topic Re: Where do I go from here (with Alliant)? in Credit Cards

Where do I go from here (with Alliant)?

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:56:55 GMT

First off, I just want to express how amazing this forum truly is. I've been reading for awhile now (first post), and I can see why the site won an award recently...the information here is truly invaluable. Thank you all for contributing your knowledge and experiences to others like myself.

I'm hoping the good folks on the board can help me figure out how I should proceed from this point: I would like to apply for a credit card, as I haven't had any revolving account activity in quite awhile (basically since early college, when I was stupid). For the longest time I shied away from CCs, but from the information I've gathered on the board, as well as from the FICO Score Simulator, it's pretty clear that being approved for new revolving credit (and using it wisely) would boost my score rather significatly. That said,I need a card with a decent CL (and interest rates) so that I don't crank up the utilization when I make the inevitable purchases for the house, as well as personal and business expenses coming up soon.

After reading all of the positive feedback about Alliant CU here, I think I want to try and apply for a card with them. My EQ is 647 (dropped 3 points recently after a recent pull for a mortgage app), and I have 3 inquiries: 2 from my mortgage lender for a pre-approval (April) and the actual loan app (Nov), and one from Thrifty Car Rental (June...really not happy about that one). I also have 3 negative marks: two 30 day-lates from Dec '07 on an undgrad student loan (one payment, disbursed to 2 accounts...I was in grad school at the time, did not defer them as I should have), and one 120-day late from April 2005 (long story...had a small balance post-undergrad, but didn't know it until I tried to get a transcript for grad school). I'm going to try and work on all three of these negative marks to get them removed.

Here's my dilemma: I'm a first-time homebuyer waiting to hear back from the bank on a short sale... if they accept my offer (hopefully), I will probably be closing at the end of the month, or more likely, next month. Should I apply for a card now given this? Should I try to removed the negative marks or inquiries before appyling with Alliant? Is there anything else I should be doing that I haven't thought about? The card would definitley be a boost, but I want to go about the right way.

Thanks for your help!

Re: Where do I go from here (with Alliant)?

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:03:54 GMT

I would not apply for new credit until you close.

I also would not apply for Alliant as your first CU if you have no other open revolving, especially at your FICO scores. IME, Alliant likes 680 or higher and they like you to have some revolving history. Also, Alliant does not offer a secured card, so if you don't qualify now you cannot work your way up through secured.

At your scores, if you can qualify for membership, you would be best served at NFCU or PSECU. They are both much more lenient as well as generous.

I can suggest Care Credit to get some revolving history/CL. They have been fairly generous lately.

I would suggest looking into a good CU secured card if you cannot get into NFCU or PSECU.

Good luck!

Message Edited by txjohn on 12-08-2009 12:03 PM

Re: Where do I go from here (with Alliant)?

timber — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:14:55 GMT

I would also throw in Addison Ave FCU... they offer a secured Visa if you don't qualify for unsecured. They also offer much better rates then Alliant right now, like 3.5% on their Maximum Rewards Checking. They are super nice and seem very eager to work with you.

www.addisonavenue.com

Re: Where do I go from here (with Alliant)?

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:17:44 GMT

I agree that Addison is a superb CU and they do have the secured product and great rates. For unsecured credit they are more conservative, but that is the value of a secured card, the ability to work your way up and into their credit hearts!

Re: Where do I go from here (with Alliant)?

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:42:19 GMT

How large a credit limit can I get from Alliant or NFCU. My scores are EQ- 786, TU-775. Income low six figures. I just recently ( last couple of weeks) was approved for a Wells Fargo LOC for $ 5k.Although I wanted $ 20k to $ 40K.

I have total inquiries on my CR of 8 to 9, although there are only 3 that are within the last 12 months and some are on the same day for a car loan.

Do you think I could apply now and get a large Credit limit like $ 40k to $50k?

Thanks

Re: Where do I go from here (with Alliant)?

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 02:28:35 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
How large a credit limit can I get from Alliant or NFCU. My scores are EQ- 786, TU-775. Income low six figures. I just recently ( last couple of weeks) was approved for a Wells Fargo LOC for $ 5k.Although I wanted $ 20k to $ 40K.

I have total inquiries on my CR of 8 to 9, although there are only 3 that are within the last 12 months and some are on the same day for a car loan.
Do you think I could apply now and get a large Credit limit like $ 40k to $50k?

Thanks

FWIW, my financial profile is similar to yours. When I opened checking & savings accounts online at Alliant earlier this year, I was offered a Visa with a $10K CL, which I accepted. It's quite possible that I might have gotten a higher limit if I had asked for it, but I already had more than $270K at the time from other issuers (today it's up to $295K) & wasn't looking for any more. My sole reason for establishing a relationship with Alliant was to take advantage of their relatively high rates on their deposit products. What I want & need isn't more credit but higher rates of return on my savings & investments.

I don't particularly like the card & rarely use it, primarily because it doesn't support Quicken downloads. Any credit product that doesn't interface with Quicken is of limited usefulness to me. Consequently, I charge $5 to the card every other month & then pay it off.

You might also look at Pentagon FCU's Platinum Visa, which does work with Quicken & also pays worthwhile rewards. PenFed advertises limits up to $50K. The limit on my PenFed card is only $15K, but that's more than enough for me.

Re: Where do I go from here (with Alliant)?

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:22:49 GMT

When I applied Alliant, I had 800 scores, low six figure income and was given the preapproval offer of $10k on their reward card. I accepted, but then changed to the non-reward card and set up auto pay to get their lowest APR rate of 8.5% fixed. They have gone to variable and will be moving the rate up to 9.24% with a HUGE jump in cash advance APR to over 18%.

Re: Where do I go from here (with Alliant)?

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:01:51 GMT

OP - After your mortgage is finalized it'll be okay to app for new cards, then is a good time to consider looking into a bank card. They carry more weight with FICO than a CU or merchant card.

GEMB Care Credit is coded as Consumer Finance Company on DH's report - I would definitely go for a quality lender before I would knock on GEMB's door. (I have new-ish GEMB cards, but wish I didn't - they are listed as Consumer Finance Company on my reports also). There are so many options available, go for a bank first - you'll get the biggest FICO bang. Then fill in with CU's. And then stay away from anything in the Consumer Finance Company category - just no need to go there.

Congrats on your mortgage and your rebuilding.

Re: Where do I go from here (with Alliant)?

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:30:16 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
OP - After your mortgage is finalized it'll be okay to app for new cards, then is a good time to consider looking into a bank card. They carry more weight with FICO than a CU or merchant card.

GEMB Care Credit is coded as Consumer Finance Company on DH's report - I would definitely go for a quality lender before I would knock on GEMB's door. (I have new-ish GEMB cards, but wish I didn't - they are listed as Consumer Finance Company on my reports also). There are so many options available, go for a bank first - you'll get the biggest FICO bang. Then fill in with CU's. And then stay away from anything in the Consumer Finance Company category - just no need to go there.

Congrats on your mortgage and your rebuilding.

Where do you find the "coded" on your FICO report for Care Credit? I am curious, because according to Haulingthescoreup, she claimed that NO revolving account can be scored/factored as CF, only certain installment. She was pretty ademant about that....so I am curious to know how to check this "coding" specific to an account.

Re: Where do I go from here (with Alliant)?

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:57:31 GMT

Thanks for the responses everyone...all of your input is very much appreciated. Txjohn, what are your thoughts regarding pre-approved offers (again, given my mortgage status) at this time? Should I not consider/accept any until after closing as well?

Re: Where do I go from here (with Alliant)?

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:10:19 GMT

Where do you find the "coded" on your FICO report for Care Credit? I am curious to know how to check this "coding" specific to an account.

Yeah. I know it's a can of worms. I would like to hear from anyone who has any indicator of which account is a consumer finance company on their FICO reports - that would be a great help for all of us. Moderator Tuscani posted the following (it will seem somewhat out of context on this thread):

The FICO formula does not distinguish between prime/subprime per se. The way it identifies a 'consumer finance' account is through the bureau subscription code -- the lender's ID# at the bureau -- that, among other things, indicates what kind of business it is. (This is also how mortgage and auto inquiries are distinguished from other inquiry types.) I believe the reason why the suggestion above won't work is because the portion of these codes that provide this identification are industrywide and not unique to a particular lender, although a lender typically has multiple subscriber codes for different parts of the business. So, for example, while the score can tell if the lender is considered a consumer finance company, it can't identify a particular product of that lender's as prime/subprime.

on this thread: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=ficoscoring&thread.id=1722&view=by_date_ascending&page=1

There are so many potential lenders out there, I hate to see anyone shoot for an account with a consumer finance company when they could just as well be app'ing for a bank account - at best, or a CU account - either of which will serve them far better.

I'm a cheerleader for Orchard for rebuilding (I've closed mine at 11 months). That bank card $500 CL will give you more FICO points than a $10,000 CL with Care Credit. There are other rebuilder bank cards out there that may serve you better than Orchard.

So, OP, after you have closed on your mortgage, you may want to take a peak at a bank card or two, and then fill in with CU's. Good luck, again!

Re: Where do I go from here (with Alliant)?

haulingthescoreup — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:38:55 GMT

txjohn wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

OP - After your mortgage is finalized it'll be okay to app for new cards, then is a good time to consider looking into a bank card. They carry more weight with FICO than a CU or merchant card.

GEMB Care Credit is coded as Consumer Finance Company on DH's report - I would definitely go for a quality lender before I would knock on GEMB's door. (I have new-ish GEMB cards, but wish I didn't - they are listed as Consumer Finance Company on my reports also). There are so many options available, go for a bank first - you'll get the biggest FICO bang. Then fill in with CU's. And then stay away from anything in the Consumer Finance Company category - just no need to go there.

Congrats on your mortgage and your rebuilding.

Where do you find the "coded" on your FICO report for Care Credit? I am curious, because according to Haulingthescoreup, she claimed that NO revolving account can be scored/factored as CF, only certain installment. She was pretty ademant about that....so I am curious to know how to check this "coding" specific to an account.

Just to clarify, it's actually Barry (myFICO admin) who was adamant about any account that reports as revolving CANNOT be coded as a CFL. I figure that since he gets paid to do this stuff, I'll go with what he says.

I have one CFL, and when I pulled the /12 reports, listing the top four negatives, I do have a ding for its presence. It was a loan from Wells Fargo Finance, one of those offers that you get in the mail, and I didn't know nuthin' from nuthin' back then. But I have stared at my reports over and over, and there is absolutely nothing on them that indicates this status. It's the only likely candidate, though.

So while an account that reports as revolving is not going to be scored as a CFL, we can all be nervous about any loans, because we sure don't get to see the indicator.