Should I have these closed accounts removed?

[catch]

I am looking for some advice. I just got my transunion score of 785. I get reports every 3 months. In the last 18 months it has been going down by a few points each time.( started at 795) The thing that is hurting me is too many accounts- 44. 9 of those had a balance at time of the report. ( I do pay off accounts monthly). I went through each account listed- 11 are actually open and active. The other 33 are closed or were bought out by someone else. Some of those 33 have been closed for 5 years, some were closed 2 years ago- None recently. Is it normal that they are all still listed and are actually affecting my score? Should I be writing transunion to get them removed or something?

Also, Have a question about being an authorized user on 2 of my parent's credit cards. They are 72 and pay them off monthly. Is that a negative against me? They do show as having balances on the report.

Thanks for your advice in advance

[cashcardscore]

You could dispute those but I wouldnt worry about them. They will fall of in time but I cannot recall how long that will take.

[fused]

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@cashcardscore wrote:

You could dispute those but I wouldnt worry about them. They will fall of in time but I cannot recall how long that will take.

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Disputing might do more harm than good. Strange things can happen when you dispute items on your reports.

[Anonymous]

Catch - I would guess that the number of accounts probably isn't actually hurting you, and wouldn't get into the murky waters of trying to dispute them off. My guess would be that the fluctuation in your points is due to fluctuations in the reported balances on your Revolving Debt. Do you have access to your old reports? Has your reported utilization gone up as your scores have come down?

Just my experience, but recently I pulled my EQ score at 747 while reporting 9.6% utilization. A couple weeks later I pulled again after two of the three cards I use reported a $0 balance and a $100 balance bringing my util down to 3.4%. Everything else on the report remained EXACTLY the same. My score had gone up to 767. I have heard that to maximize score you should only show a balance on 1 of your revolving accounts, and this balance should be as close to 1% util as possible. Your scores are great, so if I were you I wouldn't do anything unless I was coming up on applying for something and felt the scores needed to be even higher. In that case I'd plan a couple of months in advance to make sure the balances reported low by the time my credit was pulled.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@catch wrote:

I am looking for some advice. I just got my transunion score of 785. I get reports every 3 months. In the last 18 months it has been going down by a few points each time.( started at 795) The thing that is hurting me is too many accounts- 44. 9 of those had a balance at time of the report. ( I do pay off accounts monthly). I went through each account listed- 11 are actually open and active. The other 33 are closed or were bought out by someone else. Some of those 33 have been closed for 5 years, some were closed 2 years ago- None recently. Is it normal that they are all still listed and are actually affecting my score? Should I be writing transunion to get them removed or something?

Also, Have a question about being an authorized user on 2 of my parent's credit cards. They are 72 and pay them off monthly. Is that a negative against me? They do show as having balances on the report.

Thanks for your advice in advance

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Hi, catch!

Can I ask --was this your FICO TU score, pulled from here or from www.transunioncs.com? (note the -cs) Or was it directly from the TransUnion site? If it was from the TU site, they are very happy to sell you a FAKO score, and the score and the advice that comes along with it are pretty much meaningless.

If it was a TU FICO score, what were the negative reasons listed on screen two, in order? These are the reason codes that most impact your score, with the most damaging listed first.

The AU accounts might help or hurt, depending on whether you have other accounts reporting balances, and upon what they do to your revolving util.

[catch]

I am beginning to think that I really don't know what I am looking at! I have the FICO quarterly monitoring and they send me my TU report every 3 months. ( Hence the steady decline  to 785 I mentioned in my first post) Yesterday , I did pay for my Experian report throught this site and it is 816!!!

On TU When I looked at the report, on the second section it says only one thing is hurting me- too many accounts. That is the 44 with only 9 have ant balance and total of 14 are actually still open. Also where do I find the % utilization information that people have referred to?

Thanks for your help

[MarineVietVet]

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@catch wrote:

I am beginning to think that I really don't know what I am looking at! I have the FICO quarterly monitoring and they send me my TU report every 3 months. ( Hence the steady decline  to 785 I mentioned in my first post) Yesterday , I did pay for my Experian report throught this site and it is 816!!!

On TU When I looked at the report, on the second section it says only one thing is hurting me- too many accounts. That is the 44 with only 9 have ant balance and total of 14 are actually still open. Also where do I find the % utilization information that people have referred to?

Thanks for your help

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You can figure that yourself. Simply divide the total of all your credit card balances by the total credit limits you have available.

From a BK years ago to:

9/09 EX pulled by lender 802
3/10 EQ- 800
4/10 TU -772

You can do the same thing with hard work

Credit Scoring 101
Common Abbreviations
Frequently Requested Threads
Whats In Your FICO Score

[Anonymous]

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@catch wrote:

I am beginning to think that I really don't know what I am looking at! I have the FICO quarterly monitoring and they send me my TU report every 3 months. ( Hence the steady decline  to 785 I mentioned in my first post) Yesterday , I did pay for my Experian report throught this site and it is 816!!!

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Just making sure - I assume you meant you bought your EQUIFAX score, not Experian, right? myFico.com does not sell Experian scores. As mentioned, your util is calculated by dividing your total revolving debt balances by your total revolving debt limits. If you did buy your Equifax report, look at what is different between it and your Transunion report. Are the total balances on your revolving debt reporting differently? It would be my guess that this is the reason for the difference. You could also have TU inquires but not EQ inquiries. Also, some credit unions do not report to TU causing your total credit limit to be less on TU than EQ. This could also cause your EQ score to be higher than TU.

[Anonymous]

Even though this is an old post, I think it's extremely important that people remember that 79% of credit bureaus contain errors. What the OP is pointing out with accounts still being open is still quite common.

Thinks to look for in your bureau include the following:

1. Account amount or outstanding balance is wrong.

2. Erroneous items on your report.

3. Information that does not belong on your report, wrong social security number listed.

4. Wrong account date; opened, closed, last activity, and highest amount owed.

5. Wrong amount of days late, 30, 60, 90 days.

6. Incorrect spelling of name or marital name no longer used. In fact, you can even end up with information on your bureau from someone who will has a similar name or account number

7. Wrong account number.

8. Incorrect work history.

9. Incorrect information on bankruptcies, foreclosures, repossessions, or tax liens; date filed.

10. Incorrect or no knowledge of an account going to collections.

Besides working to correct errors on your bureau, here are some basic things you can do to maintain a better FICO score.

1. Pay all bills on time.

2. Carry a lower balance on your credit cards.

3. Maintain fewer credit accounts.

4. Do not open unnecessary new accounts.

5. Fix any errors that appear on your credit report.