I don't know how much this is hurting my score, but I'm sure it is! I have a Sears account that is 10+ years old. I got in trouble with it in 2000 and it is over the limit and I'm paying all kinds of fees and charges on it. Trying now to get it paid down. My question is - how can the high credit/limit amount be Zero?? I currently owe 1707.00. All three CRA's are reporting 0. I do realize that my available credit is zero and maybe according to sears that is my limit. EQ shows zero as high credit, TU shows zero as CL and $1748 as high balance. EXP shows CL/Orig Amount as zero and high balance as 1716. My guess is the only one I might have a shot at even doing anything about is the EQ report and I can't seem to get them to change ANYTHING, even with the proof! Suggestions? I disputed it as "wrong high balance" one time and they said it was previously verified. Of course I didn't dispute that info before, just late pays. They won't reinvestigate. Should I just send a letter pointing out that my high credit couldn't be zero if my balance is $1700 or would that do any good? I'm at a loss here and maybe I'm going about this all wrong! Thanks!
The "credit limit" is not the same as the "current balance" on the account. It sounds as if Sears closed the account and reduced the credit limit to 0. And often when a company reduces the credit limit to 0 or closes the account, they reduce the "high credit" to 0, as well. I've seen this with Household and Citibank. And with a current balance of $1700 and a limit of $0, your scores are being hit hard with utilization issues, as FICO will count you perpetually overlimit. There really isn't anything you can do, except to pay it off or transfer it to another card, and ask Sears to reinstate the original credit limit so that you don't "look" overlimit. If you can get the "credit limit" to match or exceed your "current balance", you will be in better shape than what is reported now.
Thanks Marci, I was afraid of that. I have a new Corvette M/C with $3k limit. I've only used about $250 on it so far. Was thinking about transferring another outrageous card to them but may go ahead and transfer Sears to them. I have 9 mos at 0%. The bad part is that I got the GM and Corvette cards while several items in dispute and now that some of those are about to be reporting again, they'll probably lower my limit, up my interest, blah blah. EQ has really been a pain for me lately. Even with a balance transfer (and even if they lower my limit) I'll be better off. The Sears is reporting zero limit so no matter what my balance it's going to continue to bring my scores down. Maybe if I transfer it to the 0% card, even if they lower my limit I can make some headway on the balance without all of those outrageous over-limt and interest fees. Thanks again.
A balance transfer would be a good move, especially at 0%. You might want to call "R" or the executive offices of the GM and Corvette cards to reverse any punitive actions based on upcoming A/Rs of your reports. That's one drawback of getting cards in dispute mode... :-(
Also, I think Sears adopts the two cycle billing method in calculating finance charges (or am I confusing this with Discover), so even if the new cards reneg on the 0% offer, you're still better going with them.
Hey Marci, Keep the great advice coming, LOL. I too am thinking the transfer would be a good move regardless. Not sure I understood though - are you suggesting calling "R" now, before they start the A/R's? If so, how do you approach that? Or wait til they pull and A/R and then call before they actually "jack" you? I'm sure I'm sounding stupid about this but I guess that's how I'm gonna learn, huh? Thanks again and I"m going to send that BT check off today. I hate Sears and Discover. I owe about 3k to discover and anxious to qualify for another good card with a large enough limit to transfer it to. That's my goal - to get out from under these crappy cards and make some headway getting my balances paid down. When all you're paying is interest and fees it's hard to get anywhere. Thanks
Re: Re: How to fix high credit 0?? Wait until after they "jack" you - lol! You may be surprised. They may not do anything punitive at all and this is a moot issue.
