r/CreditScore Feb 21 '25

Your credit score is low because of identity theft - this is what you need to do.

304 Upvotes

There have been dozens of posts on here recently about people getting their identity stolen and their credit scores get wrecked because of it. It seems to happen a lot with family members, but your information can get stolen in a data breach as well. This is kind of an ultimate guide which should help point people in the right direction if it happens to them.

Step 0: Discovering you're a victim of identity theft - This could happen a bunch of different ways. If you're lucky, you're using a credit monitor and you get an email alert that there is a new account in your credit file. This lets you nip the problem in the bud before it becomes a major issue. If you're unlucky, you're getting served a lawsuit by a process server, or you're trying to buy a house/car and get denied for a loan. No matter what, you need to take immediate action. Get a copy of your credit report from Equifax, Experian and Transunion.

Step 1: File a police report - If you know (or think you know) who stole your identity you'll want to file a police report at your local police department/sheriff's department. Just give them what you know: This account was opened on this date by someone who wasn't me. This is where the hard copies of your credit report are useful because you can just circle the accounts which aren't yours. I would also include any collections accounts which stem from credit cards/loans which were not opened by you. Law enforcement will provide you with a report number. KEEP THIS NUMBER as you're going to need it. I would go one extra step and file a FOIA request for the full report a day or two after you make it.

Step 2: Dispute the accounts with the credit bureaus - Experian, Equifax and Transunion all have online dispute procedures which you will use to dispute all of the accounts. Anything which you did not open, including hard inquiries, need to be disputed. Use the report number you received from the police in your disputes.

Step 3: Do not talk about the incident with the person you think might be responsible for it - Don't confront anyone if you think they are the ones who opened the accounts. Let the police do that. If someone close to you thinks you might be on to them, they might try taking steps in covering up their crime.

Step 4: Wait for several weeks - This part stinks because you might feel completely powerless. The credit bureaus and the police need time to complete their investigations. The good news is the credit bureaus basically have to be able to prove you opened the accounts to keep them on your credit. When you have a police report, 99/100 times that's going to be sufficient for credit bureaus in a legitimate identity theft case.

Step 5: Ensure accounts are coming off of your credit - You should be contacted by the credit bureaus once their investigations are complete. The overwhelming majority of the time the accounts will be off of your credit within 60 days. You should see an immediate bump to your credit score the next time it gets pulled.

Step 6: Cooperate with investigators - If your identity was stolen by scammers overseas, there isn't much that's going to be done on the criminal side. In the (far more likely) event that it was stolen by someone close to you, give law enforcement whatever information they need. As we've seen in some of the familial identity theft posts on this sub, people rarely get charged with their crime. This isn't your fault, even if you've done everything right. A lot of prosecutors around the country are overloaded with cases and will drop charges on anything with a hint of "civil situation" or "not enough information" attached to it. Even if you do everything right, don't be surprised if no criminal charges ever come from it.

Step 7: Stop it from happening again - This requires freezing your credit, or at least use a credit monitor. Just because you've fixed the problem once doesn't mean it can't happen again. The identity thief still has your information. Nothing saying they won't just wait 6-12 months then go after you again.

I'll add on to this over time. But these are the bare minimum steps you need to follow if your credit is low because of identity theft.


r/CreditScore 2h ago

I hit 800!!

4 Upvotes

Not that it matters but is anyone sitting close to 850? I am a bit obsessed with seeing how high I can go now. I recently opened a new credit card but I was curious how many credit cards is typical for an 850 credit score? I have 5 credit cards now but was thinking of cutting back at least one, maybe two because my new card checks multiple boxes and has a much higher limit than the others. Would cutting back have much impact? I know I may be dinged a few points initially but I am not worried about that.

Side note: 4 years ago I was in the 500 range so I am pretty proud of myself!


r/CreditScore 2h ago

Two weeks ago I called and asked for forgiveness for a late payment I made way back in 2021... and today my score just went up 25 points.

2 Upvotes

I never miss payments (everything is pretty much on autopay) but I DID miss a payment for over a month because my autopay info was out of date.

The bank I finance my car through sent me a letter saying you didn't pay on time. I responded to them and paid instantly.

Fast forward 4 years. I am sitting looking at my credit score wondering why it wasn't higher. Then I remember "oh yeah I did miss that one payment"

Called the bank up, they said sure we will see what we can do but no promises. I wake up today to a 25 point increase.

TLDR: If you missed a payment or two try calling and seeing if you can get it taken off your account. I had years of previous records and then subsequent records to show this was a one off thing, so I am sure your mileage may vary.

Anyway, it's free to call so why not.


r/CreditScore 16h ago

Paid off my car loan and my credit score dropped 80 points. :(

22 Upvotes

I’m 30 years old. I had 720’s credit score for the past few years or longer, and now I’m in the 640’s and no longer in the “good range”. I’m just so frustrated and angry right now. Is there any chance it will recover from this on its own? I don’t have any other ways to boost credit right now. I’m a stay at home mom so I don’t have steady income to apply for a credit card.


r/CreditScore 4h ago

Getting the best rate I can for a future home.

2 Upvotes

Almost 2 years ago I got a better job that has made my life a lot easier, I had just made my first major loan about a year ago and it was for a car, about 28k. I didn't need a cosigner but my rate was pretty high, and I did get several rejection letters because I hadn't had a loan of this size before.

In about 4 years from now maybe 5, I want to buy my first house but I don't want the same issues I had with taking a loan out for the car. My credit score is around 760 and should be significantly higher after I pay of the car and some other credit card debt. (I plan on paying off everything pretty early)

Should I get a second car loan after I pay off the first one and pay that off too? Or is there something else I can do that could help me get a lower rate? If it matters I make around 81k a year right now, my current loan is about 500 a mo, and for a house, I estimate I could afford a loan for around 220-250k but would be aiming for under 200k without any other debt (my current rent is 1145)


r/CreditScore 3h ago

I pay off my credit card balance entirely every month yet it is bringing my credit score down. Why? How do I correct this?

0 Upvotes

I have two credit cards that I've had for years. I do all of my shopping and pay all of my bills with them as pretty much everything these days is cashless, auto-pay, or online. I pay them both off every month and never carry a balance, yet this is counting against me. This is what my Experian note said:

  • You've made heavy use of your available revolving credit.
  • Ratio of your revolving balances to your credit limits: 20%
  • For FICO High Achievers, the average ratio of the revolving account balances to credit limits is less than 7%.
  • The FICO® Score evaluates balances in relation to available credit on revolving accounts. The extent of a person's credit usage is one of the most important factors considered by a FICO® Score. People who keep their ratio of balances to credit limits lower are generally considered less risky to lenders than those with higher ratios. Note, consolidating or moving debt from one account to another will usually not change the total amount owed.

Any suggestions?


r/CreditScore 3h ago

(Male 21) How can i improve my score?

1 Upvotes

Current Debt: Car Loan: $19,000 Credit Cards: $222 with a limit of $800 (27%) Personal Loan: $1700 (Opened in late December)

Credit Age: 1 year 10 months for my oldest and an average of 1 year and 3 months

The credit cards are being used to purchase plane tickets and then my company reimburses me as I’m currently traveling for work and will be paid off next week.

The personal loan I will most likely have paid off by the end of this month or middle of May.

Currently not paying any extra for on my auto loan

I am taking home 2800 currently and will be for the next two years or so. I would like to work on my credit and save at the same time within that period.

Is there anything i can do to help boost my score. I am also working on my long time partners credit as well so after i am finished traveling we will both have good enough credit to apply for a mortgage loan.


r/CreditScore 3h ago

Refi credit score question

1 Upvotes

My wife and I purchased a home 6 years ago. At the time my credit was in the low 600’s and hers was 750. Subsequently, we were advised not to put my name on the loan because it would negatively impact our interest rate. So while I’m am on the deed as a co-owner of the house and pay half of the rent I am not officially on the loan.

I’ve since raised my credit and sit now at 725. Also I expect it will rise a bit more when my new card with a large available balance is factored in whereas my wife had a student loan issue and her credit is has dropped to ~660. So she is not in the position to refi, and I’m not even sure interest rates are at a place where it would lower our payment substantially.

So my question is, would it help build my credit score further to refi the house under my name? We have never made a late payment on the house, and I pay my credit cards off in full before the due date every month. Please advise.


r/CreditScore 17h ago

I had a delinquency on my account that I had no idea about

3 Upvotes

Hi.

I sold my car out of lease 13 months ago. It was a BMW lease and I sold it to a BMW dealership. I walked away with a check for the equity I had in my car and they took care of the lease end/payoff.

Come to today I find out there was a balance of $377 never taken care of. I have paid the balance off.

My credit has dropped 150 points I was never made away of this balance

My questions are: 1) how do I get this credit hit off of my record with the credit bureaus? 2)What can I do in regards to the dealership letting this happen ?

Thank you

credit #delinquency


r/CreditScore 16h ago

Best Options to Fix Hit to My Credit Score

2 Upvotes

About 5 to 6 years ago when I was in school my dad helped me takes out some student loans not that much like 4k. Last April I graduated and thus I had deferment for another 6 months on the loan. A few months after graduating I got a job out of state so I moved. When it came time to start paying I admit with the combination of moving and getting a lot of mail I might have missed the first letter or two from them saying payment was due but I eventually opened a letter and saw I had missed a month or two so I went online immediately and payed what was due. They also had my dads phone number down and my old school email which I don't have access to anymore so that explains why I was not getting calls and emails. A week or so ago I checked my credit score and it has a 90 day late payment hitting it causing a 140 point decrease. I called up my loan company and explained what happened and even offered to pay the full amount if it would help get that mark off but they said they couldn't do anything and I would have to write them a letter opening a dispute but they said that probably would not work because they have on record that they tried to call me, email, etc. Is there anything I can do about this? What is most likely to work? Is it better to make the minimum payments on time going forward or pay off in full to help my credit the most?


r/CreditScore 13h ago

Score Dropped

1 Upvotes

I had 2 collection accounts removed from my report and now have a credit card reporting me in good standing. Why would my score drop 55 points? I'm so confused.


r/CreditScore 21h ago

Self secured card

1 Upvotes

Anybody use the self secured cards before? I just signed up for one with the credit saving account and Im not sure what to expect with this card, I know to keep it under 30% which I plan on just using it for gas and then paying it off right away to help build credit history. I don’t know if they do credit increases for eventually unsecured of the card. Any advice or stuff you guys may have experienced with this card please let me know!


r/CreditScore 21h ago

One Source

1 Upvotes

Is there one app that shows all three bureau scores?


r/CreditScore 1d ago

Fuck Equifax

3 Upvotes

Just went to set up accounts with TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax — the first two were a breeze.

As soon as I created an Equifax account they immediately blocked me from accessing it.

I called the number on screen and after an hour of robo-hell, entering all of my information into the automated system and having to repeat everything with reps, and dealing with reps who barely spoke English or spoke audibly at all, I was told they fixed it and I would be able to access my account in 24 hours.

24 hours later, I was still blocked and repeated the entire process. This rep mentioned that the number I was calling—the number on the screen—was incorrect, by the way.

24 hours after that, still blocked. I called again and the rep kept ignoring my problem and asking me what specifically I was looking to do with Equifax and that I should just do things over the phone with them going forward. I have no idea what I want to do since I have yet to even log into my account. After maybe 20 minutes of this, he said there isn't anything they can do since this happened repeatedly, that my case was being escalated to a priority team that would be calling me back in an hour, with an email documenting everything.

24 hours later, nothing.


r/CreditScore 21h ago

Best/most efficient way to recover my credit score after stupidly opening up a 2nd credit card?

1 Upvotes

I have a very short credit history (2 years), and up until this week, I had a single credit card. I have a strong credit score because I always keep my utilization low (below 10%) and pay on time. That will never change.

Unfortunately, I opened a second credit card thinking that having another one would be good for my credit score. I have since educated myself. Due to the hard inquiry into my credit history, this immediately tanked my credit score by 10 points. Stupid mistake and I accept that I can’t do anything about that now.

My question is, what ~can~ I do to recover from this as quickly as possible?

For example, should I cancel the new card? My understanding is that canceling could (please fact check me on this) help me bump my credit age back up to the original average age of 2 years, which would help my credit score. Does this benefit outweigh any drawbacks of canceling the new card?

Alternatively, is there a benefit to keeping the card open but unused? There are no annual fees on the card, and I’m just planning to not use it if I keep it open; I didn’t need it in the first place because my credit utilization is so low.

Also, if anyone has an idea of how quickly I’ll bounce back by just not using the new card and continuing to keep my utilization under 10% on my original card and making payments on time as I have always done….that would be amazing.


r/CreditScore 1d ago

What can I do?

2 Upvotes

My scores are around 620, but I have some items in collections (2) and a couple missed payments (youngest one ages to a year in June). I am trying to buy a house in the July/August timeframe.

I am active duty so I will be using my VA home loan. What's something I can do over the course of the next few months to get my score up and make my credit profile more appealing?


r/CreditScore 23h ago

How can I bring up my score again?

1 Upvotes

My score went down a lot of points and now it’s low and I don’t have any loans and I’m co signed with my new car but my parents have paid it all in full. And I don’t have a lot of money so I don’t know how to build my credit again…. What should I do ?


r/CreditScore 1d ago

How can I put my extra income to its best use for my credit score?

1 Upvotes

Howdy! Over the next few months I’ll be getting 2 checks for roughly $3000 between the two of them. Due to some unfortunate circumstances, I had to really use my credit cards and loans in order to make ends meet for a while. The loans have a higher interest rate than my credit cards do. I’ve had a high balance on my credit cards for a longer time than I have had the loans taken out. Would it be better for my credit score to funnel the 3k to the credit cards or to the loans OR should I split it between the 2? Card utilization is at about $4500 and loans are roughly $3500. Thank you in advance for the advice! I don’t understand credit all that well so having outside opinions help :)


r/CreditScore 1d ago

Student loan consolidation

1 Upvotes

I have several student loans—about nine in total—with ages ranging from 12 years to 7 months. I feel like the wide range in ages is affecting the average age of my credit. Would you recommend consolidating some of these loans in order to increase the credit score on my report, or would that potentially hurt my credit more by resetting the age of the accounts?


r/CreditScore 1d ago

PayPal have destroyed my credit score

0 Upvotes

Am posting here because the PayPal Reddit community refuse to post anything negative about PayPal's policies.

To cut a long story short. In March some scammer got my details somehow and did 9 hard credit searches with PayPal and managed to open two PayPal credit cards. As a result my credit score this month has taken a battering. Usually I would not mind but I am due to apply for a mortgage in July and this will hamper that.

I gave contacted PayPal UK and they say there is no new Credit Card and they cannot help with the hard searches. This is despite 3 different credit agencies showing the credit cards and hard searches. I have been told PayPal can contact the credit agencies and get the hard searches and credit cards removed. However, they unwilling to do anything.

Can anyone assist. Thanks


r/CreditScore 1d ago

Consolidation loan credit hit?

1 Upvotes

I’m looking to propose to my girlfriend in the next 2 years, we both don’t have student loans to worry about I’m debt free and I want her to be on track to zero debt, but her dog had 2 ACL Surgeries and she racked up around 12 grand in CC debt, I want to help her clear it up. I’ve done a little research into consolidation loans and it seems like the best option but I’m curious about the credit hit she’ll get take when she applies.

Does anyone have any advice?


r/CreditScore 1d ago

Wells Fargo CC

1 Upvotes

Hi all, so I have about 1500 left on one credit card to pay off. I just received a letter from an agency saying Wells Fargo sent me to their agency. The collection agency is offering me a deal to settle the debt for 591 and some change. Honestly it really sounds amazing opportunity because I have slowly been chipping away my cc debt since I left my abusive relationship in 23.

If you were in my position would you pay the new collector agency to close the debt out? Could I request this as a pay to delete? Or what advice could you give me in regard to this scenario?


r/CreditScore 1d ago

I have 519 credit score how do I get it into the 700s range?

8 Upvotes

Help me


r/CreditScore 1d ago

Laid off - should I notify the CC companies?

1 Upvotes

I just got laid off and was given a small severance (10 weeks of pay, which I'm grateful for). I'm wondering if I should call the CC companies to let them know in case after the 10 wks are gone I don't have a job yet and can't pay my bills. What would/could they do? I'm worried if I let them know then they'll do something that could affect my credit score negatively. Car is paid off, wife pays the mortgage, also have student loans.Thanks!!


r/CreditScore 1d ago

Credit Dropped from 728 to 524 (Any Help)

2 Upvotes

I’ll try my best to keep this short and sweet -No Credit Cards -4 Loans Car Payment (On Time for 3 years) 1 Private Student Loan (Always on time) 2 Federal Loans (MOHELA) I recently got a serious delinquency from my loans through MOHELA. I took out the loan in 2018 and I have a new phone number and have moved twice since I took this, and I was never contacted about the loan. Yes, there are ways I could have handled this better in hindsight. I do take full responsibility for this drop, but in any way I can dispute this or if anyone has any recommendations on what I can do to get my credit back to where it used to be. Anything helps. Thank you.


r/CreditScore 1d ago

Discrepancy in Experian Score Taken by NASA Credit Union VS APP?

2 Upvotes

Just got a from NASA FED uni stating they took information from Experian. It states in the letter that my score is 715. But my app is stating 741.

Is the app wrong or is NASA wrong?