Credit report question

[yg17]

I bought a copy of my Equifax credit score and report to see if everything was OK, and it seems to be, except for one thing.

I have an HSBC credit card, and a few months ago, I got a letter in the mail stating that my billing address was changed. I did not initiate this change, and the address never changed (it changed from my current address to my current address, go figure that one out) and no fradulent charges were ever charged to my card, but at the recommendation of their customer service, just to be safe, they canceled my old card number and issued me a new one. But on my credit report, under Closed Accounts it lists the HSBC account with the old card number, with the status "LOST OR STOLEN CARD" and then it also appears under Open Accounts and in good standing and has my new account number.

I was always under the impression that having closed accounts hurts your credit rating, so is this hurting my score? I never actually closed the account, so it seems ridiculous for HSBC to be bringing down my credit for what is most likely their error.

And while I'm posting a new thread, I just started a new job in June, and under "Inquiries that may impact your credit rating" there's an inquiry from my new employer. I know it's standard for companies to pull credit reports nowadays, but is this also hurting me? I thought employers could pull a report without impacting the score.

Thanks

 

[iShater]

Closing accounts does not hurt you, so you should be OK. Even your employer pulling your credit report is also not going to hurt you.

Now, if you had like 10 places looking up your credit, anybody who is gonna lend you money is gonna wonder what you are up to and will consider that against you.

No worries.

How much does it cost? was it easy to get? I haven't done that except through an old Sears service years ago.

 

[yg17]

Closing accounts does not hurt you, so you should be OK. Even your employer pulling your credit report is also not going to hurt you.

Now, if you had like 10 places looking up your credit, anybody who is gonna lend you money is gonna wonder what you are up to and will consider that against you.

No worries.

How much does it cost? was it easy to get? I haven't done that except through an old Sears service years ago.

OK, thanks.

The report was $10 (and some change). Fairly simple. Sign up for an account, enter your credit card number and there's your report and score. Here's a link (I got Score Power)

 

[bradl]

IIRC, through the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you are alotted one free copy each year of your credit report, so if this was your first time pulling it, you really shouldn't have had to pay $10 for it.

Now.. to find out your FICO score, you would definitely have to pay for that, or have someone like a tax preparer or mortgage lender pull it for you.

But he's right. You shouldn't have to worry about the employer pulling it or closing the account. The reporting bureaus can't expect you to keep accounts open forever so they can ding you when you close them. That would (should) be against the law..

BL.

 

[applebum]

Closing accounts does not hurt you, so you should be OK. Even your employer pulling your credit report is also not going to hurt you.

Actually, it does hurt you. The problem is the credit companies look at your "used" credit vs. your "total" credit. For example, if I have 2 credit cards with a $1000 limit and one has $0 charged to it and one carries a balance of $700, I have $700 used credit in relation to $2000 total credit. Not too bad. If I close the card with $0 on it, I now have $700 used in relation to only $1000 total. My credit score would actually go down because of this new ratio.

So to the OP - your credit won't be hurt because of closing for lost/stolen. And it shouldn't be hurt by your employer checking it.