consumer finance accounts

[Anonymous]

I recently got a merrick bank cc. it seems as tho it reports as a "consumer finance account". Will this negatively affect my score? If so how much? If it does i might just close it as i have 2 other cards already and basically just opened it to have another line of credit so i would have a  lower utililization percentage.

[Anonymous]

even closed CFAs will hurt your scores. :/

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I recently got a merrick bank cc. it seems as tho it reports as a "consumer finance account". Will this negatively affect my score? If so how much? If it does i might just close it as i have 2 other cards already and basically just opened it to have another line of credit so i would have a  lower utililization percentage.

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If it shows as "revolving" on your credit reports, and it should, as it's a CC, it doesn't report as a consumer finance account. CFA's are installment.

May I ask where you discovered that it's a CFA?

[Anonymous]

hauling- thank you for your reply as i need all the help i can get with this subject! I hope you are right that if its a credit card which will show revolving than its not. But myfico sent me an alert about my new account through merrick bank and it mentioned "consumer finance account" which i thought like you that thats only installment loans thru certain places.Any more knowledge u know on this matter will b greatly appreciated. Thanks again

[haulingthescoreup]

With Scorewatch alerts, the various tidbits of info are often unrelated.

So sometimes I'll get an alert that a balance has increased, and my score might have changed because of a late payment. I immediately freak, because I haven't had a late in nearly four years, and I don't plan to ever have another, and I go check all my accounts. As it turns out, the comment about lates (or anything else) was old news from my reports and had nothing to do with the score or balance change.

Once it shows up on your account, click on the account details to see if it says "revolving." If so, it's not a CFA.

I'm guessing that you have something old on there that qualifies as a CFA. I have one, an old, paid signature loan from Wells Fargo Financial. Every now and then I get a negative factor pop up for presence of a CFA, and it's this oldie.

Anyway, I'm hoping that your new CC behaves itself. Is it just a straight Merrick bank card, or a Hooters, or what?

[Anonymous]

I think i just realized that the tidbits of info can be unrelated. I reread it and it says the following is no longer hurting you as much as before and it said consumer finance account so its pry talking about a loan i have. So its actually a good thing.

where do you go to get your reports? i usually get mine at annualcreditreports.com where u can once a yr for free. I like how it tells when things will drop off your reports.

you have been a big help, i see that you have really high scores that im sure you have worked hard for over the years. what has been the things you do most to achieve this? i have a good idea but any insight is helpful as i am very into bettering my scores.

yes it is a straight merrick bank card. i didnt think they would be considered consumer finance accounts and glad to hear they are not.