trying to understand scoring

[Anonymous]

I am confused.  I see people talking about having lates, BK, and all sorts of things still on their reports, yet have score in the upper 600's to mid-low 700's.  I have one 30 day late that is 3 years old, a judgement that was paid off almost 3 years ago and my scores are still low.  605 - 644 - 678

What am I doing wrong?

[Anonymous]

What are your TL's? How many cc's do you have? What is your utilization on the cc's you have? And how old are your cc's?

You have a pretty clean cr. And are all those scores FICO scores?

If the judgement is still sitting in Public Records, that may be the anchor weighing your scores down, as that is a fatal baddie, imo.

[Anonymous]

These is everything that is bad on my reports.

     TransUnion        Experian         Equifax
 
 
    645 (ON TU)      605 (ON TU)       674 (ON TU) 
                               644 (ON EX)       678 (ON myfico)

The info below isn't correct.  I trasfered 4 cards into one and my payments have not shown up.  However, these were my 4 oldest accounts.  I have opened about 4 or 5 new ones in the last year.

It shows about a 50% util. but it is actually more like 23% now.

                 TransUnion Experian Equifax
    
 TOTAL ACCOUNTS: 18  22   17  
 
 OPEN ACCOUNTS: 14  15  13 
 
 CLOSED ACCOUNTS: 4  7  4 
 
 DELINQUENT: 0  1  0 
 
 DEROGATORY: 1  1  0 
 
 BALANCES: 17204  16563  17147 
 
 PAYMENTS: 591  581  591 
 
 PUBLIC RECORDS: 1  1  1 
 
 INQUIRIES (2 years): 9  1  1

Derogs:  EX is refusing to remove this one from my CR for some reason.  This was a bogus report of a payment making it regenerate after being purchased by a collection Agent.
It shouldn't even be on there.  I have disputed 2 times now.  I don't know what to do.

        Remarks: 
 [TransUnion]     
 [Experian] Purchased by a another lender.   
 [Equifax]     
 
  TransUnion Experian Equifax
 Past Due:          
 High Balance:     $4195  EX  
 Terms:     37 months    
 Limit:          
 Payment:          
 Opened:    11/1994  
 Reported:    02/28/2006  
 Responsibility:    Individual  

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
  Late Payments (last 7 years): 
  TransUnion Experian Equifax
  days late:   1  
  days late:   0  
  days late:   0  
 
This one I rec'd a letter from RJM with a settlement offer.  Didn't even know about it.  I called them and they verified I had paid the $54 in 2001.  Then they said that I still owed $24 on a promise to purchase more books and they would close out the account once that was paid and Crafters Choice would then send me a voucher good for $24
I Disputed it and again, EX will do nothing about it but TU took the balance owed to $24.  I just paid the $24 on Saturday and wrote "Process ONLY if removed from CR"

RJM ACQ LLC 
     
 Creditor Name: RJM ACQ LLC RJM ACQ LLC      
 Original Creditor:  01 CRAFTERS CHOICE BOOK CLUB CRAFTERS CHOICE BOOK CLUB   
  Condition:  Derogatory Derogatory  
 Original Balance:  $57 EX  $24   TU
 Balance:  $57 EX $24  TU
 Date Opened:  11/22/2005 11/2005  
 Date Reported:  01/31/2008 02/06/2008   
 Remarks: 
 [TransUnion] Placed for collection   
 [Experian]   
 [Equifax]     

This one is probably really killing me.  These were medical bills from an auto accident that went to collection.  I paid it off as soon as I was back on my feet.
 
 Legal Item 
     
 Type:  Judgment Judgment  Judgment 
 Status:  Paid Satisfied Satisfied
 Date Filed/Reported:  10/18/2001 10/18/2001 10/2001 
  Closing Date:  10/27/2005 10/27/2005 10/2005 
 Action Amount:  $1606 $1606 $1606

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

TransUnion Experian Equifax

645 (ON TU) 605 (ON TU) 674 (ON TU)
644 (ON EX)
678 (ON myfico)

---

OK, let me see if I'm reading this right. Are the three scores with TU in parentheses after them (645 / 605 / 674) from TrueCredit, TU's monitoring service?

And is the "644 (ON EX)" a score purchased directly from Experian?

If so, all these scores are FAKO's. What's interesting is that your 678 EQ score is a FICO score, and that means that your FICO TU and FICO EX scores might well be higher than what you're seeing on TC. (TrueCredit is great for keeping an eye on your reports, but their scores are worthless.)

It costs some bucks to pull FICO's, but if the EQ 678 score is your only genuine score, I would go ahead and pull your FICO EX and TU scores, using FICO Standard (click on the Products tab up at the top.) Be sure to Google FICO coupon or FICO discount code first. You should be able to get a code for 15% off, maybe more.

edit: might want to wait for the CC changes to show up on your EX and TU first.

Otherwise, I agree with PP, it's the judgment. Good luck with the zombie debt collector.

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 02-18-2008 08:19 AM

[Anonymous]

OK, let me see if I'm reading this right. Are the three scores with TU in parentheses after them (645 / 605 / 674) from TrueCredit, TU's monitoring service?  Yes, these are from TrueCredit. 

And is the "644 (ON EX)" a score purchased directly from Experian?  Isn't this a TRUE TICO SCORE?  I purchased this directly from EX.

I plan to purchase all scores from MyFica as soon as my payments post.  I thought that would be a better time.  Also, have a $1500 CLI that hasn't posted yet.

Do the NEW accounts hurt me?  Maybe I shouldnn't have converted the 4 older accounts into one, but I thought it would be better to show a $2400 CL verses 4 small ones.

[haulingthescoreup]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

OK, let me see if I'm reading this right. Are the three scores with TU in parentheses after them (645 / 605 / 674) from TrueCredit, TU's monitoring service? Yes, these are from TrueCredit.

And is the "644 (ON EX)" a score purchased directly from Experian? Isn't this a TRUE TICO SCORE? I purchased this directly from EX.

I plan to purchase all scores from MyFica as soon as my payments post. I thought that would be a better time. Also, have a $1500 CLI that hasn't posted yet.

Do the NEW accounts hurt me? Maybe I shouldnn't have converted the 4 older accounts into one, but I thought it would be better to show a $2400 CL verses 4 small ones.

---

Yep, Experian sells FAKO's. Equifax sells the EQ FICO directly from their site, to make things confusing.

So your only genuine score is the EQ 678.

Yes, I would hold off on the others until everything updates. In that case, you might even want to use myFICO Credit Complete and buy all three scores, because your EQ score will probably change, too.

Did you combine the four accounts down into one existing card, or did you open a new one? If you were able to use an existing account, you shouldn't have any hit for a new account. If they made you open a new (5th) account, it will ding you for being new, but in my experience, scores have generally recovered within 3 months, if you pay promptly, keep the util low, etc.

[Anonymous]

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Topshelf wrote:

OK, let me see if I'm reading this right. Are the three scores with TU in parentheses after them (645 / 605 / 674) from TrueCredit, TU's monitoring service?  Yes, these are from TrueCredit. 

And is the "644 (ON EX)" a score purchased directly from Experian?  Isn't this a TRUE TICO SCORE?  I purchased this directly from EX.

Nope- it's a FAKO score
I plan to purchase all scores from MyFica as soon as my payments post.  I thought that would be a better time.  Also, have a $1500 CLI that hasn't posted yet.

Do the NEW accounts hurt me?  Maybe I shouldnn't have converted the 4 older accounts into one, but I thought it would be better to show a $2400 CL verses 4 small ones.

[Anonymous]

No, they let me convert them all onto one of the existing cards with a very low IR of 4.99%.  But, I am going to loose my credit history now, aren't I?  And with the new accounts within the last year, that is probably really going to hurt me.

What I don't understand in the last time I pulled my CR from myfico on 2006, my score for EQ was 711.  I haven't done anything bad since then and always pay way more than what is owed on my CC's.  If I owed $15 I would pay $150 to $300, depending on how much I charged that month.  I think where I really screwed up was reusing the cards before balances posted, because as I look back, they would almost always post near the limits and not reflect my payments.

[haulingthescoreup]

First of all, your closed cards will continue to report on all three accounts for 10 years, unless for some mysterious reason they stop reporting, which has been happening on EQ.

Second of all, FICO determines your CC util by what the CCC's report to the credit bureaus. They USUALLY report the balance that shows on your statements, and they USUALLY report on the statement date (not on the due date, which generally comes 2-3 weeks later.) So if you do like normal, reasonable people do, and wait until you get your statement and then pay, that higher figure has already been sent to the credit bureaus.

So the way around this is to go online to your CC accounts about 5 days before the statement is due to post again and pay down or off whatever your current balance is. Then don't use the card again until the statement posts. That way, you will have been able to use the card throughout the month, you still pay it (just earlier than you are now), and FICO will see a lower level of use.

Eventually, you want half or more of your cards with $0 balances, and the remainders with balances under 10% of each credit limit. This translates to FICO as meaning that you have credit, you use it, but it doesn't use you, and that makes you attractive to good creditors.

Dropping your util from 50% to 23% is really going to help, and again as you get it still lower. That's the nice thing about util: it is the area that you have the best chance to control and improve, and it can be turned around faster than other negatives. Just remember that you have to allow time for the CCC's to update to the credit bureaus, and then you have to wait for the credit bureaus to update. So if you are planning to apply for a mortgage, car loan, etc, be sure to get all your CC balances where you want them by 2 1/2 - 3 months ahead of time.