Personal blog on early retirement, selling tradelines, and analytics projects. I write about what I learn as I am learning it.
If you’ve seen this listed as a reason your credit score isn’t higher, you’re looking at the age side of your credit profile. The scoring model is saying: your revolving accounts — credit cards, lines of credit — haven’t been open long enough to carry much weight. The fix sounds simple, but there are a few things worth understanding about how account age actually works before you act.
Continue reading “Length of time revolving accounts have been established”
Buyers ask me about collections more than almost any other topic. Usually it goes something like this: they’ve got a collection on their report, they want to buy a tradeline to boost their score, and they want to know if it’ll work. The honest answer starts with understanding what a collection actually does to a report — and yes, collection agencies do report to credit bureaus. That’s the short answer. The longer one matters more.
Continue reading “Do Collection Agencies Report to Credit Bureaus?”
The short answer is no — Credit Strong doesn’t hand you money. If you’re searching “does credit strong give you a loan” hoping to cover an expense, you need to look elsewhere. But if you’re trying to build credit history and you just want to understand what Credit Strong actually does, the longer answer is worth reading. Related: do joint credit cards build credit — worth reading if this applies to you.
Divorce doesn’t show up on a credit report. There’s no field for “marital status,” no divorce flag that dinges your score. But the financial fallout from a divorce absolutely can damage your credit — and for some people it does serious, lasting harm. The question “does divorce affect your credit” has a technically-no-but-practically-yes answer, and the difference matters.
People ask me this all the time, usually a few days after doing something responsible — paying off a balance, disputing an error — and then checking their score to see… nothing. “Why is my credit score not updating?” is one of those questions that sounds simple but has a surprisingly layered answer.
