Info Regarding Income vs CLs

[youngandcreditwrthy]

See... I would love to do that. Most of my primes arent ever two years old though, and I can't bring myself to close five digit store card limits that Ive had opened for four or five or six years...
I won't even consider actually doing that until I get a denial for too much credit LOL.
I have began the transition though and willl see where the next year or so takes me ib terms of credit lines/prime lenders! :-)

[FinStar]

---

@improvingmycredit wrote:
If I were you though- just looking at your profile, I'd nix almost all the store credit cards and focus on getting higher limits with the Prime Lenders. If any of the Primes do take into account store credit limits, you are severely limiting your CL potential with them. Just an after thought. :-)

---

Most sizeable lending institutions (BofA, WF, Chase, AMEX, etc.) take into consideration your overall credit picture which includes the store and private label credit lines.  So for the above poster who stated Chase doesn't consider this into account is an inacurate statement.  It is acurate in the sense that certain accounts that are coded as "charge accounts" on credit bureaus (example: Von Maur or similar creditor) which would behave/report as AMEX charge cards.

So, for folks who have accounts with Comenity or GECRB (etc) those report their respective credit lines (and balances as applicable) and count in the overal utilization factors.  For the above poster, the "tap out" factor will eventually be reached whether he uses his HHI or personal income.

[improvingmycredit]

Thanks for the info. I was pretty sure that lenders take into account all CLs and utilization but couldn't confirm. I will on occasion use the Walmart card for example for a small purchase to keep the account active. Typically I will get a small FICO bump up with the reason being- "recent use of inactive account". "Displaying use of responsible credit habits improves your FICO and displays to lenders ability to handle different types of credit." or something to that effect. The point being- if FICO takes into account all TLs, so should and probably do the big lenders. Anyway- stands to reason that any TL that could potentially increase debt load should be taken into account. I am closing the Chevron and RTG here in the near future. Just no need for them and will only reduce my available credit marginally.

[FinStar]

---

@improvingmycredit wrote:
Thanks for the info. I was pretty sure that lenders take into account all CLs and utilization but couldn't confirm. I will on occasion use the Walmart card for example for a small purchase to keep the account active. Typically I will get a small FICO bump up with the reason being- "recent use of inactive account". "Displaying use of responsible credit habits improves your FICO and displays to lenders ability to handle different types of credit." or something to that effect. The point being- if FICO takes into account all TLs, so should and probably do the big lenders. Anyway- stands to reason that any TL that could potentially increase debt load should be taken into account. I am closing the Chevron and RTG here in the near future. Just no need for them and will only reduce my available credit marginally.

---

Correct.  Plus, on the upside, when you close the above mentioned accounts that history is still retained for 10 years on file.  The utilization hit will probably be small depending on the closed credit lines and the overall open accounts on file.  Almost like a fruitfly on a grapefruit.

[youngandcreditwrthy]

Well, Im the one who mentioned that.
A Credit Analyst at Chase told me they do NOT consider store cards...
That is what I was told by a Credit Analyst on my recon for Freedom because I mentioned to them that I had larger, very well managed store lines. The reality is that all of my store lines are at zero bal, except a $200 0% offer bal on my Amazon Store card :-)

[youngandcreditwrthy]

I know FICO doesn't discriminate but an analyst on a manual review does, at least ime with Chase specifically. I believe they should consider it. Store card debt is very dangerous in my view... Looking at 22%+ aprs! Eek

[navigatethis12]

---

@youngandcreditwrthy wrote:
Well, Im the one who mentioned that.
A Credit Analyst at Chase told me they do NOT consider store cards...
That is what I was told by a Credit Analyst on my recon for Freedom because I mentioned to them that I had larger, very well managed store lines. The reality is that all of my store lines are at zero bal, except a $200 0% offer bal on my Amazon Store card :-)

---

I was told the same thing by M&T and Sallie Mae. In my opinion, it's a huge load of rubbish. It's just as easy to default on an Amazon or Macy's card as it is to default on a card with a payment network. I never had the problem with Chase because they approved the cards anyway. The lady did include a store card when she mentioned how much available credit I had for a young person.

[youngandcreditwrthy]

Yeah, I got that Freedom approved with a near maxed out Barclay's Trav Amex. I noted to him that my overalll util was like 15%, and he said they didnt count store lines in that...but he essentially approved me on that basis... I mean FICO considers store lines, Chase should too.