Robert
Irvine,#2Consumer Comment
Sat, May 02, 2009
You have some misconceptions where you are the cause of your own problems. "Lately, to boost my credit score, I started completely paying the card off, then using it for groceries and gas, right up to the limit, then paying it off again." - Mistake #1. This not only is not helping your credit score it is actually hurting. This is because your high balance is reported to the credit agencies, so it appears you are always maxing out your card. This is a big negative on your credit. Ideally you should never use more than about 1/3 of your limit for the best effect. "I have been paying it off about every two weeks." - Mistake #2. Credit card companies report only once a month. So as long as you pay at least the minimum(but paying it off is better) by the due date you are fine. "All of a sudden, they put an "authorization hold" on my payment." - Orchard bank is a Sub-Prime credit card and it actually is a common practice in certain circumstances. You probably "triggered" this by your activity(maxing the card and multiple payments per month). There are a lot of people who will max out a card, pay it off, and then immediatly charge it up again. The payment then gets kicked back and they are now over their limit and have a tendency to default. I am not saying that you have done or had any intention of doing this, unfortunatly your actions fell into this pattern. I can not explain why they were giving you different reasons. "SO MY KIDS HAVE TO GO HUNGRY FOR 5 DAYS?!" - Sorry but this was caused 100% by your misunderstanding. Had you not charged up the account to begin with you would not have had this issue. Again, you should never use more than about a 1/3 of any credit card. Yes it is called a "limit" but you need to give yourself a self-imposed lower limit. "THE CARD IS PAID OFF, YET I AM SUPPOSED TO HAVE THEM RUN MY CREDIT AND TRY AND GET AN INCREASE IN ORDER TO USE IT!!!" - Since they are a Sub-Prime card and if they have not automatically given you an increase in 3 years, the chances of them giving you an increase if you asked for it would be slim. But again they already have access to your credit report because by just having the card you give them this permission. So spend NO MORE than about $100 on your card a month and pay it off before the due date and you will be fine.