Ask me about Credit Scores

[Pointseeker]

Yes, your right, some asked for proof of salary and that's ok !!! Anyway CC are not realy tough to get (20% interest) but it's more when you want a car or a mortgage....anyway the goal of credit card company is to have client that pay always on time..the minimum..cause thay gonna make more money.

And beware of people that tell you to keep ALL you credit cards open..maybe you'll have a good score...but when it's gonna be the time to renew your mortgage or buy a car...you will know that your 850 equifax score wont be an automatic YES...just be reasonable 2-3-4-5 CC not 20 like some people like to say here...even if you don't use all your credit...it wil affect you 1 day or another...keep that in mind !!!

Your opinion about credit and how its given seem to work for you and that is great. But why should I keep in mind your version how it works and not the other folks that expressed the opposite view to yours? How I am to decide who is right. The OP says he has some experience in the subject and so far everything he said in his posts made sense to me.

[HondaSUV4WD]

Your opinion about credit and how its given seem to work for you and that is great. But why should I keep in mind your version how it works and not the other folks that expressed the opposite view to yours? How I am to decide who is right. The OP says he has some experience in the subject and so far everything he said in his posts made sense to me.

Do you think i was talking about you

So you really think that someone that have a score of 800 and 10 credit cards of 10k each will have better chance to have a best mortgage deal than someone with 2 credit cards of 5k and a score of 700. And of course the two have the same salary....come on !!!

You know that you can find everythin/anything on the web....don't you. Stop read and do the test...call for a mortgage and just say that you have 10-15 credit cards (but sir...i don't use them...they are in my safe...) the guy will laugh at you .... And like you said...just my opinion !!!

[Pointseeker]

Do you think i was talking about you

So you really think that someone that have a score of 800 and 10 credit cards of 10k each will have better chance to have a best mortgage deal than someone with 2 credit cards of 5k and a score of 700. And of course the two have the same salary....come on !!!

You know that you can find everythin/anything on the web....don't you. Stop read and do the test...call for a mortgage and just say that you have 10-15 credit cards (but sir...i don't use them...they are in my safe...) the guy will laugh at you .... And like you said...just my opinion !!!

Thank you for heads up. But just a friendly reminder of the Subject in this thread.

[wayne74]

Here we go !!! Now your talking !!! It's all about money !!! My friend have made 7 credit demand in the last 6 month for x reason....they have been all accepted...yesterday he check is credit score and he is about 676...the last credit card was a scotia (1 month ago) infinite and he gave i'm 20K limit...why...not because of his score...but he make 150K a year...and he had never miss a payment. Some people think that it's only the number...maybe in certain situation...but some peolple actualy read the entire report and that have been confirm to me by 2 big CC company....

Yes this is true, it has alot more to do with what your report contains, and not your score. That's why I'm saying it is important to keep low utilization across all accounts. If your brother in law had all his current accounts maxed or near maxed, it's highly unlikely he would have been approved for all or maybe even any of those 7 cards, no matter what his score or income. If after getting all those cards in such a short time, his score is still a 676, then he was sitting very pretty before opening those accounts. I would bet he was around 800 or so. Tell him to check his rating in about 6 months to a year, after those accounts have aged a bit, and the effects of the inquiries disappear, I'm sure it will bring a big smile to his face when he sees that number. Assuming he is wise with credit, which it appears he is.

[fyxx]

I got my first credit card half a year ago, and is currently building up my credit score. What is the best payment strategy for me? Should I pay off all balances before banks post my monthly statement or go with my bills as low as possible but leave a small portion of them to pay off during the grace period?

[Pointseeker]

I got my first credit card half a year ago, and is currently building up my credit score. What is the best payment strategy for me? Should I pay off all balances before banks post my monthly statement or go with my bills as low as possible but leave a small portion of them to pay off during the grace period?

Why not read a bit.... you are the 1000th poster to ask the same question in this thread.

[wayne74]

QUESTION: Do people typically pay their credit card bill a few days before it's issued so that their Credit Bureau Report will show a $0 balance? I always thought it was dumb that my Equifax/Transunion shows the "balance" as the amount I was billed. Sure, I was billed that amount, but I certainly paid the entire amount on time and carried a $0 balance.

I believe it was dealwhere that had mentioned it somewhere in this thread, recommending paying your balance (or atleast most of) BEFORE the statement is produced, as this is the amount owing reported to the bureaus. And he/she is right, I have personally already proven that. It doesn't matter if you pay in full each month, the bureaus don't know that. That's why I have made it a habit of paying about 90% of my balance a few days before the statement date. So when the statement is produced, it shows a much lower amount, which is reported to the bureaus, hence showing low utilization.

Also, FYI, my brother-in-law is a branch manager at TD, and he said that you credit score doesn't have much of an impact on your rate. As long as you are god enough to qualify, then it won't reduce your rate any. For example, the bank could probably care less whether you are a 750 or an 825. He said that they care more about your income and current debt levels, which aren't reflected in your credit bureau.

Correct. Someone with a 750 will get the same rates as someone with an 825. However not everyone can get high scores like that. Maybe some only have 1 revolving account and no installment accounts, or vise versa. So if one were to have only a 650 to say 675 for example, they may pose as somewhat of a higher risk and be given a bit of a higher rate than someone with a 725 or 750. I don't know if this is fact or not, it's just something I'm assuming to be correct.
In any case, I want to make sure my rating is where I think it needs to be to have no trouble getting the best rate out there. Call it personal preference

[scarface]

I have a tendency to over pay my credit card, by a few cents or a few bucks. I actually pay off my cards before getting my statement by calculating what I owe. I would like to know how this might affect my credit score. Thanks.

I actually *think* that depending on lender this may have an ever so slight negative effect. My understanding is the balances are (in most cases) reported on the statement cut-off date. This would lead to the card always reporting a zero balance. I don't think this would knock your score down much, but if you have limited amount of open accounts, it may stall it due to looking to the system like you never use the card at all. Again, I highly doubt this will lead to a negative score, it just may stall it in the 720's or something like that. My understanding is showing utilization of between 15-20% is the best for your score.

I believe it was dealwhere that had mentioned it somewhere in this thread, recommending paying your balance (or atleast most of) BEFORE the statement is produced, as this is the amount owing reported to the bureaus. And he/she is right, I have personally already proven that. It doesn't matter if you pay in full each month, the bureaus don't know that. That's why I have made it a habit of paying about 90% of my balance a few days before the statement date. So when the statement is produced, it shows a much lower amount, which is reported to the bureaus, hence showing low utilization.

The above poster is bang on - this seems to be the best strategy.

The important thing to remember is that a credit score is one (and not that important, really) piece of the adjudication process. If this card is with a bank, and you apply for a mortgage/LOC, it will look very, very good on their internal scoring system that you have paid the card early, and this will far outweigh the effect that a 720 vs 800 score would have.

There is also a TDS benefit - for third party car loans and even some mortgages, your TDS is often calculated by what is showing on your bureau as opposed to what you self report. They use 2-3% of card balance or something like that (differs by lender). By having no balance report that isn't factored in.


All that is good and well, but the fact you take the time/interest and have the ability to calculate your payments ahead of time indicates to me you are probably very responsible with your money/credit, so I wouldn't worry about it at all.

[HondaSUV4WD]

Just think 2 sec....why would you have 21 days of grace if you CAN'T use them....The rule is simple...use less than 30% of all your credit...that's simple. If you have 3 CC of 10K each and have a balance of less than 10K...your ok !!! if you plan to buy for 25K....now it's a good thing to pay before statement. Simple...keep in mind LESS THAN 30%.

Ok, here's a situation...you are the one in charge of credit in a big CC company...you receive an application..the guy got 750 Equifax..got 5 CC of 10K limit each and total balance of 500$...what you would think....is he need credit ???? is there money to do with i'm ???? NO...he don't use credit !!!! I've read alot on credit in the past 3 months and find an article about "even very good credit can be refused" !!! Remember this simple phrase "You have to use credit...but not show them that you need them to lived"

[fyxx]

Why not read a bit.... you are the 1000th poster to ask the same question in this thread.

Why not read my post a bit carefully? Or you think for whoever owns CCs, they should apply the same payment strategy? Actually it is NOT.
Anyway, I've got PM from OP, so yeah, question answered.

[HondaSUV4WD]

Why not read my post a bit carefully? Or you think for whoever owns CCs, they should apply the same payment strategy? Actually it is NOT.
Anyway, I've got PM from OP, so yeah, question answered.

same boat as me...received about the same comment from same member....

[wayne74]

Just think 2 sec....why would you have 21 days of grace if you CAN'T use them....The rule is simple...use less than 30% of all your credit...that's simple. If you have 3 CC of 10K each and have a balance of less than 10K...your ok !!! if you plan to buy for 25K....now it's a good thing to pay before statement. Simple...keep in mind LESS THAN 30%.

Ok, here's a situation...you are the one in charge of credit in a big CC company...you receive an application..the guy got 750 Equifax..got 5 CC of 10K limit each and total balance of 500$...what you would think....is he need credit ???? is there money to do with i'm ???? NO...he don't use credit !!!! I've read alot on credit in the past 3 months and find an article about "even very good credit can be refused" !!! Remember this simple phrase "You have to use credit...but not show them that you need them to lived"

But that $500 utilization would still look better on that guys report than if he had 35k owing. As a poster above mentioned, around 15-20% utilization is ideal. So in this guys case, he would be better to have around 7500-10000 utilization, which he probably would have with a 50k limit. Don't think I've ever heard of someone with that high a limit only use $500 of it.

[wayne74]

Just think 2 sec....why would you have 21 days of grace if you CAN'T use them....The rule is simple...use less than 30% of all your credit...that's simple. If you have 3 CC of 10K each and have a balance of less than 10K...your ok !!! if you plan to buy for 25K....now it's a good thing to pay before statement. Simple...keep in mind LESS THAN 30%.

Ok, here's a situation...you are the one in charge of credit in a big CC company...you receive an application..the guy got 750 Equifax..got 5 CC of 10K limit each and total balance of 500$...what you would think....is he need credit ???? is there money to do with i'm ???? NO...he don't use credit !!!! I've read alot on credit in the past 3 months and find an article about "even very good credit can be refused" !!! Remember this simple phrase "You have to use credit...but not show them that you need them to lived"

Oh, and yes, I have heard of people with awesome credit get refused as well. It's called overextending yourself.

[ahujie]

Hi OP,
Thanks for this informative thread.

My question is about my credit reports. I recently ordered a copy from both Transunion and Equifax.

On both reports, my employment info is inaccurate. Both list me as a student, even though I graduated 3.5 years ago and have been working since then. Is it worth writing in to them to correct this, or is this normal?

The reason I ask is because I am currently interviewing for new jobs, and companies will run a background/credit check on me. I hope this inaccuracy in the employment section of my credit report won't make me look like I'm lying about my work experience. Or is this a common error on people's reports, and do employers usually know that?

[scarface]

Hi OP,
Thanks for this informative thread.

My question is about my credit reports. I recently ordered a copy from both Transunion and Equifax.

On both reports, my employment info is inaccurate. Both list me as a student, even though I graduated 3.5 years ago and have been working since then. Is it worth writing in to them to correct this, or is this normal?

The reason I ask is because I am currently interviewing for new jobs, and companies will run a background/credit check on me. I hope this inaccuracy in the employment section of my credit report won't make me look like I'm lying about my work experience. Or is this a common error on people's reports, and do employers usually know that?

Don't worry about that at all - I would say that it is incorrect 75% of the time - most of that info is added in through applications for credit, so either you haven't applied for much, or it wasn't anything that required that. I don't even think that writing in would help, I doubt they would be able to change that for you.

Someone with more experience in this please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think background/credit checks are ran mostly using proprietary software - I don't think they see the same bureau that is pulled when your applying for credit or request one yourself. I don't think they care so much about your open limits, more about charge offs, non payment, collections and judgements. I could be wrong, so if someone with a HR background knows better, let me know.