help please

[Anonymous]

My credit score is currently at 682.  Clean history accept one 30 day late 1 1/2 years ago.  (Tried to get a GA with BOA, no go).  I paid down a bunch of cards about a year ago and as soon as I did, the cards either closed my account or lowered the CL drastically even as low as $200.  I had one card with a $3500 CL closed.  I had NEVER once been late in over 12 years with the account.  So, my plan to decrease my util % backfired and made it look as though all is maxed out instead of brining it down to about 20% as planned.  I currently have 6 cards with a balance, although 3 of the balances are under $300.  I tried to get a CLI from BOA the other day and the senior credit analyst said that my util % being 82% and 6 cards with balances makes me look like a risk.  I need your help.  

I really don't even owe very much total, under $4000.  ****There is actually a 7th card showing(my husband's) with a $4000 balance.  He removed me as an authorized user and they stopped reporting in September.  But, it still shows the balance.  So I also need to know, should I dispute this as "not my account"  to get it removed since it is factoring into my total balances and util %?  

Should I contact my other cards to request an increase to bring down my util %, or do you think I'll get the same response.  is it worth the hit of the inquiries?  

Or is there a certain card you think I should apply for that may give me a higher limit that I can consolidate to. Or would that hurt my score?  

Please help me decide what the next move should be.

[pmbrian]

I would respectfully submit that this is ok, getting out of debt is a great thing and learning to live debt free, therefore needing less credit is ideal.  Continue to work to pay off the debt and when you have your utilization down to <10% of your available credit, magically your score will increase and  you have the ability to get more credit, although I would recommend against it.  Simply garden what you end up with.

I have awaken to this reality with the help of mentors such as Dave Ramsey.

Cash is king, debt is dumb - one of my favorite things he says.

Have a great day!

[llecs]

You did the right thing with that payoff. Congrats! That's that much less debt you have to worry about. Keep paying it down.

It isn't uncommon for that to happen. All it takes is one credit trigger (e.g. that late) that gets seen by one of your CCCs to cause an avalanche for everything else. Remember, if they lower it, it can be increased in the future. I had one creditor slash my CL from $3500 to $300 and I never was late and my credit had improved from month to month. It took some time and some calls, but they eventually increased it to $2500, which is better than nothing. Just continue paying it down and once your balances are near or at $0, and as your FICO scores reach a new high, then you can always ask for increases if that is what you want.

Per GWing the late, I would stop. That's me anyway. Thirty days slowly diminish and really aren't scored past 2 years. FICO is largely ignoring it, especially since it is a solitary late.

For the AU account, yes, you can dispute it as "not mine". The account itsn't yours. It is your DH's.

I wouldn't ask for CLIs at this point. Continue the debt paydown and you'll see your scores rise. If you do ask now, they may say "No" due to high utilization.

If you have open CCs now, I wouldn't open any new cards. You would likely get denied anyway due to util. Pay off what you have, reapproach your existing CCCs by asking for CLIs, and then garden your credit by moving away from the cards that won't grow with you. Ideally before beginning, pay off all CCs, but get one to report a low balance of under 9% of the CL. Continue to PIF monthly to avoid interest and to stay out of debt.

[Anonymous]

Thanks so  much for your advice.  I will try to be patient.  It'll be 2 years in February since the payoffs, and still no CLIs.  In fact one card lowered it again.  I just got off the phone with that creditor and they claim equifax reported "serious delinquency with other creditors"  Considering I monitor all three reports and know there is only that one 30 day late and no other negatives, I just don't get this.  I think they make this junk up.  Patient, patient.....I will try to be.  Thanks again!

[RobertEG]

Remember that FICO does not score your CLs.  It scores your % utils against those limits.

Any creditor that y0u currently have an account with has carte blanche to pulll your CR for account review.  YOu wont even see this in most consumer credit reports, for it is a soft pull, but they do it all the time.  They know your overall utilization, in addition to your own account.

Getting your balances down against each CL is the best way to impress credtiors in % util.  They dont care about helping you get FICO score improvement by increasing your CL.  They see risk in CL increase unless the % util, both on their accoun t, and overall, is under control.

[Anonymous]

Robert- yes I completely understand that.  I don't want the CLI to go spend money.  I want them so that in relation to the existing balances, my util % will go down.  I originally had 20,000 in credit limits.  I paid everything down to 4,000, which should have brought my util % down to 20%.  I only had a little ways to go to get under 10%.  But when I did they closed the accounts or lowered the limits.  This jacked my util % back up to 80%.  Because I used every bit of resources I had to pay those down, it is not real easy to pay them down quickly now.  Also with the credit limits so low, I need to pay them all down to less $400 to get my util % under 10%.   I thought the quickest course of action is to try to restore my original credit limits.  Or to get a new card and consolidate, leaving all that available credit.  Trust me, I learned my lesson with credit cards years ago and have become disciplined not to use them.  I just want my score up higher so I can refinance our house and purchase a business.