     Lynn Whealer | Monday, January 31, 2000 - 07:43 am 
Between the credit bureaus and the creditors, it seems to be a NEVER-ending game of "screw-the-consumer".
During a routine checkup of my reports, I notice yet ANOTHER thing. Citibank, with whom I have a MC and a Visa, is NOT reporting a credit limit or a "high balance" to any of the CRA's. In talking with CB, they say they JUST DON'T REPORT that information as a matter of policy!! (funny, a year ago they WERE reporting the limits). As has been discussed on the board many times before, one of the most important FICO attributes is percentage of credit line used. Let's see...if my balnace is $2,000 and CB is reporting my credit limit as $0, then I am using, let's see, 2,000 divided by 0, which is...INFINITY! I guess that works to MY favor when FICO scores are generated...yeah, right. Now it is easy to see what is going on, and I just KNOWWWWW that the computer programs are set up to see this and make adjustments. BULLSH*T! There is no doubt that if there is a problem, it is always going to go against the consumer (just like Christine says so often-just any way they can find to explain higher intererst rates). |
| Don | Monday, January 31, 2000 - 07:54 am
I've already come across this problem. It even gets worse. When I called Citibank customer service, they told me that they do report it. The problem is that when you dispute it, it goes to the credit bureau disputes department, who did verify it as a zero limit. And you cannot get the right hand to talk to the left hand. I surrendered on this one. After I get the Citibank paid off, I will close it as a matter of principle. The saddest part of it is, at the bottom of my last report (Experian, a couple of weeks ago), under use of credit, it does have the limit stated there. I haven't tried to make Experian see where they themselves are reporting it differently yet.
Good luck with this one. |
| Lynn Whealer | Monday, January 31, 2000 - 08:56 am
You're right, Don...the credit limits ALSO shows on my "Use of Credit" section. It is is just absolutely incredible how totally screwed up all this stuff gets! But isn't it funny how all the screw-ups work in favor of the lenders so that they can charge various fees and nail you for more interest? I, too, will get rid of the CB cards. |
| Sean | Monday, January 31, 2000 - 10:33 am
It's a big, big deal and I'm glad that you guys are sufficiently awake and aware to realize that.
I have never had any personal experience with this, but have you guys tried making a photocopy of your account statement when the bill comes and forwarding this to the credit repositories? If it says your credit limit right on there that might be enough to get your profile updated. |
| Don | Wednesday, February 02, 2000 - 06:41 am
The problem is two-fold. First) The Citibank customer service department tells me that they do report this info (but can I believe them?)yet they Citibank department that handles credit bureau disputes sends the fax back as verified (but I cannot get their phone number to call them or get customer service to call them.) Second) Experian (Equifax and TU were ok)reports the same info differently in 2 different places. The second problem is the worst one. It appears that the defination of 'investigating' a dispute to Experian means 'send a fax' not use common sense or their own judgement. I need summon up the mental energy to go round two with them on this. I haven't reached that yet, but will not just let this die either. |
