@Anonymous wrote:
You were not a bonehead. It's an obscure, even arcane, piece of FICO lore, that certain kinds of accounts are harmful to your score. (Namely "finance company" accounts, like where you buy a computer at Dell or a fridge at Best Buy or bedroom suite at Rooms To Go.)
Very few people know this. What really bites is that, as I understand it, you were trying to do what FICO suggests! Namely, to broaden your credit mix to include a diversity of account types. It's a scandal in my view that myFICO doesn't clear state in the Learn About Scores section that finance company accounts will be considered negatively by FICO.
Anyway, bottom line is that you have the account now. What you need to know is what to do with it -- right?
The good news is that Dell (or the FC) does have the power to delete this record from your credit reports. They may not do it, but all creditors have that ability (to remove one of their accounts). This is the same principle that is behind people who get collections deleted. It's called "Pay For Delete." Some companies won't do it, but they do have the ability to do it.
See if you can find a rep with the company managing the account who will be willing to arrange a PFD arrangement. (You promise to pay it off and they promise to then delete it.) You have unfortunately paid it off entirely, so you have a bit less leverage, but you may nonetheless be able to get someone to help.
Explain that opening the account has harmed your score, you really want to be a regular customer of Dell in the future, the bad score has damaged your chance of getting a home unless it gets removed, cry a little, etc. Other people here on the forum know a lot about how to negotiate these kinds of things, so see if you can find somebody who can give you tips. Politeness and persistence (a willingness to try calling once a week for a long time till you find somebody who agrees) may be the keys.
@Anonymous,
Thank you for your response but I think there might be some confusion. To summarize;
Opened the 2K account in 12/15. Put ~$ 1175 against it. It reported over 50% utilization. I paid it down to below 20% Util made random payment amounts until the time I paid it off this past Friday.
I don’t owe then anything further. I never missed a payment. Life is good.
My only question is should I keep the TL open or not. There will be I imagine a 2K CL still available to me should I want it which of course I never will.
I want to know if it will help, harm or do nothing to my scores to leave it as is.
Knowing this please advise and thanks again for the response and help.
