CL reported double

[Anonymous]

PSECU has an interesting quirk which is potentially useful or harmful, depending on how you look at it and what you need.

They offer 3 kinds of revolving credit:

1.  VISA CC

2.  LOC which they call Personal Service Loan (PSL)

3.  A hybrid "combined" and shared CL called PSL/V or Personal Service Loan & Visa.

I originally app'ed for #1 and was approved for $10,000.

I then decided I wanted a higher CL.  But rather than just asking for a standard CLI, I asked for an account upgrade to PSL/V with $20,000 total CL ($20k is the max revolving credit they will allow).

When I log on now, I see two loan accounts.  I have what is shown as a PSL Loan (L01) with CL of $20,000 and a separate account shown as VISA Loan (L09) with CL of $20,000.

Again, I have a combined or total CL of $20,000 not two $20,000 accounts.

My EX CR updated this morning and reported PSECU for the first time.  And I have 2 TL's each showing a $20,000 CL.

I used my Visa during the  month and purposely left a balance on it to see how everything would report.

My PSL TL shows $20,000 CL with $0 balance.

My Visa TL shows $20,000 CL with a $550 balance.

So my CR shows and calculates with $40,000 CL for utilization and it reports the balance only on the account actually used.

The result is that I could max my CL ($20k) and FICO would only calculate it as 50% use ($20k use on $40k reported CL's)

So the PRO is higher CL's reported on 2 TL's which means lower calculated utilization

CON is that 2 separate TL's report which means your AAoA will take an extra hit.

The other nice thing on the combined CL's is that the Visa can access the entire CL even for promo deals.  For example, PSECU offers VISA 3.9% BT through December 2010.  I can BT up to $20,000 at the 3.9% because the Visa can borrow or access the PSL (LOC) CL at the Visa rates.

Also, the Visa rate is 9.9% purchase or cash.  The PSL rate is 12.9%.  But, as long as you access the CL through the Visa, your rate is only the 9.9%.  I can even do an online transfer from Visa to Checking and it allows me access to the entire $20,000 CL.  So I am not sure why anyone would ever access the CL through the PSL (LOC) because the rates would be 3% higher and not have any promo rates.  Therefore, for all intents and purposes, I have a $20,000 Visa and then a $20,000 shadow account which reports and helps offset utililzation calculations.

Anyway, just thought this would be interesting reading for some.

Message Edited by txjohn on 09-02-2009 10:32 AM

[Cory]

Txjohn,

How many accounts have you added to your profile this year? You are so funny! It seems like every thread, whether a new credit card mentioned, or increase, I see the scrolling markee "txjohn" lol.

And the "Penfed Hates Me" thread, to funny.

Cory

[Anonymous]

lol

Well, I will admit I ended up acquiring more new accounts than I originally had in mind.  I added a total of 14 new TL's of which 14 are revolving/cc accounts, in the past 6 months.  2 don't report personally (biz credit or loan).

Notably, if I knew 6 months ago what I know now about the various accounts, CU's etc, I would have done things a bit different. 

New accounts:

PenFed

Alliant

NFCU Visa

NFCU Nav

PSECU Visa

PSECU LOC

USAA MC

USAA AMEX

Juniper Business MC

Discover More

CapOne Pro Ultra

Care Credit

Rooms to Go

JCPenney

Pertuity Direct Personal Loan (Bus purposes) 

From these my 'highest' recommendations go out to:
NFCU

PSECU

USAA

My secondary recommendations go out to:
Alliant

Juniper Business MC

CareCredit/GEMB
 

My neutral recommendation goes out to:
PenFed

Rooms to Go/GEMB

Pertuity Direct

Cards I would not get if I had it to do over:
Discover More

CapOne Pro Ultra

JCPenney/GEMB

[plasticman]

Hi txjohn,

Interesting and informative list, your views on each are appreciated and respected by me and I am certain other members as well!

Just curious...why is the Discover More card so low on the list?

[haulingthescoreup]

lol, john, when it comes to AAoA, yours must be in diapers! How badly did it drop, once all the dust settled?

[Anonymous]

Ummm,  have you heard of the Sleigh Center?   Concorduser Center? 

Not quite sure why you need all of this new credit.  Not trying to be harsh, but you may have set yourself up for some serious AA. 

Best of luck with your new set of cards.  Use them wisely...

[Anonymous]

---

@haulingthescoreup wrote:
lol, john, when it comes to AAoA, yours must be in diapers! How badly did it drop, once all the dust settled?

---

Do you have a brand to recommend?  LOL 

My AAoA was 5 years at start and is 3 now.  These are the "rounded down" numbers.  I'll be back to 4 years in about 9 months.

The only accounts that may decide to AA, IMO, are PenFed and possibly Chase. 

My favorites, NFCU, PSECU and USAA were my last accounts meaning they saw and knew of all my recent activity at the time of my applications with them and they are my highest CL's.  So there isn't anything new for them to consider and they are the CL's I was originally looking for.  NFCU gave me $40k and 7.9%, PSECU $20k 9.9%, USAA $40k at 8.9%.

Discover More is a low enough CL, I doubt they will do much with it.  CapOne same thing.  PenFed is of no consideration to me, they can have the card back if they decide they want it.  If Chase decides to yank something, it's only $3.5k and has a 29.99% rate.

If you recall, I started my adventures with PenFed asking for a $25k CL.  Well, I got that and more with NFCU, close to it with PSECU and more than that with USAA.  Everything else I really don't care so much about.  And the fact that I don't care and don't need them is my ace in the hole, so to speak.

Anyway, back to OP......if you want a good CU with great CL's and want to actually use the credit without killing utilization....go with their PSL/V so that you have double the CL reported and can never have more than 50% utilization.

[haulingthescoreup]

Dang, son, two full years! You're a brave man.

I still say that unless you're going for a biggie like a mortgage, this short-term damage can pay off in the long run by upgrading your overall credit profile.

I took a score beating with my app spree, but I now look like a completely different credit customer than I did 18 months ago. One step backwards, two steps forward. That counts as progress.

[creditwherecreditisdue]

txjohn, if you ever start shopping through ShopDiscover (on top of the 5% rotating categories) you'll see what's good about the card. Gotta hit 'em where it hurts with the 5% rewards. That's about all I put on there.

Seems to me if you want it to work out right you want a bigger limit on the LOC than you have on the Visa. Only problem with LOC's is that they tend to get cancelled more frequently. I could use one of those - plus an age boost. Anybody want to list me as an AU on a 30 year-old $20K+ CC?

Message Edited by creditwherecreditisdue on 09-02-2009 11:20 PM

[Anonymous]

txjohn,

Strategically, you hit a home run.  You've acquired great CLs with 4 1/2 CUs (USAA being a pseudo CU).

The chances of any AA with the CUs is highly unlikely. 

As a futures trader, I'd say you have a true "hedged" position.