Until last year my credit was limited and still is, but I am building it. I have no collections on my report, but I was got messed up when the Dept of Ed screwed up my deferment and started reporting it as delinquent. The entire time I thought the loan was deferred until I checked my credit report after being denied for something. Long story short I am in a rehabilitation right now and those are my only negatives and it is affecting me greatly.
I started with 2 secured cards last year from US Bank and BoA. I didn't know anything about inquiries and had no idea they showed up on your report or even affected the score until joining this forum. I also thought I was supposed to use my cards frequently and pay more than the balance, and a payment history would build over time. I was clueless about carrying high balances until an analyst at BoA questioned me about my utilization on my Amazon card and she explained to me how to pay. I now use my cards several times a month and just pay the balance off, but it seems the high balance still shows and I was questioned about it when I was denied and tried to recon Chase and another Barclay owned card.
The mistakes are made are now affecting my credit. I have 25 inquiries 18 of which are from the past 2 months. Again I didn't know they were even counted against you or were tallied by the agencies and once I started getting approved for over cards I thought my creditworthiness was good so I wanted to get cards with higher limits. In return I got a lot of denials and racked up on inquiries. Of the 25 7 fall off between now and Nov 2015. I am now gardening and will be until next summer I want to buy a house next October.
My questions are once the "high balance" reports on your cr for a particular account will it always show? Do the inquiries hold less weight after 6 months or 1 year? Will my credit limits not be increased because of this information? I am trying to figure out how to get higher limits. If anyone has any advice to help me that would be great. Also off subject does anyone know why Amex is reporting under "real estate loans" on my cr? I am only an au and it's a personal charge card.
