topic Re: Retail cards make a big difference? in Credit Card Applications

Retail cards make a big difference?

njames33 — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 01:52:57 GMT

My FAKO scores are great but my FICO 8 scores are low. Looking for ways to boost my credit. I probably wouldn't waste a hard pull on it but is it worth it to get a retail store card? I applied for an Amazon Prime card thinking it would be considered retail but because it's through Chase I believe it just reports as revolving. Any suggestions would be great.

Credit.com Experian National Equivalently Score: 818

Credit Karma Vantage Scores: TU 716 & EQ 732

Chase Card Acquisition Risk Score: EX 719

Wells Fargo Monitoring PLUS Scores: EX 780, EQ 685, TU 767

FICO Bankcard Score: 5/EQ 717, 4/TU 630, 2/EX 814

MyFico Fico Score 8: EQ 628, TU 616, EX 620

MyFico FICO Auto Score: 5/EQ 716, 4/TU 672, 2/731

Ratio of Revolving Balances to CL 16% /Oldest Account Closed 8 years / 2 Active CC's reporting 1 year & 1 mo

$25,000 Navy Federal Cash Rewards (1 year) $25,000 Chase Sapphire Reserve (new) $10,000 Chase Sapphire Preferred (new) $ 8,500 Chase Amazon Prime (new) $ 1,000 Wells Fargo Propel Amex (1mo old) $500 Wells Fargo Business (1 year) (not reporting on personal)

You have a public record and/or collection on your credit report. (unpaid medical collection, paid tax lien)

You have no recent activity from a non-mortgage installment loan.

You have a short credit history.

You have too many credit accounts with balances

Re: Retail cards make a big difference?

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 03:09:00 GMT

Just remember FAKO scores mean absolutely nothing.

Re: Retail cards make a big difference?

Dalmus — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 03:19:44 GMT

Retail cards won't really have an effect on your FICO8 score... other than that they add to your total number of revolving cards and total credit available.

Some variations of the FICO scores may make a distinction between bank cards and retail/trade cards, but I don't know which off the top of my head.

Where you COULD run into a negative effect is in your auto-insurance score. For some reason, insurance companies believe that having store cards increases your risk of making an insurance claim. Although I'm sure you have to be RIGHT on the border between risk tiers for it to have an actual effect on your rates...

Is there a particular reason you want to boost your scores? Letting your existing accounts age 6 months will probably help your score more than adding a $500 store card!

Re: Retail cards make a big difference?

njames33 — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 03:38:56 GMT

Trying to apply for an auto loan and wanted to get one more card with a higher $25kish limit. I flip houses so could use the leverage to do more deals.

Re: Retail cards make a big difference?

njames33 — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 03:40:48 GMT

From what I've read Carvana actually uses your Vantage for their auto financing. Also some of the older fico models are still used for lending as well. I understand what you mean though.

Re: Retail cards make a big difference?

CreditDunce — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 15:04:01 GMT

The old FICO model that differentiated store cards was NextGen. Apart from Alliant and Penfed, I can't think of anyone that still uses it. What will improve your FICO mortgage scores the most is to stop app'g. The FICO scores for most mortgages punishes people with new credit accounts. Also, make sure you only have one credit card reporting a small balance.

Re: Retail cards make a big difference?

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 16:24:38 GMT

@CreditDunce wrote:
The old FICO model that differentiated store cards was NextGen. Apart from Alliant and Penfed, I can't think of anyone that still uses it. What will improve your FICO mortgage scores the most is to stop app'g. The FICO scores for most mortgages punishes people with new credit accounts. Also, make sure you only have one credit card reporting a small balance.

Thanks for the Nexgen info on alliant I didn't know that

are gas cards like Shell and Exxon considered retail cards? It shows as "credit card" on reports but my old BP says "charge account"

Re: Retail cards make a big difference?

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 17:13:00 GMT

Sorry, I'm new to this - what is a FICO 8 score? If some is referring to a FICO score, are they two different thingsor is it just another name?

Re: Retail cards make a big difference?

CreditDunce — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 00:48:06 GMT

Gas, BestBuy, Fingerhut, Lowes, CareCredit,Victoria Secret, Firestone, etc are all store cards. They report as "charge" cards on your CR. The insurance risk models break up retail cards into different types of store cards. FICO considers all revolvers the same no matter if they are store or bank credit cards. Target/TD is one of the few retail cards that report as a "credit" card. Amex Charge cards will also say "credit" card.

Second question, FICO developed algorithms to create credit scores based on your credit report. They have refined the algorithms over the years. The typical FICO score used in mortgages are EQ-04, EX-98 and TU-04. EQ-04 is FICO 04 based on your Equifax credit report. The most common FICO model today is FICO 08. FICO 09 is the new kid on the block. Fico 98 was from around 1998. To confuse matters FICO has renamed the models over the years. For example, FICO 04 is now called your FICO 5 score.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/The-many-flavors-of-FICO-Editions-versions-and-variations/td-p/1197617

There is also a nice (but outdated) chart showing the different names of the FICO versions in this thread:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Where-to-obtain-FREE-monthly-FICO-scores/td-p/2555469

Note: I made a simplification in my description of FICO grouping all revolvers the same. Credit cards with really high limits (35-50k+)may not be considered in your utilization Also, FICO 04 discounts likes to see at least one national bank credit card. There is a slight penalty if you only have credit union cards. We already mentioned NextGen is also an odd ball. It doesn't follow the same rules as the other FICO models.

Re: Retail cards make a big difference?

Anonymous — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 03:02:35 GMT

I would say skip the retail cards unless it offers you something you want. Super high interest rates. Just my opinion as a newbie

Re: Retail cards make a big difference?

Anonymous — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 03:45:33 GMT

If you find a Store Card with good deferred interest offers and at a place you frequent then it may be worth it...

I have a few store cards; for me, these provide better returns than another major card would because I frequent the stores...