scamps218

Not at all.  The only thing that would impact your credit is if he went wild with that card.  If you are being responsible with the card, then it is only helping him.

A short sale will stay on your credit report as "bad credit" for two years. 

Not unless you authorize the card to be closed by the providing credit company.

Depends on the credit card's reporting time.  They usually report every 29 days, and it can take up to 11 days from the day they reported to appear on your credit report.

They update it everytime a new report is sent by the reporting agency.  Your score may take an extra month to bounce back as the aalgorithm used to calculate the score is part of a seperate database. 

Usually, cards report every 29 days to the reporting agencies.  It may not appear for up to 9 days after the date of reporting.  This may not immediately impact your score if the card was in bad standing or if you closed the account.

If it was a debt in good standing, the length of time it takes you to pay it off actually improves your score due to the average age of your account increases from month to month.  If you pay off a debt as soon as it opens, the account closes and your score may not be impacted.  If the debt was in bad standing and you pay it off, it could take 6 months for a score improvement.

They generally fall off after 7 years from the date they were first reported.

Check with the card companies and find out if they report to TransUnion.  That is the company that creditkarma gets its info from.  The cards may be reporting only to Equfax or Experian.

If the card is in good standing, it will be positively influencing your score by providing an increase in the average age of your account and providing you with available credit.

Your score is only one factor that is taken into account for a home loan.  A high score is great, but if you make $30,000 a year, you cannot get a realistic loan on a $500,000 home. 

When you add numerous cards to your account over a short time, that has a tendency to backfire.  However, your score is relatively low, so your idea may be a good one.  Keep in mind that your score consists of several factors. 1. on time payments.  2. available credit on account (utilization at 20% or lower).  3. Age of accounts. If you open up 3 cards within a few month of eachother, you have the inquiries that hurt you, but also the shortening of your average age for credit accounts.   To rebuild credit, I would stick with the 2 cards only.  However, if you must have a 3rd, go for it.  Just keep it at 3 and only 3.  Also, ignore 1 or 2 of them almost completely.  Maybe buy lunch with 1 once a month to keep the company reporting to the credit bureaus. I just reread your post and understand my misunderstanding.  The above still applies.  When it comes to utilization, you want your entire credit line on cards to be as low as possible.  Credit companies themselves do not want you to max out their card, and a history of that will cause them to not give balance increases or offer future benefits.   Balancing is best if the interest and incentives are balanced as well.  I, again, suggest using your card as an emergency backup.  It is not your money, so do not use it as if it is.

Inquiries generally fall off after two years.  As for the late fees, you are stuck with them on your report.  Generally, the more recent they are, the stronger they negatively impact your score.  After 2 years, late payments do not really impact your score.  30 day late fees are not the end of the world.  The 60 and 90 days will kill you.  Learn from this and do not sign for a friend's car loan unless you are ready to take on the payments.

Check your credit report at annualcreditreport.com.  See if there is any suspicious activity.  Missed payments, changes in utilization and closed accounts lower the score.

I would get the Better Business Bureau involved and see if it can be resolved. 

Actually, now that I think about it, a deferment damages your credit which would not help.  Let me know any updates.  Also, I do not know if this will make you feel better, but many people are in your situation.  Don't give up, you will make it through.  I wish there was more I could tell you.

Hey.  To consolidate several private student loans into a single payment, the process is similar to getting the private loan in the first place.  They check your credit and give you a rate based on this, or decline you all together.  Is it possible for you to defer your payments for a time, pay down your revolving debt and attempt to improve your score before signing up for a consolidation loan?  I am attaching a link that has several links to private student loan consolidation companies. Hope they help. <http://www.finaid.org/loans/privateconsolidation.phtml>  

Depending on what your current score is.  If your score is lower, say 650 and below, Below 30% utilization is ideal.  If your score is very high, 750 and up, you may want to keep utilization below 10% to maximize score.

Yes.

Pull your credit report from freecreditreport.com and look for the company that the inquiry was placed with.  Contact them.

It depends on where they pulled your report from.  You may have a 788 with TransUnion, but a lower score with Equifax or Experian.  Also, even a high score is not the sole determining factor in acceptance for a perfect rate card.  If your history is relatively short, you may have a higher interest rate.  14.99% is not as terrible as it could be.  It is not great, but some cards offer 20% or more even with a great score.  A company is within their rights to advertise the lowest score offered, but determine after review of your application that the rate needs to be higher.  Sucks, but that is the truth.

If they are reporting to the credit agencies, it would be a good idea to contact them and see if a payment needs to be made.  Use the information from your credit report to get corporate contact information.

As of right now, it would be a good idea to sit and wait on applying for more credit.  Generally, you only want about 3-6 credit cards total.  You have 3, so it might be good to wait a year, then apply for another to establish more history and good payment record.

Generally, AMEX requires a higher score.  700+ for approval. 

I have the same issue.  I'm thinking that the update to the new website that US Dept. of Ed. did earlier this month screwed some things up.  Do not get too excited...  You still owe your loans.  I bet they will continue reporting next month.