Scorcher Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 We had a really good thread about debt a little while ago and I learned a lot from it. Nowadays a person's debt is determined by the interest rates a person gets. The FICO score seems to be the "Holy Grail" of interest rates and perceived financial stability. I recently had 2 bad experiences with credit card companies that I think are bullsh@t,and I am wondering if anyone else has had the same experience and what I should do. Exp one: ME: Hello, I'd like to check my balance. THEM: ( after the usual barrage of questions) Could I have yor Mother's maiden name? ME: (I tell them her maiden name) Them: I'm sorry sir but this is incorrect. Me: I know my Mother"s maiden name and what I told you is her maiden name. THEM: No sir , it starts with a "J". ME: No it doesn't ! It's what I told you! THEM: Sir if you have a question about your Mother's maiden name let me transfer you to our fraud department. I told them yes so I could get it straight. I was basically accosted by the fraud department and told that my card would be suspended until I went to my bank ( not the bank for this credit card) and made a transaction ( a cash advance) which would be rejected and a no. to call would appear and then I should present a photo i.d. and my bank could verify who I was. I did as they asked and the cash advance went through! I called the credit card company and asked what the hell was going on and after much stress was told that my cash advance went through at an ungodly rate but also that my credit card was still suspended fro suspected fraud! The only way I got this straight was by going to my credit union where I had done a lot of business, and after talking to 6 people my credit union rep finally convinced this company that I was me! This was 2 mos. ago. Then 2 wks ago I got another call from another CC company which said I had suspicious activity on my account and my card had been cancelled and they were sending a new one. When I asked them what it was they said they couldn't tell me. I have paid off one card and am working feverishly on the other one. My question to any credit huddlers is how long should I wait to cancel so it doesn't hurt my credit score? I want nothing to do with either of these inept companies but I feel that if I cancel right away there will be more headaches! Any advice would be welcome. Anyone else had these problems? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 Never had a problem like that but my advice would be to let the balance go to zero on each one and close the worst one, retaining the other. Then start looking for a good deal on a different one and when you get it, close the one you retained earlier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 I think you had better contact all three credit agencies and let them know what is going on (or rather, inform them that you don't know what the hell is going on). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chavez Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 If you go to annualcreditreport.com, you can view your credit history for all 3 credit bureaus - first off, it's a good thing to do under ANY circumstance, and secondly, you can see if you have been/are being the victim of credit fraud. As far as credit score, if you have a history and no dings, I wouldn't worry about it. I have two lines of credit open and both of those are going to be gone soon. But with my paid off college and car loans and on-time payment record with my mortgage and utilities, I am not worried about a credit score. A good way to IMPROVE a credit score is to to pay off outstanding debts monthly. That way you show you can handle credit; failing that, get your credit cards below 50% of available credit - that will help. But unless you're looking to buy a house in the next 6 months, don't sweat it; just pay stuff on time and get your credit cards down to nil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimm74 Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 I track my credit cards/finances very closely and I invest in a subprime credit card company....so I have done a lot of research lately. Cancelling a credit card as long as it is done by the customer and not the issuer is not in itself bad for your FICO...in itself... What the bank looks poorly on is your percent of debt outstanding....So let say you have 2 credit card with available credit of $1000 each. Lets say you owe $500 on one and the other has no balance. Therefore today your Debt to available credit is at 25% or 500/2000..Now if you were to cancel the no balance card your balance/available ratio would be 50%...about double....which HURTS your FICO score..... most people think getting rid of credit cards as a good thing, but it is not necessarily the case for your FICO score.... If I was you I would cancel the cards and open up new ones with new companies....how about your credit union....they sometimes have better rates then the big guys. My wife and I love the AMEX blue cash card. No annual fee and we get 1%-1.5% back on all purchases and then 5% back on gas, groceries, and some other stuff......my check at the end of the year REALLY adds up......but we pay off all our credit cards at the end of the month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hankk Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 Colsing a credit card account may lower your FICO score. Part of your score is determined by the length of time lines of credit have been open. The longer that you have had a particular line of credit, the more postive an impact on your score. I doubt that any of the events that you described will have an adverse effect on your score. Like Chavez says, get a 3 in 1 credit report. So my thought is, get everything squared away with your cc companies, leave your accounts open, and look at your credit report in six months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muck Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 It sounds like you may be a victim of credit fraud / identity theft. Someone somewhere else knows your mom's maiden name and may have called in to change it. Food for thought... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 It sounds like you may be a victim of credit fraud / identity theft. Someone somewhere else knows your mom's maiden name and may have called in to change it. Food for thought... That's what I was thinking too, which is why I advised him to contact all three credit bureaus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chavez Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 How credit scores work: http://money.howstuffworks.com/credit-score.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxfactor Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 . Then 2 wks ago I got another call from another CC company which said I had suspicious activity on my account and my card had been cancelled and they were sending a new one. Wow. Sounds to me like someone maybe got ahold of your info and has ordered a new card. I'd get this straight ASAP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrTed46 Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 (edited) Sorry to hyjack but whats a GOOD credit score? (dont feel its worth starting a new thread over) Edited April 16, 2007 by MrTed46 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puddy Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 Sorry to hyjack but whats a GOOD credit score? (dont feel its worth starting a new thread over) Not sure what score determines the next tier but I believe the average American score is 675 or 680. Probably won't get you the best interest rates but you won't be using subprime lenders either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 Sorry to hyjack but whats a GOOD credit score? (dont feel its worth starting a new thread over) If your score is over 700, you have excellent credit, in general. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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