Credit report shows no change in 5 months (doing everything right)

[jojuvan]

Hi!

Husband and I filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in April 09 and it was discharged in July 09. Since then my husband has got a Capital one (500), Orchard bank (300) and I got an HSBC(300), and we also got a car loan. Before bankruptcy both our scores were around 503. By October our scores were in the 630's. Then in November some STUPID creditor decided to re-open a collections account that was IIB. I immediately disputed and it was off our report in about a week, but it was too late for our score I guess. it dropped to the 570's, 580's and has STAYED there ever since!!!

We had been paying money on balances on the cards, becuase we had heard it's better to consistantly pay each month then to have no balance at all. That wasn't working so we just payed off the balances in January. It's now march and the credit report still shows our old balance from before January.

So I guess I'm wondering how we raise our score??? And why haven't the credit card companies updated our credit report? Do I contact them or Experian?

BTW, we are using freecreditreport.com to keep tabs on our credit report.

Thanks for the help, these boards have been a life saver for me!!!

[SMinGA]

A couple of things...

Utilization matters alot on score. So if you have a $475 balance on a $500 card, not good. A low balance is better for score. The tricky part is the balance when the creditor reports - not when you pay. Many report the statement balance - so if your accounts are typical then you may want to pay down the accounts just before the statement gets issued.

Another thing is that Capital One reports the 'high balance' rather than credit limit. So if the highest balance you ever had on the account was say $110, then it looks like you have a really low limit account. One way to get around this is to use the card to just below the max one month and then pay it off. After that the high balance should be close to your actual credit limit. (Use it for regular stuff, not extra. Like buy groceries for the month and then after the statement cuts pay it off with the grocery money sitting in your bank account.)

Most creditors update monthly - though if an account is inactive they may not with nothing new to report.

Other than that - AVOID applying for new credit for a while. Excessive inquiries can lower your score.

Last thoughts - be careful with where you get your 'scores'. There are many sites/companies that sell 'scores' but they are internal scores not used by anyone in credit granting decisions. Most of that go by FICO scores. The only way to get your true, FICO scores is to buy them. Not something you need to invest in regularly - but checking them before going for a major application could be useful. You can track your reports and set goals of improving things... As your 'new' accounts get older, and the BK and old negative info get more distant, your scores should improve.

[Logan]

FYI--My credit report shows my credit limit as well as the high balance for my Capital One account.

[backtoschool]

cap one used to only report the high balance but now they report the credit limit to all three bureaus. My credit limit is reporting.

To the OP, I am not sure where you read that it is better for your scores to carry a balance. Post-bk credit limits tend to be quite low for awhile and if you carry a balance, your utilization will definitely lower your fico.

If you pay right after the creditor updates to the credit bureaus, it can take almost two months for your updated balances to be reflected on your credit reports.

[CCsAreEvil]

To the OP, I am not sure where you read that it is better for your scores to carry a balance. If you pay right after the creditor updates to the credit bureaus, it can take almost two months for your updated balances to be reflected on your credit reports.

Actually, it appears your FICO score is actually "higher" if you have 10-20% utilization rather than having 0%. It's dumb, but that's how the system works. I also hate that you never know when they'll update your current balance to the CRAs.

[backtoschool]

Actually, it appears your FICO score is actually "higher" if you have 10-20% utilization rather than having 0%. It's dumb, but that's how the system works. I also hate that you never know when they'll update your current balance to the CRAs.

I agree CCsAreEvil, but it is really hard to plan a ten percent balance to show on a card with a $300 limit. If someone goes just a little bit over that amount or payments post after the statement cutoff, then the utilization will go up too much and the score will drop quite a bit.

I think it is easier to try to have close to a zero balance as long as you are showing a payment history.

[Logan]

I agree CCsAreEvil, but it is really hard to plan a ten percent balance to show on a card with a $300 limit. If someone goes just a little bit over that amount or payments post after the statement cutoff, then the utilization will go up too much and the score will drop quite a bit.

I think it is easier to try to have close to a zero balance as long as you are showing a payment history.

Personally I would use the card and pay it off every month and not worry about your credit score since it is more important to show a payment history than anything else.

I would NEVER carry a balance since you are creating bad habits and paying someone interest. Live your life debt free and your credit score will rebound!!!

Logan

[backtoschool]

Personally I would use the card and pay it off every month and not worry about your credit score since it is more important to show a payment history than anything else.

I would NEVER carry a balance since you are creating bad habits and paying someone interest. Live your life debt free and your credit score will rebound!!!

Logan

I totally agree with you Logan. The small bump in score you would get from carrying a balance is not worth the risk of creating escalating debt. Paying in full each month over time will raise fico scores enough to get a good rate on a house or a car in my opinion.

[Logan]

I totally agree with you Logan. The small bump in score you would get from carrying a balance is not worth the risk of creating escalating debt. Paying in full each month over time will raise fico scores enough to get a good rate on a house or a car in my opinion.

Someone with CC's at $500 limits need to get their limits up and the ONLY way to do that is to have a good payment history. Low credit limits can actually be harmful since lenders want to see how you have managed your credit and managing a credit limit of $500 is quite different than someone who has a $5000 credit limit.

I like to look at things from the lenders point of view. If you were to come to me for a 200K home loan what would I want your credit report to look like?

Logan

[whipster1]

Agree with above...and the scores you are looking at are not accurate. Go to myfico dot com for the real scores...you can find discount codes on creditboards dot com.

You can get a Transunion free score on creditkarma dot com, pretty close to the real fico score, but not exactly accurate....but you can monitor every day if you want.

Carrying balances is a no-no, you should pay down as low as you can and keep them low. Time and consistent clean reports are the healer here, also make sure all your accounts are reporting correctly as IIB and zero balance...again use the real reports not a third party report from the jingle site.

Good luck!