Hi folks. This is my first post on this site, however I have been reading several leads for the past few days and am very impressed with the topics discussed and the knowledgable people involved. I have a few questions and would appreciate any insight from any memebers. I recently obtained a credit report from each of the three major sites, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Although I donâ??t know what my credit scores are (how do you get them anyway?), I believe I have good good credit (or should I say that I have not been turned down anywhere yet). Anyway, here are my questions: 1. What is the best credit scenario? In other words, should a person have at least one installment loan, one credit card and a retail? Do the number of cards make a difference? 2. I have several installment and revolving accounts that are a few years old on my credit report. All are all in good standing and no longer active as they were paid or closed. Two of the Three credit agencies reports them as â??Closedâ? while the third one doesnâ??t, instead they reflect this as â??-0-â??. Should I contact the third agency and have them also reflect this as closed? 3. Does it make a difference if an account was closed by the crditor as opposed to by the consumer? Which is best? If it was closed by the crditor, can I change it? 4. Under â??Account Statusâ? on some of my closed accounts, TU reflects these as â??UNRATEDâ? while the other two agencies reflect these as â??CURRENTâ?. Anybody have a clue what this means or if I should do something about this? 5. I reflect two mortgage companies on my credit report for my home. The first one states â??ACCOUNT TRANSFERREDâ?. This first company was the one that initially gave me the loan for the house. Then later I guess they sold my loan to another bank, BofA. So now I make my mortgage payments to BofA. Can I request that the first mortgage company be stated as â??paidâ? or â??closedâ? rather than transferred? Whatâ??s the best situation for me and my credit report? Will future inquiries think I have two loans? 6. Also, do the three agencies have to reflect â??exactlyâ? what I request them to display as consumer statements on my credit report or can they modify the verbage and not include everything I write? Sorry for asking alot of questions, but I am new to this stuff and want to start keeping tabs on my credit. Thanks in advance to all. --PG
Those are excellent questions. (1) The best scenario is a retail card and 3 or 4 bank cards (Visa, MC, Discover.) A travel card like AmEx Green, AmEx Gold, or Diners Club also helps. Installment loans help your mix and therefore your score. But I think the best installment loan is one that's fully paid with no balance. A new loan with a high balance could hurt your utilization ratio (ratio of balances to limits.) The number of cards definitely makes a difference. Too many, and you get turned down for "too many open accounts," "too many accounts with balances," or "recently opened accounts." Too few, and you get turned down for "insufficient credit history," "length of credit history," or "too few established accounts." (3) It definitely makes a difference how a closed account is reported. Closed by consumer indicates you are in control of your credit; closed by creditor indicates you may have had problems with the account. It would be good to have them all reported as closed by consumer, and to try to get them changed if they aren't. (5) The transferred loan doesn't sound too bad (my opinion,) but the balance should be zero; otherwise it would suggest excessive debt. Some stupid computer is bound to think you have two mortgage loans. (6) Consumer statements are useless. The creditors that would care prefer to get the details from you personally. Most creditors don't care at all. This is a classic case of being punished for exercising your legal rights.
Thanks RichGuy and lbrown59 for your responses. Can somebody tell me how I get credit scores from the three bureaus?
