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Diversifying - to protect myself from US Bank CLD

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Anonymous
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Diversifying - to protect myself from US Bank CLD

After reading the Lunch with a Banker thread, I am concerned I might get a CLD from US Bank shortly. I have had a credit card from USB since 1989; currently it is at 65% UTIL (balance 13K; credit limit 20K). My FICO scores for all 3 bureaus are in the 700-730 range (EQ was the lowest and TU the highest).

 

I was going to check into some CU cards around December 1st; I had some inquiries for a personal loan in 12/2008 I was waiting to age for 1 year before applying for any new cards. Now, with the possibility of AA from USB, I might need to accelerate my plans to diversify my card portfolio a little bit. I only need a $1K - $2K credit limit for travel or small emergencies.

 

I see the following options - what do you think would be best for me?

 

My current CU (Boulder Valley Credit Union) - I currently have my checking/savings accounts there. I spoke with a loan officer and he indicated for the Gold card (5K CL) I would need a 680+ and no derogs on my report. The "standard" Visa (<5K) did not have a minimum score but would be considered on an individual basis. I asked about UTIL but the LO said it was not a show-stopper. I do not have any baddies on my CR - should I go ahead and apply for this one?

 

Alliant - What scores do I need? Anyone know how sensitive they are to UTIL?

 

Addison Avenue - What scores do I need? Anyone know how sensitive they are to UTIL?

 

Secured Card - I could spare $1K - $2K to open a secured card if none of the CUs pan out. What bank/CU would be my best bet for a secured card?

 

 

Thanks,

 

 

JD 

 

 

 

 

Message 1 of 4
3 REPLIES 3
score_building
Senior Contributor

Re: Diversifying - to protect myself from US Bank CLD

sounds like you have 3 v. good options, ideally you could take the local (if it is a good one, i am not familiar with it) and later on a major cu... both Addison and Alliant are great places to be imo.  Addison has a low rate platinum and Alliant typically has better than avg deposit rates.

 
Addison is sensitive to util ime, looks at income, etc. but sounds like you have other strengths, so may well be worth a shot.


Alliant evaluates primarily on eq fico. AFAIK and offers a quarterly credit score with their platinum cc (unfortunately, it's not the FICO used by most lenders.)

 

you can compare features, rates, etc. on the cc you are most interested from the 3 as you develop an app strategy.  here are some ratings searches for an overview of the cu:

 

http://www.bauerfinancial.com/btc_ratings.asp?q=cu

 

http://www.bankrate.com/rates/safe-sound/bank-ratings-search.aspx

Message Edited by score_building on 10-20-2009 05:04 PM
DCU EQ 5.0, Citi EQ 08 Bankcard, PenFed EX NG2
EX 08: AFCU, Amex, Chase, PSECU EX 98(?)
TU 08: Barclays, Discover
Message 2 of 4
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: Diversifying - to protect myself from US Bank CLD

I suppose it's always possible that US Bank will go after you, but I don't know that you need to diversify quite yet, or at least, not whole hog.

I'd say go with your local CU for now. If you have a recent FICO Equifax score report, print it out and show it to the loan officer you spoke to. Tell him that you know that they'd have to pull one for real, but that it's a Beacon 5.0 report, and does he think that you'd be approved for the Gold if the report they pull is pretty much the same?

I'd hold off at that point and concentrate on lowering that US Bank balance. Don't get suckered into BT's and all --that's just robbing Peter to pay Paul, and delaying the inevitable. If you can get that balance down, you might not have a problem at all, and with the Boulder Valley card, you'd have a good backup card on hand.

If you still want a third card later, you'll get a better deal if you apply with lower util and some history on the Boulder Valley CU card, so I think that's a decent option.

Also, be sure to figure out your AAoA (average age of accounts) on all three reports. Working one report at a time, figure out the age in months of all accounts, open and closed. Add up all these ages and divide by 12 to express it in YY/MM. Do this for each report (EQ, TU, and EX.) If opening new accounts will drop your AAoA by a whole year or more, you might want to hold off for a while. Quite a few of us have experienced the pain resulting from slaughtering our AAoA. Smiley Tongue


edited in desperate attempt to clarify the AAoA calculation thing Smiley Surprised
Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 10-20-2009 05:02 PM
* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 3 of 4
wmarat
Valued Contributor

Re: Diversifying - to protect myself from US Bank CLD


@score_building wrote:

sounds like you have 3 v. good options, ideally you could take the local (if it is a good one, i am not familiar with it) and later on a major cu... both Addison and Alliant are great places to be imo.  Addison has a low rate platinum and Alliant typically has better than avg deposit rates.

 
Addison is sensitive to util ime, looks at income, etc. but sounds like you have other strengths, so may well be worth a shot.


Alliant evaluates primarily on eq fico. AFAIK and offers a quarterly credit score with their platinum cc (unfortunately, it's not the FICO used by most lenders.) Alliant does not use classic FICO.

 

you can compare features, rates, etc. on the cc you are most interested from the 3 as you develop an app strategy.  here are some ratings searches for an overview of the cu:

 

http://www.bauerfinancial.com/btc_ratings.asp?q=cu

 

http://www.bankrate.com/rates/safe-sound/bank-ratings-search.aspx

Message Edited by score_building on 10-20-2009 05:04 PM

 

IN VINO VERITAS.
Message 4 of 4
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