November 2024 Check-In Thread

[Kenny]

I know 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-judging 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! 

[SeaProbe]

Another page off the calendar… another month in the garden.

Still nothing new particularly tempting to me, and I have no large upcoming purchases that would help with a SUB.

[TrapLine]

Do not have any financial or credit needs. Garden time will be good.

Did play with FIco and today I report Fico 08  784. Lowest in ten years. Opened two new accounts, reduced a credit line on one and went AZEO except small auto loan. All for taking a hit for the "Mother Ship" ...

Left a balance for the credit bureaus to eye and suspect my Fico 08 800's will return (I hope).

[Luminosa]

Hi, everyone!

In a completely expected turn of events, my FICO scores are back up this month. My EX8 is at 744 and my EQ8 is at 754. Navy Federal has stopped providing cardholders free FICO 9 scores, so I no longer have access to that score.

See you next month!

[Junejer]

Well, it has been quite a wild ride over the past five months or so. The day after I bought my convertible, my bride announced that she is sick of our house and wants to move. Initially, we wanted to downsize, but couldn't get past the size of the rooms. We ended up with a smaller lot and a larger house. Great compromise. Bought the new house before selling our other, so that was stressful. Spent a lot of money on new floors, theater room and other general updates. Still working on making it our own.

Closing on our refinance Tuesday. Racked up some INQs over the summer on TU. Should be done for a minute. No need for any new credit.

Back to the garden.

[LRC]

Still need to get a SSL from my credit union to get an installment loan in place to raise my credit. Just haven't done it yet--I've been worrying more over my day to day spending and earning. It's on the list for this month.

I have an HP falling off in Jan, so that's exciting. Otherwise my scores are pretty much the same as they were last month.

In other words, just gardening, saving and paying bills. Worried about the future. Hope everyone is hanging in there.

[denverguy67]

Hello, time for my monthly check in.

My current goal is to get a 729 Experian Vantage3 score by Jan 8, 2025.  I am currently at 725 Experian Vantage3,  728 Experian Fico8, 733 TransUnion Fico8, and 750 Equifax Fico9.  I don't know why the Fico9 score is higher.  The problem is that I still have too much debt (total of $7567 credit card debt as of today), although I am slowly making progress.  I think if I make another $250 payment towards my Synchrony card it will get the balance below 29%, which should give me a 5 point boost.  Also, Citibank keeps knocking on my door offering a 0% balance transfer, so I will probably apply in December.

[WW1984]

Hello All,

Last time I checked in was August 2024. Unfortunately, not much progress in my journey to the 800 Club. 

          JUL:      AUG:      NOV:

EQ    748        741           743

TU     751         767          770

EX     761         759          758

November has been a NIGHTMARE!!!

-My former bestie was an authorized user (AU) on my AMEX Gold and Blue Biz Plus (BBP). She was suppose to be working on paying off her debt. Instead, she continued to make more debt. Thanks to her, I received a “RETURNED CHECK/DECLINED BANK TRANSACTIONS” message on my phone for insufficient funds regarding my AMEX BBP for a lousy $50.00 payment she attempted. I paid $103 for both that and a $53 transaction she previously made. Then I incurred a $29.00 late fee for her nonpayment on my Gold card. Thank goodness AMEX was kind enough to waive the late fee due to my excellent payment history. The final nail in the coffin was her $1,900+ balance on my Gold card when she started off a year ago at $1,000 (BTW, I don't keep balances on my credit cards). I'd had enough and I've suspended her usage on both cards all together!  I paid off her $1,900+ balance. She has never bothered talking to me about any of it.

-My mom us 91 years old and her cognitive abilities are rapidly declining. She charged nearly $1,500 on her AMEX Blue Cash Preferred (BCP) card and $880 on her Citi Custom Cash and paid only small amounts towards the balances. I paid them off and have taken over managing her bills as well as keeping her credit cards. 

-My aunt passed away (my mom’s baby sister) and both she and her last remaining sister wanted to attend the funeral. I too wanted to attend but couldn't due to work. So I paid for their flights and hotel which cost me $2,358.

-I Venmo’d my cousin $500 to help with funeral expenses which wasn't much.

-I spent $238 to send flowers on behalf of my mom and aunt, and separate flowers from me.

-My mom left her $500 cash at home that she was suppose to take with her on the trip, so I withdrew $800 from my own account and gave it to her.

-Just a week beforewe lost another family member and I spent $169 on flowers and Venmo’d $200. 

-I paid $150 fee for a locksmith and $60 for the locks themselves because my mom lost her key. 

-I also paid $525 on a Ring system; $300 for the specific yearly plan my mom insisted on having; and $650 to have it wired, repair a wiring problem in the kitchen and replace a fan with a light fixture in the kitchen. 

I'm currently just a little over a $1K shy of paying off nearly $10.5K WITHOUT touching my savings. Unfortunately these events bumped up my credit utilization. I hope December is better.