Fingerhut credit card dilema?

AverageJoesCredit · ‎07-30-2016

Good evening my fellow myFicoers!

hope all is well!

I have a question, or if better served, would like some suggestions from anyone with more experience than i concerning my Fingerhut credit account.

I have started my rebuild basically from a bk7 back in jan 15. The first to give me credit was Fingerhut , whom i had many years before. Cool, triple pull , boo

. Anyhow, ive used them to buy a small purchase like 90 bucks or so pay it a couple months to establish payment history etc. Done this a couple times now and have been able to get my cl up to 1700.

Heres my dilema. They recently gave me a "TEMPORARY" credit limit of $400 more, to bring me to 2100 but i need to buy something in that amount to make it permanent.i did buy something else when 1st given this increase but dont really want to have to buy something for 300 bucks to make it stick. Deadline is tomorrow 31 aug.

I assume this will cld back to 1700 and quite honestly i dont like be given a temp increase only to be taken away if i dont spend what they want. I realize they are basically a credit starter co and thats how they work. Never have had a problem in all my time with them.

If they do take back the 400, im very inclined to just close the card as i have in essence moved past the need for this card as i do now have Boa, Penfed, Citi, etc. This was and is my first cc of my rebuild so i would appreciate any feedback on your possible thoughts on this card, its closing, what it would do to my profile ,etc. I know everyones profile is different, income plays a role etc and that everyones situation is different but i really am interested in peoples opinions here as i am always willing to learn more about my credit health and i know we all can learn from each others good and bad experiences. If you need any data like current scores etc, just let me know happy to share.
Thanks everyone for any response. Great weekend AVJ

AverageJoesCredit · ‎07-30-2016

Sorry mods accidently posted topic twice please delete one thank you

Anonymous · ‎07-30-2016

@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
Good evening my fellow myFicoers! hope all is well!

I have a question, or if better served, would like some suggestions from anyone with more experience than i concerning my Fingerhut credit account.

I have started my rebuild basically from a bk7 back in jan 15. The first to give me credit was Fingerhut , whom i had many years before. Cool, triple pull , boo. Anyhow, ive used them to buy a small purchase like 90 bucks or so pay it a couple months to establish payment history etc. Done this a couple times now and have been able to get my cl up to 1700.

Heres my dilema. They recently gave me a "TEMPORARY" credit limit of $400 more, to bring me to 2100 but i need to buy something in that amount to make it permanent.i did buy something else when 1st given this increase but dont really want to have to buy something for 300 bucks to make it stick. Deadline is tomorrow 31 aug.

I assume this will cld back to 1700 and quite honestly i dont like be given a temp increase only to be taken away if i dont spend what they want. I realize they are basically a credit starter co and thats how they work. Never have had a problem in all my time with them.

If they do take back the 400, im very inclined to just close the card as i have in essence moved past the need for this card as i do now have Boa, Penfed, Citi, etc. This was and is my first cc of my rebuild so i would appreciate any feedback on your possible thoughts on this card, its closing, what it would do to my profile ,etc. I know everyones profile is different, income plays a role etc and that everyones situation is different but i really am interested in peoples opinions here as i am always willing to learn more about my credit health and i know we all can learn from each others good and bad experiences. If you need any data like current scores etc, just let me know happy to share.
Thanks everyone for any response. Great weekend AVJ

I would just pay off whatever balance you have, keep it open, and not ever use it.

I have a fingerhut "credit card" but never use it, since they're a rip off and make you pay 2 or 3 times as much as the original price for everything when it's all said and done

lexandra90 · ‎07-30-2016

Same here, i dont use it either. Just have it so i can have a good tradeline on my accounts is all.

Credit: $80K Total Credit Lines...Gardening until 7/2018

Anonymous · ‎07-30-2016

Pay it off, delete the mobile app and forget you ever had a Fingerhut account. They are forcing you to spend money and put yourself in debt. That is horrible! Let the $1700 report every month as a zero balance and let that be the extent of your dealings with them.

AverageJoesCredit · ‎07-30-2016

Thanks for your reply Mdv! As of today, no balance, last purchase paid one payment then PIF next month. I definetly dont mind sding the card but dont like the we'll give you a cli but ya gotta ...card game. Ive read somewhere that by not closing alot cards that also helps establish a better credit score etc so thats one of the reasons id like some feedback

AverageJoesCredit · ‎07-30-2016

Thanks @ dellguy33, appreciate your opinion. I definitely knew not to buy huge purchases on this card as to not get stuck overpaying. Thankfully the purchases i made were small like some shoes to establish payment history. Im very cautious after once checking on a watch, not too bad a special, would have been like 20-30 bucks but to ship where i live, like $27 bucks. Seriously? I can see them with crazy pricing cuz thats how they make their money but shipping a watch that should cost like $5-6 bucks @ 27 was a big no no. This is why i dont want maintain a balance for long if at all. Also never got the app so good there

Also, thanks @lexandra90 for your input as well

Anonymous · ‎07-30-2016

First, I would tell them where they could stick their conditional CLI.

And I definitely would not buy anything else from them, for reasons already discussed that you already know.

So that only leaves the question of what to do with the account. Closing an account has no inherent damage to your score. The only potential negatives would be to your total available credit and to your UTIL.

Which brings the questions how many cards do you have and what's your total available credit and current total balance? That would help determine if you should close it or SD it.

AverageJoesCredit · ‎07-31-2016

I believe i have 18 total credit card accounts with a total of about 65,000 credit limit. I believe my current tbl is probably around 2000 ( though il be paying off like 900 in bills next week) And to think when i found this forum my tcl was about 12,500

. So in the end i dont think losing the 1700 will hurt my overall utilization, i believe i fluctuate anywhere from 1-3% . I would just like to be sure that by closing it will not hurt me longterm.
Im hoping by next May, my bk7 will finally fall off my TU and EQ and hopefully same thing for my last late payments(car) falls off my EX. This should hopefully give me a super clean file plus another year of ontime payment history.

Anonymous · ‎07-31-2016

@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
I believe i have 18 total credit card accounts with a total of about 65,000 credit limit. I believe my current tbl is probably around 2000 ( though il be paying off like 900 in bills next week) And to think when i found this forum my tcl was about 12,500 . So in the end i dont think losing the 1700 will hurt my overall utilization, i believe i fluctuate anywhere from 1-3% . I would just like to be sure that by closing it will not hurt me longterm.
Im hoping by next May, my bk7 will finally fall off my TU and EQ and hopefully same thing for my last late payments(car) falls off my EX. This should hopefully give me a super clean file plus another year of ontime payment history.

Nope, not one little bit. That card has taken you as far as it can. You have plemty of cards and plenty of credit. It's time to dump them.