old "new" account added to Equifax but no alert?

[kbns625]

I have a speigel card that I opened in 08 but the tradeline never reported on my credit report because I never charged on it.  In October '09 it was added to my report because I now have a balance.  Not only have I not received a "new account" alert but I have not received a balance increase alert either.  Please advise.

[haulingthescoreup]

Well, it's not a new account, since it's reporting as having been opened in 2008. I believe that the alert would be triggered by seeing an account opening date of 09/2009 or 10/2009. I'm not sure how you would have gotten an alert for a balance increase on a card that had not reported before, as there wasn't a change from $0 to $100 or whatever.

I agree that it's an odd situation, but I think that's why you weren't alerted.

Be sure that Spiegel updates to all three CRA's once you pay the balance off. Store cards are sometimes squirrelly about this, and I've had to dispute twice with the bureaus as "incorrect balance" to get WFNNB/ J.Crew to do so. They finally do it automatically now, but it was a PITA to fix at the time.