I LOVE their commercials. That jingle sticks in my head…. I just wish I had really HEARD its message and not just hummed along w/ the jaunty tune.

I constantly tell clients if they are going to apply for a loan, lease or credit card to first make sure they have pulled their most recent credit report. Well I ignored my own advice to my own detriment.

I got turned down this morning for a card based on the fact that I’m carrying too much revolving debt, in spite of having scores well in the mid 700′s! A good score doesn’t go as far as it used to!

If I had had FreeCreditScore.com from Experian I would have checked to see if my recent payments had posted & my credit report now reflected my new low revolving balance status before applying. I had given my payment nearly a month to post so I thought it was ok to apply. I was wrong. They only send in their tapes for updating once a month and I had applied about a week too soon. As I spoke with the woman at AMEX I was surprised again to learn that she felt I should actually wait 2 or 3 months before applying again because I had been carrying a few large balances for the last 4 months.

Lesson Learned!

In today’s credit crisis having good scores is only 1 piece of the credit approval process. They are actively looking at HOW MUCH of your credit is revolving. If I had taken the time to sign up and do a quick check before applying I could have avoided the inquiry on my credit and subsequent turn down.

FreeCreditScore.com from Experian boast a quick and easy sign up and in less than 5 mins I could see all 3 scores.