topic Re: What counts as a "bankcard"? in General Credit Topics

What counts as a "bankcard"?

Anonymous — Sat, 11 Jan 2020 10:39:19 GMT

Apologies if this is a dumb question or if I've posted this question in the wrong forum. I'm new here.

Myfico keeps sending me alerts that the total balance on my bankcards has decreased. Prior to this I had the vague idea that a bankcard was any Visa, MC, Amex, or Discover. However, the numbers included in the alerts don't correspond to my Visa, MC, Amex, and Discover totals (it's higher). The numbers in the alerts also don't correspond to my total CC balances (it's lower).

I'm working on my utilization so I'm probably too keyed into these alerts (e.g. obsessed) and I'm hoping one of you smart people can clear up my confusion.

Thank you in advance!

Re: What counts as a "bankcard"?

Shooting-For-800 — Sat, 11 Jan 2020 11:52:10 GMT

Generally bank cards were Visa MC Discover Amex Diner’s etc.

My assumption is all credit cards and maybe store installment loans would be counted in your reference.

Maybe even HELOC.

Re: What counts as a "bankcard"?

Anonymous — Sat, 11 Jan 2020 19:32:14 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Apologies if this is a dumb question or if I've posted this question in the wrong forum. I'm new here.

Myfico keeps sending me alerts that the total balance on my bankcards has decreased. Prior to this I had the vague idea that a bankcard was any Visa, MC, Amex, or Discover. However, the numbers included in the alerts don't correspond to my Visa, MC, Amex, and Discover totals (it's higher). The numbers in the alerts also don't correspond to my total CC balances (it's lower).

I'm working on my utilization so I'm probably too keyed into these alerts (e.g. obsessed) and I'm hoping one of you smart people can clear up my confusion.

Thank you in advance!

You've got it right. Bank cards can be used in many/most places where store cards are limited to store charges. Of course some store cards can be upgraded to a bank card (ie, Macy's Visa) and thus used anywhere visa is accepted.

It's quite possible the MyFico "update" is not so up to date. I'm not a subsciber myself but have read where others have had issues.

Re: What counts as a "bankcard"?

Trudy — Sat, 11 Jan 2020 23:01:31 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Apologies if this is a dumb question or if I've posted this question in the wrong forum. I'm new here.

Myfico keeps sending me alerts that the total balance on my bankcards has decreased. Prior to this I had the vague idea that a bankcard was any Visa, MC, Amex, or Discover. However, the numbers included in the alerts don't correspond to my Visa, MC, Amex, and Discover totals (it's higher). The numbers in the alerts also don't correspond to my total CC balances (it's lower).

I'm working on my utilization so I'm probably too keyed into these alerts (e.g. obsessed) and I'm hoping one of you smart people can clear up my confusion.

Thank you in advance!

MyFICO TU alert references Bankcards which includes credit cards, charge cards (store cards) and PLOC. The other bureau's just state "the balance on your account(s)."

Updated: But you can't count on MyFICO alerts. They are not timely and sometimes you won't get alerted. TU seems to be the main culprit. They are definitely the latest to report and occasionally skips a month. The best way to monitor your accounts and UTL is by reviewing them on the lender/CC site. Credit Karma and Wallet Hub are also good sites to monitor activity (not scores).

Re: What counts as a "bankcard"?

Anonymous — Sat, 11 Jan 2020 20:42:06 GMT

@Trudy wrote:

MyFICO TU alert references Bankcards which includes credit cards, charge cards (store cards) and PLOC. The other bureau's just state "the balance on your account(s)."

This is a much better explanation than mine. Thanks for bailing me out, Trudy.

Re: What counts as a "bankcard"?

Anonymous — Sat, 11 Jan 2020 22:28:51 GMT

Thank you! This is very helpful. I'm off to sign up for Credit Karma. New data to obsess over makes me happy!

Re: What counts as a "bankcard"?

Anonymous — Sat, 11 Jan 2020 22:30:13 GMT

I appreciate your reply as well, James. Everyone here is so helpful! I'm glad to have found this site.

Re: What counts as a "bankcard"?

Trudy — Sat, 11 Jan 2020 22:56:29 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Thank you! This is very helpful. I'm off to sign up for Credit Karma. New data to obsess over makes me happy!

You are very welcome. Been obsessed, now a little less but still monitor everything daily. Just part of my credit health process now. It satisfies my "fix" plus makes me feel a bit more secure at knowing exactly when something changes should there ever be fraud, Lord forbid.

Credit Karma updates once a week. It provides EQ and TU data. Again forget the scores because they are not FICO scores. Credit.com is another free site that gives you EX updates every 14 days but not a FICO score and not very detailed. WalletHub gives you free daily TU updates but not a FICO score. Creditscorecard.com is free and gives you a FICO 8 score once a month. I also have an EX subscription that updates daily and it provides your FICO 8, MTG, Auto 8, Auto 2, Bankcard 8, Bankcard 3 and Bankcard 2 scores. Once a month you get all 3 bureau's FICO 8 scores. There's also a trick that many here use periodically to get all 3 FICO 8 scores for a $1 through EX. Someone will likely come along to explain that process.

Now that should satisfy your obsession

Re: What counts as a "bankcard"?

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Jan 2020 14:51:43 GMT

Welcome

So what does it mean when I get a TU alert that references the balance of my retail cards are going up?

A bankcard does not include a retail card. It would be my guess that some of your accounts are coded wrongly at TU and as stated above MF alerts are not timely. (Edited).

In my experience, I get separate alerts for retail cards and bank cards, At least from TU. My advice would be to check your 3B.

Re: What counts as a "bankcard"?

Trudy — Mon, 13 Jan 2020 15:45:16 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Welcome

So what does it mean when I get a TU alert that references the balance of my retail cards are going up?
The only alert I have with the word retail in is is below. And the above pic of alerts is from my retail card balance change.

A bankcard does not include a retail card. It would be my guess that some of your accounts are coded wrongly at TU and as stated above MF alerts are not timely. (Edited). I guess that's possible. It is listed as a charge card on my reports from here. I do understand it is not a bankcard but that's the alert I receive. It seems to lump all revolvers (including my PLOC) in this alert.

In my experience, I get separate alerts for retail cards and bank cards, At least from TU. My advice would be to check your 3B.

Re: What counts as a "bankcard"?

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Jan 2020 16:09:41 GMT

I don’t have any charge cards, so I can’t speak of experience with that.

However I can promise you that the TU alerts on MF maintain a separate tally for retail balances and report them just like the bankcard balances but separately.

I’m on mobile but if you really want me to I can try to post a screenshot later, but it’s the exact same just with the word retail instead of bankcard.

That’s awesome you got a retail account removed. Had it been that many years or did you have a trick up your sleeve @Trudy?

Re: What counts as a "bankcard"?

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Jan 2020 16:14:32 GMT

@Trudy If your retail accounts are coding as bankcards Trudy, then that’s a blessing be happy; because otherwise your credit based insurance score would be lower and you would pay higher insurance premiums.

I’d love to get rid of my retail cards but they’re my oldest cards. So it’s kind of bittersweet. Plus I get penalized even more because my AAOA is so far from that oldest card. (only on credit based insurance scores not FICO scores of course.)

But they may be coding correctly at EQ which is the other source of CBISs.

Re: What counts as a "bankcard"?

Trudy — Mon, 13 Jan 2020 19:49:04 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I don’t have any charge cards, so I can’t speak of experience with that.

However I can promise you that the TU alerts on MF maintain a separate tally for retail balances and report them just like the bankcard balances but separately.

I’m on mobile but if you really want me to I can try to post a screenshot later, but it’s the exact same just with the word retail instead of bankcard.

That’s awesome you got a retail account removed. Had it been that many years or did you have a trick up your sleeve @Trudy?

Nope. Not questioning you, don't need any proof. I'm just showing the reason for my statements and how my store card reports balance changes here as bankcard.

The retail card removed was an old closed store card that finally dropped off. On my report it also showed as a charge card.

Re: What counts as a "bankcard"?

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Jan 2020 17:57:11 GMT

I wish mine reported as bankcards.

Re: What counts as a "bankcard"?

zerofire — Sun, 19 Jan 2020 16:01:16 GMT

In the real world that is defined as a "bankcard" is different for different people. Here on MyFICO we generally call a bank card any card that does not have a retailer co-branding. So that Chase Amazon Prime Visa is a retail card while the Chase Freedom Visa and Chase Sapphire Reserve are bank cards. Likewise things like the Synchrony Bank Amazon Store card would also count as a retail card. The fun part to this is when the bureau's start doing the determination. They have a habit of being a little questionable. Sometimes a retail card will be marked as a bank card only because it can run on the MasterCard or Visa network such as the Capital One Walmart MasterCard. Also sometimes lines of credit like the Sears Home Improvement account will also be considered a bank card even though it really is not one. Regardless the key thing to know is the cards that you have are working for you. It is normal to have one or two solid retail cards because you visit the retailers enough for them to matter to you.

Re: What counts as a "bankcard"?

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Jan 2020 18:35:26 GMT

To my understanding it’s a bankcard if it is a Visa MasterCard American Express or Discover, regardless of cobranding.

For instance my Macy’s card is retail where is my Macy’s American Express is a bankcard.

TU is the only bureau I’ve noticed that divides the balances on MF alerts. However, as you said, they are frequently mislabeled by the CRA’s.