Too many (CC's) to choose from... Help please!

[Anonymous]

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@creditwherecreditisdue wrote:

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@ajburt22 wrote:

I haven't applied for any credit whatsoever in over a year and a half.  So i haven't tried Cap One yet, but thanks for the tip...  I will try them first!

As far as the background goes, I do NOT have a bankruptcy.  I have a Pentagon FCU Visa that I owe $10,500 on, a BofA Visa I owe $3,000 on and a loan I owe $3,000 on.  That's pretty much all (and the only) debt that I have.  I have no mortgage, no open cards (Lowes?) and no other loans.  I can afford to pay the BofA card in full, but even though it's closed it reports a CL of like $9,800 so I wasn't sure if it was helping my credit or not. 

Which one is NFCU?  I'd like to go unsecured, but whatever will help my credit I'll do.  With my scores, do you think I would get approved for the BofA Secured if I put down $5,000 and paid my current Visa first?

Thanks so much for the help! 

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The CL on closed TL's does not help your UTIL at all so you may as well pay this one off. Try to get yourself down to one closed TL with a balance ASAP and then proceed to pay that one down. I would not app for credit until you have done a little more house cleaning. Be patient - you will get better results.

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Actually I believe that since the closed card still reports a CL, that limit would  factor into utilization. This was explained to me by FicoBerry and ScoreBuilder (I think)  on another thread.

Edited to correct the above sources of information...Brydman and Sidewinder were my sources of information.

Message Edited by VEEnVEGAS on 07-28-2009 10:29 AM

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@creditwherecreditisdue wrote:

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@ajburt22 wrote:

I haven't applied for any credit whatsoever in over a year and a half.  So i haven't tried Cap One yet, but thanks for the tip...  I will try them first!

As far as the background goes, I do NOT have a bankruptcy.  I have a Pentagon FCU Visa that I owe $10,500 on, a BofA Visa I owe $3,000 on and a loan I owe $3,000 on.  That's pretty much all (and the only) debt that I have.  I have no mortgage, no open cards (Lowes?) and no other loans.  I can afford to pay the BofA card in full, but even though it's closed it reports a CL of like $9,800 so I wasn't sure if it was helping my credit or not. 

Which one is NFCU?  I'd like to go unsecured, but whatever will help my credit I'll do.  With my scores, do you think I would get approved for the BofA Secured if I put down $5,000 and paid my current Visa first?

Thanks so much for the help! 

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The CL on closed TL's does not help your UTIL at all so you may as well pay this one off. Try to get yourself down to one closed TL with a balance ASAP and then proceed to pay that one down. I would not app for credit until you have done a little more house cleaning. Be patient - you will get better results.

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Actually I believe that since the closed card still reports a CL, that limit would  factor into utilization. This was explained to me by FicoBerry and ScoreBuilder (I think)  on another thread.

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An outstanding balance on a closed card is factored into your utilization. Credit limits on closed cards are not. All my closed cards still report a credit limit. The only thing that is included in scoring is the age of the tradelines.

[ajburt22]

I can join NFCU because I'm a DoD Contractor assigned to a U.S. Government Installation... so I will try them now. 

I will also clean up the remaining TL's, and may even wait to apply for a card for another month or two.  I just hate traveling without a CC, but don't have another trip back to the states until October.  Thanks for the help everyone!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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The CL on closed TL's does not help your UTIL at all so you may as well pay this one off. Try to get yourself down to one closed TL with a balance ASAP and then proceed to pay that one down. I would not app for credit until you have done a little more house cleaning. Be patient - you will get better results.

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@Anonymous wrote:

Actually I believe that since the closed card still reports a CL, that limit would  factor into utilization. This was explained to me by FicoBerry and ScoreBuilder (I think)  on another thread.

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@creditwherecreditisdue wrote:

An outstanding balance on a closed card is factored into your utilization. Credit limits on closed cards are not. All my closed cards still report a credit limit. The only thing that is included in scoring is the age of the tradelines.

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I don't really want to go off topic here, so I will just post a link to the thread I referenced above where it was pointed out to me that CLs on closed accounts that report a credit limit are indeed  factored into UT.

You will see that I argued vehemently that they weren't, but was told several times that I was wrong. I need to correct myself on the names I used above though. It was Byrdman and Sidewinder who gave me this information. 

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=generalcredit&thread.id=127627&view=by_date_ascending&page=2

Message Edited by VEEnVEGAS on 07-28-2009 10:40 AM

[creditwherecreditisdue]

Well hells bells! It was always my understanding that when you had a closed account with a balance that both the balance and the CL were included in the UTIL calculation. I was recently corrected on that by two mod's! I wish this matter would be authoritatively addressed and put to rest. (This is Fair Isaac's forum and I would think that an answer to that question would not give away the store.) I have a closed account with a balance and need to know the proper answer as I am contemplating a payoff.

[Anonymous]

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@creditwherecreditisdue wrote:
Well hells bells! It was always my understanding that when you had a closed account with a balance that both the balance and the CL were included in the UTIL calculation. I was recently corrected on that by two mod's! I wish this matter would be authoritatively addressed and put to rest. (This is Fair Isaac's forum and I would think that an answer to that question would not give away the store.) I have a closed account with a balance and need to know the proper answer as I am contemplating a payoff.

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According to what was explained to me in the above referenced thread this is correct if the account was closed by the credit card company. OP says his CL is still listed on his CR,.therefore it is factored into UT.

I agree that we need to have this addressed better here as there is much confusion on the forum about this topic, from mods as well as posters. I mentioned this to the moderator who corrected me on the matter.

Maybe it would be best to take this matter to another thread or reopen the linked thread above instead of letting it take over OP's thread though.

Message Edited by VEEnVEGAS on 07-28-2009 11:12 AM

[creditwherecreditisdue]

It would be great if maybe Barry or one of the other FICO people could resolve this.

[Anonymous]

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@creditwherecreditisdue wrote:
Well hells bells! It was always my understanding that when you had a closed account with a balance that both the balance and the CL were included in the UTIL calculation. I was recently corrected on that by two mod's! I wish this matter would be authoritatively addressed and put to rest. (This is Fair Isaac's forum and I would think that an answer to that question would not give away the store.) I have a closed account with a balance and need to know the proper answer as I am contemplating a payoff.

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 Ask and ye shall receive.

If you have a balance on a closed account, then the reported CL and reported balance is factored into your utilization.  If you have a zero balance, then the CL is NOT factored.

Here is the "authoritative" link you asked for:

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/why-closing-an-account-hurts-score.aspx

However, if the OC CLD's the limit then your utilization will get screwed with a balance, because it will be the reported CL that is factored.

Hope this helps.

Message Edited by txjohn on 07-28-2009 12:42 PM

[creditwherecreditisdue]

Well that's third hand Barry info (you citing a quote of Barry by a journalist) and that's good enough for me!

That means my long since closed account with a balance of $752.65 and CL of $3,949 (UTIL=19.06%) is hurting my overall UTIL of 9%. Once I hit a crossover point at < $350 remaining this account will then help my overall UTIL until it is totally paid off, at which point there will be a slightly negative effect. This supports my current plan which is to make one payment to get the balance down to about $350 and then parcel it out from there. I am afraid of any sudden changes with that account - it is Chase and for all I know in their warped system the balance on the closed account may be helping my open and pif account stay open. You really can't tell what is going on in their minds these days,

[Anonymous]

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@creditwherecreditisdue wrote:

Well that's third hand Barry info (you citing a quote of Barry by a journalist) and that's good enough for me!

That means my long since closed account with a balance of $752.65 and CL of $3,949 (UTIL=19.06%) is hurting my overall UTIL of 9%. Once I hit a crossover point at < $350 remaining this account will then help my overall UTIL until it is totally paid off, at which point there will be a slightly negative effect. This supports my current plan which is to make one payment to get the balance down to about $350 and then parcel it out from there. I am afraid of any sudden changes with that account - it is Chase and for all I know in their warped system the balance on the closed account may be helping my open and pif account stay open. You really can't tell what is going on in their minds these days,

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LOL. 

My brother's neighbor has a cousin whose best friend was told by her hair dresser's boyfriend.  And he got it straight from the horse's mouth.