Credit Scoring

Dear Liz: Two of my credit card issuers have drastically lowered my credit limits. They blamed my credit report at Equifax. At first, Equifax could not even find my report. I had to send paperwork to verify that I even exist. It turned out that my credit file had some inaccuracies. One of the credit card companies restored the credit limit on one of my cards but kept the lower limit on the other card. I have filed complaints with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and would appreciate any advice as I am confused and upset.

Answer: That’s understandable, and you’re not alone. Problems with credit bureaus topped the CFPB’s list of consumer complaints in 2022.

You did all the right things: getting a copy of your credit report, disputing the errors, following up with the credit card companies and filing a complaint with the CFPB when your credit limits weren’t restored. The CFPB will reach out to companies to help facilitate a resolution.

If that doesn’t work, consider contacting your local congressional representative. These lawmakers typically have constituent services staff that may be able to help.

You should check your credit reports at Experian and TransUnion in case the errors aren’t limited to a single bureau. If the inaccuracies stem from possible identity theft, consider freezing your credit reports at all three bureaus to make it harder for scam artists to open new accounts in your name.

Dear Liz: My 30-year-old son lives in Southeast Asia. He has some U.S. bank accounts but no U.S. credit cards. If I add him to my credit card, will that help to establish credit? Or is there another way for him to start getting credit in the U.S.? At some point, he and his wife will move back to the U.S.

Answer: Adding someone to your credit card as an authorized user can be a great way to help them build credit. Your history with the card is typically added to the other person’s credit reports and used in calculating their credit scores. If you can add him to more than one card, even better. As long as you use the cards responsibly — paying the bills on time, using only a fraction of the available credit — his scores should benefit.

You don’t have to give your son access to the cards for this to work. If you do, keep in mind that authorized users aren’t responsible for paying any charges.

Authorized users typically can be added or removed with a phone call to the issuer. You also can add an authorized user online by logging into your credit card account. But removing them may require you to pick up the phone.

Your son can build credit in other ways, including credit builder loans and secured cards, but those may have to wait until he has a U.S. address.

Dear Liz: My wife and I recently paid off our home mortgage and now have only our two Visa cards, which we pay off in full each month. Depending on our monthly expenses or purchases, those balances rarely exceed a few hundred to possibly as high as a thousand dollars. Each card has a limit of several thousand dollars and would be much higher had we not previously requested lower limits on the accounts.

My credit scores have plummeted from well over 800 to the low 700s. One site that reports credit scores suggested that I open more credit accounts, because lenders supposedly like to see a variety of accounts when assessing creditworthiness.

This makes no sense to me. I have had an excellent credit track record for decades.

I’m concerned that with our current scores we may not qualify for preferred (0%) financing when we make a couple of car purchases in the not-too-distant future. While we could pay for those purchases in cash, my preference would be to take advantage of such a financing option and keep my money in accounts that would continue to increase in value.

Are we stuck with this situation unless we are willing to go into further debt?

Answer: No, but you need to be a little smarter about how you handle your credit.

You didn’t help yourself by asking for lower credit limits. The formulas like to see a big gap between the amount of credit you have and the amount you’re using, even if you pay in full each month. Ideally you would keep your utilization percentage in the single digits.

The closure of your only installment loan likely took a toll on your scores as well. As you were informed, credit scoring formulas favor those who responsibly handle a mix of credit — loans as well as cards. You can have good scores using just credit cards, but you might not achieve the highest possible scores without an installment loan.

Does that mean you won’t get 0% financing when you’re ready to buy a car? Perhaps, but 0% financing is pretty hard to find these days anyway and may not be the deal you think. You typically have to give up manufacturer rebates to get special financing deals and dealerships are often more resistant to negotiating on price. In other words, what you save on interest may be more than offset by a higher price tag for the car. You may find yourself better off using a low-cost auto loan from a credit union or paying cash.

If you do want to finance the cars, start by asking your credit card companies to restore those higher limits. Consider opening another credit card account or two if the first vehicle purchase is six months or more in the future because your credit will need a few months to recover from the temporary ding of the applications.

Another option is to get a small personal loan, which would add an installment loan back to your credit mix. Only you can decide whether paying some interest now is worth the possibility of paying less interest on a future auto loan.