Disputed lack of $0.00 balance...no change

[Confused33]

I disputed all of my creditors who were not reporting $0 balance on my included in BK accounts and got my report back via mail today with supposed results.

None of the lenders changed the blank status in the balance field. I read here that this could be affecting my score and ability to obtain new credit. Is this true?

Also, I filed in 12/08 and I haven't done much in terms of rebuilding. My auto loan is in the wife's name and I have a Capital One card that now has a $2000 limit and an 8% APR. My score is still hovering around the mid 600s.

I have no accounts on my credit report that report late or anything of that nature because I was never late on anything up to the date I filed. Not even one day.

I have a collection that I did not know of that was paid by my room mate before I filed but it says "IIB" next to it as well.

I have applied for other credit cards to no avail. I don't need the credit cards, I just want to build my score up so that I can obtain business credit for my business that I've since started.

Thanks for any input!

[ugghh]

Good question. I am curious to hear what others have to say!

[cupcake]

I have no actual knowledge about whether a credit score is affected by a blank balance versus a $0 balance; but, I can tell you from my own personal experience that I have several "blank" balances and my credit scores are over 700...

[melissah34]

I was just going to ask this myself because every single one of my accounts has a blank balance as opposed to $0. I wondered if it was just because I pulled it like a day after discharge. I pulled my transunion and husbands equifax and they are both that way.

[mom2three09]

TU is notorious for leaving the balance field blank and also reporting it as "Unrated". They are doing that to me and my dh -- I've disputed it with them -- they sent back an update showing they changed it but when I pulled our reports it's still not showing $0 balance. TU used to be our highest scores Pre-BK -- now they are our lowest

[Amy26]

I spoke with a disputes person at TU on the phone one day and she informed me that putting zero balance on the account would do absolutely nothing for my credit score. I insisted and she said she would do it for me but it wouldn't affect anything. So, I did see it updated and my accounts have "zero" balance but she was right, it did not improve or hurt my score. Nothing happened.

Perhaps this works better with the other bureaus?

[CCsAreEvil]

Interesting.. maybe this is only with TU? Would like to hear more cases on this. I was always under the impression that the CRAs showing a $0 balance would increase your score (rather than blank).

Amy26, did you actually pull a real myfico report with the zero balances showing?

[LSUTiger32]

Yeah I am going to have to agree that this is not going to have a positive effect on your score. As long as the account reads IIB and is not showing the old balances I think it is showing correctly. I would not spend time stressing over it......time will heal your credit report. Just again, make sure that they say IIB and don't have a balance.

[backtoschool]

I agree with all the posters above. Blank balances versus zero balances only hurt your score if you run balances on your cards. You end up with slightly higher total utilization with blank balances. But most of us are paying our balances in full each month, and are not running balances, so blank balances versus zero balances should not affect the fico score much, if at all.

[NowImDownInIt]

I have to agree with LSU and credit bureau lady.. They make absolutely no difference on your score. Actually, in some instances, (specifically vehicle repossessions, but there are others) your report will show $0 and your score will go down.

[Amy26]

I have to agree with LSU and credit bureau lady.. They make absolutely no difference on your score. Actually, in some instances, (specifically vehicle repossessions, but there are others) your report will show $0 and your score will go down.

LOL too bad I don't have credit bureau lady's name ... she deserves credit. Hehe...