Hey Challengers! Congrats to everyone who is wrapping up the myFICO Fitness Challenge for 2012. As we gear up for the 2013 Challenge, we at myFICO thought we’d try something new this year and post a wrap up thread for folks to report their successes.
How did you do this year? Did you reach your financial goals? What successes and milestones did you achieve? Here’s the place to give yourself a much-deserved pat on the back, as well as tell us about any important lessons you may have learned along the way.
Additionally, do you have any advice for new folks who will be taking their first myFICO Fitness Challenge in 2013? If so, you can post your wise words here!
We’ll be posting the new myFICO Fitness Challenge thread on January 1st – and we've got some new features in store for you, including optional monthly check-ins to help keep you on track. So get ready to ramp up, and make 2013 the year you take control of your finances and achieve your credit goals!
According to the orginal thread, my goal was:
webhopper wrote in January 2012:My goal is to have 750 in the next 24 months!!!
So far in 2012 I've positioned myself to do just that! Here are some milestones that I accomplished this year:
January: Got an inaccurate 2010 chargeoff tradeline from Santander deleted from Credit Report, with mortgage broker's help. (The account was purchased by Santander and it was Settled in Full in 2009)
Closed on a new home!!
February: App spree for new cards, only had 1 credit card at the time. I picked up: Amex Zync, Chase Amazon Visa, and Amazon store card
March: Joined NFCU through my husband. Refinanced my truck, going from 7.5% to 4% interest. Picked up NFCU Cash Rewards credit card.
April: Joined the Garden Club and Gardened my heart out!
May: Gardened
June: Researched the judgment from the 2009 auto account that was Settled in Full account from the courthouse and realized that this judgment had been dismissed.
Sent disputes along with copies of the court's dismissal to get the judgment removed. Removed Judgment from EQ, and TU!
July: Applied to refinance my investment property.
August: Gardening
September: Applied and approved for NavCheck 15k
October: Closed on the refinance, went from 6.125% to 3.75%. Applied and approved for NFCU new auto loan: 1.79% interest on 45k loan. Ordered the car through overseas delivery 
November: Gardened. Re-disputed judgment with EX... Judgment removed from EX!
December: Gardened, handed over the NFCU loan check, my new car's VIN number was available
In 2013: I have several baddies that are due to fall off, including a 90 day late on a WF credit card account, and a 30 day late on a Nissan Motor Account.
I plan to apply for Amex PRG and Amex Lowes in January. Also flying to Sweden in January to pick up my new car!
Overall: 2012 has been an exceptional year and I have been truly blessed! (*feel a tear coming on*) I feel as though my 2013 goal of reaching 750 is acheivable if I maintain my accounts correctly, keep utilization low, and allow hard inquiries from this year to age off! 2012 was more about strategy and taking advantage of low rates. 2013 will hopefully be marked by the score jumps that go along with maintaining and gardening
I'm blessed to have the wonderful folks on this forum to rely on for good advice!
My advice to new members as you make and pursue your 2013 goals: Be realistic in your goal, make it acheivable! Be persistant in pursuiding your goal, never give up! Try again if it doesn't work the first time! Don't lose sight of the $$ that you can be saving, use strategy to make your good credit work for you and save you $$!
Good luck to all in 2013!
FICO 9: 
Filed Chapter 13 on 6/1/2017 after job loss. Discharged 6/1/2022.
Goal: Gardening!
Filed Chapter 13 on 6/1/2017 after job loss. Discharged 6/1/2022.
Goal: Gardening!
My goal is to be above 760 on all 3 by the end of 2013
2012 accomplishments:
Raised my score over 100 points
Got new CCs for the first time in years!
Cap1
Barclays
Citi
Walmart
Lowes
Made moderator on myFICO!!!!!!
Have been trying to pay it forward.
Learned how to make my credit work for me, and hopefully how to never put myself in the same situation I was before.
Wishing everyone the best of luck and many Happy Dances!
July 2013 score: EQ FICO 819, TU08 778, EX "806 lender pull 07/26/2013
Goal Score: All Scores 760+, Newest goal 800+
Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge
Current scores after adding $81K in CLs and 2 new cars since July 2013
EQ:809 TU 777 EX 790 Now it's just garden time!
June 2017 update: All scores over 820, just pure gardening now.
2012 starting score: 484
as of 12/18/12: score 566. up 82 points!
my goal was to make it to 620. Maybe next year. I'm still happy with my 86 point rebound.
Even though I just joined a few months ago I have learned so much. My score shot up close to 65-70 points. Mostly due to bringing down my utilization from 80% down to below 30%. I applied and got a credit card I have been wanting for years and I also got a Walmart and Victoria Secret card with the shopping cart trick and no HP.
I am happy with what I have accomplished and look forward to spending some time in the Garden while paying down more debt.
One of the things I have learned is patience.. Gardening and working on credit takes time and patience. It will not happen overnight.
I am happy with what I have accomplished and look forward to spending some time in the Garden while paying down more debt.
One of the things I have learned is patience.. Gardening and working on credit takes time and patience. It will not happen overnight.
Starting Score: EQ 717 EX 724 TU 736
copied and pasted from this thread....
Might as well add my review.
Before 2012 Start:
Start of credit history
Best Buy: Opened 10/10/10- 2500 limit (with mom as joint account holder with a bk discharge in 07')
Macy's: Opened 12/20/10 100 limit:
2012: And Beyond
Jan 5th: apped kohls approved for 400-still there. sd for now.
feb:apped for chase/citi and cabelas; all denied for not enough revolving accounts
fast forward to june
Started working for bank- opened accounts there they pulled my credit, one for openeing account(it's interest bearing) go figure, and then again for a cc app i did for the employee card 500 limit
July was a busy month as well.
Ae-apped in store-400 girl said was a good limit with a smile lol- now 700
Chase Freedom-Approved 500 limit- still there
walmart-approved for store card- 800 limit- now 5k after 2 increases 3k to 5k
macy's in june noticed they started reporting limits. as stated was 100 dollars then it was 2k in june never told me since i get estatements and dont use the account-cli to 3.5k this month
then i was good in the garden for a little over a month and then aug 30th came.
I GOT A NEW CAR
so toyota finance and the dealership pulled all three of my reports each
then citizens pulled all three of my reports for a od line of credit was denied for lack of credit history but spit out a 726 score but was pre approved for a 2k card- no pull for that
and my last app was amex for the zync- approved
December-Pre approved for a 5k card at work via soft pull.
took that
2013+ Goals
cli on freedom
cli on 5k card from work to 10k
costco te from amex with backdate(think ill wait until 2014 for this though)
close smaller limit cards. (kohls(no wiggle room for a cli, dont even really shop there-i actually applied for this because i didnt want my mom to have another card lol(surprised i got approved) , ae(they have a visa version but no rewards whatsoever) , citizens bank(lower limit ones)
Keeping my util=< 5%
so essentialy want to have my zync, costco te, Freedom Visa Sig, My work MC 5k + and an upgrade to wm discover(if only to pc to a discover it(which i know it isnt possible).
im young=21, working, college student. no baddies and planning on buying a house/condo in the next 5 years.
but then again that could all change tommorrow.
edit/adding: so i went from 2600 in credit to almost 20k (19900) and a new car. (installment loan for 10k lease over 3 years) (putting away 100 dollars extra a week to buy a new car outright before lease is up (another car is more likely)
went from a 16.6k job pre tax, to a 32k pre tax not including bonus/pre tax 401k dedutcion + matched by employer)
I guess I am very disappointed for 2012, so I will just keep working in 2013
I was able to get my credit score up from 580 to 689 from Jan '12 - May '12, then is seemed that no one wanted me to have that score because it dropped back to 589 and has stayed there. I just sit shaking my head.
I did buy a car in March 2012, but that didn't seem to affect my score. My pets old vet sold his office and the new staff apparently decided to go through some old books and just present a bunch to collection without checking the files properly. Apparently they have another customer, with a minor spelling difference in the name, that had a dog that they never paid the vet bill for. They are charging me for a dog that isn't mine from forever ago. I called the vet, and my records show that I ALWAYS paid for my services when rendered. I also told them that I never owned the dog in question, and the address listed for the dog was not mine. I ask them to contact the collection agency, and she told me NO, that once they were given to collection she couldn't do that. So, its on my credit report. How do you prove that you never owned a dog that you are being billed for? Amazing!!!! I was a customer of theirs for over 10 years, so I am speechless. New vet brought in new staff, so I don't know any of them.
Also, my mortgage was bought in 2006 by one of those big multi faceted mortgage trust buyouts. Deutshe, JPMorgan, Capital, etc. When I started making my payments they were being sent back to me with another address to mail it to. I sent payments to Utah, and was told to send them to NC, NC told me to send them to Ohio, etc. The end result was that by the time I was given the proper address, my check for the three months mortgage payments was returned because they said they had started foreclosure. I called and explained that I had been mailing checks and they were returned, gave them all of the addresses, etc, and their response was that they were just the servicing company, not the note holder. I immediately went to an attorney with all of the documentation, thank goodness I kept it. 18 months later we go to mediation and without even asking they lowered my interest rate, removed all the penalties, etc, and I was elated. Until they didn't follow through with the mediation agreement, and I had no idea how much or where to mail my payments. After two orders by the court to enforce the mediation agreement, they still did not comply, so we filed a dismissal motion, and it was granted Dec. 2010. Dismiss with Prejudice due to failing to comply with 2 court orders, and the bank contacting me directly and not through my attorney, happened Jan 2011. However, now they have refiled another foreclosure, which my attornay has ask to be dismissed. Nightmare.....but I knew it couldn't be over with the dismiss with prejudice. Something in my gut just said no one gets a $200K mortgage wiped off the books, even though I did everything I could to correct THEIR mistake with wrong addresses, and willingness to make good on the missed payments, it was a three year nightmare of not knowing if I could keep my house, even though I had never missed a payment. There are two attorneys as co-counsel on this for free because they said they have never seen anything like this before. Of course, I have to pay my attorney, but she is still trying to get my legal fees reimbursed from the three year nightmare, which is probably close to $10-$15K. The dismissal order does say that I can get legal fees, but they never paid them. If the tables were turned, and I did not comply with court orders, I would be on the street.
Needless to say, I have to deal with the credit bureau's through this, and they would not even remove the previous foreclosure even though it was dismissed with prejudice. My credit reports looks like I have been dealing with a foreclosure since 2007. It was not affecting my score as much due to the aging, but the new filing in September 2012 did, and all the effort I made to get my score up vanished. I thought credit agencies had to remove negative items that were dismissed with prejudice, but apparently not.
I guess I continue into 2013 still fighting the fight, but I am about to throw in the towel.
Well, I got a few prime cards finally and got Amex backdated to 1993 which really helped. And I got one score up to that 800 mark! I can't complain.
Well my scores rose another 60 pts at there highest point.... Closed on my first home on 4/30/12!!!! but since then my scores have dropped a little bit... I will work on raising them to the 740s in 2k13
