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RE: credit report / score or fishing expedition?

Postby bogey » Wed Nov 18, 2009 02:30:44 PM

monteyloree - i would think that a credit rating of 800 would be "very good" not just "isn't bad" - i do make sure to pay down my cc's every month so I don't carry a balance

bill k . lecter - but i read that closing down a cc can be bad for one's rating too

seems i might be stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place...

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RE: credit report / score or fishing expedition?

Postby montyloree » Wed Nov 18, 2009 10:07:00 AM

having said that , there are always exceptions..
I have 10 or so credit cards, all with healthy available credit, and I keep them paid off every month.. My credit score is usually close to 800..
I'm sure it would go higher if I had less credit, but 800 isn't bad...

If you're carrying balances and have high available credit, that will affect your credit scores... it tells the creditor that you need the credit and that you can't pay it off.
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RE: credit report / score or fishing expedition?

Postby Bill K. Lecter » Wed Nov 18, 2009 09:57:48 AM

"one of the credit card companies said that having too much available credit on your credit cards could be detrimental"

This is true. When determining the risk of granting credit for an installment loan or mortgage they will take your High Credit (sum of all credit limits) into account. If you can't afford all your regular monthly expenditures + 3% of your HC value, they will probably not lend.

So if you have a lot of credit cards you don't use, you should consider closing some of them.
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RE: credit report / score or fishing expedition?

Postby bogey » Tue Nov 03, 2009 02:27:36 PM

Good advice re: the Home Depot and HBC credit cards. I'll just put them away and never use them.

I was granted a bit more credit on a couple of cards and one of the people at one of the credit card companies said that having too much available credit on your credit cards could be detrimental when applying for a mortgage or car loan as it could make me look risky as I have all this access to credit.

I'm starting to think that this credit score and reporting is all a bunch of malarkey. There seems to be no science to it. Much more how the credit card company and/or bank feels that day or week.

One credit card company said; "It's now our policy to NOT extend any more credit to anyone at this time."

I won't say which card it is, but it's a CAPITAL idea.

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RE: credit report / score or fishing expedition?

Postby rickstarr » Tue Nov 03, 2009 01:23:11 PM

I definitely think you should get both of your reports. Don't worry about them fishing for any information; they are only trying to verify information that would already be on your reports. Just make sure you are at the official websites for Transunion and Equifax and not one that is fake. You need to know what is on those reports and if anything is inaccurate or fixable. Late payments can sometimes be removed by way of writing a "goodwill" letter to the creditor, see this thread for some examples of letters I've written in the past with success:

/threadview/2186.html

If I were you I would leave the HBC and Home Depot cards open. Closing them will reduce your available credit, which in turn will negatively impact your credit score. (At least in the short term.) Probably not by very much but it's just easier to leave them open and never use them, or even carry a small balance on them (ie: less than 30%).

Again, you won't drag up anything old that isn't already there. In fact, there may be items on your report that ought to have been removed by now, TransUnion is notorious for "forgetting" to purge derogatory items that have been around for longer than 7 years (or whatever the time limits are in your area) and sometimes need a reminder.

Good luck!
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credit report / score or fishing expedition?

Postby bogey » Sat Oct 31, 2009 06:38:07 AM

Today I tried to order online credit score reports from both Equifax and TransUnion.

I entered my home address (10 yr), name, SIN, TransUnion asked for driver's licence

Equifax said I need to "call them" as my info. wasn't sufficient.

TransUnion asked for at least one credit card. I entered one, then it kept repeating the message; "we need at least one credit card." I entered 4 in total and it still wanted my HBC and Home Depot card.

At this point I was suspicious that this might just be a fishing expedition from both credit bureaus for more info. than they have on file.

I do have one "settled" credit card from about 5 years ago and even though it was settled with the credit card people, it was sent to collections, and is still on my bureau by the collection agency. (a few years ago I got a free mailed report from Equifax) I tried to tell Equifax, via mail, that the account was settled with the credit card, but they wouldn't adjust my report, so after 2 attempts to get them to change my report, I gave up and decided to let sleeping dogs lie.

I have a letter from the credit card company indicating the account was settled and did have to provide that letter before getting my mortgages.

Am I being paranoid that entering all the info. the bureaus are looking for might stir the pot and might start collection calls?

I have worked very hard to repair my credit and I've been diligent about paying all my cc's on time and never missed a mortgage payment, slowly working from one cc and then getting others and asking for credit increases from time to time.

I now have 4 major credit cards with available credit over $27K and HBC and Home Depot card, and a $100K mortgage at 2.85%.

I never use the HBC or Home Depot card. Should I cancel them or will it reflect negatively on my bureau?

Do I really need to get my credit score / report? Will it help me or perhaps drag up a skeleton?

Any advice would be appreciated.
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