Dear AAFC: A person I am working with is being hounded by collectors for a huge credit card bill. The card had a $200 credit limit, but now the collectors claim that she owes $1,000 due to interest and fees. How can they charge so much more than she ever charged on the card? Is that legal?
Dear AAFC: A lot of my clients’ credit reports show no limit (the space for credit limits is left blank) when in fact there is a limit on the account. How important is this problem to fix?
Dear AAFC: Is your credit score affected if your debt balance remains more than 10 percent of the credit line after you make the minimum payment each month?
Dear AAFC: I’m helping a client dispute errors on their credit report, but when we try to enter the dispute online, the credit bureau says they need a credit report number. The client got their report from a bank and it doesn’t have a number. Do we have to purchase a new report to dispute?
Dear AAFC: I have a client who is accessing her credit report quarterly via a credit monitoring service that charges her $4.99 a month. I want to coach her to stop paying this monthly fee but I wonder if there are some positives that I am overlooking.
Dear AAFC: How much would “high debt” have to show on a credit report in order to negatively impact someone’s credit score?
Dear AAFC: What is the best plan for paying off several credit cards? My client has some with lower balances like under $200 and some with higher balances like $500-1000.
Dear AAFC: One of my clients is behind four months on the mortgage and is losing their house. Once a home is foreclosed, how long does it take to start building a positive credit score?
Dear AAFC: Can you recommend a good credit union or bank that offers secured credit cards? I thought all financial institutions would offer this service, but I was wrong.
Dear AAFC: One of my clients agreed to be a co-signer on their son’s mortgage. Is there a difference betweem being a co-signer and a co-buyer? I’m also wondering how this works for unsecured debts like credit cards, where someone is a joint account or an authorized user?