My wife is bringing me down!!

[Anonymous]

So I was just on Credit.com and using their credit score estimator. I played out the different scenarios and here are some of the results. In my current situation it gave me a score of 547. Now if I removed myself from the Discover but kept the Macys with the late payments my score would be 607 (better but not great). If I got rid of the Macys and kept the Discover with the high utilization my score would be 651 and if I got rid of both which still leaves me with a high utilization my score would be 672. Then I played out a scenario in which I got rid of the old collections (again, I dispute it goes away then year later shows back up) and got rid of the AUs, even if my total CLs are $1000 and my balance is $900 it says my score would be 714! Now keep in mind those collections are 2 years old.

Has anyone used this credit score simulator before? How innaccurate is it? I know its not close to reflecting my true score and probably inflates and deflates scores to make sign up for either a credit card or credit score saving programs. But I think it gives me the idea with what the best result I would get from doing certain things. If I get rid of both the AUs my score may not be 672 but I think it at least tells me getting off of both is more beneficial than get off of only one, which did surprise me.  Should I feel confident in that deduction or does this calculator give me no true direction?

[llecs]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So I was just on Credit.com and using their credit score estimator. I played out the different scenarios and here are some of the results. In my current situation it gave me a score of 547. Now if I removed myself from the Discover but kept the Macys with the late payments my score would be 607 (better but not great). If I got rid of the Macys and kept the Discover with the high utilization my score would be 651 and if I got rid of both which still leaves me with a high utilization my score would be 672. Then I played out a scenario in which I got rid of the old collections (again, I dispute it goes away then year later shows back up) and got rid of the AUs, even if my total CLs are $1000 and my balance is $900 it says my score would be 714! Now keep in mind those collections are 2 years old.

Has anyone used this credit score simulator before? How innaccurate is it? I know its not close to reflecting my true score and probably inflates and deflates scores to make sign up for either a credit card or credit score saving programs. But I think it gives me the idea with what the best result I would get from doing certain things. If I get rid of both the AUs my score may not be 672 but I think it at least tells me getting off of both is more beneficial than get off of only one, which did surprise me.  Should I feel confident in that deduction or does this calculator give me no true direction?

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Credit.com is a great site for credit advice, but ignore the scores, score-related advice, and their simulator. All FAKO-related and lenders don't use those scores. Sometimes their advice will harm FICO, and FICO's advice harm their FAKO. In other words, don't assume that if the simulator increases for a FAKO that FICO would too.

[scarrollprint]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I understand what you are saying but I can't just wait till I want to get credit for something and just pay off my ccs. That's 10k, which if we could pay off we would.
And if I got rid of only the 60 late then my utilization would go up to 97%. That just sounds kind of crazy. So it's 60 day late more negative than carrying a 97% utilization rate? And let's answer that question for short term and long term(like 1 year from now)

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I'll do just that:

Short term - start paying off your credit cards - you should be doing this NO MATTER WHAT. When I say pay off the balance when you need credit I meant, if your nomal monthly spending is say 1000 and you PIF every month, just make sure that when you go to get new credit your utilization is low. It doesn't matter if your CC balance is at 1000 or 1 million all that matters is that when you go to app for credit THATS when it matters what your utilization is at. So short term, work on paying down those balances. Every month you float a balance your throwing money away - we all have to do it from time to time but in the end you need to work on bringing those balances down. So yes if you dropped the AU on those accounts, in the short term your score would drop because you'd be at a much higher utilization, but you'd also be dropping a recent 60 day late - so in essence you'd probably stay the same, or maybe go a little bit higher.

Long term - start paying off your credit cards ANYWAYS! Long term your utilzation NOW will have NOT ONE OUNCE of influence on your score later if its paid off later. So lets say 1 year from now you've paid off most of the 10k in cc balances, your utilization is lower but if your still AU on those cards, you'll STILL have a somewhat recent (albiet a year) 60 day late.

I stand by my answer drop the AU with a 60 day late....its doing you no good now or later with it being a recent late.  Drop the AU and then in a year if you need the help with utilization add it back on as they SHOULDN'T be adding past info to your report, only info from when you have the card.

[atarvuzdar]

I agree.

The 60 day late will show on your credit reports for 7 years if you don't get rid of the account. It's not "just" a 60 day late. It's a derogatory mark that will affect your score negatively for years even assuming perfect payment history from here on out. Getting rid of that account is most important. Also, maybe you want to broach the subject of the late payment with your wife, as well, if this is the first you're hearing of it? In my opinion, finances are not a subject a couple should keep silent about!

Lastly, congrats on the family.