Figured some of you might find this interesting.

I am a long standing card holder with Discover, which is now Capital One.
Discover was my first credit card. Got it at 17 with a whopping $500 limit and I’ve had the account ever since — 13+ years now. Last year I had a major medical situation that completely screwed up my finances. I burned through my savings trying to keep everything paid and basically do what you’re told you’re supposed to do. Eventually I realized I needed help, so I called Discover myself and asked about hardship options. They actually helped!!Capital One continued it after buying Discover and my rate is currently 5.99%. Meanwhile I have around $100k in revolving debt with other banks at much higher rates.

So I had a thought:

The debt already exists. Capital One is currently earning nothing from it. Why not ask them to take it? My credit score is not great because of utilizations, but I have never missed a payment or been late. I figured let’s just try.

I found Richard Fairbank’s corporate email and sent him a letter.

The gist of my request was this: expand my existing Discover line enough to transfer some/all of the other debt, give me the same 5.99%, and I’ll move the balances over and focus on paying the whole thing down.
I wasn’t asking for $100k to go shopping. I even said I’d be fine with them locking down new spending, transferring the money directly to the other creditors, doing it in stages, asking for documentation, whatever.
I also told them pretty plainly that if they helped me do this, they’d have me as a customer across their products for a very long time. Didn’t really expect anything to happen.

But somebody from Capital One actually called me.
And told me…

My account currently has no balance transfer offers.
Lol. 😂 ☠️

I explained that I understood that. That was kind of the entire reason I emailed the CEO instead of clicking the balance transfer button.

So, hmph. I knew asking them to take on anywhere near $100k at 5.99% was a huge long shot. I’m not offended that they didn’t do it. But the whole thing did leave me wondering about something: When things went sideways, I burned through my own money first. I called my creditors before simply stopping payments. I told them exactly what was happening. I’ve tried to find ways to restructure the debt that still involve me paying what I owe. And yet sometimes it feels like doing all of that leaves you with fewer options than waiting until everything is completely on fire. Maybe that’s just how credit risk works. Maybe I’m missing something obvious.

But it does beg the question:
Does doing the honest/proactive thing with creditors actually help you?

Would especially be interested to hear from anyone who’s worked on the banking/underwriting side.

Can’t say I didn’t try lol.

TLDR; I emailed the CEO of Capital One a proposal to help me restructure debt, they responded by calling me and telling me I had no eligible offers or options to increase my credit line.

So, basically you guys helped me get my family into our first home. From 480-500 all the way to 740 in just under 3 years. The day we closed and got the keys, we just HAD to apply for a card and utilize the score LOL.

Thanks for all the tips. You guys rock

I noticed today that my Credit Karma app is showing these vehicles which I have never owned as suggestions for getting car insurance rates. When I go to remove them and update the list, it says I need to add a car. Which I don’t want to do. Is this some kind of glitch or is this indicative that someone is using my information? My credit is currently frozen with all three bureaus and has been for years. Thanks in advance

Has anyone had this happen? I'm absolutely upset! I approved the offer then this happens hard pull on my credit report and I called customer service they said I'd get mail 5-7 days for options to fund my account like whatis this normal!?

My goal is by this time next year to have a 700 score I have a long way and yes I have a credit card with navy federal mixed with kik off and opensky credit card I literally couldn't get approved for credit one, capital one or discover. I get anxiety if I see a balance due on my credit cards now. Any tips and things that might make it quicker to boost my score to at least 660 before a year? My score was way low a few months ago I'm talking sub 400’s.

Hi. I have 3 credit cards totalling around $9,000 in debt. I am trying to do the snowball method with them, but it's just not working. I have one through DCU, one through CFNA (highest amount, interest and late fee accruing every month), and one small balance through Wells Fargo. My credit is bad because I lost my job earlier in the year and had to stop paying the creditors. I have no idea what to do, but I have to do something, because I got an email from CFNA the other day saying I have 2 weeks to pay the minimum (do not have the minimum to pay) or they will use more serious action to get payment. Can you guys point me in the right direction to get help? I want to pay off the debt, and rebuild my credit. I am 33. I make $33,000 gross and $27,000 take home. I use credit karma to track my credit score. Thank you in advance!

ETA: I can not move in with my parents or inlaws. My fiance works and helps where and when he can.

I have a score of 728, and about 4 years of credit history. Suddenly my score has disappeared and showed up as “unscorable”. It is damn near impossible to reach a human being at Experian and it’s driving me nuts. Like what does this company do other than try to sell you credit cards you don’t want.

Anyways, any tips on why my score is suddenly “unscorable” despite no recent changes to my credit?

I called to see if I could pay to delete but the rep denied. They said they don't do pay to delete. They gave me the option to pay in full or make a payment plan. They did mention I could go online and speak with the AI rep and get in writing that once the account was fully paid they would do a "courtesy removal".

I also asked if I could pay less and they also denied.

But then this happened.... the rep accidentally sent an email while we were on the phone, in their words "oops, I accidentally pressed the incorrect option. Ill send another email regarding your balance" .

Any advice on how to go about this. Ive been stuck in the 610-620 range and want to bring it up.

Hi guys, so I was trying to request a credit report from Equifax on annualcreditreport.com but they kept saying something went wrong and then I switched from safari to Google Chrome and it told me the same thing except in Chrome they asked me a few security questions (I guess?) before showing me the same page that says something went wrong? I did call whatever number they provided me and they ( it was a robot the entire call btw ) said they would mail the credit report to me but I'm not at the address right now and I just want an electronic copy of the report saved on my mac so it's easier to access. Does anyone know what I should do ? ( Experian and TransUnion did not give me these troubles )

( the same thing happened to me a few months ago btw )

Thanks!

hi i’m 18 and i just got my id and social like 2-3 months ago and i unfortunately lost them today on public transport and i was just wondered how much at risk i am of credit fraud? i haven’t opened up a bank account yet or anything, just get a job and i wanna know how scared i should be and also what i should do about it besides get replacements

I am in debt repayment mode, and had a few ACH's come in today, and made a pretty large debt payment toward a particular card (Discover / now Capital One). I noticed that the closing date for that card is tomorrow. I'm guessing that the "posting date" (i.e. when the funds technically leave my checking account) will technically be tomorrow, so I'm wondering if the payment will make it in time to reflect on the various credit scoring models?

Overall, I know one month doesn't matter, and that the most important thing is that I'm paying down this interest-bearing debt, but it would still be nice to see the progress.

Hello everyone,

How can I protect my children from credit or identity fraud? Is freezing their credit even though they are like 4 a good idea? Making accounts for them on credit bureaus? ​

I have a collections reporting with sunrise credit services on behalf of AT&T/Uverse. AT&T is not reporting its own account. I tried to negotiate a pay for delete and got denied at what I believe is the lowest level. What would happen if I just pay the account in full? End goal is I want it off my credit report

Tried logging in on the app for TransUnion and i always use the pin code , for some reason today i was fully logged out and wasnt given the choice to put in the pin code on the app. Tried to log in and just kept getting errors . Anyone else experiencing this?

I am not sure if this is hard to get or not

Score was 690 at three credit bureaus

But I have 3 Secured Credit cards all three combined total credit lines is $1200

I lowered my utility and my score jumped 690
I decided to apply for Amex Gold got approved
I waited for amex to be added to my record and applied for chase and got approved with $5k.

Super happy, I guess I have two good cards wouldn’t ask for more.

I’ve never had installment credit before and currently only have 4 credit cards. I’m hoping to buy a house in 1–2 years and have heard that having installment credit can help your credit history/score.

I recently got a small car loan only because it allowed me to get a $2,500 rebate. The rebate isn’t directly tied to keeping the loan open, so I won’t lose it if I pay the loan off early.

There’s a $75 prepayment penalty if I pay it off before 6 months.

Would it make sense to keep the loan open for 6+ months to establish installment credit before paying it off? Or would it be better to just pay it off as soon as possible?

I had been discharged for BK July of last year and I'm rebuilding my credit and I am at 674 on FICO 8 Experian. I know my auto scores are usually lower, so I would not get the best deal right now. My question is if it is worth leasing a car right now and have a mixed credit being reported to the credit agencies. Will it make my credit rebuilt any faster? Or should I wait until my credit gets better with only my credit cards being reported and try to get a better deal at a later time? I am finally trying to be well educated and more responsible when it comes to my finances. TIA!

I checked my Equifax credit report and there is a soft inquiry from Equifax Information Svs and the description is ACIS Automated Consumer Interview System. I’m freaked out because I did not check my report on this date and I haven’t applied for any credit and my report is already frozen. When I google it says ACIS is used for reports, freezes, and disputes. I haven’t done any of these things. Has anyone else seen this on their reports?

This process is painful. I finally almost got to the 700s but an old collection was reinserted from National-grid. It’s $1600 so I would hope I can get it removed based on reinsertion law. If not of course I’ll settle. I paid someone $1000 to help me and I’m tired of begging them to do their job. Everyone says use free annual credit report but it’s very tedious . I’m getting errors from Equifax that I need to call. I’m thinking about re enrolling in identify IQ unless someone can recommend a buffet platform with a similar layout but cheaper? (I want all 3 burueas in the same place so I can easily see derogatory items. Thanks if you respond 🙏

Hello!! So my credit score dropped 30 points last month and im really confused as to why. I am very new to credit cards and stuff so im a bit dumb in this. I never went over the spending limit, missed s payment or maxed out my card(confirmed by my bank) and my credit score still dropped. I looked at my credit report and ngl i feel too stupid to understand. I read smthn abt credit utilization and that it resets. Can someone confirm if this is normal idek im scared

Hi guys, I have a question about being an authorized user under my dad's credit cards, I used to be an authorized user of my dad's credit cards until I got my first credit card and ever since then I was terminated as AU on his cards but does it benefit me in any way if I continue to be an authorized user under his cards even though I have my own credit cards now?

Thanks!

I open the app today and see a surprise “ACCOUNT CHARGED OFF” status on my venture one card. The card isn’t 180 days late on the payment, and when I called they said it’s not in our policy to charge off a card less then 180 days late but couldn’t answer me as to why it was and said he couldn’t reopen it. I demanded to speak to a supervisor and he said he can put in a case for me instead, I am not letting these people ruin my credit.

EDIT: Upon further inspection, it was opened on June 3rd, first statement July 4th, and due date July 27th which I apparently missed. Only 39 days late.

Is this normal???

Hi All,

Wondering if someone’s been through this or has any advice on what we might be able to do.

This morning my spouse received a credit alert from her monitoring agency that her credit score had dropped 120 points. Come to find out, two of her federal loans have been in collections for 3 months.

How’d that happen? Well apparently in December her undergrad institution moved her loan from Heartland ECSI to regular ECSI. ECSI only notified her via physical mail at an address we lived at 6 years ago. This is despite, of course, her only communicating with Heartland ECSI via email and text, as she’d opted into digital alerts through them.

We’re happy to pay the two loans. They’re both very small in the grand scheme of student loans. She’d been on-time paying them for years before this and would have continued to if we knew they changed! We just want the hit on the credit score fixed. We just had our baby and would like to buy a house in the next 7 years, but that default on her credit score won’t exactly help.

We called the federal loan agency that handles collections. We couldnt enter rehabilitation because the loans are so small that we’d be paying them off before 9 months is up due to their income driven repayment requirements.

We called ECSI—no help. They only send physical mail, apparently, so it’s not their fault, even though they had her email and phone number. They’ll only act to remove the “trade line” on our credit score if her undergraduate institution made a mistake on the address.

We called the bursar at her undergrad institution—they don’t know why they sent them our 6 year old address. She graduated more than a decade ago and never updated her address with them. It doesn’t make any sense for them to have had that address. We lived there for a year.

At this point we’re not worried about the money—it’s the credit score. we’ve paid the loans so they no longer accrue $1.50 in interest every day. we’ve filed a CFPB report, and we’ve disputed these trade lines on her credit reports. Tomorrow I’m hopeful the bursar might give us some information about why in the world they provided this address, and maybe, just maybe, they might be willing to contact the dildos at ECSI to say, you know what, yeah, we gave you an incorrect wrong address.

Any advice is very much appreciated. At a total loss right now at the total criminality of this system, which I knew about, but this is a brand new low for these ghouls.

Update:

Just an update here in case anyone is interested:

The undergraduate university is stating they did not have that address on file. They provided an address for her mother, which would have been accurate and fine, as we then would’ve been notified of the transfer. They also stated ECSI should be updating their addresses every month based on USPS forwarding requests. Which also would’ve caught the issue.

I called ECSI with this information and they stated I need to get a letter from the university informing me of their “mistake” which they said I can then take to the credit bureau.

Essentially, ECSI refuses to accept responsibility again and again.