I've done it guys--THANK YOU

I began this whole process in August 2001. At that time my Eq was 630, my Ex was 681 and my TU was in the 600s (I didn't get a score until later)

I was so naive that I thought simply paying my bills would give me the highest score.

This site opened my eyes, and I began religiously following the tips I learned here.

Today, all of my scores are over 800 and this morning Eq gave me this message under negative codes:

Because your FICO score is exceptionally high, there are no actionable negative factors present with your score. Continue to manage your credit as your currently are doing to maintain your very high FICO score

UN (freakin') BELIEVABLE.

I am writing this message to encourage others. This system is something we can master if we have patience and stick with it. Thank you, thank you for all the advice I gleaned from this board.

Knowledge is power!

Calypso

 

First off-- Thanks for the congrats. This is the most generous group of people on the net.

I'll be happy to share details with everyone in a few weeks when my life settles down. Right now I am busy applying for my mortgage refi!

The amazing thing about my new reports is that they don't really look THAT different from the way they did when my scores were much lower.

In the beginning I had a couple of 30 day derogs that I got removed with the goodwill letters posted by the gurus on this board. I had never imagined that creditors would respond to those! That helped, of course, but my scores still weren't as high as I wanted.

I then set about getting rid of all the errors on my reports (and there were many!) There were duplicate accounts, accounts without credit limits, accounts showing open that were paid, accounts with incorrect limits and balances. It was a tedious pain
straightening out all that stuff. I followed the advice from others here. I was polite but persistant and I dutifully sent off my green cards and waited for the results.

The next step was aggressively paying down debt. It became my mission. Each month I knocked off another chunk. But what I didn't realize was that even my cards that I paid off in full each month were hurting me, because it looked like I owed money anyway. So that is when I started paying my bills BEFORE the end of the cycle. I only used cards that had easy online payments, so that my payments would credit quickly. Getting the balances down was the real "secret."

I also used my rising scores to ask for credit line increases (but only if they wouldn't run a hard inquiry). That helped my ratios.

Obviously, the paying down debt step was the hardest part of the process, but it definitely was the key to boosting my scores (the simulators inspired me).

If you plan to apply for a big loan (new mortgage or refi) and want the absolute highest score, I would definitely start paying down debt in advance (6 to 12 months) and pay before the cycle closes. The last, huge jumps occured when I got my balances down from 6K to under 500 dollars.

I'm so happy, not only because I know I will qualify for the lowest rate, but because I feel empowered.

Creditnet worked!