I'm reposting here given that it looks I posted in the wrong thread.
Just joined myFICO today.
Here's my deal - I've had a pretty solid credit history for a long time, until very recently. I'm still trying to figure out how this occurred but we didn't pay 2 credit cards for about 4 months. The sad thing is, the balances were negligent (Discover $75 and Toys R US $58), I rarely use these cards and they are basically $0 balance.
Additionally, not knowing that it would impact my score - I kept high balances on 2 credit cards and a line of credit (Citi $8.2k, Chase $5.2k and Citi LOC $1.5k). I also have a Citi card that was closed with a balance remaining and I've been paying well above the minimum payments (3 times the minimum), for $3k. I had been trying to pay off the balances for the last 2 years - which also didn't appear to help much either. One card (Discover $20k) was closed after I paid off the entire balance ($12k). All of these issues have crashed myFICO score to 627. TU is 660, EQ is 659 and EX is 640.
I recently made a large payment to Citi for $4k, and Citi lowered my credit limit from $8.2k to $6k. I also paid off the Chase card ($5.2k) and the Citi line of credit ($1.5k)
I'm not sure how much it'll help - but the only credit card balances remaining are (Citi $4k and Citi $3k) - which I intend to pay off completely within the next month (can't wait!!! 
). My credit limit currently sits at a measely $11k - truly amazing IMO. I'm also unsure if the creditors will continue to do balance chasing on me - I hope not.
The worst part? I have never owned a home and am committed to buying this summer (I have a family) - so this crisis has arrived at exactly at the wrong time.
Starting Score: 600 (Jan 2014)
@topa wrote:I'm reposting here given that it looks I posted in the wrong thread.
Just joined myFICO today.
Here's my deal - I've had a pretty solid credit history for a long time, until very recently. I'm still trying to figure out how this occurred but we didn't pay 2 credit cards for about 4 months. The sad thing is, the balances were negligent (Discover $75 and Toys R US $58), I rarely use these cards and they are basically $0 balance.
Additionally, not knowing that it would impact my score - I kept high balances on 2 credit cards and a line of credit (Citi $8.2k, Chase $5.2k and Citi LOC $1.5k). I also have a Citi card that was closed with a balance remaining and I've been paying well above the minimum payments (3 times the minimum), for $3k. I had been trying to pay off the balances for the last 2 years - which also didn't appear to help much either. One card (Discover $20k) was closed after I paid off the entire balance ($12k). All of these issues have crashed myFICO score to 627. TU is 660, EQ is 659 and EX is 640.
I recently made a large payment to Citi for $4k, and Citi lowered my credit limit from $8.2k to $6k. I also paid off the Chase card ($5.2k) and the Citi line of credit ($1.5k)
I'm not sure how much it'll help - but the only credit card balances remaining are (Citi $4k and Citi $3k) - which I intend to pay off completely within the next month (can't wait!!!
The worst part? I have never owned a home and am committed to buying this summer (I have a family) - so this crisis has arrived at exactly at the wrong time.
Pay them off dont worry about the balance chasing, once you have paid them off look to less visible lenders, I dont like City, Amex, Chase, BoA, Barclays at all and have 0 cards from them, find some CUs to get in with and get their credit products they rarely do balance chasing and you will be in a better place for having done so. It wont matter if your limits fall if you keep the utilization in check relative to a cards CL. I would GW those 2 late accounts and push hard to get them to do it.
Thanks gdale6!
Yup, I'm doing exactly as you oulined. Will be paying off all balances and will only keep a small balance in one card. I'm also disputing them as well. Fingers crossed as I will need my score to get a mortgage pretty soon.
As I mentioned on my original post, I paid off a CC and brought down the balance from $8,200 to $3,800 last month. Upon receipt of the payment, my CL was lowered to $6,000. The interesting thing is that the lower balance is still not reflected on my account. The creditor reported last month on the 12th. I called to ask when they report to the beaurues and was told at the end of the month. So my balance for that account still shows $8,200.
Another creditor received a payment of $150 - and updated my account. My credit score went up to 633 just for that. I am happy to see that a small payment had such a huge impact and can't wait to see what will happen when I pay off both accounts.
Yoohoo...
Citi updated my balance today and my score went up to 667. That's a 40 point increase from March 7th. Can't wait to pay off the remaining balances - my goal is 750.
So Chase charged $11 dollars in interest/fees for an account which I had paid off last month (about $5000).
Just this dropped my FICO to 663 - 4 whole points. I sent the check immediately after getting the alert.
I'm also waiting for another CC to get added to my report - my wife got 2 new credit cards with total balance of $17000. I already got the alert for one of the accounts ($8400) and am waiting for the other one ($7500). That should help bring my utilization down, currently at 35%.
I'm also making a few moves to pay off the remaining balances on 2 accounts - I'll put up the accounts on a spreadsheet for easier tracking and will post next time.
Finally, I got a letter from Citi who had lowered my CL from $8000 to $6000, stating that they had made the decision because my FICO had hit 600 in January. I was not aware since I had not pulled my credit report since early last year. I'll update my starting score with that score.
I got around to creating the table with my current status. As you can see from the below, my utilization came down from 82% in February to 35% this month. This came up when I pulled my credit report March 7th, my utilization was 35%. I had also paid off the credit line ($1500) but had to tap into that for a few unforseen payments. As I mentioned on my previous post, my goal is to pay the Citi Credit Line, the Citi Diamond and the Citi card by next month, bringing my utilzation down to basically 0%.
After that, I will focus on paying off my car loan. With the exception of a mortgage, which I'm hoping to get this year, I am expectiving to be debt free by mid 2015. I have yet to hear back with regards to the good will letters I sent. I may have to keep sending as suggested here.
| Credit Limit | Previous Balance (Feb 2014) | Previous Utilization | Paid | Current Balance (March 2014) | Current Utilization | Status | |
| Chase | 5000 | 4600 | 92% | 4600 | 0 | 0% | |
| Citi Credit Line | 1500 | 1500 | 100% | 1500 | 1500 | 100% | Pending |
| Citi Diamond | 6040 | 8200 | 99% | 4800 | 4423 | 73% | Pending |
| Citi Card (closed) | 0 | 3000 | NA | Paying Monthly | 2940 | Account Closed | Pending |
| Kohl's card | 400 | 220 | 55% | 220 | 0 | 0% | |
| Toys R US Card | 250 | 160.28 | 64% | 160.28 | 0 | 0% | |
| Discover IT | 500 | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0% | NA |
| Citi Premier (Wife) | 8400 | 0 | NA | 0 | 0 | 0% | NA |
| Chase Slate (Wife) | 7500 | 0 | NA | 0 | 0 | 0% | NA |
| Student Loan | 24500 | Paying Monthly | Paying Monthly | Paying Monthly | Paying Monthly | Paying Monthly | Pending |
| Car Loan | 5789 | Paying Monthly | Paying Monthly | Paying Monthly | Paying Monthly | Paying Monthly | Pending |
| 82% | 35% |
I just paid off the credit line ($1500), my utilization is now down to 24%.
It appears as if the lates on my Toys R US card have been removed, I got a Credit Alert this morning telling me the status of the account had changed, up from 663 to 670. This is one of the lates I had disputed and had sent GW letters to. I will confirm whether this is the case the next time I re-pull my report, which I will do once I hear back on the remaining 2 GWs.
I also uncovered another late for which I missed sending a GW - a Citi account for which I was late in August. Aside from that, I've never been late in the account since 2008. I have the letter prep'ed and will send it tomorrow.
I'm anxious to get my updates next month which should reflect all the accounts I paid down to zero, and my wife's new accounts. I'm also shooting to have all my credit card balances paid.
