Credit and credit scores...what a joke.

[enyawd72]

This past year buying a house has been a real eye opener into the ridiculously one sided game that is your credit score. They get you coming and going...no matter what you do you're basically screwed.

I had to pay deposits on both my electric and gas. The excuse for the gas was that I was a new customer. So what? That's like a restaurant charging you more the first time you visit. The electric was even more ridiculous. I had to pay $170 to have the electric service transferred to my new address because...get this: Twice in TEN FREAKING YEARS, I paid my electric bill ONE DAY LATE. They had records. The 118 times I paid early or on time didn't matter.

So, I really started keeping track of things, paying extra on certain bills etc. and yesterday I get a notice that my credit score has changed. I check it and see I was docked 7 points. Why? BECAUSE I PAID MY CAR OFF.
I was just disgusted. Since when is paying off a debt bad? I paid EXTRA every month for five years, and for what? So I could take a hit on my credit score because the account closed. So sick of this crap.

Sorry just had to vent.

[Nostalgiabuff]

that's ridiculous. was there an early payoff penalty on the car? that just does not make sense. I try not to pay attention to things like credit score. my bills get paid on time and in full and so there should never be an issue

[enyawd72]

^Paying off a loan is the same as closing an account to them, so they penalize you for it.

[LordMudd]

I agree that should be illegal.
I never had a credit card until I got married 10 years ago, so you would think I would have perfect credit because I have never had any negative hits to it, right? I wish.

I really look forward to the day I can put a negative debt on a collection companies credit report.

CCC.

[MIB41]

The best thing to do to keep your credit score trending north is to put something on your credit card each month, but pay it off in full every month. Do that continuously and take out a card at Home Depot or Lowes and occasionally use it when they have deals for six months same as cash. The electric bill thing is just bullsh*t. That's called a monopolized company taking you to task because they can. Add a competitor and they would likely give you a credit on your first bill plus offer "forgiveness" on occasional late pays. That's just abuse and it shouldn't be legal.

[thunderbolt]

yeah, our score went down a bit after we paid off the house. Seems like you should get an attaboy for doing things right.