Can anyone explain Credit scores to me

So I've been working of fixing my credit I had fraud and the credit agencies would not do anything about it so it resulted in 3 collection accounts that I disputed 3 times , I have not been late on any of my credit cards and matter of fact just paid them off to zero balance , The collection accounts were from debt buyers "Scam" Wasnt me never opened accounts with the companies they bought the Debt from ,

Now that they have aged off my credit score went down because I lost long term accounts , This makes no sense to me I Have zero debt all my cards paid on time but because those accounts aged off , My score went down 5 points WTF is this magic ? According to them I gained points by having illegitimate fraudulent ID fraud accounts on my record ..... Makes no senses whatsoever Do you have to carry debt for a great score meaning making someone a profit by paying interest .

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

Someone seems to have stolen your identity. Honestly there is not much you can do besides dispute all claims.
Sorry dude.

originally posted by: Allaroundya4k
a reply to: Ravenwatcher

Someone seems to have stolen your identity. Honestly there is not much you can do besides dispute all claims.
Sorry dude.

Dealt with that they came off and my score went down because I did not have enough aged accounts the credit agencies were counting collection accounts as a positive .

I was told years ago if you don't have outstanding accounts they have nothing to rate you on; it's better to carry reasonable debt in accordance with your income-even falling behind is counted as a plus if you make it up-showing you're a debt-responsible person.

Using your cards and paying in full each month gives you a loe=wer score, too; they want that interest (free) money.

It's ridiculous. To have a good credit score you must have open accounts, line of credit, etc. Personally I would love to have none, but it's just the way it is. I suggest a credit card or two, buy a few items a month and pay them just about off the next month.

What is your credit score now? Mine went from 820 to 733 in 2 months because I paid for my kid's college and put about 40k into my house that I am selling, I'm making 10k a month payments to get it down, but once I sell my house 50k will go right on top to pay everything off including the improvements to my house. I have at least 200k or more available in credit too, so it isn't like I maxed anything out, but there must be a cut-off where they just slam you with the credit hammer.

Hi Ravenwatcher

The points fluctuation is normal and yes, it doesn't really follow anything fair or logical always.

The three bureaus Experian, equifax, and transunion are a bit of a mess as well.

Your score will go back up again, don't stress over it too much. Been working on my credit for a long time as well, and it is a slow process.

I have like 12 credit cards, lolz.. Only 4 have a balance. Keep below 30% utilization. I've never been late on anything in 10 years, but it takes more than that to have a high score.

Sorry to hear someone stole your identity or used your name. I had collectors calling me the same way, info was hacked from Yahoo email many years ago. Lots of big companies like Target and others have also been hacked and peoples data leaked. It ends up for sale on the dark net of course.

I disputed a few fraudulent accounts as well. I asked them, (the collectors) if they knew my SSN number if it was associated with the fraudulent account. Turned out it wasn't, only my name and address were on those accounts, and they had someone elses SSN linked to them, so they had to remove those from the credit bureaus.

The bad thing to me, is that to do much else like lock credit files you have to lookup instructions (you may already know all of this, but I'll post a link.
Idtheft-gov

I have a currently "free" account on Experian.com.. To lock my credit file I have to pay a monthly fee. (Don't need it locked currently) but it is a good idea to lock them until you want to apply for new credit things. Locking all 3 would be a real pain for me, not currently a victim of id theft, so I would have to pay monthly fees on all 3 bureaus to lock my file and add notes that any inquiring bank will see there if you want them to know anything or a warning about fraud being done by others..
I think the website above says how to deal with a current identity theft situation and it's all free I think. Might have to follow some steps to get there. Mail some letters or something to credit bureaus.

I've checked out Transunion and Equifax, but isn't worth having accounts on all 3. I just use experian, but not always paying a fee, only if I want to some months.

They are all really a bit of a ripoff.

I won't use any of the other sham sites any more. Credit Karma has a free thing, and is okay, but uses a different scoring system than the actual credit bureaus do, and not helpful to me.
Experian seems to be better for me.

They all spam you with credit offers too though...

Just keep on time and your score will move up to where you want it eventually.

originally posted by: frogs453
It's ridiculous. To have a good credit score you must have open accounts, line of credit, etc. Personally I would love to have none, but it's just the way it is. I suggest a credit card or two, buy a few items a month and pay them just about off the next month.

New people start about 720 and that is good credit.

a reply to: Xtrozero

Went from 700 to 695 sucks I got 2 cards I pay on time and never late their explanations is I lost the collection accounts that counted as long term accounts but were fraudulent and put on my record by debt buyers . I just paid my one card to zero and the other I don't use . So it really falls on the fraudulent collection accounts being removed .

originally posted by: Ravenwatcher

Went from 700 to 695 sucks I got 2 cards I pay on time and never late their explanations is I lost the collection accounts that counted as long term accounts but were fraudulent and put on my record by debt buyers . I just paid my one card to zero and the other I don't use . So it really falls on the fraudulent collection accounts being removed .

695 isn't bad, so just give it time and it will go up. It should not affect your ability to get as loan or anything.

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

Paying them off to zero lowers your credit score. You need to keep a small amount of a floating balance to gain credit score points. Buying thing on credit then paying them off in a few months is fine but don't pay it to zero balance if you want your score to rise.

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

5 points in insignifigant and surely nothing to worry about. Yes, having a debt with reocuring payments does, actually, help your credit score. Use a credit card and religiously pay off the balance every month. Even if it is a prepaid card, use it can help.

Credit scoring is kind of a black box, but it isn't all that complicated.

I work in mortgages and see credit reports daily.

Generally, you want to show utilization of credit. The older the tradelines and consistent payment history is what leads to high FICO scores. You can payoff balances each month. The key is just having a credit history.

The other thing is if you have balance, you generally don't want the balance to be more than 50% of your available credit line. That will hurt your score some even if you are making on time payments. So if the credit line is $20k, you really don't want your balance to go over $10k if you have to carry it.

Recent derogatory credit will hurt your score. If you have an 800 FICO and have a 30 day late payment last month, your score could drop to 650 over night. However, if you continue to make on time payments, your score could go back to 800 within six months or a year. It just really depends on overall credit history.

You don't need a lot of credit cards. Just get an Amex and a Visa or Mastercard. There is no reason to get store branded credit cards.

Never co sign for anyone. If you co-sign on a car loan for your loser brother and they miss a payment, that means YOU MISSED THE PAYMENT. It doesn't matter what kind of agreement you had with him. You are responsible for the debt.

It goes down a tiny bit when you pay something off.

a reply to: Ravenwatcher
When a pre-existing account with an open balance line of credit is active, it remains part of your debt to credit ration, or the percentage of your total available credit in contrast to the balance you carry. So if you lose an account that had extra thousands of unused balance, your debt to credit went up because your total available credit went down while your active balance stayed the same or only received a regular monthly payment.

If you carry a thousand dollar balance on ten thousand dollars of available credit, your still below what the credit agencies like believe it or not. They prefer for us to have about a 27%-35% debt to credit ratio, the parasitic bastards. So if four thousand dollars of available credit dropped off, now your at a 1:6 instead of 1:10, which puts your percentage closer to where they want it though.

I don't play that game anymore and just keep a bunch of open credit. I keep them active by rotating a gas fill-up once a month which I just pay at the atm right after. I still accumulate gold and silver with them when I can buy a dip with 0% promotional rates. I have been leveraging that trick for like a decade now.

The other thing to realize is that credit reports are not for you. They are designed for businesses that extend credit. Your FICO score is a reflection of how likely you are to repay a debt. There are different algorithms depending on what business is looking to extend credit. Mortgages have a different FICO score than say an auto loan.

The other insidious thing is the FICO Scores that the bureaus provide aren't necessarily the same FICO score that is provide to the business.

originally posted by: Ravenwatcher
So I've been working of fixing my credit I had fraud and the credit agencies would not do anything about it so it resulted in 3 collection accounts that I disputed 3 times , I have not been late on any of my credit cards and matter of fact just paid them off to zero balance , The collection accounts were from debt buyers "Scam" Wasnt me never opened accounts with the companies they bought the Debt from ,

Now that they have aged off my credit score went down because I lost long term accounts , This makes no sense to me I Have zero debt all my cards paid on time but because those accounts aged off , My score went down 5 points WTF is this magic ? According to them I gained points by having illegitimate fraudulent ID fraud accounts on my record ..... Makes no senses whatsoever Do you have to carry debt for a great score meaning making someone a profit by paying interest .

You can get indentity theft insurance through all three credit bureaus, don't know if you have that yet.

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

I have an "excellent" credit rating according to Equifax.

I asked for a second credit card, underwritten by me, in my wifes name and was refused without reason.

The refusal doesn't worry me, the issuer is stupid, but the 'without reason' does.

No obligation to explain a refusal is very nearly slanderous, as it implies a kind of "you knew all along" story, which could effect a future rating for me.

These agencies, or the companies using them, should be under a legal obligation to declare the reasons for a refusal if asked.

originally posted by: nugget1
Using your cards and paying in full each month gives you a loe=wer score, too; they want that interest (free) money.

We have ALWAYS paid ours off fully every month (I won't pay their extortion_, and my credit has always been excellent, so this simply isn't true...

originally posted by: BeyondKnowledge3
a reply to: Ravenwatcher

Paying them off to zero lowers your credit score. You need to keep a small amount of a floating balance to gain credit score points. Buying thing on credit then paying them off in a few months is fine but don't pay it to zero balance if you want your score to rise.

False. We never, ever pay their extortion )interest) on CC's. Ever. Our credit has always been awesome.

Keep all three bureau accounts (Equifax, Experian and Trans Union) frozen, and schedule a thaw when you need to apply for credit, that will go a long way to preventing ID theft, though it cannot fully prevent it.