Posted: 10/25/2006 1:16:30 PM EDT
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The short version is this. I had 2 seperate credit card accounts head south rather quickly this year as a result of two primary things. One was carrying too large of a balance on them. The other was two seperate instances of bank fraud that emptied my checking and savings accounts TWICE, two months apart. The "fix" was VERY slow thanks to Bank of America...but ultimately it got taken care of. My credit history is flawless other than these two events happening this year. Flawless. However my score took a nose dive in July and after pulling the report I could see only two accounts responsible...these to cards. Since then, I have paid off EVERY debt I had...to the tune of about $14,000. I literally don't owe a nickle to anyone....other than my mortgage...which is paid on time, every time. Car is paid in full and I have a zero balance now on EVERYTHING. Today I go to check my credit score and it's the SAME score it was back in July! How do I get in contact with someone...anyone and these agencies to discuss this and get my score back up? I want to refinance my home, but doing it at this point would be stupid, when my score should reflect this zero debt and on time payments for everything situation? Its stunning how fast and why my score dropped. Equally as stunning is the "speed" at which erasing 14k in debt and zero balances on all accounts gets reflected back on my score. Does anyone know how or who can address this? What's the approach? I tried getting in touch with someone at each reporting agency, but it's not an easy thing to. Any help would be appreciated. |
| OK.. late payments and defaults stay on your record even though you've paid off the account..Unless you negotiate the blemishes' removal prior to the payoff.You can try contesting that you were never late to begin with..If the accounts are paid off they may not spend the time and labor to fight with you.. since there's no money in it for them..this has actually worked for me SEVERAL times |
You pull up the reports and check the info yet? Sometimes it takes a little while. BTW, I paid off my minivan and my student loan early this year and it didn't bump up more than 20 points |
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A little quick aside for the future. You can request that the three big credit bureaus let you put an explanation of what happened with the credit reporting from your stolen accounts. If this is your only blemish then when you apply for a loan/credit card in the future lenders will be able to read your side of the story on the bad entry. It doesn't really help with your question, but it will help to undue some collateral damage... |
This may also be contributing to the falling score. I've been told that there needs to be a balance to show an active account. Even if it is 10$, it shows an active account. With an empty account it shows no credit activity therefore no credit score movement. One lesson however I did learn is to READ the fineprint before cancelling a card. Your score can drop if the card company doesn't get a written cancellation of some cards. Personally I think that the credit reporting system is a scam but unavoidable for certain purchases. (House,etc) Perhaps a small balance will help things swing upward. 
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| I use MyFico..scores, problems, and an analysis of why your score isn't higher..its also gives you hypotheticals of how much higher your score might be if you paid off a card. It also has links to click if you see something wrong..click the link, fill out the box, and the creditor has 30 days to respond or the black mark comes off..It costs about $30 for all 3 reports (online coupons are floating around) but it's worth it for me. |
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This is a pretty easy one. But you won't like the first part of the answer. CRA's are FOR PROFIT organizations. They make money by selling your credit reports. Plain and simple. The longer and lower they can keep your scores, the more $$$ they make. They've known this for years and the general public is just now starting to catch on to the scam. Here's how it works: Anytime you apply for credit, the vendor pays the Credit Reporting Agency for your report (usually $5-$10 each). The Bureaus have figured out that someone with low scores will apply for credit (thus the CRA gets to sell) more times than someone w/ perfect credit. EX: Joe from across the street wants to finance a new car, and he has perfect credit. He only needs to apply once. Now you, with blemished credit scores, may want to keep shopping due to the higher interest rates...Well the CRA's only get to sell Joe's info. once, whereas you will probably apply 4-5 times. Here's some math to think about: 200M Americans applying for some type of credit every quarter (CC's, auto, insurance, employment, mortgage, furn., jewlery, personal, etc.). 50%+ have "blemished" credit. At $5-$10 per report (and there are 3 major agencies, how much extra free revenue is that??? It's certainly a scam (way bigger than the mob ever thought about), and there's a LOT of lobby money in DC to keep the fleecing rolling on. It's a bigger scam than anything else. Including defense contracts. I work w/ it every day. Google FCRA, FDCPA, FACTA. They will get you started, if you need more help IM me. |
Thanks for the info, I'll check it out. |