Bank of America - they don't use scoring i was told...fyi

[daisyduke]

So today I went on the net and decided to have a live chat via on line with a product specialist from BOFA...

I found out some rather interesting (at least to me) information. I was told the following from the internet chat woman "krissy"...

1.  Bank of America does not rely on FICO scores to determine eligibility. She mentioned the scoring system that the bureaus use is one factor of consideration, but not all,.... so if BOFA would pull eX, would they use Vantage, their own score? transrisk for the other two?

2.  I was told income would be considered as well, but further researching the actual "on line application" proved to me at no point was income even included in the application. How can that be true IF income is not asked on the application? huh? At that point, i was on the application already and done with chat session.

3. I told the internet chat lady that I wasn't sure if I would qualify for a card (as I am rebuilidng my credit) and she said that if I didn't i would be automatically offered the secured card. They offer no guaranteed approvals for even secured cards, which I find highly interesting....

Does anyone know the reason someone who is of legal age would not qualify for a secured card? It's your own money essentially....

[clocktick]

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@daisyduke wrote:

Does anyone know the reason someone who is of legal age would not qualify for a secured card? It's your own money essentially....

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I would guess because one can still incur over-the-limit fees and finance charges that they may not be able to pay back because it goes above and beyond their security.  Some people may be deemed such a risk that it's not even worth it for banks to grant them a credit line, even if it is a secured.

[emartin82]

i find that those online chat session people are not very reliable when it comes to getting answers to questions that someone with a sophisticated understanding of credit/scoring system will ask as opposed to, say, the average Joe (or Jane). try talking to an credit specialist at bofa using the backdoor. you will get answers to your questions there. good luck!

[creditwherecreditisdue]

1) Income is a factor in setting CL's and it is a question on every BofA app I ever completed - pre-app acceptance and CLI form.

2) I doubt the person doing the o/l chat is a credit analyst. They know how that "scoring" works and it is all computer scored. Most of the large issuers have their own internal models, some FICO derived - some look at vantage - Amex has their own scoring. I don't know if anybody uses the TransRisk score (the one TC shows you) for much of anything. Focus on having a good FICO - that will usually lead to a good Vantage score. You can't do too much second guessing on this. You will go nuts.

3) There are credit standards for secured cards. So, unfortunately you can be declined for one.

[daisyduke]

CWCID,

Thanks for the info. I did know that about AMEX using their own scoring, i guess many CCC do their own risk analysis.

I just went online again to the first page (and i think it is just one page app) to BOFA to see where I could put in my income --- it is not asked, however the amount of housing you pay is asked! my housing would be zero.....

once i pay off one account, i may apply, but i only want to apply if i know i will get it, why waste the inquiry...

like you said, I need to focus on my score, but i think adding another positive tradeline would benefit me, because i don't have that many open, would actually help me.

i have my own strategy for apping:

1. once my one dell account is paid in full - this should help my score. this is closed and has a balance so on EQ my utilization is like 67%. ouch. i can bring down my utilization to zero pretty easily.

2. Wait until 5 inquiries get re-coded to softies. i will only have one then on EX for a Visa card...

[creditwherecreditisdue]

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@daisyduke wrote:

CWCID,

Thanks for the info. I did know that about AMEX using their own scoring, i guess many CCC do their own risk analysis.

I just went online again to the first page (and i think it is just one page app) to BOFA to see where I could put in my income --- it is not asked, however the amount of housing you pay is asked! my housing would be zero.....

once i pay off one account, i may apply, but i only want to apply if i know i will get it, why waste the inquiry...

like you said, I need to focus on my score, but i think adding another positive tradeline would benefit me, because i don't have that many open, would actually help me.

i have my own strategy for apping:

1. once my one dell account is paid in full - this should help my score. this is closed and has a balance so on EQ my utilization is like 67%. ouch. i can bring down my utilization to zero pretty easily.

2. Wait until 5 inquiries get re-coded to softies. i will only have one then on EX for a Visa card...

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I would be surprised if the income question does not come up on a following screen.

Did you try this yet? It is a soft INQ:

https://preapproved.bankofamerica.com/cc/SelfInquiry.aspx

Good luck getting the INQ's recoded. Getting that done can be a real problem.

[daisyduke]

Thanks CWCID,

re: recoding hard to softs - the CA agreed to do this...i'm not asking the bureau to fix - i won't get ANYWHERE that way...right? 

because i have FA and frozen, i can't get very far with that pre approved offer - i tried it, it doesn't even show up as a softie!!

[creditwherecreditisdue]

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@daisyduke wrote:

Thanks CWCID,

re: recoding hard to softs - the CA agreed to do this...i'm not asking the bureau to fix - i won't get ANYWHERE that way...right? 

because i have FA and frozen, i can't get very far with that pre approved offer - i tried it, it doesn't even show up as a softie!!

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You should not be able to resolve an INQ problem by dispute. That will only work if the party has agreed in writing to recode and then they don't. Otherwise the dispute will be "verified" and that will be the end of it.

[daisyduke]

CWCID,

I filed a complaint with the BBB re: the excessive inqs and dir of complaince, wrote back saying they would either remove them or recode to softies.

they knew it was sheer abuse! so the matter lies with the CA - but these are not JDB ca's - they jsut get people back on track, then turn em over again...so it's a little bit of different business model than sleaze bucket jdb's...just my opinion...

this should work, right? 

[creditwherecreditisdue]

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@daisyduke wrote:

CWCID,

I filed a complaint with the BBB re: the excessive inqs and dir of complaince, wrote back saying they would either remove them or recode to softies.

they knew it was sheer abuse! so the matter lies with the CA - but these are not JDB ca's - they jsut get people back on track, then turn em over again...so it's a little bit of different business model than sleaze bucket jdb's...just my opinion...

this should work, right? 

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As long as you have something in writing you should be able to make it work. How long has it been? I would give them about one week to get this fixed and then I would be making contact. This can be fixed in 24 hours!