I repaid about $5000 in credit debts in 2005. One of the creditors I owed was a catalog company called Seventh Avenue. Although they sell mostly junk, I foolishly charged about $600 total with them.
Through the help of Consumer Credit Counseling Services I repaid all my debts, including ALL of the money I owed to Seventh Avenue. In exchange for upholding my end of the bargain, all the creditors agreed to change any "Adverse" account entries in my three major credit reports to "Satisfactory". Over a year has passed and Seventh Avenue still hasn't complied as agreed and placed a positive entry on any of my credit reports.
Today I spoke with a credit supervisor at Seventh Avenue. She informed me that Seventh Avenue NEVER EVER EVER reports positive payment information from their customers. You could pay on-time, keep a decent balance, etc and it does absolutely no good whatsoever. They NEVER report positive credit to the three credit agencies.
However, they WILL report negative credit behavior. Is this fair or am I just whining? Seems to me that if you accumulate a debt, pay it on time, pay over the minimum amount due and establish a positive credit relationship with Seventh Avenue that they should "reward" (for the lack of a better term) your good payment history by recognizing it through reporting it to the three credit agencies.
Anyway, if you're considering opening a credit account at Seventh Avenue and anticipate that your timely and regular payments will benefit your credit rating... it won't. Use your credit to BUILD credit by shopping at a more appreciative credit provider.