Hi I am a new poster to this forum. I just thought I would pass on some recent lessons learned and see if anyone has any feedback on fixing these hard lessons.
1. I use to have a high credit score (over 800). However my husband and I changed our regular costco cards to American Express cards and now he uses his for everything. Becuase this is a joint account the balance on the two cards together counts against me. So even if I have less than $500 he might charge 10-15K and pay it off, but the balance shows as high charges for me. (debt to credit ratio)
2. I paid off a store card that I had no use for any more. I wasn't gaining anything from it. I would run a bill and pay it off each month to zero. So I shut it off. Then I was told by a loan officer that this would negatively affect my score as now my debt to credit ratio was decreased. Now four months later I get a credit score drop to the low 692 and it says that my balance on my (closed store account) credit card has increased to $9.00 . I find it funny that a balance can increase on a closed account. I can't figure out what to do.
3. I opened a new account with points and better use of my money. I now use that card for everything and for the first time in many years I am carrying a balance that I can't pay off in full each month. (will take about 6 months) I have been told that this is not bad as long as I am making significant payments and am not late. However, though my other cards are zero'd my score keeps dropping.
4. My husband and I refinanced out house for remodel a year and half ago. I was told by the loan officer that it wouldn't impact us too much, but apparently that may be wrong too. I am curious if anyone knows how long it takes of good payments to help your score out again.
It is a funny tricky system this credit stuff and I hope that I am not the only one that can get completely confused by it all. I would love to hear any lessons that others have learned.
Thanks, Chell
