Credit Union vs Bank Credit Cards

[haulingthescoreup]

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1Gr8Life wrote:

Thanks Everyone-

I guess I'm looking for a Major Bank, Prime Only Credit Card. Exxon-Mobil offers a MasterCard that looks attractive...any comments or recommendations?

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What do you actually want from a CC? Are you looking to raise your total available CL, for cash rewards, for travel rewards, for consumer protection, etc etc?

No point in going out and bagging another card just for the heck of it. You want it to be of use to you.

[Anonymous]

For no other reason than to increase & maximize my scores. (800 Club Wannabe) I have heard the optimum number of credit cards is four with one gas & one charge card. I need one more credit and the gas card.

[Anonymous]

HTSU...wow, that's just unbelievable.  You know, USAA is amazing; I really wish I could get one of those.  Gonna have to marry into the military!  lol

[haulingthescoreup]

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1Gr8Life wrote:

For no other reason than to increase & maximize my scores. (800 Club Wannabe) I have heard the optimum number of credit cards is four with one gas & one charge card. I need one more credit and the gas card.

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For credit, since you're not particularly worried about rewards, I would suggest Bank of America. The rewards on their cards are kinda lame, but they are more than made up for by their generosity with initial CL's and with subsequent CLI's. IMO, this is BofA's version of rewards (similar to CU cards.)

Did you realize that since your LLBean card is also a Visa, it counts as a bank card, rather than as a store card? Any "co-branded" card (store + MC, Visa, etc) falls into the bank card category.

As for the optimum number, that is from the FICO High Achievers messages that reproachfully annoy all of us on our FICO score reports. But I'd say that those figures are coming from pretty old data, and in this day and age, a couple more wouldn't hurt. (see link in my siggy)

No hurry, though; wait as your scores increase, and be picky. Remember that once your scores get good enough, they are wooing you, not the other way around.

[smallfry]

I don't understand the interest in obtaining a gas card for the purposes of maximizing FICO scoring. Aren't these treated in the same category as store cards such as Walmart or Target? 

[jaybird201]

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@smallfry wrote:
I don't understand the interest in obtaining a gas card for the purposes of maximizing FICO scoring. Aren't these treated in the same category as store cards such as Walmart or Target? 

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I think retail cards and fuel cards are categorized differently.

[haulingthescoreup]

My impression has always been that there are two categories: bank cards, which include store or gas company names plus MC, Visa, etc, and retail/ gas cards. From the myFICO Credit Education tab:

Types of Credit Used

* Number of (presence, prevalence, and recent information on) various types of accounts (credit cards, retail accounts, installment loans, mortgage, consumer finance accounts, etc.)

What's in Your FICO Score

I've always thought of the category as gas/retail. But I learn new stuff continually, so it could be either way.

Again though, if one of these cards has a Visa/ MC logo, it is not counted as retail. So the LL Bean Visa (I think it was) is not a retail card.

[smallfry]

Well I dunno Hauling but since I already have 13K available with Barclays/Juniper (Barclays sounds so much better than Juni don't it?) I refuse to get an LL Bean $500 CC. The dilemna. Since I get free gas at work do I even bother to apply for a gas card?  

[haulingthescoreup]

I hear ya. I'm now in the shredding mode.

My understanding is that either a store card OR a gas card is all you need. Assuming that you want to take on another card simply to pacify the FICO beast.


eta: oh, btw, forgot you were one of the blessed ones with the good Barclays card. You and MV can split my $500 CL. I closed the card yesterday.

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 10-04-2008 06:31 PM

[Anonymous]

Bear in mind that if you can get a decent mix of credit and charge cards, keep your balances low, and always pay on time, you're getting about 85 to 90% of the maximum possible benefit from managing credit card accounts well.  The bonus for having a "big" bank card is really minor compared to the score benefits over the long haul of paying on time and keeping those balances under 10%.

In other words, don't sweat the small stuff...