@GApeachy wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Here we are half way through the day of September 1st and no one has joined me
Lol! It's the heat Dinosaur......if I had remembered I'd joined you sooner, promise.
So are those new windows saving you some cold-hard ca$h with cooling?
Just put the windows in two weeks ago (very hot out) but not enough time to evaluate. As to the cold, it dropped to the 50's outside with winds up to 25+ mph and they really are helping to stop the drafting!!! Got'ta love it! As another poster mentioned part of the year we live the -10 to -30 degrees F day and night so heating becomes the big item in this frozen arctic forest! 
@Anonymous wrote:
As another poster mentioned part of the year we live the -10 to -30 degrees F day and night so heating becomes the big item in this frozen arctic forest!
Glad it stopped the drafts. Yeah, I remember your posts about some negative degree weather this last go-round, yikes!!!!! I'd die.
@GApeachy on behalf of your Avatar I ate an entire Peach Pie! My grocery store has a real bakery where they do make different types of pies in addition to other bakery goods. It had been a long time since I had Peach Pie and they made a few so I took advantage and latched on to one.
@Anonymous Funny, I just ate a peach and a plum. Both were a little under ripe but still good. Peach pies are really delish when they're hot out the oven topped with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. Dang, now I want Ice Cream.
eta: @Anonymous welcome to the forum. I know what you mean about the "cash thing" and then realizing how handy credit cards can be. Good luck on your 1st mortgage and look forward to reading your score progress.
p.s. cool name
@Anonymous wrote:
@GApeachyon behalf of your Avatar I ate an entire Peach Pie! My grocery store has a real bakery where they do make different types of pies in addition to other bakery goods. It had been a long time since I had Peach Pie and they made a few so I took advantage and latched on to one.
Did'nt even offer to share
Hello y'all!
Wishing everyone is doing better!
I just noticed PenFed’s EQ FICO 9 is reporteing one month late. It updated (at least in my case) in September 1 as “updated 8/4/2020”. So, what I had for score in August, was apparently from July.
Anyway, I will be using whatever data available to update the monthly challenge until I get to buy myFICO (hopefully for October!).
From July to August, both my EX FICO 8 & 9 jumped a big leap. But my PenFed’s EQ FICO 9 dropped 16 points, and I cannot, for the life of me, pinpoint why that happened.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Scores from July to August 2020:
772 -> 781 - EX FICO 8
718 -> 763 - EX FICO 9 (via Wells Fargo)
694 <> 694 - EQ FICO 9 (via PenFed)
-------
745 <> 745 - EQ VS3 (via CK)
760 <> 760 - TU VS3 (via CK)
710 <> 710 - TU FICO 9 speculation
Scores from August to September 2020:
781 <> 781 - EX FICO 8
763 <> 763 - EX FICO 9 (via Wells Fargo)
694 -> 678 - EQ FICO 9 (via PenFed)
-------
745 -> 749 - EQ VS3 (via CK)
760 <> 760 - TU VS3 (via CK)
710 <> 710 - TU FICO 9 speculation
September is the first month I ever allow to pass a controlled amount (1%) onto the CCs bills in order to show “bill activity” beyond $0. So lets see how that plays when October & November come to be.
I’ll do this for 3 months, and see the outcome. Then do the AZEO for 3 months, and compare outcomes.
Maybe I’ll end up regularly rotating CCs within the AZEO.
As always, all suggestions and ideas are welcomed!
AU:
@GApeachy yes, I am an AU on 3 of my 5 CCs. However, I am managing my DW's CCs during these tests, so we are "n'sync".
@CreditBones wrote:so we are "n'sync".
Lol, I like that
I handle ours (mine and dh) so I guess we're "n'sync" too. 
What I'm having trouble with is not all of my AU accts. are on Equifax so I have to be careful not to get the ( 0 ) zero penalty....it's happened a couple of times now. Hope I can keep up with your updates, it'll be interesting to see how your scores respond best.
Hello everyone. First timer taking the challenge. I started to work on my credit score around June of this year after I tried to get a car loan in Feb. All denials except one. But there was lost paperwork issues at the dealership due to one of the finance guys quitting. I never did get back to them with my latest check stubs. I was dealing with a lot of family crisis with my dads health. He passed on Jun 1st and now I've taken over my mothers car paymets to help reduce her expenses.
My initial goal of improving my credit is to get a car loan to buy her car outright so everything will be in my name.
I quit a good Federal job Sept 2017 (after incuring a head trauma) knowing I would be headed to my home state to spend time with my dad. I didn't have the slightest idea how long I would be here. I started to drive Uber and Lyft to see if it was viable and an option to earn some money with out a schedule because I had no idea what would be needed of me from my parents once I returned to home state. It took 4 months to actually get me on the drivers platform.
OCT 2018 I ended up burning NFCU for 2 personal loans and a CC CO. I settled both loans for less. (I will go back and pay the difference later: Total difference still owe NFCU $481.07)
MAR 2017 CO NFCU Cash Rewards CC $9115.66- I will settle with by end of year for $2278.91, so It will stop reporting a balance and late payment. (In the future will still pay total I owe them to be back in good standing with them).
July 2020 PIFD medical bill from Sept 2018 Med Economics and they removed from my report with in 2 weeks
Still on CR:
I.C. Systems $574 for T-mobile - It doesn't say anywhere where it was last apid etc. I don't even know what it's for. I had T-mobile years ago and saw a charge for it on my credit report WHILE I was still with T-mobile in good standing. I had that one removed (It was a clericle error on thier part when they changed systems). I haven't read of any success with I.C. Systems except for one case where they sent a Validation of Debt letter. It took I.C Systems longer than 30 days to respond and they sent them a lettler saying they were removing it. Anyone have experience with I/C. Systems?
MAY 2018 I.Q. DATA Systems broken lease (I didn't give my apt complex enough notice) $6152 (over $2000 interest was added). I've researched them and they have a horrible reputation and have been sued by more than one Attorney General. There really isn't much I can do about them right now. From what I gather unless you have full payment they will only cuss you out etc.
Student loans not reporting at this time. Just shows it was sold. I logged into my MYFED etc. and have no idea who has them. Nothing has reported on them since 2018.
The Good
Mar 2018 my mother got 2 credit cards and put me as an authorized user. One of the cards I only use and am responsible for the bill. I maxed it out earlier this year due to COVID-19 (10,000 CL). Was at 100 % Utilization in MAR 2020. I've decresed it to 64%. I'll take a 36% decrease as a win. I will continue to be aggressive in getting my balance down.
July 2020 I opened a Self loan $48mo for 12 mo (after researching it). It increased my credit score right way. I paid double payments the first 2 months.
After reading here on the Forums about Discover it being the best rebuilding secured card I looked at their pre-qual. I was denied in July 2020 but it says you can check every 8 days. So I ran the pre-qual again Aug 5th and was approved for their secured card. I put $500 on it.
I do not want any of the cards with the high anual fee like Credit One.
Starting Scores June 2020 FICO8 TU 510 EQ 555 EX 502
Scores now Sept 2020 FICO8 TU 560 (50pt jump) EQ 572 (22pt jump) EX 572 (70 pt jump)
EX FICO8 AUTO 575
EX FICO2 AUTO 575
I think my improvement is really godd for 3 months tackling this.
I expect a decrease in score this month. I have to use my Capital One for some plumbing so it will report and increase in balance of around $700. I am paying $1000 on it but it wont be until 6 days after statement date. (I've already paid on it so nothing will be due at statement time).
SHORT TERM GOALS
add aother $500 to Discover it Secure
Settle NFCU CO with in 2 months
Keep decreasing my Captial One balance by $1000 a month till I reach 24% Utilization
Figure out what to do about I.C Systems T-mobile collection
Get Scores to next threshold of 580 and then 640 Threshold
Starting Score: 502