When you close an account or tradeline, you retain the age of that tradeline for 10 years. But, you could still be negatively impacted by a closed account. For instance, closing a credit card will result in a higher utilization rate due to the credit limit…
If someone is considering extending credit to you, they may view your credit report to analyze your credit history and determine how much credit they’ll extend. Why do variations of the term “credit inquiry” matter? Anyone accessing your…
When you check your credit, it’s important to not just obtain a credit report from one bureau. There are three major credit bureaus: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. Your reports at each bureau may not always have the same information, typically due…
When someone reviews your credit, it will be a hard inquiry or a soft inquiry. Soft credit inquiries Soft inquiries do not affect your credit and only you can see soft inquiries on your credit report. Hard credit inquiries Hard inquiries are viewable by…
If a credit card issuer seeks to reduce its risk with a cardholder, the issuer might opt to “balance chase” the customer by lowering the cardholder’s credit limit as the balance is paid down. Impacts of balance chasing If the cardholder was…
Your middle score is typically used by mortgage lenders when determining your mortgage eligibility. To obtain your middle score, your lender will obtain a credit score from each of the three major credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax). Of those…
If you did not give permission to have a hard inquiry performed, you should first contact the company that performed the credit check and ask that they remove it from your report. The company might insist that they can’t remove it. They may even try to…