Where'd you get your 30% figure?

I'd be really interested in seeing that. It doesn't appear to be that much from what we see, but since the credit reporting companies don't publish their formulas we're always looking for any hard facts we can find.

I doubt the figure is as high as 30%, but the rest is completely. It would sure be nice if that 30% figure were true as it would make it easier to work my customers credit scores up.

 

[QUOTE=Wildncrazy,Apr 4 2009, 09:22 AM] Where'd you get your 30% figure?

I'd be really interested in seeing that.

 

BTW Department store cards are not a big issue anyways.

 

Some of you mention how to keep a good standing with the credit card companies. Don't spend, it's close. Spend some and pay it off. That's the way to go....until now.

The idea is that the game has changed. They're basically saying they aren't making enough money from us..."spend and pay on time" guys. It's basically don't spend...closed. Spend and pay on time...closed. Spend and be late or have to borrow...VIP!

 

Lots of credit cards can hurt you. Credit cards are unsecured credit and so if you have a lot of that available and you go for lets say, a home loan or car loan, then it can hurt you because they want your debt to income ratio at a certain level and if you have a lot of this type of debt you are a risk. The premise is that you could go out and charge up this debt and then not be able to make your payments on the car or house.

 

I have had several cards closed, as well as interest rates raised and some cards even lowered my spending limit. It sucks too, I was planning on transferring some balances to the cards that were shut down

 

Both my credit cards have each recently increased my limits by $1000+

 

Nah! After much reading I found the numbers you quoted was one person's best guess as to what affected credit scores and not the real deal coming from the horses mouth.

"Fair, Isaac and Company came up with a proprietary scoring formula that most creditors use, although there are other scoring methods that are used for various purposes."

It is a very good intro to credit to help people understand the whole system tho.

From real life experience of working with people's credit reports daily trying to get their scores up so they can qualify for the loan they want I haven't found the end results to justify a 30% figure. That would just be too easy, which is why I was hoping you were right and there had been some sort of change in the system. I've found I can raise/lower people's credit scores by no more than about 10% (max) by adjusting credit balances.

I called and talked to my Experian and Equifax representatives about the 30% figure and while they won't release any firm data, they say it's proprietary, they did both confirm the 30% figure is WAY TOO HIGH.

So you are quite right to say the balances affect the score, they just don't affect them that much.

 

I had an american express card with 24k limit. With a balance of $2k. For 5 yrs I had this card. I never been late. I don't have a single 30 days late on my credit history for the past 10 years. My account was closed and I had to find out one day through a letter. When I called them, I was transfered and I just got bounced around to different call centers. So they said I was determined high risk and I don't use my card enough to be the high risk. I thought this article was interesting...

Credit markets are drying up, so if american express have X amount of money as credit lines. They want to use it on the people who they make the most amount of money at the most mearsureable risks. The people who are likely paying minimum payment and possible late fees.

A good article from USA today

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/b...d-account_N.htm

 

^

If you have one of those reward cards, were you able to recover the points?