Someone please help! Hello everyone, I'm new to this site, and only recently started researching about the secrets of credit scores, FICO, credit history, etc. Now, I have a couple of personal questions: I have 5 revolving accounts (credit cards) and 2 installment accounts (student loan). All of my credit cards were opened in 2004 and 2005 (I did not have credit history before that) 1) My first approved credit cards were Bank of America (opened 5/2004) and Fleet (opened 6/2004). Then, within a couple of months, they merged. Since it didn't seem to make sense that I carry 2 Bank of America cards, I called and asked that the former-Fleet account be consolidated to my Bank of America card. Now, since they got consolidated, the former-Fleet account is closed. On my credit report, it simply lists that the Bank of America (the account that used to be Fleet) was "closed at consumer's request". I read up on how closing accounts may affect your credit score. Do credit reporting agencies differentiate between "closed at consumer's request" and "consolidated"? Is this something I should dispute and have changed? 2) my balance/limit ratio is pretty high, and Chase bank decided to up my 12% APR to a whopping 22% (rounded). Shocked by this decision, I called them and learned that while they are unable to reduce my APR due to my balance/limit ratio, I could opt to keep my former APR & close this account. Meaning I keep my 12% APR until the full balance is paid off. But, this account is then essentially closed. This credit card is my 3rd oldest revolving account. At this point I have 2 options: a) to close this account and pay off the balance at 12%, or b) keep this account open, and try to transfer the balance from this card to the others, granted that I'd be using the other active cards at max. balance. (as I wouldn't dare pay 22% on my balance) Which is a wiser choice? Does closing this account affect my FICO negatively? (It will probably still remain on my credit history and show as revolving, even if I close it). 3) I have a Capital One card that had a higher APR than the rest, so I transferred that balance to the other cards. Now, I have $3000 credit limit on Capital with $0 balance. But as many of you know, Capital One does not report the credit limit to the credit bureaus, thus hurting one's credit history. I'd like to dispute this ASAP. Do you know if simply sending in copies of statements indicating the credit limit to the bureaus will do the trick? Or is there a way to demand Capital One to report that to the bureaus? I really hope someone could provide me with educated advice! Thank you so much in advance.
Oh, and just in case this may help get more accurate responses, my FICO scores on three bureaus according to myFICO.com was: Trans Union 692 Equifax 633 Experian 654 My Balances on my Revolving accounts are: Bank name: Balance: High Credit: Credit Limit: Bank of America $4576 $4680 $5500 Fleet (consolidated) $0 $554 $500 Chase $4441 $5222 $5600 Bank1 (Chase) $2004 $2415 $2500 Capital One $0 $2134 not reported
oh and one more thing, I've never had any late payments, ever, and try to pay more than the minimum whenever I can.
If consolidating Fleet and BofA resulted in an account with a credit limit equal to the combined credit limits of the merged accounts, you probably had minimal effect on your scores, all other things, including total balances, being equal. Never count on CC purchase rates staying fixed. Never carry a purchase balance. If you intent to carry a balance, transfer it to a card carrying only transferred balances, under fixed rate until paid terms.
yeah, I used to be really good with paying off the balance before the closing date. Then we had real estate, wedding, etc last year and went downhill from there.
