Hello.  A couple of years I got suckered into accepting one of the scamming catalog companies offer of giving me an $11,500 purchase limit for a yearly fee of $99.  Once I received the catalogs, of course the stuff is all VERY overpriced and I don't need to stoop to that kind of buying.  It shows on my credit report as an open acct in good standing and never used.  \n\nFor you Credit Analysts out there...please answer my Q...\n\nI will never use this credit. When creditors look at it, do they think it is GOOD that I have an account with such a high limit and no bal due, OR should I close the account so creditors don't think I am high risk D/I or likely to over-extend myself if I choose to use it.\nAny other opinions as to how its presence affects my credit score are greatly appreciated.  I have about 10 real credit cards all in good standing, current credit score is about 580 (major malfunction on a mort. a couple of years ago, is current now).\nThank You in advance for helpful replies!
205013
I risk the wrath of God by disagreeing with Credit Guru, but here goes....\n\nJust based on the fact that you are paying $99 for a credit card you don't use is a good enough reason to dump it.\n\nWhat you never want to do is cancel 3-4 cards at one time.  That will have an impact on your score.  But closing 1 account every few months will not hurt that bad, and it will recover after a few months.  \n\nAs long as you are not planning to purchase a home or car in the next few months, cancel the card and use that $10 a month you save to treat yourself on making a smart decision.  \n\n0;)
475309
The above information is good.  However, please remember not to CLOSE your creit card accounts.  Keeping them with a low balance (or zero balance) is fine.  Despite popular misconceptions, open trade lines (with clean history and low balances) do NOT hurt your credit.  Instead, they establish good credit history which is important for your score.  Below are some general tips for building credit:\n\nDO NOT:\n\n1. Do not open unnecessary credit card accounts or other loans.\n2. Do not close existing credit card accounts.\n3. Do not let individual credit card balances exceed 30% of the credit limit.  Two credit cards each at 25% of the credit limit is much better than one credit card at 50% of the credit limit.\n4. Do not allow unnecessary credit inquiries – meaning, you should not have people pulling your credit unless there is a very good reason.\n\nDO:\n\n1. Do make timely payments on all mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards.\n2. Do request higher credit limits on your existing credit cards.\n3. Do make sure that each of your credit card accounts report the credit limit to the credit bureaus.
245442
All credit card companies now have a thing called a default APR, which means that if you are late with one payment, or go over your credit line one time, then you are charged a radically high APR, sometimes up to 35%.\n\nYes, it is abuse: CC companies love to target college students, knowing full well few people appreciate the challenges of owning a CC.\n\nDo what you can to pay off that credit card. It is very important to make a little bit more than the monthly minimum payment, as you could spend years paying that off.\n\nIt is very smart of you to start an emergency savings fund: keep on contributing to that.\n\nGet yourself another credit card, but a secured credit card, which means you put your own money up front, usually with a minimum of $300. You do need a credit card to build a credit history, which is very important.\n\nUse any future credit card very sparingly. Credit card companies are very bad when it comes to resolving customer disputes and they don't care if they lose you as a customer, so you can't negotiate lowering your APR. Just be really careful in the future with credit cards, and I hope you find a way to quickly pay off your balance.
670298
I am a former financial counselor for a consolidation firm in Orlando so I can answer your question. Your credit score is based on several factors. \n1) 35% of it is payment history. Making payments on time is the most important thing to your creditors.\n2) 30% is total debt and available credit. This is where your question comes in. Your creditors look at overal debtedness as an important factor of responsibility, and remember this is overall debt + potential debt. So if you have 5 credit cards with no debt on them, your credit score may be reduced because this is potential debt. You could go out tomorrow and max out your cards and be in serious trouble. \n3) 15% is account age. The older the better! \n4) 10% frequency of applying for credit. Go out tomorrow and apply for a car, a Macy's account, and a Victoria's Secret card, and you'll see how this will reduce your score. \n5) 10% Wild card factors. Such as types of credit lines. ex. Mortgage = Good. Credit Card = Bad. \n\nSo my advice is this. It sounds like you may be considering closing certain accounts etc, based on your question. I would definitely recommend closing any of your newer accounts but maintaining the older ones and keeping them open. If the older ones have a large max on them, you can call your creditors to reduce the limit, therefore lowering your potential debt without closing the account. If you have several newer accounts that you are considering closing, you may want to transfer all their consolidated debt onto a low APR credit card, and then closing them appropriately. (PS, when you close an account, make sure that you ask the creditor for a letter in writing confirming the account closure). \n\nSo in summary, closing accounts may increase your score because it eliminates potential debt, but not if you close the older accounts, because this eliminates the overall account age percentage (15%) and eventually your good payment history with that creditor (35%)!
370828
I have filed bankruptcy 2 times and I am 35. The chargeoffs are on your record for max 10 years depending on company.  Within 1 month after each bankruptcy I was getting credit card offers. Interest rates are HIGH and credit limit is low but you can build up credit limit with on time payments and eventually getting credit line increase. I have orchard bank. I also applied for a sam's Club membership card, had it a few months and then applied for a credit card and got it with no problem..(it's now 30%). You can use it at Wal-Mart also...There are several you can get..just go online and research..Be careful..I have gotten offers for some that offer 300.00 credit line, 6.00 month fee, 150.00 year, 100.00 act. activation fee..(210.00 year total) at 22 or 23 % interest..Don't get in over your head.
216734
THE FIRST CREDIT CARD I GOT WAS FROM THE WOMEN'S EXPRESS STORE ABOUT A YEAR AN A HALF AGO. IT WAS A CREDIT LIMIT OF $150. AFTER I PAID ON IT FAITHFULLY FOR ABOUT 6 MONTHS, I STARTED GETTING CREDIT CARDS OFFERS IN THE MAIL. I FOUND SOME GOOD ONES WITH A FIXED RATE AND I WAS APPROVED FOR ONE OF THEM WITH A $1000 CREDIT LIMIT. I PAID THEM OFF, BUT LEFT THEM OPEN WITH A $0 BALANCE. THAT'S THE BEST WAY TO RAISE YOUR CREDIT SCORE. SO NOW I GET AT LEAST 2 CREDIT CARD OFFERS A DAY AND HAVE A CREDIT CARD WITH A BALANCE WITH $3000 NOW. (DON'T WORRY, I CAN PAY FOR THAT) :-) BUT JUST MAKE SURE YOU CAN PAY FOR THE BALANCE CUZ YOU DON'T WANT TO GET YOURSELF IN CREDIT CARD DEBT. SO START OFF WITH A SMALL RETAIL STORE, THEN EVENTUALLY YOU'LL MOVE INTO BIGGER CREDIT CARD COMPANIES. GOOD LUCK!\n\nPS. SO WITHIN A YEAR AN A HALF, I WENT FROM HAVING NO CREDIT TO VERY HIGH CREDIT SCORE. JUST LEAVE CREDIT CARDS OPEN WITH A ZERO BALANCE. THAT SHOWS THE CREDITORS THAT YOU HAVE THE CASH TO BUY THINGS WITH, INSTEAD OF USING YOUR CREDIT CARD. I KNOW A LOT MORE TOO BECAUSE I WORK AT A MORTGAGE COMPANY. EMAIL ME IF YOU HAVE ANYMORE QUESTIONS!
298082
Joieanew, please tell the whole truth!\n\nIf you pay your bills, you have to hope that the creditor will do something about your negative credit report he placed.\n\nJust placing "Paid in Full" does NOT remove any additional bad marks, such as that it was in collections, or that there were late payments.\n\nTherefore, unless the item is completely deleted, or the entire status is changed to "Paid As Agree, Never Late", you will still have bad marks on your record, and it will still keep your credit score low.\n\nThat is why, if you plan to pay off your debt, make the creditor agree IN WRITING to remove any negative report from your record.  Yes, they can do it.  Yes, it's totally legal.
511921
Well you might get 'lucky' and be allowed to charge all that to your credit card, but it is highly unlikely.  If your limit is only $3,000 you probably have average credit.  If you try to run 30 x $500 purchases in one day, more than likely your credit card will be blocked as soon as you go over the limit.  So you will only be allowed to make one or two transactions beyond the limit before you are locked out.\n\nOnce you are locked out you will be charged $39 for going over the limit.  You may also be charged an additional fee for each attempt to go over the limit.  They may also up your interest rate to something crazy like 34.9% APR.\n\nNext they will flag you as someone who does not keep agreements.  This will preclude you from lower interest rates, higher credit limits, and other nice things.  It can potentially affect your credit score too, since your high credit and limit are recorded on your credit report.  Other lenders will see that you went over your limit, which will harm your ability to get other credit in future.\n\nWhich ever way you look at it, if you had some weird idea like buying 30 Sony Playstation 3 consoles and selling them for a massive profit on eBay, it ain't going to work.  Your credit card company will severely punish you and lock you out long before you can go $15,000 over the limit.
317476
You will be buying any skeletons they have in their closet.  If the seller cannot produce an accurate, detailed inventory to back up their asking price, then move on.  Also, that inventory can include discontinued styles that are no longer available for re-order.  Have them show proof that they are an authorized retailer for each line they carry and double check with each manufacturer on ther seller's order history with each designer.  Carrying discontinued styles and not being able to order from a particular vendor devalues those pieces exponentially.  I ran into those issues when thinking of buying a shop that was "valued" at 175K.  I walked away when the owner turned down an offer of 85k.  I started my own shop with brand new stock, twice the square footage, and much nicer for about 40k.  As they say in latin:  Caveat Emptor-Buyer Beware!
269348
<sigh>\n\nOK, William, I thought you would be a differant form of creditor....but you are at least honest.  Just need some more education.\n\nWinelover, you are obviously a collector, peddeling the same like of BS as all the rest!\n\nLets clear up the lies.  Debts can NOT be reported on your credit report for more then 7 years, beginning on the date of the delinquency.  Please refer to the Fair Credit Reporting Act Section 804.\n\nCreditors can continue to collect on a debt that is older then the statute of limitations.  They just have no legal way of collecting.  Depending on the state, that runs from 4-10 years.  Once that day is passed, they can NOT sue you in court or legally try to collect.  If the debt is real old, you can simply contact the credit bureau and demand that it be removed due to the SOL running out.  It will probably require a letter to the creditor also.  Either way, debts older then 10 years can easily be ignored!\n\nSo when you folks tell people that depts never go away, you are simply uneducated or lying?  Which is it?\n\nThe only time they can continue to come after you is if they have taken you to court, and won a judgement.  \n\nThat said, lets answer your question.  William is correct.  Older debts do not hurt your score as bad as recent debts.  Don't get me wrong...negative reports still hurt!  \n\nIf you have any bills collection interest, pay them first (high interest rates first).  Then just try and work your way through.\n\nBefore you pay, first contact the creditors and try to negotiate a lower balance if possible.  Just explain what happened and they may work with you.  \n\nMost importing...you are trying to cean up your credit report.  It does you absolutely no good to pay these bills if the creditor does not remove any negative information from your report.  And you will find that once they have your money, they will not be very cooperative in helping you.  Once paid, you no longer have any leverage to work with.\n\nGet IN WRITING an agreement that once the bill is paid, they will remove all negative information from your records.\n\nUse the sample letters below to help you.\n\nWhen you negotiate, DO NOT offer to pay anything.  One slick trick collectors are using is to ask for a "good faith" payment.  If you do that, you start the statute of limitations clock, and your debt added several years to it's age.  The way the game is played...you are NOT denying you owe the debt, but you are NOT offering to pay it either, until an agreement is reached.
659130
Contact all credit companies NOW. Tell them you Will not guarantee any additional purchases and you want the account closed. Follow up with a written letter. Keep a log of everyone you call with time and date.  Request a copy of his loan balance and the agreement you signed.   You need to establish a "cut off" point so if the credit companies continue to extend credit it will be at their own risk not yours.\n\nNext ask the "dead beat" if he has anything to sell you to pay off his debt. (Get anything you can. Something is better than nothing.) make a list of what you get and how much it is worth. Send that amount into the credit companies directly. Don't give the money to the "dead beat".  Ask for a lien on his car. Tell him that will help you get a loan if needed to pay off his debt.\n\nNow it's 10 days later. Ask the "dead beat" how much he can pay each month towards the debt. Don't put him into a situation he can't live with it will just be a bigger problem.  Now call the credit companies ask ask for a reduction in interest rate and a payment schedule that you can afford.\n\nNow comes the time to KICK yourself in the butt for doing a "verbal" agreement and letting it go this far.
646899
if your PMI exceeds 400 a month- something is wrong--check with a mortgage Broker- who represents different lenders- and get an opinion of you mtg deal- sounds like you got a less than wonder full mtg deal--perhaps because of poor credit ratings-- or maybe the home was bought for no down payment-some of these seem attractive-yet can be very costly because of high interest rates or added extras like PMI- go to a broker or bank ASAP- don't wait to find out what can be changed- do it ASAP- and hopefully- someone can find you a better deal, right now !!! i am a retired CPA & CFP and a former bank auditor--if i can be of further help to you- holler back at me- good luck to you !!
388887
Yes it will keep your fico score down as long as they continue to report it every month.\nYes its possible you can get a new credit card but the rates will be higher.http://www.hsbcusa.com/personal/credit_cards/orchard_mastercard_product_info.html\n4.You can try to wait them out and it will get a little better but your score will stay low as long as they report on you even if you have good accounts.\nTo be honest its no way to beat the system you have to pay your debts or your credit will be bad and you will have a low fico score.\nI just went through the whole thing, I only had one bad account a credit card charge off. All of my other bills were in good standing but I saw my score drop to 558. I waited and disputed the original creditors and got them removed. The collection agency that bought the account started to report as my score increased back up to 640 the collection agency would report it as late derogatory, charge off. I was back down to the 550 range. You have to be careful because if the balance is high enough they will sue you in court and possibly garnish your wages and enter a judgment on your credit report. It was a headache for me so finally I just settled the debt and disputed it off my credit report. Good Luck! and here is a link that may help you find some information on disputes and debt validation etc.\n\nhttp://credit-repair-basics.credit-repair-forums.com/
124085
Frank!  Go away!\n\nI agree with the other people's advice...if all you owe is $2000 then it's worth trying to work it out with the credit card company.  Even if it involves making minimum payments.  That would work out to around $60-80 a month.  \n\nBy doing that, you avoid additional fees and penalties, until you can get your feet under you financially.  \n\nThe worst thing?  First they will place a report on your credit, making it hard for you go get loans in the future.  \n\nFor $2000 they may sue you.  If you have an income, or property such as a home or car, they may decide it's worth the effort.  If they do, tack on court costs and lawyer fees to what you owe.\n\nOnce they get a judgement, they can either garnish your wages, attach a lien to your bank accounts, take your car or put a judgement lien on your home (then you can't sell it).  \n\nThey don't go after your furniture or other posessions as nitwit says above.\n\nSo, my opinion, call the CC company and work it out.  If they don't budge, send them a letter to cease and desist so they stop calling you.
528787
One thing to remember if/when you pay stuff off (mainly credit cards) is even if you pay a card of so you have $0.00 outstanding that cad will still be looked at as potential debt, so say you have a $5000 limit & you pay off the $1400 you still have the ability to get $5000 more in debt after the home stuff goes through.\nIf you have more than 2 or 3 credit cards consider closing them so it will not be seen as potential debt, if not then pay them off & lower the credit limits to say $1000, Even at 680 it's a pretty good score so even a few months after the home stuff happens yopu can have the limit raised back up again.\nThat may help a bit. Also remember the places that report your  credit only do so about once a month so even if anything does change you may not see any change for 30-60 days.\nOh and dont pay anything late, miss payments etc\n\nIn addition:\nDue to the two silly fools below me I guess I should mention I work for the 2nd largest bank in the world. \nKeeping multiple empty card open is of no help in any way at all. It just show you can get in more debt as soon as you like & that does not look good for credit. As for raising the credit limit well thats just stupid for this persons situation. Not only will you then get more enquiries on you credit report (another bad thing) but it then shows you can get into even more debt.
378229
As long as you pay off your card in full each month, then a credit utilization rate of around 50% and under is good. If you carry a balance, then you never want to exceed 30% utilization rate.\n\nIf you are consistently charging up to 90% of the credit limit, this can look dangerous, especially if you actually exceed the credit limit one month. You may wish to increase the credit limit on your oldest account, and close out your newest account if you want to increase your score a few points. Just don't expect a massive increase!
238089
Talking to a credit conselor can help, but I would avoid a debt consolidation program , or at least get all the facts before joining one.  Many programs will actually negatively affect your credit because their proposal to your creditors will be to reduce monthly payments or eliminate late fees, and in turn creditors will "close your account".  Some debt consolidators are quite pricey, too. \nWhat I would do is first contact all creditors and try to negotiate a payment arrangement.  Ask them to waive late fees. I have had success with 4 different companies when asking for reduced/waived fees or lower interest rates.  Mostly they just will want to get the principle amount back and are not too worried about collecting fees.\nNext, talk to a credit rebuilding company like Lexington Law. For a fee, they can help you remove some marks from your credit. I brought up my credit score 100 points by doing this. \nDO NOT FILE BANKRUPTCY! you can find a better option that will not imact you so poorly.