Shopping Cart Trick?

[Anonymous]

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@Imperfectfuture wrote:
Creditflunky also has problems in the checking department.

Long time till in prime.

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LoL, I already have AMEX, BofA, Wells Fargo, Chase, Citibank, Discover... even with my 45 store cards.

I have 60 cards, of which 45 are store cards.

I believe Barclays is the only one missing and I'm gardening to get Barclays Sallie Mae which I am certain to get.  Sure I'm not 800 but 765 is not shabby.

Your incorrect information about store cards is just plain wrong.  My score is well over 720.

The only thing that kept me sub-700 was a tax lien; not store cards.  That tax lien fell off last month with early exclusion of 1 month.  

Get that snooty attitude out of here.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Imperfectfuture wrote:
Creditflunky also has problems in the checking department.

Long time till in prime.

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LoL, I already have AMEX, BofA, Wells Fargo, Chase, Citibank, Discover... even with my 45 store cards.

I have 60 cards, of which 45 are store cards.

I believe Barclays is the only one missing and I'm gardening to get Barclays Sallie Mae which I am certain to get.  Sure I'm not 800 but 765 is not shabby.

Your incorrect information about store cards is just plain wrong.  My score is well over 720.

Get that snooty attitude out of here.

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Your case seems Isolated. I can think of possibly one or two other people with scores in that range with a lot of retail cards.

Ron may be one of them.

The point is that collecting retail cards isn't the best strategy towards increasing your scores rapidly. It has been seen time and time again.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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The point is that collecting retail cards isn't the best strategy towards increasing your scores rapidly. It has been seen time and time again.

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There are certainly many strategies and I'm not so arrogant to say this is the best strategy.

For me, it worked out great because I had no AAoA to destroy.

 For others with a high AAoA; it's a disaster.

My strategy was to build for the long haul and not have to worry about AAoA for the rest of my life and I achieved it by building 60 tradelines early on.

Now I can basically apply for anything and not worry about decreasing my AAoA. 

It has not had a negative impact on my credit; even with my rather extreme 45 store cards.

I don't have all the answers.  It could possibly stop me from getting 800.  I dunno; but I'm happy where I'm at and no longer fear AAoA and my 765 FICO is good enough for the best rates.  

Maybe not good enough for Simmons but I can live with that...for now

[Anonymous]

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@Imperfectfuture wrote:
Creditflunky also has problems in the checking department.

Long time till in prime.

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LoL, looking at your sig, I just realized your score is even lower than mine and you're trying to tell me my 45 store cards are hurting my credit?

You have no store cards and your score is 745.  I have 45 store cards and my score is 765.

And you're trying to tell ME that I'm long til prime?   

[CreditDunce]

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@Imperfectfuture wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@CBrent wrote:

I'd also like evidence that the shopping cart trick, owning store cards, actually puts one in a different category and supresses one's credit score.  Does anyone actually have evidence of this?  

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It's just a suburban legend.  

The gazillion small limits don't kill you.  Having a million store cards doesn't kill you either.  They don't stop you from getting "Prime" credit.

As the guys have said, it severely butchers your AAoA ... that is the worst impact.

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Google is your friendl. Store cards are not credit cards, they are charge accounts.  It's not urban legend.  Folks want it to be (and comenity likes it, is that the banks name?).

Charge accounts are scored differently than credit cards, considered a form of consumer finance (google consumer finance and fico scoring).  They are considered revolvers, so do not add to mix of credit.  My sis started with Macy's and VS, but was AU on hubby's Amex, and finally got banana republic visa.  Her only other credit card now is southwest plus rapid rewards (though 18k limit, but she carries balances, doesn't really care about score).  Since she is divorced, no longer AU on Amex,

My score was in toilet with just a charge account.  Adding a secured card (even reporting secured) jumped it up 60 pts in less than a year.

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Does that mean I am not in the consumer finance bucket because I have an Amex PRG card?  It is a charge card, too.  Oh the shame...

Seriously, the old NextGen FICO models did score store and credit cards differently.  If you only had store cards, your score would suffer.  But your score would also suffer if you only had regular credit cards, too.  For the best score you needed both.  But those days are long gone, apart from PenFed and a few other credit unions. 

[Anonymous]

I'm no expert and I may be wrong, but store cards don't necessarily hold the same weight as a visa or mc. I say this because when I was a year into building there were cards that I app'd for which were declined however they automatically gave me their store card instead. My issue is pretty much all of the shopping cart cards are comenity and they either have a low starting limit or they want to see months of activity before increasing the limit so you get stuck with low limit cards you don't use.

They were good for building my credit, but I don't even use them and some I have never used. Even though I shop at the stores I have cards at I usually end up using one of my cards with rewards. 

[Callandra]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

---

@Imperfectfuture wrote:
Creditflunky also has problems in the checking department.

Long time till in prime.

---

LoL, I already have AMEX, BofA, Wells Fargo, Chase, Citibank, Discover... even with my 45 store cards.

I have 60 cards, of which 45 are store cards.

I believe Barclays is the only one missing and I'm gardening to get Barclays Sallie Mae which I am certain to get.  Sure I'm not 800 but 765 is not shabby.

Your incorrect information about store cards is just plain wrong.  My score is well over 720.

Get that snooty attitude out of here.

---

Your case seems Isolated. I can think of possibly one or two other people with scores in that range with a lot of retail cards.

Ron may be one of them.

The point is that collecting retail cards isn't the best strategy towards increasing your scores rapidly. It has been seen time and time again.

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My mom has upwards of 30 retail cards (she's one of those people that'll sign up for one for the 15% or whatever off) and only 3 bank cards (Chase, Amex, and Citizen's Bank) and she has a CS of 830. Of course she has a thick file and no baddies.

[Imperfectfuture]

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@CreditDunce wrote:

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@Imperfectfuture wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@CBrent wrote:

I'd also like evidence that the shopping cart trick, owning store cards, actually puts one in a different category and supresses one's credit score.  Does anyone actually have evidence of this?  

---

It's just a suburban legend.  

The gazillion small limits don't kill you.  Having a million store cards doesn't kill you either.  They don't stop you from getting "Prime" credit.

As the guys have said, it severely butchers your AAoA ... that is the worst impact.

---

Google is your friendl. Store cards are not credit cards, they are charge accounts.  It's not urban legend.  Folks want it to be (and comenity likes it, is that the banks name?).

Charge accounts are scored differently than credit cards, considered a form of consumer finance (google consumer finance and fico scoring).  They are considered revolvers, so do not add to mix of credit.  My sis started with Macy's and VS, but was AU on hubby's Amex, and finally got banana republic visa.  Her only other credit card now is southwest plus rapid rewards (though 18k limit, but she carries balances, doesn't really care about score).  Since she is divorced, no longer AU on Amex,

My score was in toilet with just a charge account.  Adding a secured card (even reporting secured) jumped it up 60 pts in less than a year.

---

Does that mean I am not in the consumer finance bucket because I have an Amex PRG card?  It is a charge card, too.  Oh the shame...

Seriously, the old NextGen FICO models did score store and credit cards differently.  If you only had store cards, your score would suffer.  But your score would also suffer if you only had regular credit cards, too.  For the best score you needed both.  But those days are long gone, apart from PenFed and a few other credit unions. 

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Charge card is not the same as charge account.  Amex PRG reports as charge cArd.

[Imperfectfuture]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Imperfectfuture wrote:
Creditflunky also has problems in the checking department.

Long time till in prime.

---

LoL, looking at your sig, I just realized your score is even lower than mine and you're trying to tell me my 45 store cards are hurting my credit?

You have no store cards and your score is 745.  I have 45 store cards and my score is 765.

And you're trying to tell ME that I'm long til prime?   

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Um, that score just updated Jan 2015.  In October 2014, it was 598.  Retail cards helped build it THAT FAST.  (EX jumped first in October, which is how I got the Amex.

As Nixon states, your thing is unique.  I am just starting the AAoA thing, and my scores are Pretty good for average age of accounts almost two years.  I didn't downgrade you, just your methods.  And why you post you have problems with chexsystems?

[Zorasmiles]

Can we all just get along? LOL  Honestly, this thread was started 12-17-14, updated post 01-21-15 and it appears to be in all out war of two different credit mindsets.  There are always different routes to get from point A to point B, along the credit journey.  I "personally believe" that one should have a diverse credit card portfolio of cards you will actually make use of.  I have been guilty of using the SCT once with Overstock because I have future plans to use the card.  I'm not a card snob and can truly say that I know of many folks who have maybe an AMEX, VISA, MC and a ton of store cards with FICO's of 750--mind you they have positive payment histories, no derogs and a decent AAoA's.  I know of folks who refuse to have a department store card and will only carry prime CC's with similar scores.  At one point secured credit cards were considered to carry "no weight" when factored into the FICO score.  Times change, credit scoring changes and beliefs change with experience.  I personally don't see the harm in someone who's establishing/rebuilding credit to add a few mixed TL's (SCT's included) if they are looking at a five year plan knowing their AAoA's will be in the tank.  I'd encourage them to try and get a couple of CU/Bank/Prime cards first and then toss in the SCT's cards with going overboard.  So, I guess in my long winded response I'm saying both approaches can be correct depending on what the person is seeking.