Are Visa Signature cards similiar to AMEX no pre-set spending limits?

[TheCreditKid]

I don't have a Visa Signature, but I'm planning to upgrade my platinum Bankamericard.

What are the benefits of Visa Signature?

Is there a hard limit?

[AndySoCal]

A  NPSL account does not  report a credit limit the bureau. They may report a high balance. There is no hard limit there is what is called iby some a shadow credit limit. This is the limit if you go it you will have pay enough in that month  to bring the account back under the shadow credit limit.. For example if your shadow credit limit is 5000 and your balance  on you statement is 5500. You would have to pay 500 + the min monthly payment in that month. Credit reporting wise I have two accounts my socre went down about 15 points when the first one started reporting as NPSL.  I have closed one of them and the other will be closed soon. In my opinion they do not help and are useless..

[Wolf3]

http://usa.visa.com/personal/visa-signature/index.jsp

Here are the perks.   

[TheCreditKid]

Thanks for the informations

[android01]

I suppose that the benefits vs. the drawbacks are based on what's important to you.  I have a BOA signature Visa Card that dropped my TU credit score a full 22 points just by using it.  It's a 10K limit (not reported) and I charged $900 (9% util) which is reported as high balance.  TU apparently sees this as 100% utilization on this TL since there is no limit reported, which dropped my score like a stone even though my overall (for all TL) utlilization is 10%.  TU even gave me the  dreaded message about "making heavy use of revolving credit" as a negative to my score. 

Granted, none of this matters if you report a 0 balance.  If you are a score chaser (like most of us seem to be) Visa Signature cards aren't for you if you are ever going to carry a balance.  If you really don't care about having the highest scores and like the rewards and services the card offers, then go for it!  The only alternative I can see would be to charge up to your limit and hope that the high balance number sticks and is used in place of a limit.  

It seems as though this didn't have the same effect on EQ.....   

[JM-AM]

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@android01 wrote:

I suppose that the benefits vs. the drawbacks are based on what's important to you.  I have a BOA signature Visa Card that dropped my TU credit score a full 22 points just by using it.  It's a 10K limit (not reported) and I charged $900 (9% util) which is reported as high balance.  TU apparently sees this as 100% utilization on this TL since there is no limit reported, which dropped my score like a stone even though my overall (for all TL) utlilization is 10%.  TU even gave me the  dreaded message about "making heavy use of revolving credit" as a negative to my score. 

Granted, none of this matters if you report a 0 balance.  If you are a score chaser (like most of us seem to be) Visa Signature cards aren't for you if you are ever going to carry a balance.  If you really don't care about having the highest scores and like the rewards and services the card offers, then go for it!  The only alternative I can see would be to charge up to your limit and hope that the high balance number sticks and is used in place of a limit.  

It seems as though this didn't have the same effect on EQ.....   

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To clarify this just a little, it only has an adverse reaction to score with TU98 which is what MYFICO uses. If the lender uses TU04 it has no adverse reaction as it is scored just like EQ. 

[android01]

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@JM-AM wrote:

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@android01 wrote:

I suppose that the benefits vs. the drawbacks are based on what's important to you.  I have a BOA signature Visa Card that dropped my TU credit score a full 22 points just by using it.  It's a 10K limit (not reported) and I charged $900 (9% util) which is reported as high balance.  TU apparently sees this as 100% utilization on this TL since there is no limit reported, which dropped my score like a stone even though my overall (for all TL) utlilization is 10%.  TU even gave me the  dreaded message about "making heavy use of revolving credit" as a negative to my score. 

Granted, none of this matters if you report a 0 balance.  If you are a score chaser (like most of us seem to be) Visa Signature cards aren't for you if you are ever going to carry a balance.  If you really don't care about having the highest scores and like the rewards and services the card offers, then go for it!  The only alternative I can see would be to charge up to your limit and hope that the high balance number sticks and is used in place of a limit.  

It seems as though this didn't have the same effect on EQ.....   

---

To clarify this just a little, it only has an adverse reaction to score with TU98 which is what MYFICO uses. If the lender uses TU04 it has no adverse reaction as it is scored just like EQ. 

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That's really good to know!  My TU went from 755 to 733, which I thought was a bit drastic.   Let's hope MyFICO gets an upgrade to TU04 in the near future!

[TheCreditKid]

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@android01 wrote:

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@JM-AM wrote:

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@android01 wrote:

I suppose that the benefits vs. the drawbacks are based on what's important to you.  I have a BOA signature Visa Card that dropped my TU credit score a full 22 points just by using it.  It's a 10K limit (not reported) and I charged $900 (9% util) which is reported as high balance.  TU apparently sees this as 100% utilization on this TL since there is no limit reported, which dropped my score like a stone even though my overall (for all TL) utlilization is 10%.  TU even gave me the  dreaded message about "making heavy use of revolving credit" as a negative to my score. 

Granted, none of this matters if you report a 0 balance.  If you are a score chaser (like most of us seem to be) Visa Signature cards aren't for you if you are ever going to carry a balance.  If you really don't care about having the highest scores and like the rewards and services the card offers, then go for it!  The only alternative I can see would be to charge up to your limit and hope that the high balance number sticks and is used in place of a limit.  

It seems as though this didn't have the same effect on EQ.....   

---

To clarify this just a little, it only has an adverse reaction to score with TU98 which is what MYFICO uses. If the lender uses TU04 it has no adverse reaction as it is scored just like EQ. 

---

That's really good to know!  My TU went from 755 to 733, which I thought was a bit drastic.   Let's hope MyFICO gets an upgrade to TU04 in the near future!

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What is TU04?

I guess I won't upgrade now haha

[android01]

TU98 and TU04 are the software versions used to calculate TU Fico scores.  TU98 being the older version.  Think Windows 98 being upgraded to Windows XP. 

[android01]

This got me thinking.  I wonder if the CCC's will report the limit on a signature card if requested without switching to a different product?