AppleRules

You dont need to carry a balance. You just need to have more than a few credit card accounts. I have 8 cards. Never carry a balance and a credit score in the high 700s. 

Capital One / Orchard Bank / Wells Fargo all have a decent secured credit card that many people report as being useful in rebuilding credit. Many get approved with a BK. 

You applied for credit. That is a hard inquiry. That can easily drop your score 10-20 points. I know mine did everytime I applied for something new. 

Not all banks and cards report limits. I know that a couple of mine don't there isn't much we can do aside from getting cards that do. But if you have enough cards, itsn't a big deal. 

AnnualCreditReport.com. Pull the TransUnion credit report. 

He needs to refinance it. 

Karma only shows what is reported to TransUnion. If you think it is wrong you should report it to the lender. But $50 doesnt sound like a big deal. 

Good if it is a legitmate disupte. Poor if you are just doing to get a bad mark off your report.

The balances are at the time of reporting. Not at the end of your cycle. 

http://www.creditkarma.com/res/img/layout/article/infographic.jpg   More cards are better. I have about 8 cards open. I never carry a balance and my score is 780. I keep most of them locked up in my safe. I carry 3 for everyday purchases. Pretty easy way to build credit 

You can put a fraut alert or credit freeze on your credit reports. That will require more authenication should anyone apply for credit in your name. The credit freeze is the most severe since no one will be able to access your credit report. 

If they aren't paying thier bills on time it will still affect you as an authorized users. You should get removed if their scores are bad. 

Yes that can often help your score

AnnualCreditReport.com

It takes time. You probably have lots of delinquencies in your history if it is 560. Make sure those are cleared up. Then it will just take a bit of time. 

All the reasons are on the credit report card. Read it. 

Most people can bring their scores up 100-150 points in a year if they just clear up their delinquencies and collections. Then you just need to re-establish your credit history with a secured credit card. 

Contact that bank and get the details. Sometimes they are errors and not fraud so speaking to someone can often clear it up. 

Define lots. If you have more than 5 then sure you can close some. Just do one at a time and make you sure you check your score 30 day after you close it before you close the next one. Be more careful with the older cards are the help your history more. 

Go to AnnualCreditReport.com and pull up your transunion report. It is free.

That should be fine. Just keep in mind many credit cards have a balance transfer fee of 3% or 5% so it might not be as cheap as you think.

Mortgage debt is considered good debt so it never really hurt you. But when you paid it off, the history of it goes away as well. You can easily rebuild that history with a credit card for two. 

You really can't. It is part of your history. 

just email support.

Do you have old paid off loans and very few active lines of credit? I found that if your history is limitted and getting thinner, your score may drop.