667, accross the board.  I got excited about seeing the yellow colors and went crazy in applying for stuff.  I appled for that chase freedom and an amex.  Amex didn't approve me.  I also have applied for a mortgage, which I have been prequalified for, but balances were high due to christmas season.  Since then my credit scores have dipped 20 points.  I am nervous about my Mortgage loan and being able to close.  I am scheduled to pay all my balances down to 30% by the end of January meeting all my January statement close dates.  So, I will keep you guys updated.  I have resolved not to take on any more credit cards. I am going to maintain and watch my scores go up.  I am getting more and more understanding each day and this forum is very a great tool of support to have.

[Anonymous]

This is the first time I have really worried about my credit so I decided to join this challenge. I will be buying a house in the next two months, but I hope that my credit  score is not effected too much.

[grneydangl]

I haven't participated in an actual myFICO Fitness Challenge yet but I've been on and off these boards for a few years.  I've always been really good at (or bad at?) paying down some of my CC debts and then charging them back up (sometimes even month after month).  2015 is going to be all about discipline for me!  I've gone several months already without using the majority of my CCs so the hope is that I can pay down debt, not use credit and start to see a good change in my FICO scores.  Here's to a new year! 

[javonnj]

2014 for me was about letting some of my baddies close/fall off of my credit report and continue to raise my credit score. I was able to become an authorized user on a friend's card, which allowed me to have more credit on my file as well as another card reporting with a low utilization every month. My student loans also came due in August, so I have started to pay those off as well which totals out to a $50,000 owed. 

2015: My goals for 2015 are to continue to use my secured card and pay off the balance in full every month along with the balance for the card that I am an authorized user. I also want to re-enroll in school to finish my bachelor's which has less than a year of courses left to go. By doing this, I can temporarily stop the payments on my loans, while still paying off the interest. While enrolled in school, I still plan to pay back the bulk of the interest/principle, so that when they are due again next year, there will be less for me to pay down over a 10 year period. 

If all goes well regarding raising my credit score, my goal is to apply for a Discover, Amex, or Chase card. I currently have the Capital One secured  card and the Citi Diamond Preferred card (authorized user). 

Best of luck to all of you on your financial journey this year. 

[Anonymous]

for 2015, my main goals will be:

to garden 6 months, and let a bunch of inquires fall off

get my last few baddies removed (3)

get my util down to under 10%

trade in my car and finance a new one without a cosigner in dec

i'm excited!!!! good luck everyone!

[Anonymous]

Im new but I have clear goals for 2015:

- Pay down credit utilization over my 5 CCs (currently im nearly maxed out)

-Get rid of the 5 baddies on my report (I disputed 1 already but I need to send out PFDs for the others)

-Send out goodwill letters for the several late payments I got when I was unemployed 6 months ago.

-No new credit until I can get an auto loan in 2016. I've got 5 active credit cards and 3 school loans that are all current.

Im excited to see what these changes will do for my score.

[Anonymous]

2015 is all about:

1. Gardening! I opened up 10 new accounts in 2014 and my AAoA took a big hit and is now sitting at 11 months.

2. Get this last baddie taken off my CR

3. Pay down my high balances

4. Close Credit One

5. Overall, just want to build a solid profile and get my scores up to start 2016 off right

[Momof5]

Going to try to get off my arse and get it done this year!

I have 2 CA's that I think should be relatively easy to get rid of.  I need to ignore my grown children and dedicate my funds to paying off my high util.  AND, although I think it will be fruitless, I will write the GW letters to all my baddies.  For the most part they were left open.  Some of the accts have 1 or 2 30s, others up to 7 30s.  It would be nice to get a GW adjustment to them.  My mortgage lates will probably be the bain of my existence until they age off. :'(  (25 lates total with 5 120s(!))

Not sure if I can cross 700 with those hanging out there by the simulator seems to believe that all I need to do is get my util down to be in the 700s.  It has been a year since the last late.

Here's to 2015!