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I'm sure you are all hard at work with your credit goals. Have you progressed as far as you hoped? Were there any unforeseen expenses that cropped up and may have thrown you off schedule?
As a reminder, participation in these monthly check-ins is optional but encouraged. The goal is to help keep you on track, so feel free to post your progress updates here. This is a no-judge zone; feel free to say what's keeping you up at night or give yourself a Kudo for having it all together.
Did you hit any potholes or speedbumps? Achieve some milestones, either small or mighty? Change your goals or add new ones?
Let us know how you're doing!
Let us know how you're doing!
Great to start a new month with our updates and views on the road ahead! Aw and April Showers bring May Flowers so let's hear from you
My start, did the AZEO and it sure did kick many of my scores down between 20 to 25 points. Played with the Credit Bureaus and lost my top end. Did eat the loss and put back a token $5 credit charge balance and the credit scores are ever so slowly clawing their way back uphill. Would not recommend it if you need good scores for a forth coming event. Paid all revolving debt to zero minus the five dollars.
Well I can now confirm my Fico 08 Scores have returned to their 850 status. Based on current life events, I do not plan any more credit bureau experiments as lenders are more wary of rapid drops in financial status and scoring <wipe my forehead>.
World events have me using caution as we work through a life changing event(s). Conservation of cash is my today's motto.
Will add that my excursion into playing with credit bureau scores fell on poor timing. It took three months to undo the lowered credit scores for AZEO. Finally, all my various scores have increased by the original amount they dropped and in a few cases increased more when talking the 250 to 900 groups. Don't want to scare lenders right now! Promise I will "chill" and "behave". Was afraid I might have started a watershed of lender actions ... close call!
Best wishes and good luck MyFicoer's as you manage May 2020
Hello all!
This month has been much more successful in my credit rebuild journey than last month for both myself and my SO!
Most recent scores in sig
Myself:
Achievements:
* Set up 2 of 3 sets of SLs into rehab
- I am still working on one of them to address that first rehab payment has been made (reflected in payment history, but summary still shows rehab payment past-due) and that the rehab agreement is good to go for sure, for sure lol
* Diversified Collections (DCI) came off one CR due to going out of business, so I paid Sprint directly before they forwarded my account to the next CA and now DCI is off all 3 CRs! No score improvement (yet?).
* All 3 new TLs are now reporting and gave me a small score bump
* I have been saving aggressively and moreso than ever!
Still working on:
* 1 last set of SLs to get into rehab, but they are making it really difficult. I really hope that I can get this set up this month
* 6 more CAs to work through. Slow and steady! Don't want to dip too hard into the savings at this time.
* Save even more agressively. Make a strict budget and stick to it. My contract at work ends in July and it looks like I will have possibly one more 3 month extension, but don't want to mess around in case finding another contract becomes difficult (which I have heard as much) during these covid times.
* Keeping in the garden. Starting to get a little easier now that the itch to app has passed after being shot down hard (imo also bit unfairly) by AOD.
Stats:
* Inq:
EQ 3/12 and 3/24
TU 1/12 and 2/24
EX 1/12 and 1/24
* Util:
1% Aggregate
4% Cap One (at AZEO currently)
SO:
Achievements:
* Set up rehab for both sets of SLs! Woohoo!
* All new TLs now reporting (2 total) and got very nice score bumps!
* Amazing score increases in April!
+91 pt EQ
+77 pt TU
+74 pt EX
*All* are FICO8 score increases! It *is* possible to get amazing gains! Other FICO scores have made just as incredible jumps! Still low scores, but absolutely will *not* complain about the progress!
Still working on:
* 2 CAs and 1 CO still needs to be addressed, this month at least 1 of the CAs.
* STILL trying to obtain Cap One secured CC that was approved and funded at the beginning of *MARCH*....another 2 hour hold on the phone ahead to order *another* replacement - the mail has not been good to us lately - we have not receiving a lot of expected mail.....
Stats:
*Inq:
unchanged 1/12 and 1/24 across-the-board
* Util:
2% Aggregate
4% Cap One (AZEO w/ 2 revolvers)
I hope this month proves to be as much of a success as last month and I am working hard on getting things taken care of even if it isn't as aggressively as I originally would have like it to be done. Saving is the biggest focus even more than credit at the moment.
Good luck to everyone - stay safe and healthy and I hope this is a great month for you all!
Since I started this challenge, I feel like I've been making leaping bounds toward healthy credit. My scores since January are up an average of 65 points. I've paid off over $3k in credit card debt, on a really tight budget, in 4 months. 2 years ago, my scores weren't even close to the 600s. I have a lot to be proud of, and I have so much gratitude for the wealth of resources on this forum that's made this journey possible. I haven't taken any steps backwards, which has ultimately been the primary goal, and I'm really happy with the progress I've made so far. I currently appear to be sitting in a rest stop on my road to 740, and I'm trying to not be upset about it.
I still have one nearly maxed card, and am losing my job next week. Happy I paid down all of the other cards so I will only have one last card to contend with. Not yet at risk of losing my rolling 7-year perfect payment history. I am sad I won't be able to aggressively pay down that last card right now, but at least I am still on track for paying off the second to last before a year's worth of deferred interest hits me in July. I've learned a lot about credit responsibility here, so I'm confident I won't put myself in a bad place with my usage as I work on stabilizing my finances.
Moving right along, my scores have plateaud a bit. I'm still up from last month, but only by about 3 points across the board. Utilization is floating at 30% (mostly from that one nearly maxed card), one of my inquiries fell off (rest of the inquiries age to a year old this and next month). This month I learned what credit reporting cycles are and how they differ from billing cycles. I had the misfortune of using a card a few days before it reports, and even though I paid it the same day it came out of pending, it still dinged my score 17 points. Frustrating lesson to learn.
I suppose from here all I can do is continue working on getting total utilization down while my accounts age. I already have a few ideas for next year's goals - such as increasing credit limits so spending $100 on my Capital One card won't hurt so bad.
@MemoryLane wrote:Since I started this challenge, I feel like I've been making leaping bounds toward healthy credit. My scores since January are up an average of 65 points.
Impressive score increase of 65 points. Actually pretty unreal! Enjoy your improved credit health! Sure feels good ... Sorry about the forth coming jobs loss! Keep the faith. Understand walking the path. Keep us in the loop!
Hi all and congratulations to each of you on your successes.
I'm at the stage where there's nothing to do but wait, and I'm a champion and not doing anything. Getting into the mindset of gardening was a struggle at first, but overall it gets easier: I have enough credit, I have enough options should I want to PC, and I am earning decent rewards relative to my spend. And we're at the beginning of what will likely be a lengthy depression, heightening the need to protect my credit.
The 3% AOD card was tempting, but I've learned from watching Uber and DU that it won't last. They're pushing membership right now, and when they've reached their goals they'll scale back the rewards. I can live without throwing away an inquiry and butchering my AoYA again for a few years of 1% gain on minimal non-category spend.
Some milestones coming up: most of my inquiries will hit 365 days this month, but I'll still have one (showing on two reports). In June I expect my last report to be clean, as EQ drops my last delinquencies. With a clean slate, I expect EQ's FICO 8 to join the others in the 790s. AOYA won't hit 1 yr until January 2021. I hope that in this time my scores will top 800, but I don't have an open installment and who knows what FICO 10s will look like, or even if lenders adopt the new standard.
Best wishes y'all.
Nice job everyone! It's fun to see everyone's results.
I'm happy to share that I (mostly) hit my goal! 2 of my FICO 8 scores hit 750! My other is just under 750. I've been on quite the journey! I've gone up around 130 pts since February in all 3 bureaus. I've paid off so much debt, I can breathe so much easier. It feels so good to have credit instead of having debt. I've got money in the bank and things are looking up.
I appreciate having this forum to celebrate in my own little way. It feels weird to celebrate and feel so good financially when so many are struggling. I want to text my friends and say "Look at this!" but that doesn't feel appropriate. So, thanks for letting me check in here!
Hello All,
I am excited for everyone and their progress! When I started this challenge last month my scores were as follows EQ 561, TU 532, and EX 562. As of today my scores are as follows EQ 621, TU 576, and EX 620! My first goal is 680 so I am on my way there. I achieved the following scores by tackling my credit card utilization only. I will be looking into taking care of my three collection accounts this month to see how many points that could add. After the taking care of the collections, I plan to keep my payment history on time and get my debt down. Keep up the great work everyone!
Patienced seems to be the key word of the day for me. So much temptation...
I've been holding out for my 2nd revolver with NFCU, earliest I'm comfortable apping is my 3rd FULL statement early June.
BOA, Discover, AMEX are my next personal goal cards after NFCU, of which I'll need one or more business revolvers as well.
I just learned BOA has a Bus Secured Card, and I've been pondering on a 1st Bank Bus Secured but both will have to wait.