Recent Email From A Reader:

Hello,

I have some info regarding credit scores. While I have not yet asked for a credit report I can tell you that Chase Home Finance has already ruined our credit standing. Since I was told last March by Chase that the only way we would get them to talk to us is by being at least 60 days in arrears. So I have not paid them since 15 April. Later in April my husband decided it would be a good idea to have a credit card in his name since our others are in my name and he is simply an authorized user. He was denied a card by Bank of America and later by Wells Fargo. Both refusals were said to be the fact that we have one outstanding debt, the mortgage.

Since then I have been denied a credit card with a very low limit, $1500, to pay for some dental work I need to have done. And today, Citibank informed me that my revolving credit limit has been changed from $11,600 to $2100 even though neither they nor any other creditor except Chase Home Finance, has ever been paid late l. We always pay in full and do not carry a balance on our cards. All this and we have not heard a single word from Chase.

Apparently withholding ones mortgage payment not only sends bad signals to other creditors but also has not resulted in Chase initiating any contact with us!