Credit Score Question

The best thing for credit is actually to NOT pay it off every month. Yes, you will accrue interest, but that's how the credit card companies see that you can "carry credit". Just make sure you pay on time, and let a little residual remain on the card. I'm over 800 and have been for years from doing just that.

Xarpolis said:

The best thing for credit is actually to NOT pay it off every month. Yes, you will accrue interest, but that's how the credit card companies see that you can "carry credit". Just make sure you pay on time, and let a little residual remain on the card. I'm over 800 and have been for years from doing just that.

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The fuck you talking about? I use my card for convenience and always pay it off before the end of the month. I haven't paid interest in probably 10 years or something ridiculous. My score has been 800+

Its all anecdotal, FICO scores are still a industry secret sauce - hence why CreditKarma worked with the big 3 but still is "not" a FICO #...its damn close- and as stated above- being accepted and used...

So you have to take peoples exp with credit, that have cared to look and track credit and are disciplined enough to say "I did X and it resulted in Y"

There have been people reporting that they had numbers drop when they always paid 100% off before any interest happened... with the reasoning that, why would a CC company want to give you something they make no money off of? So that lead to, leave some to carry over for minor interest charges have lead to outstanding scores.

But either way, if that's all you do and you have no big negatives, even if paying off 100% lowers it some vs leaving 5$ to carry over... your going to be in the top% of numbers anywho and it really does not matter than much lol compared to SOBs like me that one day, seek to break into the 700s.

Paying interest on a CC to boost credit is a terrible idea.

For instance, I have a card due on the 4th. I pay everything I spend in the prior month from the 1st to the xx(whatever it happens to end on). Then whatever I spend in that 4 days goes on the next statement interest free. It also is usually under 10% utilization. There's no reason at all to pay interest when you can carry a balance this way.

a_skeleton_00 said:

Alright so it looks like my big issue is making sure these actually clear off now that I have paid them.

I guess let me be blunt, first thank you everyone this has been eye opening to say the least.

Secondly, what would be the best way to get each item taken off? Please forgive my stupidity honestly this is one of the few things I truly could use help with.

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You wait for 7 years.

I mean, a PAID item with past delinquency/charge off will impact your score, but not nearly as badly as an OPEN item. Additionally, provided you didn't settle, any lender will see that you did ultimately meet the obligation in full. It's not going to win you any hearts and minds but it isn't a bad thing.

But all that pales in comparison to active trades. If you have nothing active, you don't have bad credit, you have none. You have to buy into the system.

McCheese said:

Since this thread is already going and active, I'm going to jump in here with a related question of my own:

How accurate are those free credit reports some credit card companies (Capital One, Discover) give you access to for free with their cards nowadays? Do they more or less accurately reflect your credit score information, or are they just bullshit marketing by the credit card companies?

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I would say 20-30 point swing. Close enough to know if you are in the right tier, not enough to consider yourself moved from a bad tier to the better one (IE, if your discover card gives you a 730 now from 680 and your car lender is 720+ is tier 1, you're probably not).

Noodleface said:

You get one free per year from the credit bureaus too

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You get a bureau, not the score. You have to be a subscriber and pay for a score and even then why bother because all sorts of lenders use tons of different models, up to and including custom scores.

Xadion said:

CreditKarma is not "real" FICO right? Its a proprietary thing they use to come up with a number that is "equivalent" to a true FICO score.

I wonder if banks are going to start to use those alternative "scores" because they actually tend to "look" at things from a more realistic point of view as opposed to the hard core FICO #'s are #'s etc. etc.

I know banks, or at least credit unions started to go back to the "old" way of reviewing personally the entire history and meaningful events and putting them up against non-black-and-white print items that are part of the entire process of getting a big loan. For me for instance, my score was really hit bad because every month in process of my short sale, it is a 90,120+ day non-payment, every month its going you get more and more of those...those are what "hurt" your score "more" than the settlement of the debt- so some banks, for instance would look at my report- and see that outside that one event - that in
FICO #'s is 10+ negative "events" but in reality its "one" entire event... sometimes the banks then would adjust their outlook on your credit to be more "realistic"

Basically after the big crash, banks could no longer just put a barrier YES = score = 600+ or something stupid like that like it was before the crash of houses, so they returned to a more traditional evaluation that does not just blindly take a # and run.

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There is no 'FICO' score. Fair Isaac Corporation sells/licenses credit models, there are the popular mainstream ones (they are on 9 now) that are 'general purpose' and follow industry trends and specific consumer laws/FCRA and then custom (proprietary) models from FICO or the various agencies.

The difference between one version and the next can be massive. For instance they recently removed medical debt from the model in (I believe?) 9. In 8 they severely marginalized paid trades. If your auto dealer uses 6, your score could be 200+ points less than say 8/9 if you had a lot of past due medical debt you took care of over a few years.

Burnesto said:

Paying interest on a CC to boost credit is a terrible idea.

For instance, I have a card due on the 4th. I pay everything I spend in the prior month from the 1st to the xx(whatever it happens to end on). Then whatever I spend in that 4 days goes on the next statement interest free. It also is usually under 10% utilization. There's no reason at all to pay interest when you can carry a balance this way.

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This is the ideal method, but it takes access to your bureau to time reporting by your CC and the ability (generally) to change your due date. The 'ideal' would be to have the report date be 15 days removed from your statement date so that you get a whole half month of utilization reported without incurring the interest charges.

a_skeleton_00 said:

Yes from what I've read it's get the credit line, use it, pay it immediately, anyone else have any tales of confirmation one way or the other?

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This is worthless. Your utilization is instant, your available credit is instant, your delinquent accounts are instant. However your history is not and history is the majority of most scoring models. Payment timeliness, account age, total delinquencies in recent years, number of inquiries (from unique creditor categories), etc. You can't 'fix' credit by opening accounts in such a way without the supporting history on open trades.

a_skeleton_00 said:

So quick update and follow up.

I have one closed account now that is paid, however the agent was very clear they don't do deletion, unlike the other debt collectors who had no problem giving me that in writing before I paid out.

I paid this last one out because I just want it all gone, my question is this, how can I get the company to delete this off?

There is a way, whether it's money or some loophole, I am meeting someone next week who claims to be able to help, and you have all been so accurate and truthful I was hoping someone here knew what options I have before I pay a large amount to this guy for a 297$ removal.

Thanks in advance for any and all help!

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Don't.

Just leave the bad mark there for a bit. Continue to use the cc's you have, always pay on time. Leave a balance on a low interest cc, pay it off slowly. Buy something big, pay it off on time.

Later dispute the bad mark. But let the account age. No response from them in 30 days, its gone. People are lazy, who wants extra work.

You just need to build up your history of being a good credit risk.

a_skeleton_00 said:

So quick update and follow up.

I have one closed account now that is paid, however the agent was very clear they don't do deletion, unlike the other debt collectors who had no problem giving me that in writing before I paid out.

I paid this last one out because I just want it all gone, my question is this, how can I get the company to delete this off?

There is a way, whether it's money or some loophole, I am meeting someone next week who claims to be able to help, and you have all been so accurate and truthful I was hoping someone here knew what options I have before I pay a large amount to this guy for a 297$ removal.

Thanks in advance for any and all help!

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Hmmm I thought I had responded to this but I guess my phone ate it. Pops is right, I wouldn't do the $297. I don't know if this guy can really help you. When it comes to these things, its basically officially disputing it. You send a letter via certified mail to them asking them to produce records of this debt. If they don't respond in 30 days, they are legally obligated to remove it from record. This is something you can do on your own but because people tend to shy away from legal/finance things like this, there have been a lot of "credit repair" businesses based off this and debt consolidation. This will drop off eventually, I think it's 7 years or so. You can try to dispute this after some time like Pops mentioned but because you paid on it, I don't know if your chances are good.

I was a stupid college student and defaulted on a few credit cards, it took a long time to repair my credit, but was able to get it back to the mid 700s. Some people say carry a small balance, I paid mine off every month. I started with a "secured" credit card. It sounds like you are already on your way with a CapitalOne card, I think that was my second one. Chase has a lot of good credit cards. I have a Chase Amazon, Southwest Airlines, and a general travel card. The travel card is the only one I really use. The one thing you can do is just use your credit responsibly. On occasion, you can request a credit limit increase. Some pay say that lowers your utilization rate, but doing that has helped increase mine.

I'm not a credit expert by any means, just sharing my experience and knowledge of stuff I've researched. Anyone who knows better please correct me.

I had years of bad credit that haunted me and facing it was really tough. It takes time, but you'll get there. Good luck.

Yeah I know they make per transaction money - trying to open a small business the stupid rates of even basic card accepting options is annoying.

And very true, they are making their money.

I can't seem to get my credit score above the 800 mark. I'm permanently stuck around 780. I'm assuming this is an OK score.