The free credit report Omaha

I made this mistake about two years ago when I canceled a card I had for over 8 years. Because I hadnt used it for 5 years, it wasnt a rewards card like my new credit card, and I didnt think it would affect my credit score. But canceling that card actually had a negative affect on my credit score! Thankfully, I already had a good credit score and the free credit report Omaha wasnt planning on applying for any lines of credit at the time. At the time, I didnt know how credit scores are determined. I thought that since I had an open line of credit that wasnt being used, it would lower my credit score (too much available credit can be a bad thing).

That was partially true, the free credit report Omaha but I didnt realize that the age of your credit history also affected your credit score.

That line of credit was open for 8 years, had a $1,000 limit, and I was never late or missed a payment. Besides that card, my newest lines of credit were another credit card and a car note, both the free credit report Omaha of which were about a year old. Canceling that credit card reduced my average age of credit quite a bit, and there was no substantial benefit by reducing my line of credit by $1,000. This chart breaks down the components of your the free credit report Omaha FICO score. As you can see by the above chart, making any drastic changes to any of the categories can affect your credit score. credit check report This would include missing payments, raising your credit utilization, canceling cards and reducing the length of your credit history, taking out new credit cards, and taking out different forms of credit (mortgages, store brand credit cards, student loans, etc.). Recently, my wife received a new Discover Card to replace an expired card, but she forgot she even had this particular card in her name! It turns out she used the card when she lived with her parents and even though she hadnt used the card for several years, it was still active. We looked into it a little bit, and it turned out she had a $15,000 limit on it.

Add that credit limit to the free credit report Omaha another Discover Card, a credit card through the free credit report Omaha our bank, and a mortgage in her name (she bought the house before we were married and I was never added to the mortgage), and we found out she has a lot of available credit to her name! fair credit reporting act Time to reduce the amount of credit to improve her score!

We called customer service to cancel the card and while we were going through the process, I remembered that we shouldnt cancel the card because your length of credit history affects your score. This card was about 12 years old, which is a very good age to keep on your credit. Well, it turns out credit card companies dont like to lose customers, so they transferred us to a CSR intent on keeping us as customers. In the end, we kept the card open and had the free credit report Omaha it switched to the Discover® More® Card which offers great rewards benefits. The Discover Card rep offered to lower the credit limit to $1,000, which is the minimum line of credit you can have. This helped lower her available credit limit and should help improve her credit score.

The last time I checked was a couple years ago when I bought my car. My wife hasnt checked hers in about the same amount of time, when she got a mortgage. One of the reasons Ive written about credit scores so the free credit report Omaha often lately is because I knew I needed the free credit report Omaha to check ours, and I was interested in learning about it. Related Articles:

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Ryan is the founder and editor of Cash Money Life.

He is a writer, the free credit report Omaha small business owner, entrepreneur, and professional in the corporate world. He served over 6 years in the USAF and also writes about military money topics at The Military Wallet.