Close Rewardzone card?

[Notone]

I have worked to rebuild my credit over the past 2 years, and have increased my scores from the 530s to high 600s, but seem to be stuck around 690.  I have had stellar payment history over the past 24 months, but still can't seem to make it to 700.  When I receive feedback from myFico on my report either from Score Alerts or when I pull a report, I am now seeing a note that having a consumer credit account with HSBC is lowering my score.  

If I close the account will this resolve the "consumer credit account" issue??  I know it will lower the amount of available credit I have, but honestly I only have four cards with total limits of $2300.  I have had this card since 2007, my oldest active account is from 2003.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

This is strange because when I added this card all of a sudden I got the consumer finance accounts red flag listed on all my closed defaulted student loan accounts. I wonder if HSBC poisioned my accounts worse.

[ngerasimatos]

Can you take a snapshot of the specific verbiage on the website and post it. I am interested. 

[Notone]

Your FICO® score decreased to 679 on July 12, 2010.

Interest rate alert:

Your new score of 679 may qualify you for an interest rate of 4.872%.  Rate as of July 12, 2010 for a 30 year mortgage. See interest rates for all FICO® scores.

This score decrease may be caused by this new reason:

• You have a consumer finance account on your credit report

This is the verbiage I see in my Score Watch report.  

[Anonymous]

Hi Notone,

Maybe you could help me undersand a bit better. 

How are you linking 

"This score decrease may be caused by this new reason: You have a consumer finance account on your credit report"

to your HSBC card which was opened in 2007?

In regards to does closing a consumer finance company account help - yes it helps diminish the impact, but the impact remains to some degree as long as the CFC account reports.

I'd just like to understand how you're linking it to HSBC.  Have you recently opened any installment accounts?

[Notone]

beanMEup,

Good question.  When the message first showed up I was shocked because I hadn't opened any new accounts in two years, the adjective new surprised me as well... Not sure what is going on there.  

Any who - I did some research (read: googled) to find out which companies on my CR would possibly qualify as consume finance and what qualifies as consumer finance.  From my research consumer finance is defined as a company/bank that operates in the sub-prime credit pools.  They have a unique type of identifier for CRAs.  

HSBC is the only creditor on my report that came up - I thought maybe I would see Capital One on that list but since they also have more mainstream cards, the bank isn't identified as a consume finance company. 

Any idea how much of an impact it will have???  My score keeps oscillating between 680 and 690, and I would love to get over that hump! 

Thanks!

[tray]

Hi, I also have a BBRZ Mastercard from HSBK that I opened up in December of last year on my credit reports and surprisingly this comment has never showed.  I quess my fico comments can be unpredictable at times from one credit report to another.

[austinguy907]

I have a HSBC AMEX and have never seen the CFC comment pop up on my reports here or in other sites.  Maybe call the CRA's and ask them directly?  Maybe FICO took a dump and needs to get flushed or something?  Just keep using and paying your cards to show activity and your score will break the barrier.  I wouldn't worry about it.  I've been stuck between 700-720 on EQ for ages now and 700-729 on TU.  Maybe take out a new installment loan for a large purchase to balance your account mix? 

[Wolf3]

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@austinguy907 wrote:

I have a HSBC AMEX and have never seen the CFC comment pop up on my reports here or in other sites.  Maybe call the CRA's and ask them directly?  Maybe FICO took a dump and needs to get flushed or something?  Just keep using and paying your cards to show activity and your score will break the barrier.  I wouldn't worry about it.  I've been stuck between 700-720 on EQ for ages now and 700-729 on TU.  Maybe take out a new installment loan for a large purchase to balance your account mix? 

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How do you get an HSBC AMEX?

[Wolf3]

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@Notone wrote:

beanMEup,

Good question.  When the message first showed up I was shocked because I hadn't opened any new accounts in two years, the adjective new surprised me as well... Not sure what is going on there.  

Any who - I did some research (read: googled) to find out which companies on my CR would possibly qualify as consume finance and what qualifies as consumer finance.  From my research consumer finance is defined as a company/bank that operates in the sub-prime credit pools.  They have a unique type of identifier for CRAs.  

HSBC is the only creditor on my report that came up - I thought maybe I would see Capital One on that list but since they also have more mainstream cards, the bank isn't identified as a consume finance company. 

Any idea how much of an impact it will have???  My score keeps oscillating between 680 and 690, and I would love to get over that hump! 

Thanks!

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  I think you need a more than 24 months of stellar history to hit your goal.   I am sceptical that the HSBC account is a problem.