Are these accounts helping or hurting my CR?

razingkane · ‎09-07-2008

I have a Bank of America account (I'm guessing a card) on my Experian credit report. It shows Date of Last activity as Sept 1999. The largest balance shows less than the credit limit. It shows the account closed by credit guarantor request, account paid satisfactorily. Is it helping or hurting my score? Do I leave it or ask Experian to remove it?

I also have a couple of unknown HSBC accounts. The first one is on TU and is closed. Credit limit was 300.00. Opened on 2006, last reported 2007, status closed, paid, current. The second HSBC account looks like it's a duplicate of the first HSBC account except it's Experian and not TU. Open and closed dates are the same as the first HSBC account but this one shows a 5.00 credit limit. It too shows closed, paid, current. What do I do with these HSBC accounts? Are they helping or hurting my credit? Do I ask TU and Experian to remove them or what?

Anonymous · ‎09-07-2008

they're helping your account age. never dispute positive information. a quick reading doesn't show any negative information, but others may have different information regarding the one 'closed by'.

edit: if you honestly don't know where those HSBC accounts come from, you can dispute them because they're not yours for peace of mind. they don't appear to be hurting you unless they're paid collections instead of paid as agreed. even with paid collections, they are less detrimental after 2 years and ironically help you because of their age -- though in my opinion, you want to get rid of them completely if you can. never give any creditor an excuse to say 'no' to you. just know that disputing an item will 'reset' your last activity if the credit reporting agency decides they're going to keep it on there (verify it) instead of delete it. that is detrimental to your reports age.

Message Edited by Nonaii on 09-07-2008 06:59 PM

llecs · ‎09-07-2008

I wouldn't touch them. Remember, HSBC co-brands several different CCs. It could easy be a store charge card.

Also, if you pulled from a 3rd party CR site like TC or myFICO, you may find that the CRs split up the HSBC account and it may appear as 2-3 separate accounts. For example, DW's HSBC on TC is listed as two different accounts with different account numbers but is only 1 acct.