Confused about Credit Score Fluctuations

I've been on the path to improving my credit but I am so confused as to what is the perfect balance to carry on my cards to have the best credit score. Since April I have gone from the 600s (610 - 630) to 704 - 710. I have been playing around with different balances and it seems like I can't find the happy medium. For example, I have 3 credit cards with $9,000 total credit limit. I decided to pay them all off to have a zero balance and that dropped my score by about 11 points... then I had a small balance of $600 on one card, and the score went up 1 point. Then one card had a balance of $40 and the score went up 22 points. It's so hit or miss right now. I'm guessing it's because I've been playing around with 'the system' that it keeps fluctuating. I know that my total usuage should be 20% or less.... so what do I do to keep my credit score consistent. We are getting ready to buy a house and I need it to stay in the 700s. Do I leave a balance at all times or do I have 0 balance at all times or what?? Also, I will have to have zero balances on my cards (showing $0 min payment) when we go to the bank for the house loan for our DTI. Thank you in advance for your recommendations.

tufa4311 wrote:
Revelate wrote: If there's a balance on the card, even $2, it gets counted as the minimum payment which is reported. Basically flatline credit cards get ignored under the current DTI calculation at any rate for a mortgage process.Expand on this if you would. I'll be doing the mortgage thing at some point so it is good knowledge to have. Let's say a balance is left on one card thus it is not ignored on the DTI calculation. What is potential ramification of that? A high interest rate on one's mortgage? If not, then what, how can this hurt financially? Also, are we taking into account the high likelihood that his credit score will go down due to 0% UTIL? Could this put him in a lower bracket so as to get a higher interest rate on his mortgage? Does one offset the costs of the other?Mortgage interest rate is determined on a couple of things but DTI ain't one of them:FICO scoreLTV/CLTV (read as: size of downpayment vs. purchase price)Points if you buy them or lender credits towards closing costsOutside of that though there's nothing which impacts the rate sheet beyond the base rate that a lender is offering on a given product. Since I wasn't in the gold plated strata, and what tier I would land in actually mattered as a result, I went for FICO optimization and left a small balance on one credit card. Frankly I'd argue everyone should do this from an optimization pre-mortgage. DTI comes into play though whether you can qualify for the mortgage size; essentially what the OP is running into is the sum of all his debts (monthly payments) and the expected mortgage + insurance + taxes divided by his gross monthly income is going over the 43% backend ratio that many lenders have, and as such he can't qualify for the loan without dumping some of his debts. Credit cards, if there's a balance on them, the minimum payment drops straight into the monthly payment debt, and therefore can affect DTI. Any revolving tradeline which reports $0, does not. That all said, if we're talking a $20 difference on whether you can meet the maximum DTI line, non-zero chance the mortgage is too expense for current income. You need to optimize both score for rate purposes, and DTI if needed for mortgage qualifilcation at all, and the 0% utilization is a negative from a scoring perspective, and that can materially impact your rate. In my case I was at a 722, if I'd had all 0's and dropped down into the 700-719 tier, that would've increased my rate by around .250%

Similar Messages

Who do the majority of you use to monitor your 3 credit scores? I am talking about a real FICO score

I am so confused about all of the monitoring services out there, I feel like all of it is a scam. Experian uses a different score than anyone else, Equifax and Transunion use a different scoring system. i was going to go with MYfico howvever online reviews of this company being hard to cancel , locking you into a nonrefundale contract etc; I have no idea who is a legit monitoring service or not. I actually called MyFico and the rep said there were never any specials and that the price is a solid $29.99 per month on a CC. Who do you guys use to monitor your credit and why? Thanks

I'm currently using myFICO and creditchecktotal, but will probably be dropping my subscription to myFICO and just buying reports here periodically. MyFico has the advantage of providing a wide range of different scores(the specialty ones for mortgage, auto, etc...) *when you pull a full report*(they're not updated when changes are detected) as well as just your general FICO 8 score(which is updated when changes are detected). Also their monitoring/alerts covers all 3 bureaus where CCT's monitoring/alerts only covers Experian(although you can pull the other two a few times a month at no extra cost, it just isn't going to check them automatically and send alerts for them). CCT has the advantage of a cleaner interface and cleaner report printouts(IMO they're cleaner and look much nicer, but I'm sure someone out there might prefer myFico's). They're also half the cost if you use the previous mentioned suggestion of signing up for the trial and then use the automated system to cancel and take them up on the offer it will give you.

Confusion About Utilization Rate

Hey Guys, I am completely new to credit, as I am a college student. I am trying to build a strong credit score, so I want to make sure I take all the right steps. As of right now I only have one credit card. I got approved for Capital One Journey, with a credit limit of $300. I have a few questions as to how I should go about spending and paying for this card. I was originally planning on spending a large portion of the $300, then paying off my whole balance by the due date. But I am reading that I should not spend more than 9% of my credit limit, to keep my utilization rate <9%. Is this true? So, essentially, I cannot spend more than $27? With such a small credit limit, this seems like a ridiculous amount to which to limit myself, so I am wondering if I am understanding the utilization rate correctly. Or does <9% utilization rate imply I should carry a balance of less than $27 and not pay off the balance in full each month? Aren't you supposed to never carry a balance (especailly with such high student credit card APR rates)? I am confused..help! Thank you so much!

Thomas_Thumb wrote:
takeshi74Valued Contributor wrote: I'd be careful with that advice. Utilization isn't just a scoring factor but a risk factor as well. 80% is very high regardless of the state of credit one is in. Short term high utilization generally isn't an issue but prolonged high utilization can get one into trouble. Let me clarify my statement. I don't mean to encourage persistent high spending as it is not necessary to demonstrate ability to handle credit. My thought was more along the line as follows for monthly utilization: 20%, 10%, 50%, 10%, 80%, 0% - then request a CL increase and if asked: "what credit line amount you are looking for?" perhaps say: I would like a CL of $750 but $500 would be enough to ----. If there is only one credit card open to report; a high utilization on a low limit card is not unexpected. If the balance is paid in full every month the credit card company will know this when reviewing payment history. Paying in full by due date demonstrates ability to handle credit to the issuer. Ability to pay a high percentage of an existing CL in full sends a strong signal that you can handle more credit. The "pays as agreed" will show on a credit report regardless of when you PIF. However, the balance reported to the CRA depends on payment timing. I PIF monthly according to statement just because I find it so much easier than some type of timing of payments to show a zero balance at some moment in time. Don't obsess over payment timing to show a zero balance (really it is best to show a non zero balance when you only have one card) - Key is to avoid a late payment and PIF if possible. It is important to use credit to get credit. You are 100% right on that, just letting non-trivial balances report does change your FICO instant-in-time calculation. I would also agree when just starting out there's far more important things than obsessing about revolving utilization, you only are looking to keep a couple of lenders happy at that point and can change up the metrics before you take the step into the second tier. If you're not making an application not much really matters unless someone decides to do an AR and take exception to it (I let my balances fall wherever 90% of the time and even let a new tax lien hang out on my report for several months before getting the paperwork done, just didn't matter as I was credit idle) and once you get a large enough buffer from a limits and tradelines perspective, the calculation becomes trivialized when it comes to revolving utilization metrics; however, a lot of people aren't at that point yet. I might be after my post-mortgage app spree, but I'm not today on 9 lines at 34K in limits with my typical card habits. That said I run as much of my financial life as possible through credit cards and I'd really suggest everyone do the same; don't run up debt you can't simply write a check for (financing large purchases at favorable interest rates not withstanding) but I can't see ever going back to a cash-based existence as being optimal for anyone but as a last resort.

Which is a better idea to improve my credit score

I am trying to rebuild my credit from years of neglect and stupidity as of now I have a 521 through equifax but a 601 through trans union (no idea how the big difference is posible but that's a different matter) most of the reson it's so low is a very poor payment history. I am now on track with all my bills that aren't in either charge off status or collection and only have one 1 more collection to take care of. And one care off( thinking of trying to do a debit consolidation loan for that thoughts?) But 2nd and main question is which is better to pay down a current revolving debt, pay off an installment loan or get a secure cc to increase my available ratio/ usage ? Thoughts please this journey is just beginning

Thank you for your responce and recomendation Below I will itemize my credit report, I just pulled m free anual report. I will also list the current actions that I am curently taking on each account and see what you all recommend. Thank you again Good reports Navy fedral auto loan Balance $8394 open Feb 2013 reports monthly total of three 30 day late payments back in jun, sep, and oct of 2013 since then payed on time Personal credit plan instalment loan balance $324 reports only pays as agreed nothing else no monthly payment history Military star card revolving credit balance $1,456/1,775 Reports as pays as agreed but is listed as potentialy negative due to 3 30 day late payment 3 60 day late payment I am disputing 5 of the late payments because after the 1st one it began paying automaticaly our of my paycheck Chase Card-- This one I am confused about I was an authorized user for a while on someone elses account and it went well but this just has date reported 2008 pays as agrees Les schwab revolving reports as open but no credit limit and last reported 6-2007 DSHS support enforcmenttype: open pays as agrees 2 120 day late report back FEB 2009 and DEC 2008 but they only report every other month Closed acounts several installment accounts that were paid and they closed when they were paid offexcept these Pioneer/mac instalment loan Status Charge Off Balance $5 353 CO since Nov of 14 oct 180dl sep 150 DL aug 120 DL jul 90 DL Jun 60 DL may- Jan 2014 30 DL which isnt correct. USA discounters installment account CO since nov of 2012 late since nov of 2011 but NR from the open of the account in jun 2010 untl the late report in nov 2011 --- This one I am fully disputing I payed this off early and the decided that After I payed it off they were still going to charge me the intrest that would have accumulated on the account if paid as planed despite their contract having no early pay off penelties. Midland creditwas a colection account that I paid of jan 2013 Navy fedral revolving" Balance $5642/ closed for change of intrest rate from 17.99% down to 6% several 30 date late payment last one dec of 14 Collections Stellar recover: random $696 from century link. --Disputing this as not my account as i havent had century link. a medical bill for $43 trying to investigate this one CBE group for $903 for a direct tv bill-- Disputing and trying to validate I had D-tv but cancled it correctly and dont know why this exist Credit managment paid collection in 2-2014 OK so that is my god awful report. A few courses of action that I am curnently look at. Debt conslidation loan at least for the pioner loan and try a PTRto improve my score which If I understand correctly is 521 ( reported from a lender)Also 2 other things Im milling aroundoption A - scrape up $300 some how and get a secure CC and use it for something small everymonth but paying it offoption B - taking that same $300 and pay down the military star card to improve my ratioWhat say you all ?? Thanks and sorry for the horible and long winded post

What was your credit score when you did the shopping cart trick?

Hey everyone! I have removed all but two charge-offs and am paying monthly payments on one of those(Springleaf). My credit score is still terrible....a whopping 505....but, by removing 4 charge-offs it brought it up 36 points. It was 469. Gotta start somewhere. Lol. I have been reading about the shopping cart trick and wanted to ask y'all what was your credit score at when you succeeded? I have two judgments that I will file a Motion to Vacate this fall when I have them paid in full. Thank you very much. :-)

Tietza wrote:
Hey, SandiBeach22! I looked at your siggy and I am only seeing.... TOTAL CREDIT LINES: $166,750.00
EQ FICO: 744 (6/2015) I see a little plant which I think means that you are in the 'garden'? Which three did you try and your score is excellent at 744. Mine is barely over 500. Heck, I can't stay in the garden! Just started gettin the SCT to work! Have to many cc's. Maybe 18/19? Got Overstock recently with a 16k limit! I try to check out as a guest. It seems to work better for me. Got the Sportsman Visa the same way. No hp's at all and around 28,250.00 in cl's. Worth a shot or two. Keep trying. It took me about 2 months to get Overstock to work. VS should give you a card. Probably a few more too. Scores not excellent. Not until it's over 800.

My credit Score is 2 - 0 negs - 0 transactions - 0 bankruptcies

10 years ago, I had a student loan in default, and a debt with the IRS.I paid these off in 2011. I don't borrow money, have no debt, no cc's, no bankrupcies. I just ran my credit score for the first time ever. euiqifax = 2 transunion = 2 experian = 698They all show 0 debt, 0 transactions, 0 negatives, 0 banrupcies (this is all basically true, except paying off old debts) None of the reports have information about my IRS debt or the student loan. However, only Experian has a relatively current addresss listed, whereas the other two agencies have 10+ year old address' listed. I sent all three agencies a letter to undate my address, and remove a public record ($600 from 2006). Is there anything I can do to improve my score? or is my domancy with inaccurate addresses starting me at a 2 with 2 agencies? I need a loan for the first time in 20 years. Thanks

First you need to open up three lines of credit to maximize your scores. Ideally two and then the third one later on. You have to begin some where. Even though you may not use the credit cards atleast it will give you the score boost you need. Good Luck

A student trying to optimize their credit score

Hello, I am a 26 year old student with a credit score of 700 that hasn't really been increasing (or decreasing) over the past year. The only form of credit I currently have is a discover it credit card. I will soon be taking out about $10k in direct subsidized student loans as well. Besides that, I have a checking account with chase and discover. I don't have an income, but will be living off of student loans and grants for the next couple of years, and would prefer to be building credit with a CC during that time rather than paying by debit card. Currently, on my discover card, I keep my utilization below 10% but above 0%, and make sure to pay on time. I don't really know what else I can do besides that, and I would like to raise my score, at least to the 750 range. I can't take out home or auto loans because I don't have an income (and don't need either home nor auto). The only other things I can think of doing are opening another CC or taking out a small personal loan and paying it back vigilantly. Does anybody have some advice on where I can go from here? I would really appreciate it. Thank you!

I agree with Axe. If you can let us know when you opened your Discover card, that would be helpful for us to know in order to give you advice. Axe gave you some other good advice. Acquiring two more credit cards in the next year is a good idea too, as Gdale said. With three CCs and the occasional installment loan (you will be starting a student loan soon) you can achieve VERY high scores. That's all I had for a long time and my scores climbed into the 820s. You gave us an essential piece of information which is that you are NOT trying to prepare to buy a house (or even a car) for a while. Those purchases sound very low on your own emotional radar too -- at least for the next 4-5 years. Following up on that, can you tell us what you think your own credit-related goals are? Here are two different goals as an example, but you might have others: (1) I'd love to get my scores higher so that I can get more and more credit cards. My goals is to eventually have ten (or more) credit cards, with a number of them being really prestigious rewards cards of different kinds -- the kind you need high scores to get. (2) I'd love to get my scores higher since down the road I will eventually want to buy a house. Credit cards are great but I don't need more than a few. Getting more CC's is fine but only as a tactic if it helps me achieve the goal of raising my score. These are two very common goals people will often have here. As I said, you might have other goals, such as "I want 10 prestige cards and to buy a house in the next 12 months." (Arguably an unrealistic goal, but it helps to know if that IS your goal.) The reason to get clear about your goals is that the advice you get should differ depending on which goal you have. Final note: your 700 score is a good one. Great job, great place to be starting. With that starting place and your attention to careful credit maintenance, you should have a bright future ahead of you. Can you confirm for us that the 700 score you have is a true FICO score? I assume that it is the free score you are getting through your Discover card?

How will helping my parents affect my credit score?

Hi credit experts! First of all, thank you for taking the time to read my post. It means a lot. Here is my situation: My father is retiring at the end of August and my parents are planning to move up closer to me (about three hours away from where they're currently located). They already sold their house, and their closing date is 8/13. We approached a realtor to start looking for a house by me, but wanted to get pre-approved first. I had recommended an FHA loan to them because of their poor credit score (on credit karma my father has 585 and 593 and my moms is 638 and 601). The mortgage broker said that wouldn't be a problem due to their high down payment ($120,000), but they would need to have income in their new location coming in before they get pre-approved for the mortgage. As I mentioned previously, my dad retires at the end of August and will be receiving social security and his pension, however that will not be coming in until at least November. My mom is going to work up until she moves, and then get a job once she gets up to her new home. Therefore, they have no "current" income to report to be approved for their mortgage (because they need to be out by the end of September and my dad's first check won't come until November and my mom needs 30 days minimum of paystubs and even if she gets a job tomorrow, she will not have enough time before they need to move out). I talked to the realtor and she put me in touch with another mortgage broker who offered us the following option: - Purchase the home under MY name (fairly good credit, score of 750), and use their $120,000 as a down payment "gifted" to me. Then, when they move up here and my mom starts working and my dad gets his social security checks, have them re-finance the house and put it back in only their names. My question to you all is - how will this affect MY credit? Assuming they make all their payments on time (which they will). My main concern is that my fiance and I are planning on buying a home of our own within the next 2 years. I am worried this will affect my ability to get a mortgage for myself when the time comes. I would love to help out my parents, but I need to make sure it isn't going to ruin my future first. My main concern is taking care of my credit so that I'm NOT in the boat that they are in now. Any insight would be fabulous! The mortgage broker who suggested it to me said it won't affect my credit at all, but I want to get a couple other opinions before I committ. Thank you again!

I would not do what you are proposing - or more accurately what the mortgage broker and Realtor are proposing. What is the price range your parents are planning for their next purchase? Have you found a house or are you just researching at the moment? This is July 2015. Your parents will have income as soon as they move and your Mother gets a job and your Father's SS starts coming in Nov 2015.You are really only talking about 5 or 6 months gap here. A short term rental is a terrific way to fill the gap. There are a number of ways to handle this without involving you and your credit. If the LTV is low enough with the $120k down payment, your parents can get a bank statement type loan.They can rent a place for six months or so beginning now until your Mother's job starts and your Father's SS starts and then purchase. This gives your parents ample time to settle in the area, scout for a new home and get the right place.Or, if you have found a place, consider offering the seller an installment type purchase. $X down (not the $120k, a much small amount) $Y in rent/monthly payments and a close date in Dec 2015. There are sellers that will do that, but certainly it limits the inventory.There are risks involved from a tax POV if your parents gift you the $120k this year. Talk with a CPA. It is not wise for either of you to do this large gift - it is over the allowed annual limit and there is a gift tax. Get professional tax advice from a CPA so you have the most accurate info.

Credit Score Drop & Credit Limit Increase.

This morning I had 7 points drop from my credit score. This past month I decided to pay off a 10 year student loan early thinking it would help my credit score. I know it has helped my financial situation but has given my credit score a hit. I am thinking I got the hit because I closed the account out which significantly lowered my AAOA. I have a auto loan that I am currently paying off and the loan ends in about 2 years. Ive been going back and forth about paying off this also, but since I got the hit I just decided not to and just wait the 2 years. In my report I have 1 missed payment waiting to fall off next month, and after that I am pretty set. I have been also itching for another credit card. At the moment I only have one card which is my Barclaycard. What are your thoughts on opening up another one? I know it'll drop my score but I am thinking that I need to replace my loan with something beneficial such as another credit card. I am just not sure if that is a good thing. This morning I checked my Barclaycard statement and realized that they increased my credit limit. I started off with $1000 and they gave me a credit limit of $3500. So my question is how will this affect my credit score? I am on the road of rebuilding my credit. I started this road in the low 500's and within a few months I was able to get my score up to the low 700's with the help of this forum and advice. I would hate to see myself go backwards again. Any advice would be great.

hazeboo wrote:
This morning I had 7 points drop from my credit score. This past month I decided to pay off a 10 year student loan early thinking it would help my credit score. I know it has helped my financial situation but has given my credit score a hit. I am thinking I got the hit because I closed the account out which significantly lowered my AAOA. I have a auto loan that I am currently paying off and the loan ends in about 2 years. Ive been going back and forth about paying off this also, but since I got the hit I just decided not to and just wait the 2 years. In my report I have 1 missed payment waiting to fall off next month, and after that I am pretty set. I have been also itching for another credit card. At the moment I only have one card which is my Barclaycard. What are your thoughts on opening up another one? I know it'll drop my score but I am thinking that I need to replace my loan with something beneficial such as another credit card. I am just not sure if that is a good thing. This morning I checked my Barclaycard statement and realized that they increased my credit limit. I started off with $1000 and they gave me a credit limit of $3500. So my question is how will this affect my credit score? I am on the road of rebuilding my credit. I started this road in the low 500's and within a few months I was able to get my score up to the low 700's with the help of this forum and advice. I would hate to see myself go backwards again. Any advice would be great. Your AAOA doesnt get affected, it will still count towards your AAOA for 10 yrs from the time of closing.The credit line increase will not hurt your credit scores. If youre going to apply for another CC, i would wait until your CR repoets $0 balance/account closeed/paid as agreed. If you're score went down for paying the school loan off, it should go back up soon...doesnt make sense. When i got my two auto increases with Barclay, they HP me...maybe it changed but i would check and make sure they didnt do that. If they did, i would dispute that you didnt give them permission for auto HP increase. Worked with my wife. Anyonre?

Confused about the 'cpu fsb clock frequency' setting, etc., in cell in bios

just got a new k8n neo2-f nforce3 board with an a64 3500+ venice chip. It is properly recognized in the bios and windows as an a64 3500+ at 2.2ghz, but I'm confused about the cell menu settings in the bios. I see a 'cpu fsb clock frequency' which was automatically set at 200mhz, but the fsb runs at 1Ghz (1000mhz), so what is the 'fsb clock frequency' if not equal to the cpu fsb? Is 200 the correct setting for that? Should I need to change any of the other settings in here? I wonder, because my 3dmark03 score only went up 200 points from the same system with a AthlonXP 2500+ chip and kt4avl mobo, which seems like a low increase to me.....

I would set that to Manual in BIOS, so that you can incremently increase the CPU speed without causing a sudden crash. Each system is different and operates within the specs of not only the CPU, but system memory and PCI-E add-ins as well. Your video card is the primary driver behgind your 3DMark scores...but you haven't listed that?!

Late Mortgage payment October 2013, will my credit score increase after October 2015?

I have a few late payments in a row on my current mortgage, the last one being on October of 2013. From what I hear, lenders are mostly concerned about the past two years. Now, after October 2015 will my actual credit score increase because of that??

mikelonggggggggg wrote:
so most likely 0 points?That's would I would expect. Anything more than that would be a blessing. The late payments are still on your reports and still weigh down your score... although the impact lessens over time... it doesn't vanish.

Printable iTunes & still confused about cd artwork

Hiya,
Is there a way to have iTunes print out all of the info for the cds I have in it? Mainly artist and album title. It'd save filing them into something like Excel for my records.
Also, I'm still confused about the artwork iTunes plugs in for my cds. Either it doesn't have the artwork or its wrong. I know I can delete it, but replacing it is what I can't figure out. I was told to drag and drop it into the artwork viewer, but drag and drop it from where? The iTunes music store? My own file (which I tried and it doesn't work)? I tried opening two windows of iTunes to try the drag/drop, but that doesn't work either.
One last thing, I don't like the new back-up feature of burning cds of my catalog, instead I copy the entire thing onto an external hard drive. Is there an easier way to do this? I know I have to save all of the iTunes info so that my playlists still show up, but when all I mainly need to do is save any new music & playlists I find it takes so long because I have to end up re-saving everything (and at over 11k songs, that takes a while). Any suggestions to help speed up the process?
Always grateful,
Tony Adams

The iTunes method isn't obsolete for everybody, but it's something you don't need to worry about unless you were already using it or you want to exchange data belonging to apps that do not (yet) support iCloud.
Being able to flag one of your own responses as helpful or as a solution may seem strange, but it has a possible useful application. If you found a clue or an answer in another venue and returned here to report it, you could flag your report as helpful or a solution to give credit to the other venue or the person who entered it there. You aren't supposed to be able to give yourself points, though.

I am confused about something. How do I read a book on my MacBook Pro? I can't find the iBook app anywhere, which is what I use on my iPad. The book I want to read is in my iTunes but I can't click on it. My iBook library does not show up in iTunes.

I am confused about something. How do I read a book on my MacBook Pro? I can't find the iBook app anywhere, which is what I use on my iPad. The book I want to read is in my iTunes but I can't click on it. Some of my iBooks show up in my iTunes but they are "grayed" out. The only books that respond in iTunes are audiobooks and that's not what I'm looking for. Is this a stupid question?

Nevermind - I answered my own question, which is I CAN"T READ ANY BOOKS I purchased in iBooks on my MacBook Pro. If I want to read on my mac I have to use Kindle or Nook. Which means any book I've already purchased through iBooks has to be read on my iPad. Kind of a drag because there are times when it's more convenient for me to read while I'm sitting with my Mac.

My itouch will not let me download apps or music, it says something about credit, but the app im trying to download is free?

My itouch will not let me download apps or music, it says something about credit, but the app im trying to download is free?

Hi drathbun6,
If you are having issues connecting to the iTunes Store, you may find the troubleshooting steps outlined in the following article helpful:
Can't connect to the iTunes Store
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1368
Regards,
- Brenden

BT Mobile - Problem with Erroneous Credit Score an...

I have been a BT Customer for 35 years and have always paid my bills on time. I have a monthly direct debit for my landline and Broadband and have just added BT Mobile to my account. I have to say that I should have paid more attention when setting up BT Mobile online as it did flag through the process that there would be a cap of £50 spend outside the monthly plan and that roaming would be turned off. On receipt of the confirmation email on 2nd April this limit to my account was restated and was put down to my credit score. I called BT on the 2nd and was told that this was not a problem and the limits could be changed once the service had started. The service commenced on 8th April and on entering MYBT I am able to increase the monthly cap to £100 (not that i want or need to). However, the real issue I have is that I cannot activate Mobile Roaming. My account is flagged (Sorry, but you can’t use your phone abroad at the moment. You need to be a BT Mobile customer for six months first and have paid all your bills on time).
I rang BT on 10th April to find out what the problem is and was told that it was my credit score and there was nothing that could be done to change what had been done. I was told that I would need to find out for myself what adverse information was held by Equifax who BT use. After paying £14.95 to Equifax for a full report and credit score I found that my credit score is 527 which is deemed to be excellent against the UK average score of 380, and there is absolutely no adverse information whatsoever which is of no surprise to me. So what on earth are BT looking at. I have tried in vein to get somebody in BT to check my file as there must be an error. I suspect that when I applied on line the process is automated and the system has made a mistake. Rather than investigate my case I am just being told nothing can be done to let me use my phone whilst abroad. After several hours on the phone to various people over a few days I have come up against a brick wall.
Is there anyway a moderator could help me please. If I had known that I would encounter this I would not have signed up for BT Mobile and Ported my number which I would be loathe to loose.

it may well be nothing to do with your credit score, but more to do with bt internals
ie: I purchased a new second hand car last year (December), my bank who i have been with for over 10 years, have a current loan with (that ends this year) and have had previous loan with, never been overdrawn, wages paid in each month and bills paid on time said I could not have a loan and if they did offer one it would be at a very high interest rate (i am still waiting to fine out from them why), even though I got a loan through another company at a very good deal, I upgraded my 3 accounts with EE from T-Mobile in December and January which all required a new credit check went through without issues (and they offered me another line on my contract on Sunday, saying that my credit rating is perfect) . My credit rating from experian when I checked (because of my bank) was Green and in Excellent condition.
The only thing I know was 11 years ago I got in financial debt (the bank purchased the debt from another company, but I paid everything off by scrimping and scraping for a number of years) - it may be that they are still using against me, but every other company has said they find nothing wrong with my rating, but what I have heard is that they reset ratings every month, so you may be fine to get something on the 1st of the month, but if applied on the 2nd they would refuse it.

Confused about Credit Score Fluctuations

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