Recently, I signed up for TrustedID which gave me access to my credit report. I was a little dismayed to find that my score had dropped a bit on two of the three reporting agencies listed in a little over a year with Transunion keeping me in the mid-700's and the two E's dropping me in the mid- to upper- 600's. So, I'm curious what I can do to get my score averaged to the 700's again. The report gave three factors: Factor 1 seems to be something I cannot help. My first credit card was opened in 2006 which was as soon as I could open one. Currently, I have three cards open. Factor 2 is confusing to me. While I have three cards open, I really just use one on a regular basis. Its credit limit is $6,500 and I charge all of my expenses to it equaling ~$2,900 monthly. I pay it off the day the bill prints EVERY month without fail. This is a Miles card and I enjoy free flights home every two years...that's the ballgame there. Factor 3 is incorrect. CapitalOne had a glitch and reported me as delinquent for one month in October 2010. I spoke with them today. They promised that a letter was being dispatched to the four reporting agencies they use and that it would be cleared off of my record in 60 to 90 days. Does anyone have thoughts as to what to expect to get back point wise when Factor 3 is resolved? And, how can I resolve Factor 2 in such a way that I keep using my card as I have been to procure miles whilst not tossing me lower down the point scale even though I make full payments the day the statement is released? Thanks a lot.
Maybe one thing you could check into for Factor 2 is the reporting date of your credit card. Maybe the card reports before you pay off your balance on your credit card every month. You could try and ask your credit card company if they know what day of the month your credit card reports. Another way is to pull your credit with truecredit.com. You can do a trial period for just $1. It will only show you TU but it will give you the specific day of the month that you credit card reports under the more details about this account section. Thanks! Heather with BoostMyScore.NET
Thanks for the input. It looks like it reports on the 1st of the month whereas my bill prints on the 4th of the month... Interesting operation. Any thoughts on Factor 3? Like, will I get a 10-20 points back with my resolution of a bad delinquency report?
Your credit utilization is too high on the card you're using. Try paying down your balance multiple times throughout the month, and that should improve your CU ratio. Or pay off the balance early right before your credit issuer reports to the CRAs. With a credit limit of $6,500, you really shouldn't be using more than $650 of your credit limit at one time to maximize your FICO scores. You could also try asking for a credit limit increase too. Also, removing that incorrect late payment could very well give you a nice boost. How much is impossible to say, but if that's the only negative mark on your credit reports, the boost could be significant once it's removed. The initial hit for a 30-day late could be over 100 points for someone with good credit scores, so late pays can obviously be real credit score killers.
Boy I would love just to see 20 pts come back from the error... Anyway about the credit card pay-offs. I can easily pay off the card throughout the month to keep the ending balance at zero or very low. I was told once that this would actually cause issues with my credit since I'm making multiple payments per month. Is this not an accurate statement? Also, is it beneficial to have my card, or cards, with a zero balance at the end of each billing cycle? I could easily charge a little bit to each to keep them active, used, and paid off at the end of each cycle...like $10 here, $50 there sort of deals to end the month. My goal is to get a home loan this time next year. Restoring and growing my credit would be nice before that point.
Making multiple payments throughout the month won't damage your credit in any way. Having a 0 balance on your card is perfectly fine, although you do want to keep your cards active so that your credit issuer doesn't close them or lower your credit limits.
