Credit Reports

[willie]

My main reason for checking is because there have been a rash of identity thefts in So. Md. recently. According to myfico, the dings against your credit only occurs when a you have applied for credit and your lender does a check. It's going to be a pain contacting these companies and not having an account number to cancel.

 

[SmallTown]

using myfico to check your own credit score no longer comes up as a "hit" against your credit rating. As well as if you shop around for a home loan or car loan, you won't be penalized for the excessive hits

This service is very good and anyone applying for a high dollar credit item (car, boat, house...) should definetly check myfico before applying.

And amount of available credit DOES have an impact on your rating. In their minds, the higher the limits, the greater the damage if you run them all up. Which is why a person with a 5K limit and 2k on the card is seen as a less risk than a person with a 20k limit and 2k on the card. This rating is based on POTENTIAL liability.

 

[Heretic]

The reason I dont believe that is because I am three years out of college, have two credit cards with over $8000 limits, $16k in student loans still to pay, $20k in a car loan still to pay and scored over 800, the max is 850 btw.

I put about $300 on credit cards every month, pay it off every month so no interest is incured, have paid back over 10k in student loans so far, and 8k on my car loan, and a $2500 personal loan.

 

[SxyPrincess]

Heretic,

It helps if you pay your balance IN FULL every month, rather than $50 payments for 15 years. The lenders want to see that you can borrow large amounts and pay them off quick and easily.

 

[willie]

Originally posted by Heretic
The reason I dont believe that is because I am three years out of college, have two credit cards with over $8000 limits, $16k in student loans still to pay, $20k in a car loan still to pay and scored over 800, the max is 850 btw.

I put about $300 on credit cards every month, pay it off every month so no interest is incured, have paid back over 10k in student loans so far, and 8k on my car loan, and a $2500 personal loan.

This doesn't compute. I don't owe anybody anything and pay off my 3 credit cards monthly. The 11 accounts I didn't know I had have not had any activity for years and my score was 769. That seems like a big penalty for not using cards.

 

[Heretic]

Not owing someone is actually a bad thing....remember creditors are in buisness to make money off you, not to give you assistance purchaceing something. I have and pay alot of bills but am never late, therefore they see me as more of an opportunity to make money off.

Believe it or not credit cards dont have as big of an impact (a good one atleast) as other loans do.

The one thing that I tought may hurt me never showed up on my report....one of those damn record clubs just would not let me cancel membershit and kept sending CD's to an address I didnt live at anymore.

 

[Ponytail]

Originally posted by SmallTown


And amount of available credit DOES have an impact on your rating. In their minds, the higher the limits, the greater the damage if you run them all up. Which is why a person with a 5K limit and 2k on the card is seen as a less risk than a person with a 20k limit and 2k on the card. This rating is based on POTENTIAL liability.

Exactly. I have 4 cards. Only two are active though, one is my Corporate card. The other active two though have limits of $14,000 each. I didn't know that. When I getteh credit card bill, I look at the charges, and pay the bill. That's it. Seems as I did that, the company graciously upped my available credit. it KILLED my credit rating. But I squeaked by.

 

[SxyPrincess]

Who can help?

I know someone who had a debt of only a few hundred dollars, but it's been completely paid off for over a year. Other than this blemish, his credit looks good.

He wrote the company (who he once owed money) and asked that they delete their negative response from his credit report, which they told him they won't do.

I know after 7* years it will go away, but is there anything he can do to get it deleted now?

 

[cattitude]

You really have to fight with them to get it removed (sometimes). It really doesn't matter if it's there unless you are applying for a loan. What works is if you get a letter of payment from the actualy company that you paid off and show that to the lender at the time of application for the loan.

 

[willie]

Originally posted by cattitude
You really have to fight with them to get it removed (sometimes). It really doesn't matter if it's there unless you are applying for a loan. What works is if you get a letter of payment from the actualy company that you paid off and show that to the lender at the time of application for the loan.

The report I got said it was for the last 30 years. It listed an open credit card that hadn't been used since 1988. I never really understood how that 7 years deal worked.