[Prissy]

Originally Posted by Spool

How do you get a negative account when u don't use your credit cards? Makes no sense, i've never heard of this before...what exactly does it say on the report that was negative?

I keep track of my credit weekly, making sure no one stealing my identity, i had that happen to me 4 months ago and it took forever to clear my name...

I think it's because I closed it... I am gnna try to dispute 2 accounts today by calling the 3 bureaus

[Spool]

Originally Posted by Prissy

I think it's because I closed it... I am gnna try to dispute 2 accounts today by calling the 3 bureaus

If u don't owe any balance, why does it matter? i have a million accounts that i never use and i close them...doesn't affect me, i don't get it...

[Joonsup]

If you had a credit card opened for a while and you closed it, it will affect your credit score negatively. That is why it's not a good idea to close cards that you don't use b/c it'll take away from the overal availability of credit you have. The key rule of thumb from what I read over the years is to have no more than 30% balance on any of your credit cards. Another thing I read was that you shouldnt have a card sitting on 0 balance for a long period of time b/c that will also ding your credit score. They recommend you using it every now and then even if it's a small balance and pay it off to keep that card active.

In regards to the annualcredit report, by law you have access to each of the three credit agencies once a year. I haven't checked mine this year but I have the last couple years and noticed mistakes that I disputed on that site. It takes a while for a dispute to go through but it has worked for me in the past. And I am confused as to why the op cannot access them again unless you went past the time limit. I think you get a period of time to keep checking them but I'm pretty sure it's not one day. I think a couple weeks or so.

And when you do check your free credit report, you are supposed to check it once every 3-4months. So for example, check your experian in Jan, transunion in April, and Equifax in August or September. That way if you do make any changes you will be able to see if it has been cleared by the next time you run a report.

If you have an account that is charged off, that means the creditor gave up in trying to collect and just took the loss, which will hurt your credit.

I'm no expert and all the information that I have given is just what I've read over the past years b/c I got into some financial trouble in college and messed up my credit big time. Took me 4 years to clear it all up and pay off my debt and my credit score went from 520 to 760 (current).

One thing you should also check on your credit reports is to make sure that your creditors lists the available balance. Some credit card companies dont list it, and for some reason it's supposed to hurt your score as well. It's crazy how your credit score can fluctuate month to month so every little thing you do can impact the score from my experience. A good source for information is MSN money. I usually browse though it every now and then to get useful information in regards to credit scores and how they work.

[Joonsup]

some info

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...ditScores.aspx

[Joonsup]

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...core-game.aspx


hope some of this information helps

[Prissy]

good looks Joonsup! I just disputed all my negative accounts for all 3 bureaus, I really don't know what else to do... let me go ahead and read those links.

[Prissy]

damn some good infos in those links.

[cougfan335]

I'm in a similar boat. I got my free credit report sent to me after my damned credit union denied me a card (I haven't had one since I was 18 or 19 and I am now 25). There didn't seem to be any collection balances or anything. I wish my bank would just tell me my score so I can know if I actually have horrible credit. I thought it was somewhere in the 600s after some credit card co. kept calling me this last summer and making offers and everytime I said I would take one if there was no annual fee and they gave me a high limit.