Credit specialists and credit questions

[Andrew Syrios]

My father, despite never missing a payment in his life, has fairly mediocre credit due to, we think revolving debt. 2 Questions:

1) We think some of it may be because the credit bureaus view 2nd loans from banks (which he has a couple of) as revolving credit. Does anyone know if this is true?

2. Is there a good company that specializes in improving credit, specifically for businesses, that anyone knows of. Thank you in advance.

[Dion DePaoli]

Question number 1 is false.

Question number 2, Joel already addressed and you responded with answers related to personal credit.

There can be many reasons why the three agencies do not line up.  Not uncommon at all.  Not all creditors report to all three agencies every month.  All three agencies do not have the same logarithms for scoring, each is their own and is proprietary.  

As Joel pointed out, the use of available credit has a large impact on scoring.  The more available and used well will boost scores.  Carrying high balances will have downward pressure on scoring.  

The OP response only deals with seemingly, mortgage debt.  Other debt like auto loans and credit cards will also affect the score.  In addition, even though he is a good paying borrower, if he constantly over the life of his credit or recent past, refinances the scoring will reflect that trend.  So, in relation to the balance idea above, if he get's to say 70% of available credit and then refinances back to 80% this too will weight down his score. 

In that same idea, the old trade line is closed and a new trade line is open, so the term of the trade line is short.  Longer trade lines with good payment history are better than shorter trade lines.  Bare in mind, even if debt is from the same creditor, the line is still closed and reopened, so there is no boost to credit for using the same creditor.

It is impossible for anyone to really give too much more insight without looking at the credit report itself.  Depending on where you obtained the credit report, many portals working directly with the agencies will offer the agency programs which allow a consumer to pretend to pay down or off other debts to see the score impact.  If you explore each of the three agencies sites, you will see the programs and that might in turn help you understand a better position to work yourself (or your dad) into.