Credit score of 663, 3 late payments 6 years ago, credit counseling place : Bad Credit Advisor

Credit score of 663, 3 late payments 6 years ago, credit counseling place

Q: I just had a quick question. I went through a divorce from June 2005 to December 2006 that quite messy. I refinanced the house into my name back in July 2007, but had to get a home equity loan in order to get some much needed things done to the house. When the rates came down again in October 2007, I refinanced the house, consolidating the loans. I have never been late except on 3 of my credit cards back in 2003 when we had some large spending to do, and I wanted to lower the payments, so I used a credit counseling place. I couldn’t pay that credit counseling payments and the credit card payments, so I ended up having few "lates" on my credit report. But that was back in 2003. EVERYTHING I have is paid off, except for my mortgage and I have a VISA that has a credit limit of $3,900, however, I have not run up the balance over $300 in over 2 years, and it gets paid down and on time immediately. Back when they did the second refinance to consolidate, I almost had to get PMI because only one of my credit scores was just barely under 690, but the other 2 were over 690. I don’t remember what they were, but after speaking with someone at the bank, this matter was taken care of and I didn’t have to get PMI because the one was just barely under 690 and the average was well over 690. I have not had a lot of inquiries done in the past 2 years, except for car insurance, which I was told doesn’t affect the credit score, and I’ve never been late on ANY of my payments. My truck loan was paid off early in June 2008. How could my score have gone DOWN?

Can you please explain this, because I know I’ll never get a live person at Equifax. I just recently requested a free copy of my credit report and there was nothing derogatory,except for those old collections in 2003, that were not resolved in my divorce and will be coming off sometime in 2010 per the remarks, and they don’t total more than $1,900. How can a credit score go down that much without inquiries and no debt?

A: I think the problem is you have more bad accounts - 3 credit card collections if I understood correctly, than active/open good accounts - your mortgage and Visa. Basically you have not enough good debt. Yes those bad accounts are old, but all 3 show still late payments - and I bet your credit counseling company also is showing late payments, so your credit report has 4 derogatory accounts.

Try to get a credit card, check Capital One, they may have some cards for not-so-good credit scores with no annual fees. If you get one, use it a bit, that should improve your credit score. You can also try your local bank to see if it is wiling to give a credit card. If you don't need credit now, just wait till 2010 and then see. Your credit score will go up. I also don't understand PMI problem. That has nothing to do with credit scores, especially if they are good, like yours were when you applied. PMI is only given when mortgage exceeds 80% of home value.

Sat Jun 13, 2009 01:06PM by Tony | More in Credit Repair | Comments (0)

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