May 2018 Check-in Thread

[Anonymous]

The journey has just started for me. I’ve followed the forum for awhile and pulled my Fico scores 2 weeks ago.

EQ- 566

TU- 590

EX-599

I signed up with Experian, so I have constant access to that score. It’s gone up 2 points to 601

I just added the Discover secured card with a $300 limit and my Capital One QS  jumped from $300 to $500 today and I requested an increase for my Capital One Platinum today.

My utilization is high around 86% before the increase and addition of the Discover card. I’ll pay those down and see where I settle. 

I have my 3 cards now, If you need me I’ll be in the garden till about January.

[Anonymous]

Just Started This week:

Starting Scores: 690, 707, and 711

Goal: 750+ on all three

Baddies: One collection from AMCOL I am trying to PFD

21% Utilization down from the 66% two weeks ago. 

Trying to better my DTI: Currently 13/46........ 

Recently Re-fied two loans gaining 400$ a month. 

Sitting on 20k in my savings and am currently thinking screw it and pay everything possible off that increase my DTI. But it took a long time to say 20K

[Batsamandrobin]

I've been lurking around the forums for a few months, but my journey is just getting started:

EQ-608

EX-627

TU-665

Until this month, all scores were a bit higher and hovered in the 630-680 range depending on bureau. Accidentally let a few balances post before PIF, which led to scores dropping a bit. 

Biggest issue holding me down was high utilization--~90%--on my U.S. Bank Cash+. Had a bit of a cash windfall over the last few months due to college graduation and new job, and balance on card now sits at $990/7500. Plan on paying off a couple hundred bucks more before month is over to get utilization under 8.9% overall for the card. 

No lates or baddies, so hoping to see a major jump in scores in early June. At that time, overall balances will be ~$1000/13,200 total. 

Biggest goals are to establish and maintain responsible spending habits going forward and to stay in the garden for at least a year. Way too many INQs right now.

[Anonymous]

Here is my May update.........to start with I did somethings myself that caused a dip in my scores this morning when I pulled them.  Having said that, it was well worth it in the long run and I will just have to wait a few months to make it back up. I did have something happen this month that I found interesting and have seen a few posted on it from others.  I have been doing the AZEO thing and last month I was right at 5% total utl with all of it being on one card which had a 8% utl.  I paid that card down to 5% dropping my total utl to 3%.  When it reported I took a 4 point hit on all 3 of my credit reports.  Not sure why? I also haven't done anything with looking into opening a account with PenFed to try and refinance my auto or for a credit card, might just wait until everything falls off before doing that.

I have still been working on getting the collection account that popped up on my report removed but haven't gotten anywhere with it as of yet.  Worst case It will fall off December of this year when I should be down to only 1 thing left showing bad on one report the other two will be totally clean.

My April Scores where as follows

EQ -658

TU -655

EX -713

My May Scores are as follows

EQ - 667

TU 654

EX - 707

The second half of my goal when I joined was to get my total CL to 100K, which looking back was probbably not a reasonable goal to set considering how low my CL was.  Anways I had set it and I will hit it one way or another.  If you recall I had been approved for AX Gold Delta card 2 months ago with a 5K limit.  I hit the 61 day mark this week and requested the 3X CLI and bang got it.......new limit 15K.  I was also booking a flight on Southwest airlines and when I got ready to pay a offer came up to apply for their card through Chase.  I knew that I was sitting at only 3 new cards in the last 24 months (1 card at the 23 month mark, 1 card at the 21 month mark and the new AX Delta which hadn't reported yet) so I said what do I have to lose and applied...........approved with a CL of $23,400.  I was feeling pretty good after that so I went ahead and pulled the trigger and applied for the CSR card as well.  I had to jump through a few hoops providing them with my DL and SS card but after that I was approved with a CL of $18,700.  Meaning that I increased my CL by $52,100 just this past month bringing me to a total of $85,400. .........just $14,600 to my goal.

I do think that I am going to sit in the garden for a few months and let all of the dust settle before doing anything else.  I will be able to request a CLI on NFCU, Capital One and AX again this year so I should be in good shape on hitting my goal.

Thanks to everyone here for the support and great information!!!

[starting_over_nyc]

Hi!

This is my first check in for the myFICO fitness challenge and my first time in a very long time in participating in the forums. It has taken five very trying but rewarding years to get from a high score of 601 (lowest score of 594) to my current score today. My EQ an EX scores have taken the longest to change and have been the hardest hit over the years. While I am more than thrilled to have seen the positive changes to my credit score, it has also been frustrating to see these two scores take the longest to improve. I don't know what I am doing wrong or what I should be doing more of to have EQ and EX look more like my TU score. But I will keep trying. I will have my federal student loans (finally!) paid off this month. But I will also have two new personal loans that will be reported in June. This will inevitably lower my score initially while I pay them down. But I am also hopeful that the presence of more installment loans and less revolving credit will improve my credit score overall.

Cheers!

[moosemoney]

My progress for May 2018

Starting TU FICO8 Score: 597

Actions taken:

• Opened a new store card with $300 credit limit. I thought it would be a soft pull using the Shopping Cart Trick, but it went through as a hard pull. This new card is my second card, so I now have $700 total in available credit.
• Successfully did a PFD with one collection agency. He says it should be off my record by the end of June, so it's still showing for now. That was one of two collection accounts I had on my report.
• Wrote a GW letter to my mortgage company requesting some leniency with my late payment record on my account. I went through a hard time and almost was foreclosed on, but I was able to work with their retention center to save my home. Since then I've made 18 monthly payments on time. Six days after mailing the letter I got a call back from them letting me know they received my letter and they will work on it, and they will call me back in 7-10 days to let me know. Fingers crossed!

Ending TU FICO8 Score: 601

Goals for June:

• Increase the spending limit on my secured Discover IT card to $700, leaving me with overall credit available of $1000
• Hopefully hear back from my mortgage company that they were able to adjust some of my negative notations
• Hopefully that collection account that I PFD will be gone
• Try emailing a GW Letter to an old auto loan account. It has been paid off for years but shows one single 30-day late payment in January 2012. I'm not sure they will do anything or if it will even matter much but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask.