Bankcards v Retail cards

[Reighn9]

Transunion is always posting Bankcard balances and Retail Card balances. What is considered a Bankcard? I know it's a card with Visa, MC, AMEX or Discover logo but what if it is also a store card like a Sears MC, Target Visa or MC, or a Hotel Branded card like HHONORS Visa? Do Retail Cards have to be a stand alone store card without the Visa/MC logo and are the "retail store"cards that have the Visa/MC logo counted in both categories? What category do gas card fall under? I've seen some gas cards carry a Visa/MC logo too.

[austinguy907]

It should be pretty simple.  If the lender is the name on the card then that's a bankcard and if there's a store name w/ or w/o V/MC on it then it's still a retail card.  I wouldn't put much into anything they're posting though for scoring classifications.  FICO does its own thing and TU is probably spitting out a Vantage score or some internal TU score.

[sarge12]

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@austinguy907 wrote:

It should be pretty simple.  If the lender is the name on the card then that's a bankcard and if there's a store name w/ or w/o V/MC on it then it's still a retail card.  I wouldn't put much into anything they're posting though for scoring classifications.  FICO does its own thing and TU is probably spitting out a Vantage score or some internal TU score.

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I somewhat disagree...my Chase Amazon Prime Visa is a co-branded card as is my Citi Costco Visa Signature card and neither is considered a retail card. The lender is Chase and Citi Bank...not Costco, or Amazon...amazon does have a retail card with less stringent credit scoring requirements.

[Anonymous]

Chase and Citi both have their names on those cards

[Anonymous]

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@sarge12 wrote:

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@austinguy907 wrote:

It should be pretty simple.  If the lender is the name on the card then that's a bankcard and if there's a store name w/ or w/o V/MC on it then it's still a retail card.  I wouldn't put much into anything they're posting though for scoring classifications.  FICO does its own thing and TU is probably spitting out a Vantage score or some internal TU score.

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I somewhat disagree...my Chase Amazon Prime Visa is a co-branded card as is my Citi Costco Visa Signature card and neither is considered a retail card. The lender is Chase and Citi Bank...not Costco, or Amazon...amazon does have a retail card with less stringent credit scoring requirements.

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OK, change austinguy907's rule just a little bit, from "If the lender is the name on the card...:" to "If the lender's name is on the card....."   so if a bank/CU is mentioned, even along with something else, it's a bankcard, otherwise a store card.    So yours mention Chase and Citi, the Amazon Store card doesn't mention the issuer

ETA: OK, now I see the stuff in the original about store name = retail, which is, as you say, wrong.

[sarge12]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@sarge12 wrote:

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@austinguy907 wrote:

It should be pretty simple.  If the lender is the name on the card then that's a bankcard and if there's a store name w/ or w/o V/MC on it then it's still a retail card.  I wouldn't put much into anything they're posting though for scoring classifications.  FICO does its own thing and TU is probably spitting out a Vantage score or some internal TU score.

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I somewhat disagree...my Chase Amazon Prime Visa is a co-branded card as is my Citi Costco Visa Signature card and neither is considered a retail card. The lender is Chase and Citi Bank...not Costco, or Amazon...amazon does have a retail card with less stringent credit scoring requirements.

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OK, change austinguy907's rule just a little bit, from "If the lender is the name on the card...:" to "If the lender's name is on the card....."   so if a bank/CU is mentioned, even along with something else, it's a bankcard, otherwise a store card.    So yours mention Chase and Citi, the Amazon Store card doesn't mention the issuer

ETA: OK, now I see the stuff in the original about store name = retail, which is, as you say, wrong.

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I suppose he meant if on the front of the card it only has a store name with or without V/MC it is a retail card...probably serviced by Synchrony or Comenity. I just had issues with him stating store name = retail, when the Chase Amazon Prime Visa is not only a bankcard, but one of the most highly sought non-travel premium bankcards on the market. Citi Costco is also highly sought, though I wonder why sometimes...I hate it's reward structure being redeemable only at the end of year and in the store.

[Reigh9]

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@sarge12 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@sarge12 wrote:

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@austinguy907 wrote:

It should be pretty simple.  If the lender is the name on the card then that's a bankcard and if there's a store name w/ or w/o V/MC on it then it's still a retail card.  I wouldn't put much into anything they're posting though for scoring classifications.  FICO does its own thing and TU is probably spitting out a Vantage score or some internal TU score.

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I somewhat disagree...my Chase Amazon Prime Visa is a co-branded card as is my Citi Costco Visa Signature card and neither is considered a retail card. The lender is Chase and Citi Bank...not Costco, or Amazon...amazon does have a retail card with less stringent credit scoring requirements.

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OK, change austinguy907's rule just a little bit, from "If the lender is the name on the card...:" to "If the lender's name is on the card....."   so if a bank/CU is mentioned, even along with something else, it's a bankcard, otherwise a store card.    So yours mention Chase and Citi, the Amazon Store card doesn't mention the issuer

ETA: OK, now I see the stuff in the original about store name = retail, which is, as you say, wrong.

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I suppose he meant if on the front of the card it only has a store name with or without V/MC it is a retail card...probably serviced by Synchrony or Comenity. I just had issues with him stating store name = retail, when the Chase Amazon Prime Visa is not only a bankcard, but one of the most highly sought non-travel premium bankcards on the market. Citi Costco is also highly sought, though I wonder why sometimes...I hate it's reward structure being redeemable only at the end of year and in the store.

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I am not sure my question is getting answered.  You are all mentioning the same problem I am having differentiating between the two types.  I don't think TU is using a Vantage score or an internal TU score.  This comes directly from the MyFico report alerts where TU reports Total Bankcard balance changes and Total Retail Card balance changes.  Just like EX and EQ report other changes like new accounts, balance increase or decrease, and utilization. I'm asking because I think TU is duplicating balances across cards.  I also agree about the status of the Chase Amazon Prime Visa Signature card.and I'm glad I got it years ago

[sarge12]

I do not know how to be more clear...if on the front of the card it has a bank name...Citi, Chase, Barclaycard, etc. or a credit union name it is a bankcard even if it also has a store name. Visa and MC are networks and have nothing to do with wheather they are bankcards or retail. Unless I am mistaken, all airlines cards are bank cards. Also unless there are cards I am unaware of all American Express and Discover cards are bank cards as these two are banks. If on the front of the card it has a store name, gas station etc. such as Sears, Walmart, Nordstrum, Amazon...yes they also have a store card, without a prominintly named bank on the front also, it is a store card. On the back of the card in small letters you will probably see Synchrony, or Comenity, as they handle processing an most store cards by far. Store cards may have the Visa or Mastercard emblems also, as these 2 are not banks, but rather credit card benefit and exchange networks and process the card swipes.

[sarge12]

Reigh 9....also you did not get the Chase Amazon Prime Visa Signature card years ago, you may have gotten the Chase Amazon Visa Signature, but the Prime version of that was not even in existence until late last year or early this year. The Chase Amazon Prime Visa is a new offering and all Chase Amazon Visa cards were automaticly converted to the Prime a few months back if and only if you were an Amazon Prime member.

[wasCB14]

Whether the issuing bank puts it own logo on the front of the card or not seems kind of arbitrary. I'd be shocked if that has significance on how cards are reported.

Look at Barclaycard's website. Several cobrand V/MC cards have the Barclaycard logo on the front, several don't. I don't see any pattern.

My IHG and Hyatt cards don't say "Chase" on the front.

Edit: What's so fundamentally different between, for example, the L.L. Bean Visa (no logo) and the Apple Visa (yes logo)? Both earn retail gift cards with the cobrand partner and run on the Visa network?