A question about credit. Loans/finance offers/credit accounts and their effect on credit.

Shaftatplanetquake

Diamond Member
Aug 8, 2000
3,089
0
76
I've got:

Kohls Card: 0 dollars owed $1000 limit, about 3 years ago I got this card
Target card: 0 dollars owed $1000 limit, about 2 years ago I got this card
Buy.com card: 0 dollars owed $1000 limit, about 1 year ago I got this card

I've carried full balances on the buy.com card and worked it down to nothing, built up and then paid off a balance of around $600 on the target card (all this month), and used the Kohls card to make a few isolated purchases, never carrying much of a balance and usually paying it off with $50 at a time payments.

Within the past month I've added:
newegg.com preferred account approved for $3200 in purchases. I haven't used it and probably won't.

Bestbuy credit card I applied for today and I got approved with a $1000 limit. The $1,000 limit is not enough for me to buy the panasonic plasma that I want, and I want to take advantage of their 0% interest until 2010.

I was pissed that bestbuy didn't give me a credit limit of more than $2000 because that is the cost of the television.

I got pre-approved for a $130,000 loan under the federal first time homebuyers plan, however I did not buy a house. This was last September. My annual income is $31,000.

What could I have done for bestbuy to have approved me at a higher rate? I think they are just going on the credit limit which buy.com and target cards had. This sucks.

Someone please advise.
 

Shaftatplanetquake

Diamond Member
Aug 8, 2000
3,089
0
76
Originally posted by: erub
where's the vote for don't buy a tv you can't pay cash for?

Its not a poll. No voting.

I want the TV and I want it now. I can wait 2 months until I can save the 2 grand, or I can buy it now and pay it later. I view it as a favor I can give myself, instant gratification.
 

erub

Diamond Member
Jun 21, 2000
5,481
0
0
Originally posted by: Shaftatplanetquake
Originally posted by: erub
where's the vote for don't buy a tv you can't pay cash for?

Its not a poll. No voting.

I want the TV and I want it now. I can wait 2 months until I can save the 2 grand, or I can buy it now and pay it later. I view it as a favor I can give myself, instant gratification.

If its only two months, is it really that big of a deal? How long have you been alive? What percentage of your life will this 2 months be? Aren't you going to need an expensive new HDTV Cable/satellite package to go with this (surely you're not going to limit yourself to OTA broadcasts..no ESPNHD!). Should you really add that monthly expense (at least 50-60+) if you don't even have a lousy 2K saved up?
 

kranky

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
21,017
147
106
Probably (I say probably, there's no foolproof way to analyze credit grantors decisions) what worked against you was
- short credit history (I assume your Kohl's card is the oldest account you have)
- a new card in the last month
- no major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, AmEx)
- carrying balances on two of your four cards (assuming Target reported your balance before your payment got credited)
 

Shaftatplanetquake

Diamond Member
Aug 8, 2000
3,089
0
76
Originally posted by: kranky
Probably (I say probably, there's no foolproof way to analyze credit grantors decisions) what worked against you was
- short credit history (I assume your Kohl's card is the oldest account you have)
- a new card in the last month
- no major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, AmEx)
- carrying balances on two of your four cards (assuming Target reported your balance before your payment got credited)

Thanks. Thanks a lot for your input. It is valuable.

The buy.com is provided by chase, its a Visa and has been since day 1. I used to carry a capital one but they started me @ $300 limit. They bumped it to $550 after about 16 months. I cancelled about 6 months after that. That cancellation occured about 6 months ago. The Target card started out as plain old target card, but was upgraded to a visa and the limit was upped from $500 to $1000 about a year after signing on (around a year ago). Target probably did indeed report a $55 balance which I just scheduled payment for in full from my checking account tomorrow. But it would be the only account that would have a balance. Please tell me how that works, do creditors really actually punish an applicant because they carry a balance on 2 or more cards?

 

amdforever2

Golden Member
Sep 19, 2002
1,879
0
0
HSBC is a trash company when it comes to credit cards.

Try for the Circuit City Visa managed by Chase.
 

Shaftatplanetquake

Diamond Member
Aug 8, 2000
3,089
0
76
Originally posted by: amdforever2
HSBC is a trash company when it comes to credit cards.

Try for the Circuit City Visa managed by Chase.

My chase account has very high APR. I think its around 20%. The motivation for dealing thru HBSC is the 0 interest agreement until 2010.
 

PG

Diamond Member
Oct 25, 1999
3,426
44
91
Here are my comments and things that can hurt your credit:

- Many times when someone pulls your credit it will hurt your credit score. And when getting a new card/loan, etc., someone has to pull your credit. In other words I bet this new BB card hurt your credit. (This can also be called a credit inquiry.)

- The more ability to spend you have, the more it hurts your credit. I don't care if the cards all have zero balance or not, tomorrow you could go spend $6200 right? (Not counting Best Buy.) So the larger the limits the worse your score would be. It means you are a higher risk now that you have the BB card.

- Number of credit lines that are open also hurt you. You have Kohl's, Target, Buy, Newegg, and now Best Buy. Think about it. One or two cards are fine. Anything more than that can look bad. Each card company could raise the credit limit. So more cards means more potential risk for the company looking to give you a new card.

Also understand that this BB card just hurt the interest rate you will get for the home loan:
1. There was a credit inquiry.
2. You now have more ability to spend.
3. You have one more line of credit.

Maybe you don't know this but they pull your credit up front when looking to get a home loan, but they also pull it again before closing to make sure nothing has changed. If something has changed in a negative way then your rate will go up.

Well, you changed someting in a bad way and are looking for more credit which will only hurt you more.

I would close all store cards right away.
Wait a few months.
Focus on getting the best deal you can on the home loan.
Then get a major CC. One. And then you should be OK.

For a major CC, just don't get a Discover. They are the only card with what is called double cycle billing or two cycle billing.
Almost all store cards do this, which is why they suck, but Discover is the only major card that has this bad feature right now.

Say you buy something in January and don't pay it all off right away. January you pay interest on your purchases. February you pay intrest on the balance carried over, plus February intrest. So you are getting hit twice, hence the name double cycle or two cycle billing.

How do you think they can afford their little cash back program?

good luck


 

bctbct

Diamond Member
Dec 22, 2005
4,868
1
0
Originally posted by: PG
Here are my comments and things that can hurt your credit:

- Many times when someone pulls your credit it will hurt your credit score. And when getting a new card/loan, etc., someone has to pull your credit. In other words I bet this new BB card hurt your credit. (This can also be called a credit inquiry.)

- The more ability to spend you have, the more it hurts your credit. I don't care if the cards all have zero balance or not, tomorrow you could go spend $6200 right? (Not counting Best Buy.) So the larger the limits the worse your score would be. It means you are a higher risk now that you have the BB card.

- Number of credit lines that are open also hurt you. You have Kohl's, Target, Buy, Newegg, and now Best Buy. Think about it. One or two cards are fine. Anything more than that can look bad. Each card company could raise the credit limit. So more cards means more potential risk for the company looking to give you a new card.

Also understand that this BB card just hurt the interest rate you will get for the home loan:
1. There was a credit inquiry.
2. You now have more ability to spend.
3. You have one more line of credit.

Maybe you don't know this but they pull your credit up front when looking to get a home loan, but they also pull it again before closing to make sure nothing has changed. If something has changed in a negative way then your rate will go up.

Well, you changed someting in a bad way and are looking for more credit which will only hurt you more.

I would close all store cards right away.
Wait a few months.
Focus on getting the best deal you can on the home loan.
Then get a major CC. One. And then you should be OK.

For a major CC, just don't get a Discover. They are the only card with what is called double cycle billing or two cycle billing.
Almost all store cards do this, which is why they suck, but Discover is the only major card that has this bad feature right now.

Say you buy something in January and don't pay it all off right away. January you pay interest on your purchases. February you pay intrest on the balance carried over, plus February intrest. So you are getting hit twice, hence the name double cycle or two cycle billing.

How do you think they can afford their little cash back program?

good luck


closing existing accounts is generaly seen as a neg. Especially if you close your oldest accounts.

 

Shaftatplanetquake

Diamond Member
Aug 8, 2000
3,089
0
76
Should I close some of these accounts or one of these accounts? Should I ask these guys for a credit increase? When should I do that? Whats the best road for me to take with the goal of having a big line of credit? I don't care if its just 1 visa card, so long as it has a decent APR and a high credit limit...

Maybe I should call Chase and talk directly with someone over there about the situation, ask them which I should close, so on so forth? I know i'm failing somehow and I'd like to just stop failing and start succeeding...
 
Mar 9, 2005
2,809
1
0
Originally posted by: Shaftatplanetquake
Should I close some of these accounts or one of these accounts? Should I ask these guys for a credit increase? When should I do that? Whats the best road for me to take with the goal of having a big line of credit? I don't care if its just 1 visa card, so long as it has a decent APR and a high credit limit...

Maybe I should call Chase and talk directly with someone over there about the situation, ask them which I should close, so on so forth? I know i'm failing somehow and I'd like to just stop failing and start succeeding...

Go over to www.fatwallet.com and ask these questions in the finance section.

I've been going there for quite a while now to read up and there is lots of good info over there.

I am 25, have $52,000 of available credit, and my FICO is 747.
 

slimrhcp

Senior member
Jul 20, 2005
532
0
0
Originally posted by: shortspanishguy

Go over to www.fatwallet.com and ask these questions in the finance section.

I've been going there for quite a while now to read up and there is lots of good info over there.

I am 25, have $52,000 of available credit, and my FICO is 747.

So what you gots a 747? I'm at 737 at 22. You's a candy@$$!