1: mostly it comes down to a good payment histtory, correct?
2: is it better to spend 50 a month, or 500, on credit card?
3: is it better to pay off total balance at end of month or leave a little?
help is appreciated.
?'s about credit
1: mostly it comes down to a good payment histtory, correct?
2: is it better to spend 50 a month, or 500, on credit card?
3: is it better to pay off total balance at end of month or leave a little?
help is appreciated.
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Never charge more than 30% of the available credit.... And as long as you have a good rate, let a small balance ride. It shows that you pay your bills...
Here, hold my beer!
i don't think it matters how much u charge as long as u don't go over ur credit limit. also, make full payments if u can, the less balance u have on an acct, the more it shows that u are responsible w/money and can always afford to actually spend what u HAVE.
Not true. Reason being....Originally Posted by shagwAg3n
If you go to apply for credit somewhere they pull your credit. Depending on your creditors reporting policy, your report may still show a huge balance. Even though you paid it off, they have yet to tell Equifax that it's paid off...
edit: SHIT, I can't believe that I wasted post # 1000 on this! I wanted to make my first attn thread...
Here, hold my beer!
yeah but the thing is, when ur credit gets pulled, it doesn't just show ur current balance, it shows ur entire payment history month by month (assuming it was reported) so even a large amt outstanding wouldn't necessarily be a cause for concern if u are 100% on paying all ur previous month's bills.Not true. Reason being....
If you go to apply for credit somewhere they pull your credit. Depending on your creditors reporting policy, your report may still show a huge balance. Even though you paid it off, they have yet to tell Equifax that it's paid off...
edit: SHIT, I can't believe that I wasted post # 1000 on this! I wanted to make my first attn thread...
I also have heard its good to leave a little balance on your credit card.. From what I understand its open credit that you owe (with at least paying your minimum payment due) revolving on your credit that helps your score.. might be wrong but the way that I understand it is you need to technically owe something but not be past due.. So say you have a credit card that has a $200 limit.. you can rack that up.. and when you get your bill and minimum payment due is $15 on a $200 balance, I would pay $190 and leave that $10 on there to revolve to the next cycle. And open balance is what I think helps your credit, if your balances are always $0 then there is nothing to revolve to the next cycle.. I mean I could be wrong, but I think there is a lot of theories when it comes to keeping good credit, lol
Also another thing that people dont think about is the amount of credit you have.. you can have great credit, all of your balances at $0.. but if you have 1 credit card with a limit of $15,000 and the other with a limit of $10,000 and another with a high limit.. you might want to contact some of the creditors and have them lower your available limit.. Cause even though you are not using it, having tooo much credit can also be bad to a point. If you only make $30,000 a year and have a available credit of $60,000 but are only using prob $500 of it.. you can still get denied future credit because your debt to income ratio is too high.. So I also recommend having that one credit card with a high limit for emergancies only.. but calling your other credit cards and lowering your available limit to something more reasonable like $1,000.. and if thats too hard for you to do then you might want to re access why you have credit cards, lol.. Since I screwed up my credit once, I have learned if you cant pay cash for it then you dont need it. Credit is an evil thing but a necessity in life to be able to buy a house, car, get a loan for something.. so just be smart with it.. you dont want too much but you need to not abuse what you have, which is very easy to do, lol
~In life it's most important to find a world that belongs to us. Life is meaningful only when we can find this world.~
should have bout a f7 key
FUCK B&D COMMUNICATIONS!
Ok the blonde is going to come out just for a minute.. lol what does that do, lolshould have bout a f7 key
~In life it's most important to find a world that belongs to us. Life is meaningful only when we can find this world.~
lolololol nice...f7 is spellcheck in word...you spelled assess as "access" and i was joking around...
FUCK B&D COMMUNICATIONS!
Lol I did not know that, lol.. Yeah I spelt it a few times knowing it wasnt spelt right and just gave up, lollolololol nice...f7 is spellcheck in word...you spelled assess as "access" and i was joking around...
~In life it's most important to find a world that belongs to us. Life is meaningful only when we can find this world.~
i have a wamu card i keep just so i can check my FICO credit score at any time i choose to, this info here comes straight from Transunion (one of the three big credit reporting companies) about what positively and negatively affects credit:
The FICO score is calculated based on the information contained in your TransUnion credit history. While knowing your actual score is a good start, understanding the key factors affecting your FICO score is much more important. These factors will provide you direction on how you can increase or maintain your FICO score over time.
Positive Factors
Here are the top factors that reflect your good credit behavior (they are listed in priority of impact on your score):
There is no evidence of you having seriously late payment behavior being reported on your credit accounts
You have a low proportion of balances to credit limits on your revolving/charge accounts
Negative Factors
Here are the top factors where you have the most opportunity to take action that will increase your FICO score over time (they are listed in priority of impact on your score):
You have too many bankcard charge accounts
You have missed payments reported on your credit accounts
Here, hold my beer!
Probably some of the worst advice on building credit I've ever heard. No offense, but that's not true.
Debt to income is based on your outstanding loans, credit cards, monthly obligations vs your income. I don't feel like typing up the formula right now, but do a simple Google search.
Credit is not an evil thing if you're responsible with your money.
"Wow, I need new tires but can't afford to pay cash for them all right now. Glad I have a credit card to buy them with and can pay half now, and half next month."
Keeping a balance on all credit cards at 33% is ideal. It shows you're not spending every dollar of credit you've given, but still manage it in a responsible manner.
Credit is not just about credit cards. Creditors like to see multiple forms of credit. Revovling credit accounts (credit cards, personal lines of credit, home equity lines of credit), charge accounts (store cards such as Macys, Bloomingdales, etc), long term payment history (car loans, mortgages). This helps better gauge the type of person you are. Low risk, high risk, etc.
Another thing is length of time you've had open, good standing accounts. How many derogatory accounts you've had (over the limit, late payments, always maxed on cards) and how long it's been since you've had a derogatory mark on your credit.
Another false assumption is that after 7 years, it will fall off your credit report. THIS IS NOT TRUE. It will not fall off until after you've PAID IT FIRST, and then it will fall off after 7 years. Don't think because it's been 7 years it's going to magically disappear and all will be well.
This is a lot of typing for before lunch. I may chime in again later.
Oh no. I agree.. I was just talking about Credit Cards in General.. I know there are other forms of credit.. and like I said I didnt know if that was true, but just what I have heard or from personal experience.. durr, lol
And it is true if you have too much credit you can get denied for more credit.. I used to work in real estate and I do know that if someone has 50 lines of credit that exceed their income by a shitload, they are probably not going to get approved for a home loan or a car, ect..
~In life it's most important to find a world that belongs to us. Life is meaningful only when we can find this world.~
Yes. Too much credit can be bad. Not something average ppl have to deal with.
If someone has 10 credit cards with $10,000 limits and owe nothing on it, it's still not the greatest sign in the world because if they lose their job and start living off of credit cards, it's going to be really hard to pay them all off and get out of debt.
Seems like you're dishing out a bit of misinformation.
FCRA § 605. Requirements relating to information contained in consumer reports [15 U.S.C. § 1681c]
(a) Information excluded from consumer reports. Except as authorized under subsection (b) of this section, no consumer reporting agency may make any consumer report containing any of the following items of information:
(1) Cases under title 11 [United States Code] or under the Bankruptcy Act that, from the date of entry of the order for relief or the date of adjudication, as the case may be, antedate the report by more than 10 years.
(2) Civil suits, civil judgments, and records of arrest that from date of entry, antedate the report by more than seven years or until the governing statute of limitations has expired, whichever is the longer period.
(3) Paid tax liens which, from date of payment, antedate the report by more than seven years.
(4) Accounts placed for collection or charged to profit and loss which antedate the report by more than seven years.(1)
(5) Any other adverse item of information, other than records of convictions of crimes which antedates the report by more than seven years.1
(b) Exempted cases. The provisions of subsection (a) of this section are not applicable in the case of any consumer credit report to be used in connection with
(1) a credit transaction involving, or which may reasonably be expected to involve, a principal amount of $150,000 or more;
(2) the underwriting of life insurance involving, or which may reasonably be expected to involve, a face amount of $150,000 or more; or
(3) the employment of any individual at an annual salary which equals, or which may reasonably be expected to equal $75,000, or more.
(c) Running of reporting period.
(1) In general. The 7-year period referred to in paragraphs (4) and (6) ** of subsection (a) shall begin, with respect to any delinquent account that is placed for collection (internally or by referral to a third party, whichever is earlier), charged to profit and loss, or subjected to any similar action, upon the expiration of the 180-day period beginning on the date of the commencement of the delinquency which immediately preceded the collection activity, charge to profit and loss, or similar action.
(2) Effective date. Paragraph (1) shall apply only to items of information added to the file of a consumer on or after the date that is 455 days after the date of enactment of the Consumer Credit Reporting Reform Act of 1996.
(d) Information required to be disclosed. Any consumer reporting agency that furnishes a consumer report that contains information regarding any case involving the consumer that arises under title 11, United States Code, shall include in the report an identification of the chapter of such title 11 under which such case arises if provided by the source of the information. If any case arising or filed under title 11, United States Code, is withdrawn by the consumer before a final judgment, the consumer reporting agency shall include in the report that such case or filing was withdrawn upon receipt of documentation certifying such withdrawal.
(e) Indication of closure of account by consumer. If a consumer reporting agency is notified pursuant to section 623(a)(4) [§ 1681s-2] that a credit account of a consumer was voluntarily closed by the consumer, the agency shall indicate that fact in any consumer report that includes information related to the account.
(f) Indication of dispute by consumer. If a consumer reporting agency is notified pursuant to section 623(a)(3) [§ 1681s-2] that information regarding a consumer who was furnished to the agency is disputed by the consumer, the agency shall indicate that fact in each consumer report that includes the disputed information.
Now, I'm not saying a JDB (Junk Debt Buyer) won't purchase your old delinquent debt and report it to the bureaus as in "collections." I've lost positive tradelines b/c of the obsolence period. Unfortunately, you're at the mercy of the bureaus sometimes. I keep a close eye on my report via Truecredit monitoring service. I dispute ALL incorrect tradelines and impermissible pulls.
Care to tell me where I gave misinformation?
Does that help you?
If you think the bureaus can circumvent the FCRA then post any caselaw you assume applies to the topic.
Last edited by C22H19N3O4; 11-22-2006 at 03:18 PM.
This is probably the best advice given so far, although there are a couple of things that need clarifications.
1. The credit bureaus have no clue what kind of money you make. Any DTI ratios will have to be determined by the creditor themselves, so therefore what you "make" is not a factor used in determining your score. The bureaus have no clue, so how could they use it?
2. It is Federal law that your credit has to be as close to accurate as possible and there is where the 7 yr rule comes into play. After 7 yrs of inactivity (you making payments to them or lack thereof), the credit bureau MUST delete that account from your file.
Problem here comes in that shady collection agencies and creditors found a loophole in that. This is how it sometimes happens:
You get a Sears account when you're a 18 yrs old. You don't pay them for whatever reason. They report it to all 3 repositories as bad debt. They try and collect from you, but you still don't pay. If the balance is high enough, they damn straight are gonna sue you and get a judgement against you. If the balance is small, they may not sue you but will send you to a collection agency. That agency tries anb tries to get you to pay. You don't. Time passes and they give up. They send the "debt" back to Sears as "uncollectable". Sears has 2 choices: Write it off as bad debt on their books or continue to try and collect.
The majority of the time they write it off. If they do that, by law, they can still report you as delinquent and bad payer for up to 7 yrs from the date of last activity WITH THEM. After that, the bureau HAS TO take off your credit and you're done.
Problem comes in when shady collection practices START that 7 yr clock all over again everytime they "take over" the account to try and collect the debt. So in other words, Collection agency "A" may get it 2 yrs after you originally refused to pay. They report it to the bureau as "new" account, because it technically is to them, and so therefore your 7 yr clock STARTS all over again for technically the SAME debt that is actually 2 yrs old. THAT is how the 7 yr rule gets circumvented. If you are not watching your credit report, they may do this 3 or 4 times before you realize that's what's happening, and in the meantime your score is in the dumps. This is why sometimes lawyers will advice their clients NOT to pay certain debts at certain times because you will START that 7 yr clock right back up again the second you make that payment, even it's 6 yrs and 364 days after the last one.
So in conclusion, the bureau HAS to remove it after 7 yrs of inactivity but it is usually up to YOU to call for that. It doesn't usually happen all by itself, nor is it always accurate.
^^^i know, i wasn't completely disagreeing with u, i just said ur balances are taken into consideration along w/ur payment history.
tell'em cialis
i am only considering getting acredit card, to build credit, i never buy naything unless i have 100x that amount in the bank, i am very cautious, just trying to learn how to gain positive credit for future purchases, house mainly.
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
im on that same boat.. however ive heard that it decreses ur credit score to apply for credit cards and get denied, and a tab is takin everytime someone accesses for credit report.. recently bvought my credit report and it said that 3 different sites have looked at my report in the last couple months why is that important and what role does it play in ur score...?
yessir...i even walk sidewayz....
It depends on why they were looking at your report. If they were looking at your report because you applied 3 times for credit it can hurt your score. But your credit report often gets pulled by credit card companies that are profiling people to make offers to. Those kinds of inquiries have no impact on your score.
Why does credit have to be a damn confusing game.Oh btw if you have something charged off you could wait 3 yrs and probably dispute it.
i got a good credit score by buying a can of dip every week for a year with it then paying it all off at the bank.... you get more score by haveing a bank credit card and then going and paying in full in person..
So if you get a free credit report then why do you have to PAY for a 3 in 1?
Does anyone know what I would need to do to dispute a collection?
You have to do it in a certain way to really get it cleared out of your credit report.
1. You have to write the collection agency a Seize and Desist letter in which you state that you are disputing the validity of the debt. They have to stop all collection on the account until they show you sufficient proof that it is in fact YOUR debt. Key here is you have a time limit in which to do this in. Most of the time it's 30-45 days.
2. If the time limit has expired, you have to take up directly with the credit bureau. Each bureau has an 800 number you can call to dispute anything on your credit. Usually that requires them to send you a copy of their own individual copy of your credit. This is done because each account is coded differently by each bureau, not simply by account number. So once you get your copy of the bureau, you call them back and tell them what account you are disputing and why. They then will notify that creditor listed. That creditor has up to 30 days to show proof that debt is yours. If they don't, even by them not answering, within those 30 days, the bureau HAS TO TOTALLY REMOVE THAT DEBT FROM YOUR RECORD.
I've seen it done and have done it myself on multiple occassions. I had a Sears account on my credit that was opened in 1965. Yep, 1965. I'm old, but not that old and I wasn't even BORN then. So it was obvious that could never possibly be MY account. It got completely removed off my credit file in all 3 bureaus. That one was relatively easy to get results on.
The catch is that the bureau will not act as a judge on the validity of the debt. In other words, they won't go digging too deep to YOUR benefit. If the creditor writes them back within those 30 days and shows SOME proof that this is YOUR debt.....the bureau will simply write you back and say that the debt is valid.
The good thing for us is that most big creditors are too lazy to reply. So most often you'll get your problem taken off because they simply don't reply.
Good luck.
BTW, I have all the 800 numbers to all 3 repositories in case someone can't find them. Going to their respective websites is the easiest way to start a dispute on any bureau.
Easiest way,get ac redit report see it on there and call the credit agency with the dispute.
But once the seven year limit is hit for the last time there was activity on the original account, you should be able to have all instances relating to that account removed no matter how many times the collection agencies have handed it off to each other.
Problem comes in when shady collection practices START that 7 yr clock all over again everytime they "take over" the account to try and collect the debt. So in other words, Collection agency "A" may get it 2 yrs after you originally refused to pay.
Great info as usual Jaime.
Thanks! +1
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