Ask me anything about your Credit Score

[SHnewbie]

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Also, one other question. Due to a lack of immediate access to money over the last couple/few months, my credit card balances grew considerably. I now have access to my online accounts again and have paid off the credit card balances. How long will this take to have a positive affect on my credit score and how big of an increase can paying off the entire balances have in, say, a one month time frame? I paid off a credit card at 70% total balance...this credit card represented probably around 20-25% of my total available credit.

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I thought you might need one more piece of info here. My credit score has dropped probably to the low 700-730 range. It used to be considerably higher. I would appreciate any insight you might have on how the above would impact a score in this range as I am applying for a mortgage shortly.

[SossMan]

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[ QUOTE ]
Also, one other question. Due to a lack of immediate access to money over the last couple/few months, my credit card balances grew considerably. I now have access to my online accounts again and have paid off the credit card balances. How long will this take to have a positive affect on my credit score and how big of an increase can paying off the entire balances have in, say, a one month time frame? I paid off a credit card at 70% total balance...this credit card represented probably around 20-25% of my total available credit.

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought you might need one more piece of info here. My credit score has dropped probably to the low 700-730 range. It used to be considerably higher. I would appreciate any insight you might have on how the above would impact a score in this range as I am applying for a mortgage shortly.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry, must have missed this one the first time around...nice psuedo bump..lol

You get benefit for getting the balance below 75%/50%/30% of the limit. You get the max benefit for paying it to below 30%. Basically, 30% is the same as paying it off from a score perspective. Organically, it will take until the next time the CC company reports to the bureaus, so it can be anywhere from 1-30 days. You can ask your mortgage broker to do what is called a 'flash rescore' which basically takes the evidence that your balance has changed and they will update the report and re-score immediately. It usually costs a little bit, but would be worth it if it changes your mortgage rate at all.

Good luck, and let me know if you want me to double check your good faith estimate for you to make sure you aren't getting screwed.

[BradleyT]

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i am not credit savvy, and did not realize that there are different types of scores. looking now i see the number quoted is based on a scale of 330-830. oh well. i assume it is qualitatively accurate, which is enough to quell my curiosity.

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GL cancelling...I've heard horror stories...make sure to get it in writing.

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seriously? crap. i just got off the phone (i didn't originally realize that they are on the west coast), and although they were quite annoying, i only had to say "no thanks, i'd still like to cancel" 5 or 6 times. that you advise getting it in writing makes me nervous.

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I did the freecreditreport.com thing about 3-4 years ago. I phoned in my cancellation after 2 weeks. Two weeks later i was charged the $119 annual fee. When I got my CC bill two weeks later I called them and talked to a stupidvisor who said she would personally cancel my subscription and refund my money within 48 hours. Two weeks later I did a chargeback with my credit card company and got my money back that way.

I've heard numerous stories similar to mine when dealing with that site.

[squiffy]

You can supposedly get one free credit report a year. But is that one combined report from all three agencies. Or can I just request one from each agency and space them say 4 months apart, so that I can roughly monitor my credit score 3 times a year, for free. I understand that the three scores are not identical. So I would only be checking my credit at each agency once a year. But I thought it might be good to spread out the free checking, if possible.

[Stark]

I have 4 credit cards, I use 3 of them consistently, i.e. at least one of them once a day, so I believe I am carrying a balance every month. I pay them all in full each and every month. The 4th credit card I never use, it has had 0 balance every month for the last year, it is also my longest credit card I have held (it started out as a secured credit card). By not using this 4th credit card is it effecting my credit score at all? If I start putting a small balance on it every month and paying it off like my other credit cards will it start having a positive impact on my credit score, such an impact that it is worth doing in spite of keeping track of yet another card?

Also, my credit score has stayed at 650-700 over the past year, and I can't seem to get it to move despite carrying 4 credit accounts, and student loans; paying everyone on time. I quit my job and got a new one several months later, I also missed one payment on a car loan several years ago. Besides those two things I can't think of anything else that is negative, maybe I moved around the last 3 years, not sure how much of an impact that has, but any insight on how these things have effected or not effected my score?

Thanks in advance and can this thread be a sticky, it's awesome if we keep it rolling.

[PBJaxx]

Soss,

This is a great thread, and I really appreciate what you are doing here.

A few years back I was a victim of a fraudulant charge on my first CC (Capital One, of course). I hadn't used the card in several years and didn't notice the charge. All said and done, I ended up with 150 days past due on an $80 charge. Capital One told me that I couldn't report it as fraud as it had been past 90 days, etc. I paid the card off in full (with many late charges at this point), but it is still reported as a charge-off. I have a letter from ~2 yrs ago saying that it would be reported as "paid in full," but it still says charge-off. They say there is nothing they can do about it.

I have a mortgage, a car loan, student loans, CCs, etc. I am on time with ALL of my payments, but this one big mark holds my credit score down in the mid-high 600s. It is so unfortunate as it was fraud. Granted, it was my responsibility to monitor my balance; that lesson has been learned. What can I do at this point? The account has been closed for 2 years or so. I went to www.annualcreditreport.com, but I am not sure how to proceed. Should I file a dispute to all agencies? Just for the charge-off, or for the late payments too?

Thanks again!

[SossMan]

[ QUOTE ]
You can supposedly get one free credit report a year. But is that one combined report from all three agencies. Or can I just request one from each agency and space them say 4 months apart, so that I can roughly monitor my credit score 3 times a year, for free. I understand that the three scores are not identical. So I would only be checking my credit at each agency once a year. But I thought it might be good to spread out the free checking, if possible.

[/ QUOTE ]

www.annualcreditreport.com

should answer all your questions.

[squiffy]

I have an old line of credit for 7,500 opened in 1994. Never used. It's at 11.75%, so I would never draw on it. Lots of credit available much cheaper these days.

Two questions.

I want to close it down because I have been trying to do some credit card arbitrage with 0% interest offers. I assume that if I leave it open, it will reduce the amount of credit card issuers are willing to extend, because it shows on the credit report as high interest credit that I could tap.

Second, if I remove it, will it hurt my score because it has a long history and reduces my credit limit to used credit ratio. Or will it have no effect because I have never drawn down on it?

Thanks!

[SossMan]

[ QUOTE ]
I have 4 credit cards, I use 3 of them consistently, i.e. at least one of them once a day, so I believe I am carrying a balance every month. I pay them all in full each and every month. The 4th credit card I never use, it has had 0 balance every month for the last year, it is also my longest credit card I have held (it started out as a secured credit card). By not using this 4th credit card is it effecting my credit score at all? If I start putting a small balance on it every month and paying it off like my other credit cards will it start having a positive impact on my credit score, such an impact that it is worth doing in spite of keeping track of yet another card?

Also, my credit score has stayed at 650-700 over the past year, and I can't seem to get it to move despite carrying 4 credit accounts, and student loans; paying everyone on time. I quit my job and got a new one several months later, I also missed one payment on a car loan several years ago. Besides those two things I can't think of anything else that is negative, maybe I moved around the last 3 years, not sure how much of an impact that has, but any insight on how these things have effected or not effected my score?

Thanks in advance and can this thread be a sticky, it's awesome if we keep it rolling.

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First off...sounds like you are doing fine.

Using the 4th card would be a great idea, especially if it's the oldest one. It's not hurting your score, but using it will help increase your length of credit.

It sounds like your score is stuck simply because of time and length of accounts. I would also caution you to be careful about the number of inquiries since it sounds like you are checking it often.

[SossMan]

[ QUOTE ]
Soss,

This is a great thread, and I really appreciate what you are doing here.

A few years back I was a victim of a fraudulant charge on my first CC (Capital One, of course). I hadn't used the card in several years and didn't notice the charge. All said and done, I ended up with 150 days past due on an $80 charge. Capital One told me that I couldn't report it as fraud as it had been past 90 days, etc. I paid the card off in full (with many late charges at this point), but it is still reported as a charge-off. I have a letter from ~2 yrs ago saying that it would be reported as "paid in full," but it still says charge-off. They say there is nothing they can do about it.

I have a mortgage, a car loan, student loans, CCs, etc. I am on time with ALL of my payments, but this one big mark holds my credit score down in the mid-high 600s. It is so unfortunate as it was fraud. Granted, it was my responsibility to monitor my balance; that lesson has been learned. What can I do at this point? The account has been closed for 2 years or so. I went to www.annualcreditreport.com, but I am not sure how to proceed. Should I file a dispute to all agencies? Just for the charge-off, or for the late payments too?

Thanks again!

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Dispute it on www.annualcreditreport.com. Since it's paid off they may not respond to the 30 day limit and you might be in the clear. Otherwise, you will simply have to wait for it to go away.

If you have the letter saying that it should be paid in full, you should be able to get a credit suppliment if that doesn't work. I use www.calcoastcredit.com .

Good luck.