Clairissa

A hard inquiry is made by a lender when you apply for credit.

Your average balance on that card is definitely a little too high for a good score. Keeping it below 30% utilization ($600 in your case) or better yet below 20% utilization ($400) every month would help you. Whether you'd get further benefit from paying it in full every month is hard to say. Many people find that their best score comes when they keep about 5% on the card. But everyone's credit picture is different. So go below 30%, then experiment with keeping it even lower & see what happens.

A 70-point difference with creditsaseme.com isn't a big worry. These free online scores are just estimates, in any case, and they differ depending on which bureau the underlying info comes from. The 113-point drop is serious -- but is it really with no change in activity? Have you taken a look at your Credit Karma "credit report card"? Do you spot any mistakes there? Could you have missed a payment without realizing it? Did you make a large purchase on a credit card? In any case, if something unexplained like this happens, check your free credit reports at annualcreditreport.com and contest any errors you find.

Won't hurt your score at all. Updating your score at Credit Karma is a "soft inquiry." You can check every, single day with no harm -- so feel free.

Unfortunately, the auto insurance score is a huge mystery. Many people with excellent credit, no tickets, no history of claims, etc. report lousy auto insurance scores. No one has the slightest idea what's going on or what to do about it. I'm sorry -- especially for anybody who is paying higher insurance rates based on this obviously faulty measure. But that's the reality of the situation. Since the auto score is theoretically tied to your overall creditworthiness, any bad news in your credit picture could also cause a drop in your auto score, so you might check out that possibility.

Unfortunately, the auto insurance score is a huge mystery. Many people with excellent credit, no tickets, no history of claims, etc. report lousy auto insurance scores. No one has the slightest idea what's going on or what to do about it. I'm sorry -- especially for anybody who is paying higher insurance rates based on this obviously faulty measure. But that's the reality of the situation. Theoretically, your auto score is related to your creditworthiness, so if you improve your credit score the auto score should go up. But ... it's a crap shoot.

Unfortunately, the auto insurance score is a huge mystery. Many people with excellent credit, no tickets, no history of claims, etc. report lousy auto insurance scores. No one has the slightest idea what's going on or what to do about it. I'm sorry -- especially for anybody who is paying higher insurance rates based on this obviously faulty measure. But that's the reality of the situation. The score is, however, based on your credit. So if you just had credit problems of any sort, that could lead to a drop in your auto score.

Unfortunately, the auto insurance score is a huge mystery. Many people with excellent credit, no tickets, no history of claims, etc. report lousy auto insurance scores. No one has the slightest idea what's going on or what to do about it. I'm sorry -- especially for anybody who is paying higher insurance rates based on this obviously faulty measure. But that's the reality of the situation.

Unfortunately, the auto insurance score is a huge mystery. Many people with excellent credit, no tickets, no history of claims, etc. report lousy auto insurance scores. No one has the slightest idea what's going on or what to do about it. I'm sorry -- especially for anybody who is paying higher insurance rates based on this obviously faulty measure. But that's the reality of the situation.

Have you considered just paying cash? An air conditioner doesn't sound like the sort of item for which you should put your home equity at risk.

You don't give enough information for anyone here to answer you.

Co-signing is always risky. You're putting your credit score completely at your friend's mercy. If he makes his payments on time religiously, your score stays golden and maybe even goes up. If he has late payments or, heaven forbid, a repo, a court judgement, etc. ... your score will go into the Dumpster. Either way, your score will probably go down a little bit just because of the new loan. But what happens in the long run is entirely in your friend's control.

If it's so poor that you either can't get a vehicle loan or would have to pay horrendous interest, have you considered either getting a loan from a relative or saving up cash to buy the Harley?

Good for you for your financial responsibility and your plans. Be aware that paying off a loan can ding your credit score. But at the same time, getting rid of the payment will be good for you in other ways and be a positive to the mortgage lender.

The first thing you need to do if you ever hope to have good credit is to understand that the car didn't ruin your credit and neither did the dealer. Your own failure to make payments hurt your credit. I realize you were laid off and perhaps things got out of your control. It happens. There's no quick fix to your situation now. You may have to talk with a lawyer on this one. Or just wait it out until the bad loan comes off your record, which will take years.

Without more detail, it's hard to say. If you have good credit and want to get out of the loans quickly and completely, you could apply for lower-rate loans and use those to pay off the high-interest ones. I'm not saying you should do that; it might actually be a very bad idea. It's just a possibility. Alternatively, look up Dave Ramsay and his snowball method of debt repayment and start working on paydowns.

You say, "If it tells me," but you don't say what "it" is. I'm guessing that you're one of the hundreds of people who looked at a form on CK, saw "$10,000" filled in, and somehow hoped that you'd acquired some free money. If so, forget it. That $10,000 is only an EXAMPLE. Nobody gave you free money.

It's going to show up on your report whether it's being paid on time or not. So be sure the person you co-sign for is 100% trustworthy!

Have you checked your Credit Karma "credit report card"? That's usually a pretty good general guide to what's going on in your credit. Have you paid down a credit card or something like that? It'll show up in your report card.

It's just an alternative system that uses a different numeric scale and different criteria for judging good credit. It tends to focus more on your recent activity, while the FICO-based TransRisk score looks more at the long term. So far, I don't believe a lot of lenders use the Vantage score.

You haven't said what you're already doing or what your score is, so people here (and this is a user forum) aren't going to be able to help much. In general, though, pay your bills on time without fail, keep your credit card utilization under 30%, be patient, and your score will rise.

Don't worry about the simulator. It is a very flawed too & what it tells you doesn't necessarily reflect reality. That said, however, if nothing you do shows any change, you might go back and make sure you're using it properly. You need to hit a button to update every change you make & it's easy to miss that step.

Go to annuancreditreport.com and get free copies of your reports from all three bureaus.

Generally it hurts your score to close unused cc accounts -- especially for cards you've had for a long time. IF the cards have annual fees, I'd close them just to get rid of those fees. If there's no fee, then better for your score to keep the cards, use them about once every three months, and keep them active for the sake of your score.

They roll off your credit report in two years. However, their affect on your score begins to "heal" after six months or so.