Wow! WOW!

So I've been resisting the urge to buy another credit score until today.. I hate when I spend money on such an instant gratification sort of thing.
So here they are, I'm so excited.. I just can't hide it.. err.. :)

TU - 769 (8/6/08)
Eq - 752 (8/2/08, supposed to update like daily but they changed their product and I never quite know for sure..)
Exp - 782 (7/16/08)

I've heard they use middle score for mortgages which puts me above 760! TU jumped like 20 points in two months. I know an inquiry fell off but other than that I don't think anything happened.. My car loan updated and it's now 6 months..? Another account aged a year but it's closed, the car loan I had before refinancing..

One thing I did notice is they have a new address reporting in the previous address section. It's an odd combination of my old address and new address. WTF? I hope someone's not um, stealing my identity or something. I printed off a dispute letter so I guess I'll mail that in.

Monthly Update

Build emergency fund to 6 mo expenses - 98.6% (Up .3%)
Pay off car loan - 9.3% (Up 1.5%)
Pay off student loan - 7.3% (Up .2%)
House down payment -10% (Up 5.6%)

Yay, good month. Look, progress on the SL..hehe.

I'm having a really hard time fleshing out the emergency fund.
1- It's so much more fun to put money in the house DP fund, y'know?
2- About half of the remainder should be coming in interest over the next 8 months (when I plan to start looking at houses seriously).
3- I've been trying to hitch my bank account to my Schwab account so transfers are easier. I just got word that it is set up but the letter says I have to call to take advantage of the option. And when I meant easier, I mean I could push a few buttons on the computer at 10pm on a Sunday night... not get out of my recliner, pick up the phone, dial the number, speak with a representative..blah blah blah..

Anyway, maybe I need to make that the goal for August - fill up the e-fund.

Credit Scores

Woohoo! I was pleasantly surprised to find the credit score I get through Scorewatch is the middle score. I bought Transunion in June - 743 and bought the other e-one in July at 782. 782! That makes my goal of 760+ by Feb/Apr of 2009 more attainable! My Scorewatch score is 747. I've heard they use the middle one so that's only 13 points.

Now I just have to resist the temptation to keep buying these things. The only thing I know should help bump them up is a couple of inquiries falling off. A couple fell off in June. One should be rolling off in December. The next two to go would be in Feb and May of 2009.

Other than that I don't think there's much I can do except keep on keeping on. No lates, no high utilization.

I wish there was a product like Scorewatch which included all three reports.. Shucks.

Monthly Update

Build emergency fund to 6 mo expenses - 98.3% (Down 2.5%)
Pay off car loan - 7.8 (Up 1.6%)
Pay off student loan - 7.1% (No Change)
House down payment - 4.4% (Up 3.3%)

Okay, with the end of June I decided it was a good time to re-evaluate the emergency fund. I've been shooting for 6 months of expenses so I had to up it a bit. Even though I added money (a little), my progress percent went down.

Yay, the car loan seems to be moving quickly with the bi-weekly payments and the low interest rate.

Also, the down payment is going well. I'm thinking about adjusting the total goal down since I will probably start shopping when I have 3% down + expected closing costs. I was originally shooting for more like 5-6% down and closing costs but, too anxious and on the surface I would qualify for a WHEDA loan with reduced PMI and low down payment and slightly advantaged interest rate with only 3%. That does give me a narrow range I expect to be able to afford so if I adjust the goal down and can't find anything when I hit it, I'll just have to keep saving..

I'm looking forward to July as August is a 3 pay check month. The way I work my checks, the extra from August will mostly "hit" in July. I've been using the current month's check for next month's expenses. I don't know if that makes sense but it works for me..

Credit Scores

Two things..

I've been watching one score over time so I decided to splurge on a one-time look at another score. It was only two points off the one I'm watching so that was comforting.

The score I've been watching went up 4 points last month and 7 points this month. There weren't any explanations attached but I have a couple theories. This month I paid off both cards right before the statements so the balances were low and zero. Also, I think inquiries for my car loans should start falling off any time now. I think they stay for a year and I bought my car last June.

Normally I wouldn't care about such trivial things, but my score's at 748 now (one of them, one close behind, third unknown) and I'm ultimately aiming for 760+. 7 points could mean a difference in rates at mortgage time. So I've learned to pay off my cards right before the statement, and not request anymore credit. It's almost silly.. in the past number of months my card has had no more than $300 balance when the statement goes out, which coordinates with when the score changes come through. $300 is like, not even 4% of my combined credit limits.. Sheesh.

Monthly Update

Build emergency fund to 6 mo expenses - 100.8% (Up 10.5%)
Pay off car loan - 6.2% (Up 1.5%)
Pay off student loan - 7.1% (Up .3%)
House down payment - 1.1% (Up 1.1%)

Woohoo! See that? Thanks to the economic stimulus package and the usual savings my emergency fund goal is met!

I had paid ahead on my student loan about 5 or 6 months and I'm letting that catch up a bit, just covering interest in May. At this point I'd rather put it in the down payment fund. I'd really like to pay extra on the car loan but that would seriously hinder the down payment savings and I'm getting very anxious. Also, at the great rate it is at, I really think I should pay no extra until I'm ready to pay the whole thing off - preserve my liquidity as much as possible and all that.

I also had a good month lawn-mowing and teaching knitting classes.

May Update

Build emergency fund to 6 mo expenses - 90.3% (Up 4.6%)
Pay off car loan - 4.7% (Up 1.6%)
Pay off student loan - 6.8% (Up .1%)

The emergency fund had a good month and my credit score is holding steady.

In big news, my net worth is now positive!! How exciting..