@NAVYCHOP wrote:Last December I decided to close my HELOC credit line when interest rates were rising and Wells Fargo allowed me to enter the repayment phase a year early with a fixed 6.25 percent interest rate. I had some questions about HELOCs in repayment that I have not been able to find on this board:
(a). When the HELOC credit line is closed and becomes a fixed monthly payment, does that create the same scoring penalty as with credit cards having a balance with no credit line?
(b). I noticed nine months after entering repayment, Experien still shows my account as open but Equifax and TransUnion list the account as closed. Does the HELOC status open or closed matter?
(c). If the HELOC is maxed out at 99 percent does that create a big scoring penalty as I pay it down? I could potentially pay the HELOC down to 90 percent but I like the interest rate and would prefer minimum payments.
(d). Sometimes I will look at some credit websites and it will show my credit utilization at 31 percent counting the HELOC, other sites show my utilization score less than 1 percent when they are not counting the HELOC. Does it matter?
My FICO 8 is showing 803 Experien, 801 Equifax and 797 TransUnion. Thanks for any pointers!
I haven't had a HELOC but I have had 2 personal lines of credit with Santander Bank which, like HELOC's, had a "draw" period, followed by a "repayment" period. The bank represented that during the repayment period I could take my time, paying a fixed dollar amount each month to pay off the balance, over a 5 year period.
I was fine with that.
Until, lo and behold I saw that once the first PLOC had entered the "repayment" phase, they were inaccurately reporting it as a "closed" account, with a maxed out balance. I then had to scramble to pay it off right away, to avoid killing my credit scores.
By the time the second PLOC arrived at the "repayment" phase I'd already paid it down to avoid Santander's stab in the back.
