Recently I was shocked to find there is an adverse account on all 3 of credit bureau reports. It is a bill of $250 from Citibank that I don't recognize at all went to collection (Cavalry). It's been there for several years but I only just found out and I don't know the first delinquency date. The estimated date for the adverse entry to fall off the report differs wildly, from 2/2020 in TU to 3/2023 in Credit Karma's TU and EQ.
Can someone advise what is the best way for me to find out what that charge was all about? Should I contact Citibank or Cavalry or Lexington or someone else? I first want to make sure it was indeed an error and then I will try to dispute.
I'd call Citi and ask. They are the source that tells the CRA's to report the neg. They may have the answer you need before disputes and calling collection agencies first.
Thank you.
Another question, is there a good way to find out when the adverse charge will fall off the report? If the TU's 2/2020 is reliable I am inclined not to dispute or do anything because I don't want to risk a reset of the 7 year ticker. But if it's 3/2023 I might have to do something about it.
Thanks, Remedios.
Reached out to Citi and still cannot figure out the charge. Will decide whether to dispute or just wait till next Feb 2020 for it to drop. Meanwhile, I will also attempt to improve my FICO scores by adding myself as an AU as I currently do not use credit cards. Debt cards only.
There are a few credit card accounts between my daughter and son-in-law I can add myself to but my understanding is all issuers are not equal in this regard. Could someone give some feedback which credit cards are best for this purpose?
BoA Premium Rewards (1 yo, limit $21,000, util 10% to 20%)
Capital One Savor (1 yo, limit $30,000, util <1%)
Amex Blue Cash Preferred (2 yo, limit $15,000, util 5%)
Discover It Chrome student (10 yo, limit $1,500, sock drawer card)
BoA AAA Gas rebate (10 yo, limit $1,500, sock drawer card)
Citi Costco (9 yo, limit $15,000, util 2% but will be used even less as they moved their travel spending to BoA Premium)
They all have 100% payment history and are all open to have me added but I only want to add 1 or 2. Please advice which ones I should choose.
Also, I canceled all my credit cards years ago (dumb move, now I know) and now understanding how FICO scores work I think at some point I should obtain another one under my name. What path should I take?
My current scores:
EX: 598
TU: 597
EQ: 595
Thank you Remedios.
My son-in-law called the Citi Costco card but it turned out in order to be eligible to be an AU I would have to be a member of Costco. His membership already carries 2 adults (my daughter and him) which is the maximum number of adults allowed under one paid membership. So I would need my own standalone membership for at least $60 a year. I decided not to pursue this path.
Instead my daughter has added me to her Discover and my son-in-law added me to his AAA card. Neither card has been used in years and both are in danger of being closed by the issuers. I plan to use each one once a month to put some utilizations, which should also help them to keep their oldest cards alive.
As to my own credit card, I checked pre-qualifications on BoA, which is my main bank, and to my surprise it recommends every card it has to me. With my credit scores under 600 I don't know how reliable these pre-qualifications are. But then on the other hand even though my credit is shot financially I am in good shape and I am a Platinum Honors member with BoA. I am hesitating if I should give it a try.
@eastsea wrote:
As to my own credit card, I checked pre-qualifications on BoA, which is my main bank, and to my surprise it recommends every card it has to me. With my credit scores under 600 I don't know how reliable these pre-qualifications are. But then on the other hand even though my credit is shot financially I am in good shape and I am a Platinum Honors member with BoA. I am hesitating if I should give it a try.
BoA prequals are not reliable. You can put a fake name and get same recommendations.
I really dont know if your existing relationship with them would work in your favor.
If you're interested, give it a try. HP is really nothing to fuss about unless one accumulates way too many (like me 
)
I do know they prefer customers with whom they have existing depository relationship, so I see absolutely no harm in trying. Gotta start somewhere
A quick update: the AAA credit card started reporting and my credit score (EX) jumped from 598 to 648. I have not had an opportunity to check TU and EQ for free yet. I am pleasantly surprised at the large jump and am hopeful once the Discover starts reporting I will see another (most likely much smaller) increase.
Very thankful for the great advice I received in this thread.