topic Re: Bill Me Later in General Credit Topics

Bill Me Later

EaglesFan2006 — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 17:22:56 GMT

Does a Bill Me Later option have the same credit standards as a credit card? I saw that option at Walmart and I don't want to apply for another credit card. I realize they probably check credit and it counts as an inquiry, but are the standards the same? What scores qualify usually?

Re: Bill Me Later

Kiwill — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 19:45:32 GMT

I use BML and looove it!! They changed the way things are done over there, it use to be that they would pull your credit each time you made a purchase at one of the qualifying stores but not anymore since the credit card act changed. Your credit report/file will be viewed (a hard pull) the 1st time you apply, you don't get a credit card. If approved, your repayment terms are then like the cc, the interest rates are high so if possible, pay it off before it's due. Go onto the Bill Me Later website and it will explain how it works in terms of granting you credit. From what I remember, if your your purchase at walmart totals $100, your BML buying power will be $500; the total of your purchase or $500, which ever is greater. You will make your payments as usual and if you decide to make another purchase the same will apply, increasing your buying power. My buying power has to be over $1000 because I just made several purchases totaling just under this amount and they were all approved. The best thing about BML is you don't have to worry about your fico score going down because you actually used your credit line :-).

Do I have a credit line and how much is it?

Yes. Once you open a Bill Me Later account you will have a credit line, which we call your "buying power".

Once you have completed your first purchase using Bill Me Later, we at WebBank open a Bill Me Later account with buying power equal to the amount of your purchase or $500, which ever is greater. You can now use Bill Me Later to make additional purchases. If those purchases would cause your outstanding balance to go above your buying power, then we will reevaluate your buying power and may increase it, subject to credit approval. This happens seamlessly during the checkout process you don't need to do anything and it won't slow down your checkout.

On an ongoing basis, your buying power will be either the highest total of balances you have had outstanding on your account at any time or a lower amount of which you have received notice, but will not be less than $500. Here's an example of how this works:

If your first purchase using Bill Me Later is $350 dollars, your initial buying power will be $500.

If before you pay your first bill you make another purchase for $300, we will adjust your buying power to $650. (This increase is subject to credit approvalif it's declined, we will send you a notice explaining why.)

If you then pay off $350 of your first bill, you will have $350 of buying power remaining. If you want to make another purchase using Bill Me Later for more than $350, we will make a dynamic assessment to increase your buying power again (subject to credit approval).

You can always continue to make additional purchases up to your outstanding buying power, and we will consider increasing your buying power when your purchase goes above it.

Do you check my credit for every purchase?

No, we only pull a credit report on your first purchase. We do periodically get updates to this report but these updates have no impact on your credit score.

How do you dynamically increase my line?

We take into account your credit history and history with Bill Me Later to dynamically increase your line any time you request a purchase that is above your buying power.

How do you determine my buying power on an ongoing basis?

We review your account quarterly. If for any reason we reduce your buying power, we will notify you in writing of the reason.

What does "Subject to Credit Approval" mean?

Bill Me Later is a credit account that you can use to make purchases. When you open your account, WebBank will review and consider your credit report and other credit related information prior to approval. Creditworthiness is determined by WebBank. Once you are a customer, we will review your credit history and history with Bill Me Later to dynamically increase your line to make purchases, and also to review your account on a quarterly basis.

Why was I declined for a purchase I attempted to make using Bill Me Later?

In rare situations, your purchase may be declined even though your account is in good standing and you have enough buying power to cover the purchase amount. These situations often happen when the information you entered for the purchase does not match our information. You may want to try your purchase again if you may have mis-entered your information. The following are common reasons a purchase is declined:

Provided your work address instead of your home address as your billing address (where you receive bills, credit card bills, etc.).

Provided your work phone number or cell phone number instead of your home phone number.

Inaccurately entered your phone number (must be 10 digits).

Inaccurately entered the last four digits of your Social Security Number or your Date of Birth.

Provided your initials, company name, or family name instead of your full, legal name.

Did not provide a valid email address that is registered to you.

Your purchase may also be declined if your account is closed or otherwise not in good standing or if the purchase would take you over your buying power and WebBank is unable to increase your buying power at the time.

If you are applying for Bill Me Later for the first time, your application is based on your creditworthiness as determined by WebBank. You will receive an email or letter in the mail within 30 days explaining the reason for the decline. The letter also contains information on how to contact the credit bureau to obtain a copy of your credit report and to correct any errors in the file.

To protect consumer privacy, neither the merchant nor Bill Me Later Customer Service has access to the reason a purchase might have been declined.

Re: Bill Me Later

marty56 — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 12:28:35 GMT

BML does an INQ on your CR and yes it counts. The account doesn't show up on your CR which IMHO is a good thing in most cases. Also the BML Newegg CC doesn't report either.

s thRe: Bill Me Later

EaglesFan2006 — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 02:08:47 GMT

so is the criteria stricter or looser than that of a credit card or store card?

Re: s thRe: Bill Me Later

Kiwill — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 03:56:30 GMT

The criteria is the same as credit cards, if I remember correctly, citi provide the lending with BML.

Re: Bill Me Later

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 18:16:48 GMT

@marty56 wrote:
BML does an INQ on your CR and yes it counts. They account doesn;t show up on your CR which IMHO is a good thing in most cases. Also the BML newEgg CC doesn't report either.

Tell me that's not true!

I'm sure about the Newegg one but I didnt know it was same with BML!

Re: Bill Me Later

marty56 — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 12:32:46 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

@marty56 wrote:
BML does an INQ on your CR and yes it counts. They account doesn;t show up on your CR which IMHO is a good thing in most cases. Also the BML newEgg CC doesn't report either.
Tell me that's not true!

I'm sure about the Newegg one but I didnt know it was same with BML!

I used BMI once and it never showed up. They stated that it wouldn't when I asked them. I have had the Newegg card for 10 months and it never showed up on my CR, at least EQ and TU. I can't remember if I had an EX report since I got the Newegg card but I haven't seen a CC that didn't show up on all 3 CRs. BofA is only updating my EX report on an old account, but it still shows up on a 3 CRs

Re: Bill Me Later

Kiwill — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 12:59:41 GMT

BML accounts do not show up on your credit reports, an inquiry is all that you will ever see during the initial approval process however, if you default on the credit terms and not pay ONLY then will it appear as a derog on your credit reports. I like BML because I can use credit without it affecting my fico score PLUS they are adding new merchants all the time; my favorite is Overstock.com & Zappos.com!

Re: Bill Me Later

Anonymous — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:28:52 GMT

My credit score is relly low, (620 ), I was wondering if any one know the fico score you need for BML?????

Re: Bill Me Later

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 23:14:55 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

@marty56 wrote:
BML does an INQ on your CR and yes it counts. They account doesn;t show up on your CR which IMHO is a good thing in most cases. Also the BML newEgg CC doesn't report either.
Tell me that's not true!

I'm sure about the Newegg one but I didnt know it was same with BML!

It is true. BML has a lot of defferred payment deals. So not reporting is good if you make maximum use of these deals. Utilization is not affected.

BML

KIND70 — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 22:15:45 GMT

THEY JUST DROPPED MY SCORE AND I HAVE NEVER MISSED A PAYMENT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Bill Me Later

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 23:55:22 GMT

I highly recommend everyone NOT to apply BML. I have horrible experience with BML. For those people mostly using iPhone Paypal app to check the balance, BML could be a disaster. Even you have balance on BML, Paypal app shows BML credit 0.00, the balance is not shown until you click it to next page. You see the problem, the convinience of using cellphone is totally compromised.

I made a purchase about 6 month ago with BML for total $14.99, today I received a paper statement, total balance is up to more than $96.00, which includes the interest and late fee charges. As I remember this is the first paper statement I received; I did receive email notification every month, but the problem is when I logged in to Paypal from iPhone, I didn't see the balance, the Paypal app is really bad bad designed, or that's their intent to confuse customers to charge more late fees.

Hope what happened to me will not happen to you. I made call to the service to get two late fees waved, they didn't agree to wave all my late fees, but I still paid more than double as originally charged in BML. BTW I even have credit in my Paypal account, seems they are two separated systems....who knows. I closed my BML account right away after talking to the customer service.

Good luck for everyone still using BML.

Re: Bill Me Later

takeshi74 — Thu, 17 Jul 2014 12:50:03 GMT

@EaglesFan2006 wrote:
Does a Bill Me Later option have the same credit standards as a credit card?

What do you mean by "standards"? Even credit cards don't all have the same approval requirements.

@EaglesFan2006 wrote:
What scores qualify usually?

A very wide range. Those with lesser credit will typically just get lower limits.

Re: Bill Me Later

d170 — Sat, 19 Jul 2014 22:45:45 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I highly recommend everyone NOT to apply BML. I have horrible experience with BML. For those people mostly using iPhone Paypal app to check the balance, BML could be a disaster. Even you have balance on BML, Paypal app shows BML credit 0.00, the balance is not shown until you click it to next page. You see the problem, the convinience of using cellphone is totally compromised.
I made a purchase about 6 month ago with BML for total $14.99, today I received a paper statement, total balance is up to more than $96.00, which includes the interest and late fee charges. As I remember this is the first paper statement I received; I did receive email notification every month, but the problem is when I logged in to Paypal from iPhone, I didn't see the balance, the Paypal app is really bad bad designed, or that's their intent to confuse customers to charge more late fees.
Hope what happened to me will not happen to you. I made call to the service to get two late fees waved, they didn't agree to wave all my late fees, but I still paid more than double as originally charged in BML. BTW I even have credit in my Paypal account, seems they are two separated systems....who knows. I closed my BML account right away after talking to the customer service.
Good luck for everyone still using BML.

But most should know, an app is simply convenience. Most apps don't allow 100% function as viewing via their website. Usually they pull from paypal first and then use BML. I think your situation is something that is few and far between. Sorry you did incur two late fees though. Those can become quite costly.