Where do I go from here (with Alliant)?

[Anonymous]

Where do you find the "coded" on your FICO report for Care Credit?  I am curious to know how to check this "coding" specific to an account.

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Yeah.  I know it's a can of worms.  I would like to hear from anyone who has any indicator of which account is a consumer finance company on their FICO reports - that would be a great help for all of us.  Moderator Tuscani posted the following (it will seem somewhat out of context on this thread): 

The FICO formula does not distinguish between prime/subprime per se. The way it identifies a 'consumer finance' account is through the bureau subscription code -- the lender's ID# at the bureau -- that, among other things, indicates what kind of business it is. (This is also how mortgage and auto inquiries are distinguished from other inquiry types.) I believe the reason why the suggestion above won't work is because the portion of these codes that provide this identification are industrywide and not unique to a particular lender, although a lender typically has multiple subscriber codes for different parts of the business. So, for example, while the score can tell if the lender is considered a consumer finance company, it can't identify a particular product of that lender's as prime/subprime.

on this thread: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=ficoscoring&thread.id=1722&view=by_date_asc...

There are so many potential lenders out there, I hate to see anyone shoot for an account with a consumer finance company when they could just as well be app'ing for a bank account - at best, or a CU account - either of which will serve them far better.

I'm a cheerleader for Orchard for rebuilding (I've closed mine at 11 months).  That bank card $500 CL will give you more FICO points than a $10,000 CL with Care Credit.  There are other rebuilder bank cards out there that may serve you better than Orchard.

So, OP, after you have closed on your mortgage, you may want to take a peak at a bank card or two, and then fill in with CU's.  Good luck, again!

[haulingthescoreup]

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txjohn wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

OP - After your mortgage is finalized it'll be okay to app for new cards, then is a good time to consider looking into a bank card.  They carry more weight with FICO than a CU or merchant card. 

GEMB Care Credit is coded as Consumer Finance Company on DH's report - I would definitely go for a quality lender before I would knock on GEMB's door.  (I have new-ish GEMB cards, but wish I didn't - they are listed as Consumer Finance Company on my reports also).  There are so many options available, go for a bank first - you'll get the biggest FICO bang.    Then fill in with CU's.  And then stay away from anything in the Consumer Finance Company category - just no need to go there.

Congrats on your mortgage and your rebuilding.

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Where do you find the "coded" on your FICO report for Care Credit?  I am curious, because according to Haulingthescoreup, she claimed that NO revolving account can be scored/factored as CF, only certain installment.  She was pretty ademant about that....so I am curious to know how to check this "coding" specific to an account.

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Just to clarify, it's actually Barry (myFICO admin) who was adamant about any account that reports as revolving CANNOT be coded as a CFL. I figure that since he gets paid to do this stuff, I'll go with what he says.

I have one CFL, and when I pulled the /12 reports, listing the top four negatives, I do have a ding for its presence. It was a loan from Wells Fargo Finance, one of those offers that you get in the mail, and I didn't know nuthin' from nuthin' back then. But I have stared at my reports over and over, and there is absolutely nothing on them that indicates this status. It's the only likely candidate, though.

So while an account that reports as revolving is not going to be scored as a CFL, we can all be nervous about any loans, because we sure don't get to see the indicator.