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Credit Card debt AND Line of Credit debt...Will my score ever improve?

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glaucus
Established Member

Credit Card debt AND Line of Credit debt...Will my score ever improve?

My score is 643. I have 8 credit cards, 4 of which are closed. The balances on all 8 are in the 95% range. Pretty embarrassing. (I should state that I have an LLC business, so this debt is not typical of most people probably.) I have been given sound advice here as to paying them down in a way in which I go to 90%, then 80% and so on. However, I also have an enormous line of credit that is maxed out. That amount accounts for nearly 90% of my total credit. I am desperate to improve my score, but based on the debt to credit percentage and the importance of reducing it, I have the following belief:  Even if I pay all of my credit cards down to zero, and even if the 4 open ones do not lessen the amount of credit extended to me (doubtful), because I have such a huge amount of line of credit debt, I think my score will never improve. If my line of credit debt uses close to 90% of my debt to credit ratio, and it is maxed out, is there any hope of seeing a score in the 700's? What help could paying down my credit cards do? Rough numbers are as follows:

 

Credit Card Debt:  $ 80,000, Available is $ 87,000

Line of Credit Debt:  $ 883,000, Available is $ 885,000

 

Thank you very much for any insight and/or advice.

Message 1 of 26
25 REPLIES 25
tcbofade
Super Contributor

Re: Credit Card debt AND Line of Credit debt...Will my score ever improve?

I hate to answer a question with a question, but we're missing an IMPORTANT piece of information...

 

Does the "line of credit" show on your credit report as an "installment" account or as a "revolving" account?

02/01/24 Fico 8: EX 757, EQ 803, TU 783.
Fico 9: EX 760 12/16/23, EQ 790 02/04/24, TU No idea.

Zero percent financing is where the devil lives...
Message 2 of 26
glaucus
Established Member

Re: Credit Card debt AND Line of Credit debt...Will my score ever improve?

Unfortunately, it shows as revolving.

Message 3 of 26
tcbofade
Super Contributor

Re: Credit Card debt AND Line of Credit debt...Will my score ever improve?

Ouch.

 

Refer to my other post then...pay them all, even the big one, down to below 90% and you'll see a score boost.

 

700?  I'm not sure, but you should be close.

02/01/24 Fico 8: EX 757, EQ 803, TU 783.
Fico 9: EX 760 12/16/23, EQ 790 02/04/24, TU No idea.

Zero percent financing is where the devil lives...
Message 4 of 26
glaucus
Established Member

Re: Credit Card debt AND Line of Credit debt...Will my score ever improve?

Thank you for your help. I wish I could get the line to report as installment, but apparently lines of credit are considered revolving.

Message 5 of 26
tcbofade
Super Contributor

Re: Credit Card debt AND Line of Credit debt...Will my score ever improve?

I have no first hand experience with "lines of credit", but from what I've read here, it kind of varies by bank/lender practices.

02/01/24 Fico 8: EX 757, EQ 803, TU 783.
Fico 9: EX 760 12/16/23, EQ 790 02/04/24, TU No idea.

Zero percent financing is where the devil lives...
Message 6 of 26
GregB
Valued Contributor

Re: Credit Card debt AND Line of Credit debt...Will my score ever improve?

I assume by "available" you mean "credit limit" so you have $7K available on CC and $2K available on your LOC.

 

If that is true, there may be some strange things on your reports. I believe from you other post that your score is from EX directly. Is that correct? If so, you need some real reports. I would get a EQ and TU FICO from here, even though the TU one might be a bit of a waste since it is FICO 98. Your need to KNOW how that LOC is being catagorized on real reports. If it is EX Plus score, that may be way wrong compared to a FICO for the LOC.

 

What is securing that LOC? If real estate, it could be way different. If secured, that would normally be excluded from revolving by many reports. It also may be excluded due to limit. My $46K and $56K limit CCs are not counted in revolving even though they are revolving. I charge & pay $20-40K per month on CC, almost all business.

 

 

Message 7 of 26
glaucus
Established Member

Re: Credit Card debt AND Line of Credit debt...Will my score ever improve?

The LOC is backed by my home. It is really a home equity line of credit. The report I have is from Experian directly I believe. I pay a membershp and get reports as frequently as I want. I have reports from creditchecktotal.com from a few months ago that show the LOC is being considered revolving debt by Experian and Equifax. Transunion just lists it as "other accounts".  I do not understand why some reporting agencies would show something different based on who reports it. In my mind, the Experian score and report should be the same regardless of who provides it to me. I guess what I need is whatever the banks pull when they determine a loan, etc.

Message 8 of 26
GregB
Valued Contributor

Re: Credit Card debt AND Line of Credit debt...Will my score ever improve?


@glaucus wrote:

The LOC is backed by my home. It is really a home equity line of credit. The report I have is from Experian directly I believe. I pay a membershp and get reports as frequently as I want. I have reports from creditchecktotal.com from a few months ago that show the LOC is being considered revolving debt by Experian and Equifax. Transunion just lists it as "other accounts".  I do not understand why some reporting agencies would show something different based on who reports it. In my mind, the Experian score and report should be the same regardless of who provides it to me. I guess what I need is whatever the banks pull when they determine a loan, etc.


That is exactly my point. The score you are gettting is a FAKO, so is the catagorization, and so is the advice. That score, probably EX PLUS aka Experian Credit Score, is not used by any lender of any kind and can easily be 100 + points off and move in the opposite direction of a score used by lenders for many changes. EX used to allow a useful FICO that was available here until about 2008. The equivalent FICO version is available here for EQ but the TU FICO available here is one major version earlier.

 

I could almost guarantee you that your HELOC is not catagorized as revolving for any credit applications that you are likely to encounter.

Message 9 of 26
glaucus
Established Member

Re: Credit Card debt AND Line of Credit debt...Will my score ever improve?

Hmmm. This is confusing!! How would I go about getting my credit report from all 3 agencies that would be the same as what banks use? Isn' there one standard for banks?

Message 10 of 26
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