Lowered Limits!

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone!  So, I have been doing well, or so I thought.  I am mortagage free, no rent, no nothing.  I own my property debt free, and have been that way for three years.  I have no car payments, or any other type of secured credit.  I carry a small balance with John Deere Credit (2,500 on a 16,000 limit), etc.  I DO have a large number of credit cards.  So, entering the Covid era, I missed a couple payments.  Not because I couldn't pay it.  I simply forgot!  So, EVERYBODY lowered my credit limits down to almost the balance!  WOW!  What a hit on the credit scores!  What was once a 720, became a 580-590 almost overnight.  I don't have any questions really.  Just a vent more than anything.  I wwas going to get a mortgage to make a ladn purchase, and that looks like it's out the door now!  

[blindambition]

That's really unfortunate. Certainly an expensive lesson.

I would attempt writing GW letters to lenders, assuming they are 30 day lates. Some may be willing. Seven years is a long time for those derogs. The limits will likely not see any increases for awhile.

The process on Saturation technique and GW letters can be found here. 

[RSX]

ugh -sorry to hear that

good news about being debt free

1. setup autopay on all credit cards for the minimum monthly payment

2. check on your accounts every week or 2 to ensure that everything is looking good

what type of lates? if 30 days - you will start to see score increasing around year 2 (anniversary of the late)

if 60-90 the pain will be longer

good luck to you

[Anonymous]

Yeah, they're Over 30.  Nothing over 60.  They're with Cap-1 and Citi.  Most folks, I suppose, got a lot less busy during Covid...my reality is quite different.  I'll try the GW letters, and see what happens.

1. setup autopay on all credit cards for the minimum monthly payment

2. check on your accounts every week or 2 to ensure that everything is looking good

what type of lates? if 30 days - you will start to see score increasing around year 2 (anniversary of the late)

if 60-90 the pain will be longer

[RSX]

i have seen GW work with Cap1 for sure - but it may take some time

and you can still get a mortgage with lates - if they have some age to them and an explanation - so maybe try in 6 months or so

[Anonymous]

---

@RSX wrote:

ugh -sorry to hear that

good news about being debt free

1. setup autopay on all credit cards for the minimum monthly payment

2. check on your accounts every week or 2 to ensure that everything is looking good

what type of lates? if 30 days - you will start to see score increasing around year 2 (anniversary of the late)

if 60-90 the pain will be longer

good luck to you

---

I second this advice. Log into each of your accounts every 2 weeks. Autopay has never worked with my management style because I have too many bank accounts and need a better system for which accounts handle which bills, but what has worked great for me is I have 2 alerts for every debt payment. 1) 4 days before in google calendar and 2) day of. Every sunday I just flip through my calendar to see what is coming up that week and handle it. 

If you do not have autopay you HAVE to have a system for automated reminders that you will actually see. After you submit a payment check again a few days later to make sure it was accepted. Weird things happen. But at a minimum you should catch it before it hits 30 day late. 

[Anonymous]

That's solid advice.  I travel a lot for my work.  Sometimes, several cities, in several states in the same day.  Keeping up with every little bill got to be quite a task, once Covid hit, and all of the cyber-threats hit at the same time.  It's been a very very busy 12 months.  By the middle of 2022, I should be completely debt-free, but for the time being, I have to remember everything!  It's amazing how little credit card debt can hose up such a large sum of money!

[fishbjc]

Cap one is likely to work with you on one removal....that should help greatly.  Just keep sending them letters asking them to delete.