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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 are 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-judgement 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!
Gained a few points looking at my scores on my 3B pull. I've continued to gradually reduce utilization.
Payed off my Chase Freedom Flex to below zero (-$2.50) the other day. It was over $4k a few months ago. The 0% introductory interest rate expires later this month.
Still carrying balances on the Autograph and the Evergreen, and now the Custom Cash - all of which are 0% interest.
Revolving utilization is 11%, down from 13% last month. That's partially due to reducing my debt a little and largely due to increasing my aggregate credit limit through limit increses and the addition of one more card.
My garden needs work.
My scores have dipped down due to some spur of the moment inquiries. Also i have a small $500 affirm loan that reported, so hoping to recover those point losses and gain a few in the next couple months. November i plan on asking for a 3X CLI with Amex and this month asking Discover, since both are soft pulls. I have racked up my balances quite a bit but still under 30% each card. I will be paying the statement balances for my Sapphire and Discover card to avoid interest on those.
@Mdowning30 wrote:My scores have dipped down due to some spur of the moment inquiries. Also i have a small $500 affirm loan that reported, so hoping to recover those point losses and gain a few in the next couple months. November i plan on asking for a 3X CLI with Amex and this month asking Discover, since both are soft pulls. I have racked up my balances quite a bit but still under 30% each card. I will be paying the statement balances for my Sapphire and Discover card to avoid interest on those.
DISCO rarely grants CLI's prior to 6 months history and even then it's far and few in between. They normally like to start granting at 1 year.
@bigseegar wrote:
@Mdowning30 wrote:My scores have dipped down due to some spur of the moment inquiries. Also i have a small $500 affirm loan that reported, so hoping to recover those point losses and gain a few in the next couple months. November i plan on asking for a 3X CLI with Amex and this month asking Discover, since both are soft pulls. I have racked up my balances quite a bit but still under 30% each card. I will be paying the statement balances for my Sapphire and Discover card to avoid interest on those.
DISCO rarely grants CLI's prior to 6 months history and even then it's far and few in between. They normally like to start granting at 1 year.
True, but . . .
When I got mine, people said Disco would not grant CLIs in the first year. But a few months later they apparently loosened up on that a little. I heard of people getting them in well under a year. So I started making monthly request starting at 5 months. I got my first one at 7 months, and another at 8 months, and another at 10 months. So three CLIs in the first year. Unfortunately it stopped at that time. It's been nearly a year without another CLI. I guess they figure they got me up to where I need to be. (And the double bonus first year ended so I stopped spending as much on that card, lol.)
So, you might not get an increase, but then again, you might.
Checking in,
July saw a lot of activity so August 9th, I officially hit the garden. Saw a small score bump. Middle score at 660, highest score at 687.
Fico9s looking pretty good as well. Middle score at 684 and highest at 695.
Thanks! See you all next month, here and in the garden club.
@bigseegar @mgood I have read that people are getting some Disco love before 6 months, some even after 4 months.
I am failing utterly at my stated goal of slimming my card collection. I've acquired seven cards in the last 24 months, and while some of these are great cards for other people, none are providing me more than a marginal return. I feel a wee ridiculous about the whole thing. So, in order to turn things around, I'm gardening. I'm staying off this site, and I'm gardening. I tend to acquire cards in October and February (why these months, I don't know), so if I can make it through the next five months without applying, then I will hope to have broken the cycle.
Best wishes to each of you in your goals.
As expected my EX dropped 12 points (745>733) now that my Altitude Go reported. TU isn't updated but I'm expecting a similar drop. I'm sure I'm getting dinged for the inquiry (TU), new account and high individual utilization. Still pleased (finances over FICO!), only thing that will help is time. On the positive side was able to pay off my small Upstart loan, so should get a minor bump for that next month.