posted
Yes, although it depends on which action you are talking about.
Inquiries take about 5 points off per request, but there are limits....if you have 5 car dealerships run your credit in the same week you get hit once. One a month....5 points for each.
Paying an old debt can LOWER you score significantly....if it is more than 5 years old, paying it brings it active,which means it affects you credit for 7 MORE years. If you had not payed it it would have dropped off in 2.
It is considered re-opened simply because there has been some activity on the account.
Carrying a lot of cards isn't huge, but it does affect your score. Having too much available credit open makes new creditors twitchy.
The worst is the half the limit penalty and the 3/4ths. If it remains that high, or you continue to charge on that account, each charge you make past those limits affects your score. Each month it happens, even if it is because of fees or late payments, does as well.
That accounts for the largest segment of the population...more people damage their credit that way than all others combined.
Funny thing is that if they had called and raised their limits, even if they never used the new limits, they could have prevented most of the damage. Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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And when you call Equifax, you get to speak with someone who makes minimum wage for answering phones and therefore doesn't give a ****.
My wife and I both have extremely good credit. But somehow Equifax has some of my wife's info wrong. So the one time we ever applied for a store credit card, we got turned down flat. Huh? So we call Equifax. They don't care. It's too much trouble to get up from the desk and get someone who can fix it. It still hasn't been fixed.
It did save us from getting a Sears card, which probably wouldn't have done us any good. And that's the only time we've had a problem with our credit. Some kind of glitch when we try to apply for store credit cards, I guess.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
Stores actually are stricter about giving out credit than banks are, I've noticed.
-o-
steven, I probably should. But then I would have too much available credit and get hit that way. I suppose what I should do is distribute the spending across multiple credit cards. But I like the simplicity of having all my expenses in one place, and I like the lack of temptation that comes from not having a higher credit limit. I also like the points I am earning on this one card toward an awesome vacation one day, and if I distributed my spending, that would stop.
Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
I checked mine a couple of years ago just for fun. They showed me with a credit card from a bank that dosen't even do business in this state. I called them and they insisted that I had the card. So, I called the bank. They said that I had the card but only used it once or twice a year. After a week of trying to sort it out, I found that it was my Sears card. It seems that Sears doesn't have "real" cards anymore. It is a regular bank card. The card looks like Sears to the necked eye. But the card reader knows that's it's a Citibank mastercharge.
Posts: 1167 | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
check your credit report free at www.identitymonitor.citi.com. YOu can get immediate online access, check your report, then un-enroll the same day. I have sold this service in the past, but there's no need to pay for what you can get free. Posts: 3354 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
It is very sad....used to be your job history was more important.
I have poor credit, but I just got employee of the year.
In the News locally a woman (with very good credit, she was reported of having no issues and made all her payments on time.) was caught embezzling 4 million for her employer.
I can see where your credit history is only important if you have access to lots of money, maybe then a case could be made then that a person with a lot of debts would maybe be more tempted.
What is next? Check to see if my closet is organized? My garden is weeded? My car gets regular oil changes? WHich parts of my private live actually impact my job??
Posts: 15 | Registered: Apr 2007
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quote:Originally posted by steven: Joe, why don't you call and get a credit line increase?
I was asked that once, too... about $20,000 in credit card debt ago...
quote:Stores actually are stricter about giving out credit than banks are, I've noticed.
The first credit card I ever got, without any established credit whatsoever, was a CompUSA card with a $6,700 credit line. Like a kid in a candy store, thus began my downward spiral in to oblivion...
There comes a point when your credit is so bad that you're not worried about identity theft. In fact, you sometimes welcome it. Take my debts, please!
Posts: 3486 | Registered: Sep 2002
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