Annual Fee with account balance.

[-RED]

I have a HOUSEHOLD M/C that is going up to 20% in Nov, from 14.9% currently.

I have a balance of around 650 to date.

Can they charge me an annual fee, if I close the card to lock in the lower APR, if I still carry a balance?

I'm also wondering if leaving it opened will be better for me, because of the fact I carry only one other card, also with same people HSBC.

[pattycake]

Can you pay it off before the APR goes up?  If so, just keep it open and see if they will waive the AF. 

[-RED]

I doubt it, but I have paid the entire balance off in the last month, and they know I'm not to happy with them, so I could ask them to do that once it is charged to the card. Not a bad idea. I'm not sure if I may want to keep it open.

Do I need more than 2 revolving accounts to keep good scores?

[pattycake]

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@-RED wrote:

I doubt it, but I have paid the entire balance off in the last month, and they know I'm not to happy with them, so I could ask them to do that once it is charged to the card. Not a bad idea. I'm not sure if I may want to keep it open.

Do I need more than 2 revolving accounts to keep good scores?

---

No, you can have good scores with only a couple of cards, provided that one is a Visa, MC or Amex (does Discover count?)  It's the payment history, age of accounts and UTIL that are most important. 

[-RED]

Thanks Pattycake!

Message Edited by -RED on 10-10-2009 12:55 AM

[-RED]

Can HSBC charge me an annual fee, if I close the card to lock in the lower APR, if I still carry a balance?

Will closing the account hurt me if I only carry one other CC?

Thanks!

[creditwherecreditisdue]

You're going to have to read your cardholder agreement and ask them -RED. Every account/issuer has different terms/policies. I have a closed account with Providian -> WaMu -> Chase with a balance and I have not be charged an AF (or any other fee) for the many years since I closed the account to avoid an RJ. On the other hand I recently saw an offer for a CU CC offered through Elan which clearly stated that there was a $2 or $2.50 per month "account maintenance charge" applied to closed accounts with a balance. Good Luck!

[-RED]

The cardholder agreement would take me a week, or more to read...

Asking HSBC anything, and getting the truth is like asking somebody on crack for the truth, you will get a new answer everytime you ask. I guess I live I learn, because this company knows nothing about how to treat a customer, and my days are numbered accordingly. I just wish BestBuy had a better servicer. I'm putting in a formal complaint to BB, even though I know they are somewhat aware, but maybe they don't have a choice for the time being. Thanks!!!

[-RED]

They waived my anual fee when I asked them to nicely.

My APR has yet to increased, even though they said it will at some point.

I'm not sure if I'd want to keep it, if the APR does go up.

Any thoughts on how many Revolving Cards I might really need???

I currently have 2 CC's and 1 store card, all are used, but don't have to be...

Message Edited by -RED on 12-29-2009 01:32 PM

[haulingthescoreup]

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pattycake wrote:

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@-RED wrote:

I doubt it, but I have paid the entire balance off in the last month, and they know I'm not to happy with them, so I could ask them to do that once it is charged to the card. Not a bad idea. I'm not sure if I may want to keep it open.

Do I need more than 2 revolving accounts to keep good scores?

---

No, you can have good scores with only a couple of cards, provided that one is a Visa, MC or Amex (does Discover count?)  It's the payment history, age of accounts and UTIL that are most important. 

---

Discover counts. These are the four bank-card processing networks, and the logo of one on a card makes it a bank card. You don't want to have only store/ oil company cards with no Visa/ MC/ AmEx/ Discover logo.

Two revolving cards are enough to provide a good payment history, although if you have multiple open installment/ mortgage accounts, you might get the "too many accounts with balances" ding. That's because by definition, all open installment accounts report balances each month, and if you have few revolving accounts reporting $0, you'll wind up having more than half of your total accounts with balances. But it's not a huge ding, and I wouldn't keep a problem account open just to satisfy the FICO scoring gods.

Just be aware that this can be a factor when you don't have a lot of open revolving accounts, and you do have more than one open installment/ mortgage account.


eta: just saw that you also have a store card, so that makes three open revolving accounts.

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 12-28-2009 04:13 AM