Help needed: WTF @ Credit Report

[finite automaton]

According to CITI IdentityMonitor, this month my Equifax and TransUnion score went up from ~700 to ~730, but my Experian went down from ~700 to 676 :Q:Q

Is this something I should be concerned about? I did a side by side analysis of all 3 reports and did not see anything out of the ordinary. Where should I start? I'm pretty bummed about this because I'm trying to get my credit score to 750+ in 6 months in time for me to rent/buy a house, but this is a step in the wrong direction.

Where do I start?

Thanks!

 

[txrandom]

Some companies only report to certain credit agencies. My Experian is a good 50 points lower than the other 2.

 

[Saga]

And the best part about it, when applying for anything credit related they usually pull all 3 and use your lowest score (or averaged, but I've always been pegged with the lowest). So it's a great excuse for someone to rip you off on a rate.

 

[Runes911]

Maybe this?

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/888617

 

[finite automaton]

Originally posted by: Runes911
Maybe this?

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/888617

It's still too early for that, no? I just got done scanning my report and it looks like all of my open accounts are reported to at least two agencies...

 

[kranky]

Instead of worrying about why the scores went in opposite directions, focus on what you can do to raise your score in 6 months, since that's not very complex.

1. Do not apply for new credit.
2. Pay down your existing balances.
3. Make sure there is no negative information reporting. No late payments, no overlimits, no accounts sent to collections or written off.

When you apply for a mortgage, in the majority of cases they will use your middle score. One score being weaker won't hurt.

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: Izusaga
And the best part about it, when applying for anything credit related they usually pull all 3 and use your lowest score (or averaged, but I've always been pegged with the lowest). So it's a great excuse for someone to rip you off on a rate.

For all mortgages, and my last auto loan, they use the middle of the three. They use the lower of you only have 2 scores.

For credit cards, they usually only pull 1 bureau and go off that one. If it happens to be your lowest, that is the luck of the draw.

 

[finite automaton]

Originally posted by: kranky
Instead of worrying about why the scores went in opposite directions, focus on what you can do to raise your score in 6 months, since that's not very complex.

1. Do not apply for new credit.
2. Pay down your existing balances.
3. Make sure there is no negative information reporting. No late payments, no overlimits, no accounts sent to collections or written off.

When you apply for a mortgage, in the majority of cases they will use your middle score. One score being weaker won't hurt.

I really appreciate your response.

1. This has been an issue for me in the past. Sign up for a card, decide I don't need it, cancel it. I've done it a few times. However, from here on out I have learned from my mistakes and will just use what I have.

2. I just paid off a 5k balance on my only CC with a balance, but I still have ~40k in student loans that aren't going anywhere until I graduate (in may)

3. No problem

 

[kranky]

Your student loans won't hurt you that badly. Also remember that Citi Identity Monitor scores are not genuine FICO scores. Your true FICO may vary wildly from what you are getting from Citi - in extreme cases, up to 100 points.

You might want to go to myfico.com to get your true FICO scores to see if perhaps you're worrying about nothing. You have to pay for them, but look at creditboards.com Credit forum (there is a stickied thread) to get a discount code.

 

[AlienCraft]

Originally posted by: kranky
Instead of worrying about why the scores went in opposite directions, focus on what you can do to raise your score in 6 months, since that's not very complex.

1. Do not apply for new credit.
2. Pay down your existing balances.
3. Make sure there is no negative information reporting. No late payments, no overlimits, no accounts sent to collections or written off.

When you apply for a mortgage, in the majority of cases they will use your middle score. One score being weaker won't hurt.

Add to that list ...
Challenge any collection agency listings for a legal validation as allowed by the Fair Debt Collection Act.
IF they cannot produce proper documentation within 30 days of receipt of request, they cannot report it to any credit reporting bureau. That means it must come off the reports.
Done correctly, this can raise scores quickly, and is a valid technique, even if the bill was paid.
No Documentation means no reporting. They do it unless challenged because thats the way they work.
They only follow the law when challenged.

 

[finite automaton]

Originally posted by: AlienCraft

Originally posted by: kranky
Instead of worrying about why the scores went in opposite directions, focus on what you can do to raise your score in 6 months, since that's not very complex.

1. Do not apply for new credit.
2. Pay down your existing balances.
3. Make sure there is no negative information reporting. No late payments, no overlimits, no accounts sent to collections or written off.

When you apply for a mortgage, in the majority of cases they will use your middle score. One score being weaker won't hurt.

Add to that list ...
Challenge any collection agency listings for a legal validation as allowed by the Fair Debt Collection Act.
IF they cannot produce proper documentation within 30 days of receipt of request, they cannot report it to any credit reporting bureau. That means it must come off the reports.
Done correctly, this can raise scores quickly, and is a valid technique, even if the bill was paid.
No Documentation means no reporting. They do it unless challenged because thats the way they work.
They only follow the law when challenged.

I don't have any debts that have gone to collections (nor do I have any debts that have been paid late, everything is green on my report), thankfully. However, I appreciate your input.

 

[boomhower]

Also don't forget that a good file doesn't always have a high score. The OP's file seems nice. Fairly spread out with low balances other than his school loans. With a nice down payment I wouldn't foresee in a major issues.

 

[finite automaton]

Originally posted by: boomhower
Also don't forget that a good file doesn't always have a high score. The OP's file seems nice. Fairly spread out with low balances other than his school loans. With a nice down payment I wouldn't foresee in a major issues.

What do you consider a nice down payment? 20%? If I buy a house in 6 months I won't be able to afford that, though if I wait an extra year or two, I likely could. However, with housing prices the way they are, I'm afraid that I might miss the boat if I don't buy ASAP.

 

[finite automaton]

Originally posted by: kranky
Your student loans won't hurt you that badly. Also remember that Citi Identity Monitor scores are not genuine FICO scores. Your true FICO may vary wildly from what you are getting from Citi - in extreme cases, up to 100 points.

You might want to go to myfico.com to get your true FICO scores to see if perhaps you're worrying about nothing. You have to pay for them, but look at creditboards.com Credit forum (there is a stickied thread) to get a discount code.

Found it. I will order a MyFICO report as soon as the updated balance on my paid off card hits my reports. I will be bookmarking that site as well, thanks :thumbsup:

 

[Aimster]

I have $52,000 in student loans and my credit score was 762 when I checked it last week.

However, during my credit pull it showed I had a balance of $4,112 on my credit cards. I paid it off. It was just my monthly credit card payment.

In my opinion if you were going to buy a house in the next 2months try not to use your credit cards for big expenses.

BTW if it matters my credit limit was only $32,000 (credit cards) .. but they got the $48,000 of my student loan and added that to my " overall credit" so the student loan balance the debt:credit ratio was 1:1.

It showed I had one thing that possibly hurt my credit and that was I opened a new line of credit... it was nothing more than my student loan in February.

 

[finite automaton]

Originally posted by: Aimster
I have $52,000 in student loans and my credit score was 762 when I checked it last week.

However, during my credit pull it showed I had a balance of $4,112 on my credit cards. I paid it off. It was just my monthly credit card payment.

In my opinion if you were going to buy a house in the next 2months try not to use your credit cards for big expenses.

BTW if it matters my credit limit was only $32,000 (credit cards) .. but they got the $48,000 of my student loan and added that to my " overall credit" so the student loan balance the debt:credit ratio was 1:1.

It showed I had one thing that possibly hurt my credit and that was I opened a new line of credit... it was nothing more than my student loan in February.

That's actually a good point that you bring up. Currently, I use my credit card for everything. And it generally has a monthly balance of $800-1k. Should I stop using my CC for all of my purchases?

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: finite automaton
That's actually a good point that you bring up. Currently, I use my credit card for everything. And it generally has a monthly balance of $800-1k. Should I stop using my CC for all of my purchases?

The key is to have your balance on any given day be less than 30% of your total available credit. For example, if your credit score is calculated TODAY and your balance today is $1000 and your credit limit is $5000, then you are only using 20% of your total available credit. You should be fine in that case.

However, you must remember that the amount you owe on any given day may not be anywhere near the amount that you generally have for a monthly balance. Suppose you had a monthly balance of $1000 due this month, that you paid it in full, and that you turned right back around and charged $1000 for next month. In that case, on the day your credit score is calculated, you may have a balance of $1000, or $0 (if your check made it there before you charged the next $1000) or $2000 (if your next charge came through before your check cleared). Thus, even though you keep an AVERAGE MONTHLY balance of $1000, you might actually have a $2000 balance on the DAY your score is calculated. In that case, you'd be using $2000/$5000 = 40% of your available credit and your credit score will suffer.

To be extra safe, keep your CC usage below 10% of your available credit. But don't stop using credit cards - that'll hurt your score too. To maximize your score you need to show (A) that you use credit properly and (B) that you have additional credit unused for emergencies. If you stop using credit cards altogether, then you fail test (A), since you have to have a balance on a credit card to show that you actually use your credit properly. Also, many people forget (B). You have to have ANOTHER credit card with a $0 balance on the day your credit score is calculated to maximize your score. This is where those cards that you got and decided that you didn't need come in handy. Use them rarely to keep them active, but keep their balance at $0 on most days. If you cancel them, you kill your total available credit and you kill your chance of getting points for (B).

 

[Aimster]

I have 1 credit card that I charge everything to.

The other 2 credit cards I put maybe $5 on them each month if that. They are mostly $0 for the most part.
Should I start to use 2 cards 50/50 and leave the other one close to 0?
The reason I just use one is because I get 1.5%/5% cash back.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: Aimster
I have 1 credit card that I charge everything to.

The other 2 credit cards I put maybe $5 on them each month if that. They are mostly $0 for the most part.
Should I start to use 2 cards 50/50 and leave the other one close to 0?
The reason I just use one is because I get 1.5%/5% cash back.

I think what you are doing is pretty much exactly what they want to see. You use your cards (they are active), but you don't have too many of them (just three is about perfect), nor do you use all of them all the time ($0 balance most of the time on at least one). Your 762 score proves that you are doing things correctly.

 

[finite automaton]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: finite automaton
That's actually a good point that you bring up. Currently, I use my credit card for everything. And it generally has a monthly balance of $800-1k. Should I stop using my CC for all of my purchases?

The key is to have your balance on any given day be less than 30% of your total available credit. For example, if your credit score is calculated TODAY and your balance today is $1000 and your credit limit is $5000, then you are only using 20% of your total available credit. You should be fine in that case.

However, you must remember that the amount you owe on any given day may not be anywhere near the amount that you generally have for a monthly balance. Suppose you had a monthly balance of $1000 due this month, that you paid it in full, and that you turned right back around and charged $1000 for next month. In that case, on the day your credit score is calculated, you may have a balance of $1000, or $0 (if your check made it there before you charged the next $1000) or $2000 (if your next charge came through before your check cleared). Thus, even though you keep an AVERAGE MONTHLY balance of $1000, you might actually have a $2000 balance on the DAY your score is calculated. In that case, you'd be using $2000/$5000 = 40% of your available credit and your credit score will suffer.

To be extra safe, keep your CC usage below 10% of your available credit. But don't stop using credit cards - that'll hurt your score too. To maximize your score you need to show (A) that you use credit properly and (B) that you have additional credit unused for emergencies. If you stop using credit cards altogether, then you fail test (A), since you have to have a balance on a credit card to show that you actually use your credit properly. Also, many people forget (B). You have to have ANOTHER credit card with a $0 balance on the day your credit score is calculated to maximize your score. This is where those cards that you got and decided that you didn't need come in handy. Use them rarely to keep them active, but keep their balance at $0 on most days. If you cancel them, you kill your total available credit and you kill your chance of getting points for (B).

Sounds like I'm heading in the correct direction then. I have 4 cards, 2 from Citi and 1 from Chase (Amazon), and 1 Macy's card. The macy's and amazon card generally always has a zero balance, the one citi card just got paid off and will likely never be used again (except in case of emergency, god forbid), and my primary citi card which is what I use to buy everything.

Those credit lines are:

Citi Dividend (Primary Card): $21,800
Citi CashReturn (SHTF Card): $13,600
Chase Amazon: $16,500
Macy's: ??? Listed as a charge account on my credit report

I also have an auto loan which has a current balance of ~8k.

 

[finite automaton]

I also signed up for TrueCredit and cancelled my Citi IdentityMonitor service in search for daily credit score updating functionality. The scores it gives me are a bit higher than what Citi said. Man this is confusing!

TransUnion: 750
Experian: 720
Equifax: 767

I definately have to just suck it up and get myself a MyFICO report.

 

[Aimster]

Are all these inquiries to pull your credit going to hurt or can you do inquiries to pull your own credit as many times as you want without it hurting your credit?

 

[finite automaton]

Originally posted by: Aimster
Are all these inquiries to pull your credit going to hurt or can you do inquiries to pull your own credit as many times as you want without it hurting your credit?

You can pull your own credit report as many times as you want without penalty

Edit: Pulled from TransUnion's site

An inquiry is a record of someone checking your credit information. Inquiries come in two distinct categories: ?hard inquiries? that occur when a business views your credit report for the purpose of an application and ?soft inquiries? that occur when your credit is checked for other reasons. If you apply for a new credit card, a hard inquiry record will appear on your credit report and may impact your credit. When you check your own credit report, or when it is checked for a pre-approved marketing purpose, it is considered a soft inquiry and will not harm your credit score.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: Aimster
Are all these inquiries to pull your credit going to hurt or can you do inquiries to pull your own credit as many times as you want without it hurting your credit?

Do it as often as you want. The only inquiries that hurt are inquiries where you are repeatedly APPLYING for credit spread out over a significant length of time. Just checking doesn't hurt. Applying in a limited time (shopping around for a good deal) doesn't hurt. Having companies check (pre-approval) doesn't hurt if they did it on their own (you didn't apply).

Originally posted by: finite automaton
Sounds like I'm heading in the correct direction then. I have 4 cards, 2 from Citi and 1 from Chase (Amazon), and 1 Macy's card. The macy's and amazon card generally always has a zero balance, the one citi card just got paid off and will likely never be used again (except in case of emergency, god forbid), and my primary citi card which is what I use to buy everything....I also have an auto loan which has a current balance of ~8k.

I'd use the Macy's and Amazon cards for one small purchase every few months. Then pay the bill right away. That'll keep them active, but mostly a $0 balance. The auto loan can help or it can hurt your score. It helps in that you've shown you can handle many different types of debt (CC, auto, and student loans). It hurts in that you have debt. Paying down the car loan will help your credit score but will hurt the money you have available for a down payment. If you can, do both: pay off the car as much as you can and still save up for the down payment. However, that is unlikely to be possilbe, so I'd make certain that I had a good down payment first.

 

[finite automaton]

Thanks dullard. You've been very helpful!