janiesuper

I think its always worth challening a mistake on your report. Why suffer and pay for this mistake if it isn't yours?

I had a "30 day late" mark on a line of credit from my credit union, which was late only a few days. I tried challenging it with my credit union several times with no luck. Over time, this thing became over a year old, so they werent able to see it in their records, but it still showed up on my credit report. I challenged it via my credit bureau and since the credit union cant see their own records, its now gone

i think some of you are confusing credit history with debt history. a credit history is a history of open credit lines or loans that are not in default. The longer they are not in default and open, the better. Having debt does not improve your credit history. All your accounts can be at zero, and you can have a good credit history. Most people are not at zero however, but if they pay their bills on time every month, this is a good credit history. Careful you are not in too much debt, if your debt to credit limit ratio is too high, this is bad for your score.

I was denied for this back when i was shopping for cards. I did get approved for two citibank credit cards at 10% and my CK score is currently 714, and was lower when i got the cards. citibank premier pass (reward points) and citibank diamond preferred. I dont think a high credit score is necessary to get the lowest rates, just go with a different card.

this article is NOT informative. i recommend reading wikipedia articles on FICO and vantage scores

This isn't a map of financial responsibility. Someone who has never had a credit card (credit history) could be very credit worthy, but they don't have a high score. I think the value in this map is your chances of obtaining a good loan in each state. The lenders will compare your score to the average of the people in the city or the state, and you may need a higher score in California just to compete.

i have read elsewhere that it makes no difference in the calculation of the FICO. Can the moderators expand on this in a new article? it would be helpful thanks.

Its Feb 2010 now. The highest interest rate you can get on a CD or money market is around 2.7% if you are lucky.

same thing happened to me, i feel your pain.

its Jan 2010, what does credit karma use now? i recently bought my vantage score and it is in the 500s! my CK score right now is 714

dont close any of your accounts because a long history is good for your score. routinely use your cards every 2 months and pay them off in full in order to keep them open (some cards will close due to inactivity). I've heard that the type of charges affect how your card company views you. If you can, use your cards for items that make you look more serious like paying for household goods, rather than paying cash advances at the casino.

think about what you need good credit for? likely you would say, to borrow money when you need it, like now, to buy a car. if they finance a car loan for you, then dont worry about it, but I am doubtful they will, so you may not have any choice but to wait.

last year i joined www.mint.com and i found i had more than 46K of credit card debt. I called all my credit cards and asked them to reduce my interest rates, preferably below 10% and preferably FOR LIFE, and some of them actually did! then, i used this calculator http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/debtplanner/debtplanner.jsp and i continue to use it. I figured out my debt payment needs to be 1150 to get out of debt in 36 months. This month my total cc balance is 33K and im almost on track, perhaps added an extra month of payments, not bad. I shopped around and recieved about 5 new cards with 0% intro rates. I think i got lucky though, i did all of this right before the stock market crash, and my score was pretty good back then. However the poor economy caused some of my cards to reduce my limits and some cards closed my accounts, further lowering my score. the locked in rates help alot as they save me money and i can pay down faster. finally, most importantly, i use mint.com like a fiend to keep my budget in check. i still love to spend, but then i know when to slow down. knowledge is power. you can do it. dont ruin your credit history by settling or doing payment plans. 7-10 years of bad marks is a very long time.

yeah, i think it wouldnt be fair to take salary into account because you would be letting the credit card company judge how you lay out your monthly budget. Unfortunately (or fortunately) when you apply for a mortgage they do look at your monthly budget. I think if credit cards banks are not taking income into account, then they shouldnt be closing my accounts simply because my debt is too high. This causes my score to snowball downward as other cards react. I have an excellent track record even considering juggling 10 accounts with balances. Also, they dont seem to care that all my balances are decreasing over time. Well they are losing my good business.

you should work to have this removed from your report. dispute it with all the credit agencies that show it, and also with citibank.

im very happy with my slate card. ive been which chase for over 10 years. they lowered my interest to 3.99 even though my credit isnt stellar and blueprint gives a clear payoff plan. happy to know at least one of my cards values me as a customer