How to remove closed "Too many accounts"

[Anonymous]

I'm frustrated.  First I only received one of the three Fico scores.  I understand there is a problem with Experian, but what happened to the quarterly Equifax report?

As always, Transunion says I have too many accounts listed, (29) yet they only give me XXXX's as account numbers making it impossible to verify anything.

I can see two paid off mortgages, every paid off car over the last ten years, duplicate accounts and I believe credit cards where new cards were issued when my wallet was stolen. I can tell by the dates. They are obviously closed accounts.  Lowes is on here three times. No way they have three open accounts for me.

I have a mortgage, car and a credit card. Line of credit with no balance and two other cards that I don't use but they have long history.   I have a some department stores where I opened accounts to get a discount then never used them again, but that is only four. I could close them. 

How do I get the paid off mortgages and cars at least off of this list?

My FICO score just can't seem to top 800, when I have no missed payments, 1% of credit used, 24 years of history and the avg age of accts is 8. 

It disturbs me that my elderly parent's address has popped up on my report. They had one of their cards issued in my name so I can purchase groceries for them.  I have no liability regarding their card.  At least their balance is no longer printing on my report. Because it did for a long time! Is this normal?

Any advise?

[Junejer]

Hey SARAASB, you don't want to get those old items removed from your report. Those are helping your AAoA. TU is full of garbage with that comment. It is one that pops up when members have 25-30 accounts or more and it has no teeth. It's not affecting your score. Too many accounts with balances, yes, that hurts, but too many accounts--nah.

I know the address thing is a pain in the butt, I have the same issue and they refuse to fix it. I have my business card come to my P.O. Box, now Experian thinks that I live in the P.O. Box. It can be trying, but that isn't affecting your score any.

The Lowe's accounts could be hurting, depending upon how long ago they were opened. You want to have the oldest remain and the younger ones, provided that they are less than 8 years old, to go away.

HTH

[Anonymous]

I still think my score should be over 800. I hover around 792-795

Why don't they show us the last four digits of the account, at least?

I don't know who to call to see if an account that should be closed is still open.

Thanks!

[Junejer]

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SARAASB wrote:

I still think my score should be over 800. I hover around 792-795

Why don't they show us the last four digits of the account, at least?

I don't know who to call to see if an account that should be closed is still open.

Thanks!

---

Maybe, maybe not. Without more information, I can neither confirm nor deny. If you go to annualcreditreport.com, you can pull your full reports and there get the full account information.  BTW, closed accounts may remain on your reports for up to 10 years beyond closing.  Open accounts just remain...do with this information what you wish.  I will only say this--before finding these forums, I disputed off some older, good standing accounts (how I wish I hadn't done that now). 

[smallfry]

Op you never ever dispute a positive tradeline.

[Anonymous]

Thank you!  You have been a huge help!

The free reports gave me a lot more information.

Most of the 29 accounts are closed.  13 accounts are open, 10 installments.

Maybe the available credit on the rest is hurting me.

$121k, which was a shock, but is correct.

Talbots up'd my card to a $5k limit. Should I call them and tell them to lower it? I used it once & pd it off, but they send me coupons!

I can close Discover now that Sam's takes Mastercard. That would remove $10k in avail credit.

The card I use has $21K avail and I keep the monthly charges from $500-1000, pd in full each month.

I financed and paid off $1200 in custom shelves -0- % at Lowes and they have me approved for $10k.

I could get them to close this.  I'm sure they would give me another account if I needed it.

I have four "emergency" cards that have been around since 1985 & 1990, but have large credits avail. $40k, $10k $20k & $22k.  I'm supposed to keep these old, old accounts open to help my score, right?

But I think they are hurting me.  These four just sit there with $92k available credit. 

My car ratio is 82%, but there isn't a way to get the available credit raised.

Mortgage & LOC ratio is 61%

Installments are under 1%

The total is 43% of available credit

Everything looks correct.

I'd love to get my score over 800.

I wonder if closing the Lowes account, Talbots, Discover & one of the spares would make a difference?

How do you know?

Why do I care? I don't know!  My cousin just hassles me about his 840 score and it bugs me!

[haulingthescoreup]

There is no such thing when it comes to scoring as too much available credit. Your scores cannot be hurt by CLI's.

The flag for "too many accounts" is a bogus one.

If you're determine to hit 800, try this, if you don't already:

Almost all credit cards update to the credit bureaus on their statement dates, reporting the balances due that is on your statements. Pay all your cards online three days before their expected statement dates, leaving a $10 balance on one card. After that card reports, go ahead and pay it off too.

This will result in absolutely minimal reported util, and only one card reporting a balance. That might be enough to bump you over.

Exceptions: US Bank and HSBC/ Orchard bank cards update to the credit bureaus on the last business day of the month, reporting that balance. American Express updates 4 weeks after your statement date, reporting the balance that was on that statement, meaning that they are effectively two months less a couple of days behind.

Don't close anything, don't dispute anything, don't request any reductions in credit limits. You're in great shape, and if you want to do some fine tuning of util, that might be enough to do the trick.

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 02-20-2009 05:34 PM

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your help!

I only use one card. I avg $500-$1000 at the statement date with $21k available.

But I'll try the pay it off early trick and see if this makes a difference.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

You mention "Mortgage & LOC" - is that a home equity line of credit and are you carrying a balance on it? If so, what is the balance and what is the total LOC amount? Certain LOCs are categorized as revolving credit and can impact your score ...

[Junejer]

That 2-5% individual util should already be enough, but try going really low as HTSU recommended and let us know what happened.