Impact of "closed account" status on credit score?

[Anonymous]

Hello - I've been lurking for several days now and have learned so much from these boards. Now I have a question I hope someone can help with.

I've checked out my credit report and have found one credit card that is being reported as "closed at consumer's request;" however, I never requested it be closed and it is still open AFAIK. The CL is 3000 and my balance is 1074. Is it worth my requesting that the status be changed to open? Will that have any impact on my credit score?

Thanks for your help!

Message Edited by desifink on 10-30-2007 10:34 AM

[fused]

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desifink wrote:

Hello - I've been lurking for several days now and have learned so much from these boards. Now I have a question I hope someone can help with.

I've checked out my credit report and have found one credit card that is being reported as "closed at consumer's request;" however, I never requested it be closed and it is still open AFAIK. The CL is 3000 and my balance is 1074. Is it worth my requesting that the status be changed to open? Will that have any impact on my credit score?

Thanks for your help!

Message Edited by desifink on 10-30-2007 10:34 AM

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It sounds as if it's closed. Closed CC accounts with balances hurt your scores. Opening it back up would help but I'm not sure if the creditor will be interested in doing so. Really you should pay this off and have a $0 balance reporting. Are there any late payments reporting on this account?

[Anonymous]

No, I have no lates on anything, no collections, and no public records. My biggest problem right now is utilization, and I know this should be paid down to 9% or less or paid off. Unfortunately I have a few other cards that are at 50% or more (my highest is 91% - yikes!), so they get first priority while this card is at a 0% promo rate.

There's no reason for them to report this as closed - as a matter of fact they just increased my CL from $800 to 3k this summer, and as I said there are no lates.

I never realized until coming here what a big chunk of the credit score is utilization, so I'm definitely focusing on that.

[fused]

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desifink wrote:

No, I have no lates on anything, no collections, and no public records. My biggest problem right now is utilization, and I know this should be paid down to 9% or less or paid off. Unfortunately I have a few other cards that are at 50% or more (my highest is 91% - yikes!), so they get first priority while this card is at a 0% promo rate.

There's no reason for them to report this as closed - as a matter of fact they just increased my CL from $800 to 3k this summer, and as I said there are no lates.

I never realized until coming here what a big chunk of the credit score is utilization, so I'm definitely focusing on that.

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So this account must be open, call the CCC and tell them it's reporting on your reports as closed and by doing so it's adversely affecting your scores. Having util% over 90 is very bad and can be as damaging as a serious derog. Do your very best to get all of your revolving balances reporting <50% util. And if you can continue pay all of them down, you should see another rise in scores when util reports <30%. Don't forget there are two types of util% calculations: one for each revolving account and one that is cumulative and calculates all revolving accounts.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the explanation. Believe me, I'm trying to get those balances down. Unfortunately I've got about 12k to pay before they reach a cumulative 30%. I've been less than disciplined in running up CC's in the past...

I did call the CC and they said it's showing as open. So I guess now I have to write them a letter disputing it?

[smallfry]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the explanation. Believe me, I'm trying to get those balances down. Unfortunately I've got about 12k to pay before they reach a cumulative 30%. I've been less than disciplined in running up CC's in the past...

I did call the CC and they said it's showing as open. So I guess now I have to write them a letter disputing it?

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Don't dispute the tradeline. You're liable to dispute the tradeline right off your reports. Use the card let it report a balance and the issuer should report it on your next cut. Does it show closed on all three bureau reports? the real reports? Not trimerge or FICO? Do NOT dispute it.

[fused]

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@smallfry wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the explanation. Believe me, I'm trying to get those balances down. Unfortunately I've got about 12k to pay before they reach a cumulative 30%. I've been less than disciplined in running up CC's in the past...

I did call the CC and they said it's showing as open. So I guess now I have to write them a letter disputing it?

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Don't dispute the tradeline. You're liable to dispute the tradeline right off your reports. Use the card let it report a balance and the issuer should report it on your next cut. Does it show closed on all three bureau reports? the real reports? Not trimerge or FICO? Do NOT dispute it.

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Smallfry we keep agreeing! Although this has never happened to me, I have heard horror stories about TLs deleting after such a dispute.

[Anonymous]

Okeydoke...no disputing then. I don't know if it's showing on all three; I pulled just the Experian. I just used the card last month so maybe it will show the correct status on the next update. Thanks for all the help!