Personal Finance

Ask me about Credit Scores

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  • Mar 26th, 2024 1:13 pm
Deal Addict
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Jun 23, 2017
1510 posts
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Toronto, ON
my credit score has been the same for months (since January) ..

A few weeks ago, CIBC offered to switch out my no-fee Visa CC with an Infinite($99/yr-fee) Visa CC and will waive the first year of fee. "You've been approved !!! etc..."

I accept the offer, my new card is activated and all-else-being-equal* and I see my score dropped ... Is this to-be-expected?

*in this period, I did not apply for any financial products or declare bankrupty or go into arrears with lender or make any large purchase on existing credit cards or lines-of-credit, overall credit utilization has been static etc.
Sr. Member
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May 18, 2019
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905P4N6 wrote: A few weeks ago, CIBC offered to switch out my no-fee Visa CC with an Infinite($99/yr-fee) Visa CC and will waive the first year of fee. "You've been approved !!! etc..."

I accept the offer, my new card is activated and all-else-being-equal* and I see my score dropped ... Is this to-be-expected?

*in this period, I did not apply for any financial products or declare bankrupty or go into arrears with lender or make any large purchase on existing credit cards or lines-of-credit, overall credit utilization has been static etc.
Yes. My score always drops whenever I obtain new credit.
Deal Addict
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Jun 23, 2017
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Toronto, ON
NobleFalcon1 wrote: Yes. My score always drops whenever I obtain new credit.
i wonder if it dropped because
1. I obtained new credit or
2. I 'cancelled' a credit card with which I had a a stellar history of timely payments or
3. All of the above
Sr. Member
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May 18, 2019
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905P4N6 wrote: i wonder if it dropped because
1. I obtained new credit or
2. I 'cancelled' a credit card with which I had a a stellar history of timely payments or
3. All of the above
Well you said "all-else-being-equal", but if you also cancelled a credit card then that would increase your utilization ratio and thus also lower your credit score. Your timely payments will still remain on your credit report for at least 6 years.
Deal Addict
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Jun 23, 2017
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Toronto, ON
NobleFalcon1 wrote: Well you said "all-else-being-equal", but if you also cancelled a credit card then that would increase your utilization ratio and thus also lower your credit score. Your timely payments will still remain on your credit report for at least 6 years.
in this case ... CIBC 'cancelled' my Dividend Visa Card and simultaneously issued me a new Dividend Inifinite Visa Card with identical credit-limit so overall utilization would stay the same, right?
Sr. Member
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May 18, 2019
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905P4N6 wrote: in this case ... CIBC 'cancelled' my Dividend Visa Card and simultaneously issued me a new Dividend Inifinite Visa Card with identical credit-limit so overall utilization would stay the same, right?
Did they add a new tradeline on your credit report for the new Dividend Inifinite Visa Card or did they just update the old Dividend Visa Card tradeline to the new Dividend Infinite Visa Card?
Deal Addict
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Jun 23, 2017
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Toronto, ON
NobleFalcon1 wrote: Did they add a new tradeline on your credit report for the new Dividend Inifinite Visa Card or did they just update the old Dividend Visa Card tradeline to the new Dividend Infinite Visa Card?
just updated the old line as to show i had this card (or this new variant of it) since 2016
Sr. Member
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May 18, 2019
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905P4N6 wrote: just updated the old line as to show i had this card (or this new variant of it) since 2016
The credit score drop is strange indeed.
Deal Expert
Dec 5, 2006
16792 posts
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Markham
anna110 wrote: Hi there, I have a few questions regarding applying for new credit. I had pretty bad credit in the past and have a few marks on my credit currently that I am worried will affect my applications. Currently, my score is at 725 for transunion and 700 for equifax and i make around 80k. I am looking to apply for either TD aeroplan or CIBC aeroplan infinite cards but I do not want to risk an inquiry if my chances of being denied are high.

1) Capitalone - held for 4 years, used to restore credit, under 10% utilization, i have 3 late payments - sept 2018, sept 2019, march 2020

2)canadian tire world elite - held for 2.5 years, originally had options card but it got upgraded, under 10% utilization, i have no late payments on this account

3)canadian tire cash advantage- held for 1 year then closed it, no missed payments

4) bell mobility - held for 1.5 years, have 1 missed payment in dec 2019

5) student loan- 30k, in good standing

Few questions to ask here:

1) is my student loan counted in my length of history - opened in 2012 so it would give me 8 years vs 4 for longest account opened

2) is it worth applying to the cards mentioned above (td aeroplan infinite + cibc aeroplan infinite) if not what other options for cards would you suggest?

3) how badly will these mistakes I made with the late payments effect me and is there anything i can do to fix it besides wait it out.
When you said missed payment, you meant missed one month or consecutive months in a row?
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May 18, 2019
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anna110 wrote: 1) is my student loan counted in my length of history - opened in 2012 so it would give me 8 years vs 4 for longest account opened
Yes it is. It is actually your most valuable tradeline.
anna110 wrote: 2) is it worth applying to the cards mentioned above (td aeroplan infinite + cibc aeroplan infinite) if not what other options for cards would you suggest?
Your credit scores are decent but nobody knows if you will be approved except the FIs themselves. Maybe apply for their introductory cards and then do a product switch later on to their premium cards.
anna110 wrote: 3) how badly will these mistakes I made with the late payments effect me and is there anything i can do to fix it besides wait it out.
6 years for each late payment.
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Dec 1, 2007
1233 posts
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St Thomas
Got letters from TD (wife and I) of upcoming increases to our LoC interest rates from P+2 to P+5.

Recently bought new house (end of July) and got mortgage with BMO.

Are they just pissed off? What else prompts the increase especially considering wife and I both got same notices for our respective LoCs with same bank..?

Most importantly, does it make sense to shop across multiple banks/Credit Unions now or just go to one and apply there (ie. where most of our assets are).
RFD Proud since 07.
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Oct 7, 2020
262 posts
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TD did this to me when I sold my house (quite a few years ago). They had started it as a HELOC, but with no HE, bumped the rate and reduced the limit on the LOC.
Deal Addict
Dec 21, 2004
1062 posts
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The thread is 391 pages so I apologize if this has already been asked....
I'm looking to renew my mortgage. I'm going through a broker but may go to banks as well. This will all be done within a span of 30 days. There will obviously be hits on my credit file from the broker and other banks that the broker doesn't deal with. How will this impact my file?
Deal Fanatic
Apr 16, 2007
8134 posts
3485 upvotes
Financial District B…
trader37 wrote: The thread is 391 pages so I apologize if this has already been asked....
I'm looking to renew my mortgage. I'm going through a broker but may go to banks as well. This will all be done within a span of 30 days. There will obviously be hits on my credit file from the broker and other banks that the broker doesn't deal with. How will this impact my file?
All inquiries coded for mortgage by the FI/bank/mortgage org. will all be counted as 1 inquiry so there won't be a big impact on overall profile scoring.
----------------------------Licensed Credit Bureau member, S1, FI Automotive, CCP forums most banned = x 13 and counting, guess who that is?... stomped to the curb once again
Deal Addict
Dec 21, 2004
1062 posts
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mikeymike1 wrote: All inquiries coded for mortgage by the FI/bank/mortgage org. will all be counted as 1 inquiry so there won't be a big impact on overall profile scoring.
Thank you! Does it matter how far apart these inquiries are?
Deal Fanatic
Apr 16, 2007
8134 posts
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Financial District B…
trader37 wrote: Thank you! Does it matter how far apart these inquiries are?
approx 30 day window is the general rule
----------------------------Licensed Credit Bureau member, S1, FI Automotive, CCP forums most banned = x 13 and counting, guess who that is?... stomped to the curb once again
Sr. Member
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May 23, 2011
759 posts
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I currently have 9 open line items on my credit report. I'd like to close some of these old unused accounts to (hopefully) improve my score, but I'm not sure if it will improve or hurt my score.

  • Tangerine MC
  • Amex
  • Amex
  • MBNA MC/TrueLine
  • Scotia Visa
  • Scotia LOC
  • Scotia Student Visa (OLD)
  • Scotia Student Loan (OLD)
  • Ford Credit (car financed)

For some reason, my Scotia Student Visa and Student Loan are still reported as open on my TU and EQ credit reports even though the Visa has been closed since 2015 and Loan has been paid in full since 2014.

Those are also the oldest line items on my credit report, and are both in good standing.

So what would be better for my score?

a) Get Scotia to report both as closed. Reduce number of line items, but two oldest accounts are closed.
b) Don't touch. Keep high number of line items, including oldest accounts.
Sr. Member
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May 18, 2019
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Don't touch your oldest accounts. They are arguably your most valuable tradelines.
Deal Guru
Sep 28, 2010
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Once you’re over 700 , or whatever is considered good, is there really any advantage to a high score? Can you actually negotiate better rates on mortgage or financing or is it more of a “you get a gold star, good boy” type of thing after a certain point?

I’ve got decent scores and have been wondering about taking the hit to get some of the promo credit cards. I used to do that in the but was always warned it would impact credit scores as a credit chaser, so I stopped. With my current scores, I wonder whether it really doesn’t do any damage.
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Jan 23, 2018
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The Dawg Pound
ceredon wrote: Once you’re over 700 , or whatever is considered good, is there really any advantage to a high score? Can you actually negotiate better rates on mortgage or financing or is it more of a “you get a gold star, good boy” type of thing after a certain point?

I’ve got decent scores and have been wondering about taking the hit to get some of the promo credit cards. I used to do that in the but was always warned it would impact credit scores as a credit chaser, so I stopped. With my current scores, I wonder whether it really doesn’t do any damage.
Short answer is no.

Longer answer is that, as has been stated on this and other related threads hundreds of times by numerous posters, publicly available "educational scores" aren't what lenders use to evaluate you anyway

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