topic Re: No Credit Cards at All Does this.... in Credit Cards

No Credit Cards at All Does this....

Anonymous — Fri, 24 May 2013 01:51:35 GMT

Greetings,

My wife and I have no credit cards at all, and have not had any for about 10 years. We only use Debit cards or cash for purchases.

How badly is this hurting our Fico scores? The only loan under "credit cards" is a tire store revolving balance of $ 1596 with a limit of $ 2450 or a utilization rate of 65.14%.

I keep reading that credit cards help your score if you keep the utilization rate below 30%.

Thank You for any responses.

Re: No Credit Cards at All Does this....

09Lexie — Fri, 24 May 2013 02:00:19 GMT

Welcome to the forum !

The only cc on your reports has an extremely high util. Yes, your util is way too high and hurting your CS.

I suggest getting it down to less than 20% before applying for any credit.

Re: No Credit Cards at All Does this....

ztnjpv — Fri, 24 May 2013 02:02:20 GMT

Yes. In a manner of speaking, not having any cards hurts your score in the sense that you will be lacking a big part of the credit mix (loans and mortgages being the other big two) and you also end up not having a thicker credit file which makes your score less resilient to changes. And yes, if the only revvolving account is the one you list, then it is hurting because that level of utilization WILL lower your score.

Re: No Credit Cards at All Does this....

myjourney — Fri, 24 May 2013 02:09:37 GMT

Welcome to the forum

What are your scores, how many INQ's I assume not many since you have no cards?

What is your oldest TL

Answering these may better get you the answers you seek

Re: No Credit Cards at All Does this....

zeusta20 — Fri, 24 May 2013 03:26:16 GMT

Just like the others stated, yes, having only one CC with a high UTL hurts your score. FROM MY EXPERIENCE, having more cards (not over doing it though!) helps your score because it shows that you're able to manage more credit. My CS was lower when I had only two credit cards VS having 6. Also having a credit mix of an auto loan, mortgage, etc.

Re: No Credit Cards at All Does this....

Anonymous — Fri, 24 May 2013 03:34:31 GMT

hi,

Myfico score is 615, it was 619 until a couple days ago when someone pulled a "hard" credit inquiry and it dropped 4 points. I have no idea who that company is or why they would pull my credit. My score is indeed low from having the state audited my tax returns for last 8 years--in late 2012. They placed four leins on my propety for tax debt I could not pay. I am making $ 340 payments twice a month. Anyway, I only had one inquiry on my credit before the last one.

As for trade lines, i have a mortgage--it is the oldest TL at 104 months--

Thanks

Re: No Credit Cards at All Does this....

HiLine — Fri, 24 May 2013 03:40:07 GMT

Sounds like the tire store thing is actually a credit card of some sort. If so, the high utilization on that account is hurting your score a lot. Paying off the balance will give you a very nice score bump!

Re: No Credit Cards at All Does this....

09Lexie — Fri, 24 May 2013 04:16:13 GMT

+1
The four state tax liens are also a big ding on your cr.

Re: No Credit Cards at All Does this....

Anonymous — Fri, 24 May 2013 12:56:32 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
hi,

Myfico score is 615, it was 619 until a couple days ago when someone pulled a "hard" credit inquiry and it dropped 4 points. I have no idea who that company is or why they would pull my credit. My score is indeed low from having the state audited my tax returns for last 8 years--in late 2012. They placed four leins on my propety for tax debt I could not pay. I am making $ 340 payments twice a month. Anyway, I only had one inquiry on my credit before the last one.

As for trade lines, i have a mortgage--it is the oldest TL at 104 months--

Thanks

Ouch. Those tax leins will really hurt as long as they are on the report. The util as others have said will give a score bump when it is brought down, 10% would be better than 30, but really unless you are going to be applying for credit soon, it is a non issue. So glad we dont have a state income tax in Texas!

Re: No Credit Cards at All Does this....

youngandcreditwrthy — Fri, 24 May 2013 14:58:27 GMT

I'd app for some new cards, maybe a Freedom/IT and a new GE store card.
Also, ask for a cli on the Tire card a cli will help util thus improving FICO. If you're paying a high rate on the tires, you could also do a 0% bt.
Ime, the more well managed accts you have , the better!:-)

Re: No Credit Cards at All Does this....

Anonymous — Fri, 24 May 2013 22:10:50 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Greetings,

My wife and I have no credit cards at all, and have not had any for about 10 years. We only use Debit cards or cash for purchases.

How badly is this hurting our Fico scores?

Only using debit cards and cash does not hurt your Fico scores. But it also doesn't help your Fico scores either.