topic Re: fingerhut reporting? in Credit Cards

fingerhut reporting?

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:17:10 GMT

I am 18 soon to be 19. I am glad I found this site, I was going crazy with inquires on my account and had no idea it had a negative impact on my score. I stopped once I started reviewing this forum a couple of months ago. I only have a couple of cards, a Discover with a 1k limit about 6 months old, a walmart with 700 and a first premier and 500 limit JCP. I PIF on all my accounts, I am trying to build my credit, I did not use any school loans and now that I am out of school and have a full time career I figured it would be good to build credit. This site has a ton of good info!

I applied for a fingerhut account and was approved, but I have found no recent posts as to whether or not they report to the bureaus, so I am weary on taking their offer. This was from one of the last applications I did about 3 weeks ago.

Re: fingerhut reporting?

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:38:26 GMT

Congrats! on building credit early in life in which i did too, and for finding this site! I had 3 credit cards before I had a diploma (12 years ago) and Fingerhut was one. I don't believe they started reporting until years later. As far as Fingerhut reporting on credit reports - YES they do. I don't have this account any longer, so I'm not sure as to whom they report to. Maybe someone else can chime in on this.

GL in your credit future!

Re: fingerhut reporting?

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:13:50 GMT

Yes, Fingerhut works through CIT Bank and they report to EQ, TU and EX. They are usually reporting about 10-15 days after the billing cycle on my account. What is interesting is that so far, whenever I've PIF'd they up my CL by $50 automatically. They initially gave me $300, I've doubled that now.

Off-topic: I'm no fan of their service nor their prices, but it was easy as pie CL to get. This is a good place to start a credit re-build - plus they have no annual fees. BTW, I got turned down by Old Navy/GE MoneyBank a few days prior to getting approved by FH.

Message Edited by PrimeSeeker on 02-02-2010 10:13 PM

Re: fingerhut reporting?

Cotton_Britches — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:23:30 GMT

The prices at Fingerhut are outrageous. I would not shop there.

Re: fingerhut reporting?

mgs2010 — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 04:03:15 GMT

Fingerhut only reports to Equifax, no others as of now (per customer service rep for Fingerhut I spoke with a few months back...so this may have changed) Anyway, nice job on starting to build your credit. One tip for you- Close the First Premier card! It is EXPENSIVE and you don't need that card. First Premier is mainly for rebuilding, not builing. You have a discover and a walmart card, so you are in no need of paying outrageous fees just to carry the First Premier card (which btw, it will not do anthing for you-no rewards, no free online payments, nothing!) Not only that, but First Premier is a dead card...the limit may grow slightly but it will not grow as quickly as your discover card will.

btw, I was in your position just a few years ago and I opened the 1k discover card and I've had the card a little over 2 years now and the limit sits at 4,100 so that is a card that will grow with you. The First Premier will MAYBE be at 1,000 in 2 years time, but i'd be suprised if it even went that high.

Good Luck to you!

Re: fingerhut reporting?

revvystoke — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 06:28:52 GMT

Thanks for the replies, I think I was lucky to get out of school without any loans, it was all scholarships. I got my discover during my last semester and I suppose being a student was the only reason I was eligible. I didn't know about first premier until I read this site and I had already paid off the 179. I havent made any purchases on it except for a couple dollars at a store to at least keep it active.

Re: fingerhut reporting?

Anonymous — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:34:22 GMT

This may be a little late, but, I thought I'd add that Fingerhut absolutely reports to EQ and TU. I'm still waiting to see if they'll report on my EX. I opened my account in January 2010, and they cut my first statement on February 1st, and reported to EQ and TU a few days later. From what I've read, they should be reporting to all 3. Hope this helps.

Message Edited by Chula7 on 02-21-2010 06:34 AM

Re: fingerhut reporting?

Jazzzy — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:46:41 GMT

I agree about closing the First Premier card. You have great cards without this one. It's expensive, and it won't do your future any good. Also, don't spend money at Fingerhut just to keep that account alive. Don't spend money there unless it is the best deal going.

What type of school did you go to? You talk about graduating without school loans, but you're only 18. Sounds as if you've done a great job starting to build your credit. So many people mess things up at this age and then try to work their way out of the bad stuff in their 30's. Doesn't sound as if you'll have to do that. Congratulations!

Re: fingerhut reporting?

Anonymous — Tue, 24 May 2011 17:19:28 GMT

yes, they report as of now to eq and tu. they use metabank now too.

i have an account with them, I have used them a few times in a year. each time paying them off in full.

last time i used them was in jan. and I paid the full balance in feb. but still today, the ca's are reporting that one purchase I made as a balance, i wonder for how much longer and if i should dispute the balance. just starting to rebuild so this small purchase has really been huring my ratio.

i will never use them again and i will just keep the account open sitting there as they have never even given me a limit increase. it's been more than a year since i've opened thier account and during that time, my scores have went from very poor to fair and yet i still have this 250 limit with them and 1/2 of it shows as used even though it has been paid in full for months now! needles to say i'm upset about them. their products and high prices are not worth this hassle!

i wish i never opened the account, 250!? it just hurts my reports

Re: fingerhut reporting?

LS2982 — Tue, 24 May 2011 20:45:02 GMT

Fingerhut reports to EQ, TU, not EX

Re: fingerhut reporting?

Anonymous — Tue, 24 May 2011 23:11:29 GMT

You're absolutely correct! I learned after the fact that Fingerhut only reports to TU and EQ, not Ex. I believe one of their reps told me that they reported to all 3 many years ago, but who knows. I was a little disappointed that they don't report to Ex, but what can you do.

Re: fingerhut reporting?

Cotton_Britches — Wed, 25 May 2011 00:42:32 GMT

How do other creditors view Fingerhut? Is it a subprime type of company?

Re: fingerhut reporting?

Anonymous — Wed, 25 May 2011 01:40:37 GMT

They view Fingerhut as a store credit card I believe, not as good as having a major credit card. Since I opened my $400 Fingerhut Account, I opened about 6 new lines of credit, all ranging from $1000-$17,000 (unsecured). Bad idea though, because now I have balances on almost all my cards. I'm paying them down, but will not use them once I do. The best advice I can give you is to not pay so much attention to how they're viewed, but focus on rebuilding/building with what you already have. Your scores will increase for sure, trust me. I filed bankruptcy in 2008, and was able to obtain an $8k credit card 2 years after.

Re: fingerhut reporting?

Cotton_Britches — Wed, 25 May 2011 02:27:10 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
The best advice I can give you is to not pay so much attention to how they're viewed, but focus on rebuilding/building with what you already have. Your scores will increase for sure, trust me. I filed bankruptcy in 2008, and was able to obtain an $8k credit card 2 years after.

Will do Chula7. Thanks.