topic Does Fingerhut ruin your credit profile? in Credit Cards

Does Fingerhut ruin your credit profile?

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Jun 2021 17:42:39 GMT

I'm rebuilding. My open cards right now are NFCU secured $300, Discover secured $200 and Capital One, unsecured $750. I want to add another easy-to-get-card to increase my available credit. However, I read on another forum that having a card like Fingerhut will make other lenders less likely to approve you in the future. Is this the case? Should I avoid those types of cards altogether?

Re: Does Fingerhut ruin your credit profile?

Cowboys4Life — Sat, 12 Jun 2021 17:37:06 GMT

Avoid Fingerhut like the plague.

I would focus on building the credit lines with the cards you already have to increase the credit profile and avoid subprime accounts at all costs.

Re: Does Fingerhut ruin your credit profile?

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Sat, 12 Jun 2021 17:44:48 GMT

I highly doubt lender's computers are programmed with "If Fingerhut, credit one, or first premier is on report, deny application."

The only time that may matter is during a manual review for something like a Crystal Visa Infinite.

Re: Does Fingerhut ruin your credit profile?

AverageJoesCredit — Sat, 12 Jun 2021 19:28:25 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I'm rebuilding. My open cards right now are NFCU secured $300, Discover secured $200 and Capital One, unsecured $750. I want to add another easy-to-get-card to increase my available credit. However, I read on another forum that having a card like Fingerhut will make other lenders less likely to approve you in the future. Is this the case? Should I avoid those types of cards altogether?

Fingerhut is just fine to start off with. I still have it on my report and i have a 33k Navy Federal Credit Union cc. You will be ok

Re: Does Fingerhut ruin your credit profile?

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Jun 2021 19:45:41 GMT

Isn't Fingerhut considered a CFA though?

I would say it's fine if you're just starting out and are unable to get any major Bankcards, and if you do have a fe even id Secured I don't think I'd waste the time on aquiring them. When utilized properly NFCU and Discover will do more good in the short term than Fingerhut. IMO

Re: Does Fingerhut ruin your credit profile?

Jnbmom — Sat, 12 Jun 2021 19:49:55 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I'm rebuilding. My open cards right now are NFCU secured $300, Discover secured $200 and Capital One, unsecured $750. I want to add another easy-to-get-card to increase my available credit. However, I read on another forum that having a card like Fingerhut will make other lenders less likely to approve you in the future. Is this the case? Should I avoid those types of cards altogether?

You have your 3 cards if you don't have an installment loan I would encourage you to open a SSL. You will then have the optimal profile to starting rebuilding.

I would hard pass on FH you don't need it .

Re: Does Fingerhut ruin your credit profile?

AverageJoesCredit — Sat, 12 Jun 2021 19:54:10 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Isn't Fingerhut considered a CFA though?

I would say it's fine if you're just starting out and are unable to get any major Bankcards, and if you do have a fe even id Secured I don't think I'd waste the time on aquiring them. When utilized properly NFCU and Discover will do more good in the short term than Fingerhut. IMO

To my knowledge Fingerhut is not a CFA, and even if it is, which i doubt, it never prevented me from obtaining credit

Re: Does Fingerhut ruin your credit profile?

Remedios — Sat, 12 Jun 2021 20:29:35 GMT

Fingerhut won't ruin any profiles, it's by far better option than some cards out there geared towards rebuilders.

While you really don't need it now, there wouldn't have been anything wrong with it had you gotten it before

The only things that ruin profiles are negative items, but even they have shelf life of 7 years (or somewhere there).

If you want to build a profile, focus on payment history and utilization. Those are deal makers.

Negatives are deal breakers, not the type of accounts you have.

Re: Does Fingerhut ruin your credit profile?

Nikita2008 — Sat, 12 Jun 2021 21:32:54 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I'm rebuilding. My open cards right now are NFCU secured $300, Discover secured $200 and Capital One, unsecured $750. I want to add another easy-to-get-card to increase my available credit. However, I read on another forum that having a card like Fingerhut will make other lenders less likely to approve you in the future. Is this the case? Should I avoid those types of cards altogether?

I'm not sure lenders care so much about who your accounts are with, so much as how you pay them. I have Fingerhut. I'm still in my rebuild, and I have managed to get unsecured high limits of 9k & 15k from NFCU and Discover.

All that said, if I had it to do over again I would not take a FH account, the rate is high and even without the high rate everything is ridiculously overpriced.

Re: Does Fingerhut ruin your credit profile?

designated_knitter — Sun, 13 Jun 2021 01:09:16 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I'm rebuilding. My open cards right now are NFCU secured $300, Discover secured $200 and Capital One, unsecured $750. I want to add another easy-to-get-card to increase my available credit. However, I read on another forum that having a card like Fingerhut will make other lenders less likely to approve you in the future. Is this the case? Should I avoid those types of cards altogether?

Don't even think about Fingerhut since you have Navy.

use Navy and Discover exclusively, maxing out and PIF so a zero balance reports each and every month. If you have to do the multiple times per month, so much the better.

@91/3, apply for a second Navy card. assuming that is approved, you'll probably get a 5k SL.

Keep working those secured cards for the next 3-4 months. Once th3 Discover graduates, then apply for your 3rd navy card and you'll probably get 15-25k SL. Then ask for CLI On second Navy card. Also, by then, your navy secured will probably be close to graduating if it hadn't already.

Then you'll officially be out of sub-prime purgatory.

Good luck!

Re: Does Fingerhut ruin your credit profile?

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Jun 2021 02:37:48 GMT

@designated_knitter wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I'm rebuilding. My open cards right now are NFCU secured $300, Discover secured $200 and Capital One, unsecured $750. I want to add another easy-to-get-card to increase my available credit. However, I read on another forum that having a card like Fingerhut will make other lenders less likely to approve you in the future. Is this the case? Should I avoid those types of cards altogether?
Don't even think about Fingerhut since you have Navy.

use Navy and Discover exclusively, maxing out and PIF so a zero balance reports each and every month. If you have to do the multiple times per month, so much the better.

@91/3, apply for a second Navy card. assuming that is approved, you'll probably get a 5k SL.

Keep working those secured cards for the next 3-4 months. Once th3 Discover graduates, then apply for your 3rd navy card and you'll probably get 15-25k SL. Then ask for CLI On second Navy card. Also, by then, your navy secured will probably be close to graduating if it hadn't already.

Then you'll officially be out of sub-prime purgatory.

Good luck!

What does @91/3 mean?

Re: Does Fingerhut ruin your credit profile?

FinStar — Sun, 13 Jun 2021 03:18:30 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@designated_knitter wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I'm rebuilding. My open cards right now are NFCU secured $300, Discover secured $200 and Capital One, unsecured $750. I want to add another easy-to-get-card to increase my available credit. However, I read on another forum that having a card like Fingerhut will make other lenders less likely to approve you in the future. Is this the case? Should I avoid those types of cards altogether?
Don't even think about Fingerhut since you have Navy.

use Navy and Discover exclusively, maxing out and PIF so a zero balance reports each and every month. If you have to do the multiple times per month, so much the better.

@91/3, apply for a second Navy card. assuming that is approved, you'll probably get a 5k SL.

Keep working those secured cards for the next 3-4 months. Once th3 Discover graduates, then apply for your 3rd navy card and you'll probably get 15-25k SL. Then ask for CLI On second Navy card. Also, by then, your navy secured will probably be close to graduating if it hadn't already.

Then you'll officially be out of sub-prime purgatory.

Good luck!
What does @91/3 mean?

91 days/3 full statements

Re: Does Fingerhut ruin your credit profile?

SouthJamaica — Sun, 13 Jun 2021 04:10:38 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I'm rebuilding. My open cards right now are NFCU secured $300, Discover secured $200 and Capital One, unsecured $750. I want to add another easy-to-get-card to increase my available credit. However, I read on another forum that having a card like Fingerhut will make other lenders less likely to approve you in the future. Is this the case? Should I avoid those types of cards altogether?

You're already past the point of needing Fingerhut, so skip it.

You already have 3 major bank cards.

I doubt it would hurt you but there's no reason for you to do it.

Re: Does Fingerhut ruin your credit profile?

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Jun 2021 04:38:16 GMT

I agree that you don't really need FH, but, if you want another card to give you breathing room on utilization, maybe apply for a store card to somewhere you regularly shop? Kohl's is easy to get and has prequalification, or maybe try one of the cards from Comenity Bank or Sychrony. I'd try some of the prequalification links in the soft-pull prequalification thread and see if you prequalify for a card that would be useful for you.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Soft-pull-PREAPPROVALs-Updated-4-20-21/td-p/5938753

Re: Does Fingerhut ruin your credit profile?

HeavenOhio — Sun, 13 Jun 2021 05:44:47 GMT

@Anonymous, as others have said, sit tight. You have three cards with good lenders, and one of them is unsecured.

Avoid Fingerhut at this point. The reason for getting it is to have a stepping stone to other cards. You already have those cards. It's not going to help with your goal to increase your available credit as they don't offer anything you'd actually want to buy.

I agree with the advice to apply for a second card with Navy once the time is right. As mentioned, that time could be sooner than later.

You didn't mention the age of your current cards. Knowing that would be helpful in advising you on timing the steps you take after a Navy application. A second Capital One card might be an option when the time is right. They tend to place a lot of emphasis on a customer's history with them. But for their better cards, they're a bit fussy about new accounts.

You also didn't mention the reason for your low scores. That's relevant because some banks might care about those reasons more than others. As far as scores themselves, AMEX is a bank to avoid until your scores are much higher.

Aviod store cards right now. If you shop at a place a lot, you might grab one to fill in a gap once your major cards have been established. But at this point, they'll probably come with low limits, clutter up your report with new accounts, and hinder your ability to get cards that are really useful.

Re: Does Fingerhut ruin your credit profile?

Anonymous — Sun, 27 Jun 2021 11:28:34 GMT

During my rebuild for 490ish I used Fingerhut as a cornerstone. Did the build program- $500 then was flexed to regular account. I paired this with Citi Secured. I kept PIF and would just buy a 20-30$ item every 3 months and limit raised every time. 2 years later I just got a NFCU 15k SL CC. Every file different but hasn't impacted me any.

Re: Does Fingerhut ruin your credit profile?

Anonymous — Sun, 27 Jun 2021 17:44:43 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
During my rebuild for 490ish I used Fingerhut as a cornerstone. Did the build program- $500 then was flexed to regular account. I paired this with Citi Secured. I kept PIF and would just buy a 20-30$ item every 3 months and limit raised every time. 2 years later I just got a NFCU 15k SL CC. Every file different but hasn't impacted me any.

Thanks for your input. Has your Citi secured card unsecured yet?

Re: Does Fingerhut ruin your credit profile?

Red1Blue — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 09:46:33 GMT

I dont think having a fingerhut account would hurt the score. One thing to consider is new inquiry and new account can cause a small ding in the short term. Long term you should be okay.

Re: Does Fingerhut ruin your credit profile?

KJinNC — Tue, 29 Jun 2021 02:46:50 GMT

I think accounts only matter in terms of type (eg bankcard vs store card vs charge card), credit limit if applicable, payment history, and history with whatever lender you are applying with. I might be forgetting some specific situation where there are other factors, but the "prestige" of accounts seems to make no difference in whether you are approved or denied for stuff. That said, I doubt the OP would benefit much at this point from Fingerhut. JMO.