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Have yourself removed as AU on those maxxed out cards. It was good if they had long history and very low utilization, but this is only compounding your problem with the current credit you have. Any accounts that creditors have kept open, yes continue big payments, start goal under 30% on open cards, don't close them. Payoff the ones that you have a balance but the creditor has closed your account. Any closed account with a balance will exceed 100% utilization on that card.
wrote:
Every time I make a big payment they will lower the limit again so my goal of 30% will never happen. It will always look maxed out should I focus on current open cards? I fear that they will start closing those too.
Remove the AUs by disputing them as not being responsible for the payments after calling the banks to have yourself removed. You may find the problem reduced once the AUs are gone. You might even call the banks that have closed you down and ask them to re-open but only after those AUs are gone from your CRs.
wrote:
Just got a notification that another bank has dropped my limit and another bank has completely closed my account. 3 accounts closed and 3 being balanced chased. This is overwhelming. I’m shaking because I really for once had my act together with my credit. I was making large payments ($200-$300) each card a month on the debt we built up during the move. We had 12-18 months to pay off the balances (around $12K) to avoid interest, so I felt good and on track. They have closed my high limit cards that didn’t have a balance and took my ones like $3500 limit down to $2120 because the balance is $1985. Several cards are brought all the way down like that so now I don’t have available credit anywhere which makes my utilization look terrible. The collection is from 4 years ago, honestly I didn’t realize that it was a separate account( Verizon) there was already one on my report. I think it was a mistake for equipment that they said they never received. Ugh this is all too much
Take a HUGE deep breath, you got this...
As far as your AUs, call the banks or have whoever is the responsible party call and have you removed as an AU.
Next, its time to dispute that verizon collection. Is it with a collection agency or just says verizon?
Either way I would write a DV letter to the CA via certified mail, write a complaint with BBB for that CA, and sumbit a complaint on CFPB.gov againts the CA and the CRAs that are reporting the collection.
Now, lets attack these balance chasing banks. One way I've been able to beat them at their own game is to use this strategy:
- Find out when your statement is cut for your CCs
- Make min payments on all CCs
- 2 Days before your statement, pay a huge payment
This will force them to report you're updated balance to the CRAs and have it drop your utilization percentage. This will throw off your other CCs ALGOTs from automaticaly droping your balances.
Hope this helps!