Banks should report APR with debt.

[Anonymous]

How many people take large debt when they are given 0.0%-5.9% APR offers? Of course people will carry high rev debt in this case to pay off car loans or whatever. I think banks freak out over high UTL and if they only could see it was at 0% apr they could understand. There is a very big difference between high UTL at 0% and 25% APRs. I think rate information should be added to CRAs.

[Anonymous]

IF the CRA's were working for US instead of the lenders, I could see this.

Then again- this would be one more thing for them to not report accurate.

[Anonymous]

It's only useful if such information correlates to borrower risk.

If not, it's just noise.

I'm willing to bet that it has been looked at and deemed either uninformative for predicting risky behavior or not insightful enough to move the needle compared to everything else.

Lastly, it's not static, as some revolving credits, and virtually all installment loans, have at least a loose linkage to the prime lending rate or LIBOR, which further complicates what is meant by 'high'.

Message Edited by watchnerd on 04-16-2008 08:07 AM

[Anonymous]

If they do that then they also need to report when the low apr comes off and if they think you are going to pay it off or just try and transfer the balance somewhere else!

What about thinks like no interest for a yr? Will they report that you are getting intrest every month in the hopes you won't pay it off?

[Anonymous]

hmmmm. i don't like this idea at all.

we the consumers would end up even more screwed by ratejacking if aprs were reported on and factored into our CR and FICO scores. not to mentions being screwed when our 6% apr is misreported as 26%.

frankly, this scares me.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
How many people take large debt when they are given 0.0%-5.9% APR offers? Of course people will carry high rev debt in this case to pay off car loans or whatever. I think banks freak out over high UTL and if they only could see it was at 0% apr they could understand. There is a very big difference between high UTL at 0% and 25% APRs. I think rate information should be added to CRAs.

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By the way, I don't agree with the original premise that people 'will of course' do this, because:

1. Almost all credit card terms & conditions say that they can ratejack you if your credit score changes.

2. Maxing out your card, even at 0%, is sure to change your credit score.

3. Rate-jacking ensues.

4. The clever interest-rate arbitrage scheme you thought you were doing by borrowing at 0% to pay off your car loan at 5.9% goes into the toilet when you get ratejacked to 15.99%.

5. Oh, and to top it off, they can cancel the card at their whim whenever they like.

Bottom line: it's an ill-advised thing to attempt. I keep saying this over and over, but revolving credit is no substitute for long-term contracts at fixed interest rates due to all of the above....and people really really need to get that clear in their minds.

You're taking on a huge amount of risk thinking otherwise.