High Balance

[rocko]

I am helping my son with his credit report. He opened a secure credit card with Bank of America for $300. Experian is reporting a high balance of $325 but he has never charged more than $150 on his card and he pays the full amount monthly.His score dropped 25 points today 595-570.Nothing else has changed unless it has something to do with any disputes he's made.

Anyone know how this is happening?

Thanks Rocko

[valorman]

I am helping my son with his credit report. He opened a secure credit card with Bank of America for $300. Experian is reporting a high balance of $325 but he has never charged more than $150 on his card and he pays the full amount monthly.His score dropped 25 points today 595-570.Nothing else has changed unless it has something to do with any disputes he's made.

Anyone know how this is happening?

Thanks Rocko

You should call the credit card company and tell them to update this immediately,because they are the one reporting these numbers.yes it does effect the credit score if your balance is more then your credit limit.

[rocko]

What BofA might be doing is adding what he owes but isn't do yet to what the charges are after his cut off date.I will try to get this fixed.

Also he was going to add another $300 to bring his credit limit to $600 so he would have more of a cushion.If he ups the limit to $600 will that fix the problem? His limit will only be about 50 percent then if his high limit is $325

Thanks Rocko

[cavazos007]

What it seems like to me, is that BOA has not updated his credit reports, push them and tell them to update immediatly. They are suppose to update every 30 days, not every CC company does. Call the credit department and have them fix the problem.

[Denita]

Also, the utilization of the credit limit is about 35% of the score. For the best scores you want your utilization to be very low, in the range of 10% to no more than 30% of the credit limit. I know that does not make sense, but that is a large part of the scoring model. If he learns right from the beginning that although he has a limit of say $600 (after he increases his dep with BOA for the higher limit) - he really has to keep his use well under $200 and then pay it off monthly, he will have a good foundation for building good credit. (I learned this one the hard way.)

[isislc]

What BofA might be doing is adding what he owes but isn't do yet to what the charges are after his cut off date.I will try to get this fixed.

Also he was going to add another $300 to bring his credit limit to $600 so he would have more of a cushion.If he ups the limit to $600 will that fix the problem? His limit will only be about 50 percent then if his high limit is $325

Thanks Rocko

Yes it will, by upping the high limit it will reflect an amount that has not surpassed the amount of the TL.