Credit reports says There are not enough premium bankcard accounts on your credit report

[SWISSOATL]

It was Equifax!

[Anonymous]

Yep, nice scores!

...and I second every word of HTSU's post!

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haulingthescoreup wrote:

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techgirl wrote:

I went and played with the Simulator - How about one of the questions I asked earlier - with my credit scores:

TU - 711

EQ - 689

EX - 721

Wouldn't it be wise to look for another credit card at 0% for transferring my balances off of the credit card onto the 0% card and then pay it off?  This would then enable me to have a higher credit ratio and give me a lower interest rate at the same time???

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Sweet scores! Once your util drops, you're going to be right on up there. The rule of thumb has been that 720's get you the best mortgage rates, but with the recent economic turmoil, I'll bet that 740 or 760 will be safer.

The problem with doing a BT now is, I doubt that any lender is going to give you 0% when you're maxed out. That's the fun thing about credit --when you need it, it's hard to get. It's like getting a boyfriend or girlfriend in high school --if you look desperate, they won't come anywhere near.

In general, whenever cards are maxed out, you don't have credit. You just have debt. Bite the bullet, pay them down. It's possible that with your TU and EX, once your cards are under 50%, you might get an 0% BT offer, although watch out for the BT fees, which are a separate critter.

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[haulingthescoreup]

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@SWISSOATL wrote:

It was Equifax!

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From a score pulled from EQ (which does have FICO's) or here? or from TrueCredit or PrivacyMatters, and it was on their score comments?

For those who haven't seen advice from the credit monitoring services, I know that seems like an odd question. But TC, for instance, gives all kinds of interesting advice and attributes it to one or more of the bureaus. But you never see the same advice on that bureau's FICO score report.

Sorry, SWISSOATL, didn't mean to derail you there. I have a collection of snippy FICO messages going on another thread, so if you got this on your FICO EQ report, would you be willing to copy/ paste it here? Or if you'd rather, you can copy/ paste it on a pm to me. The FICO messages all refer to "FICO High Achievers", whom I used to dislike on principle, but now I've met so many here, and they're all nice --I've decided to get over it!

[ccaddict]

TC gives weird advice..

There are too many late payments on your credit report. [TransUnion, Experian, Equifax] Payment history is a significant factor in the credit scoring process. Regular on time payments make you appear more creditworthy to potential lenders. On the other hand, late payments indicate that you may be in financial distress. If you have trouble remembering to make payments, consider signing up for an online bill payment service that will make it easier to pay on time.

But on my reports I don't have a single late payment. Hah!

[heirophant]

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to just buy the scores for like $10?  I don't need the report.  I just want the scores.  I've got TC for the reports.

Message Edited by heirophant on 12-29-2007 05:35 AM

[Anonymous]

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@techgirl wrote:

I pull from TrueCredit. It is $14.00 a month and you can see all three scores and all three credit reports as often as you would like.

Should I apply for more credit even though my credit is maxed out??  I currently have 4 inquiries on two and 6 on the other...

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Ok, I have truecredit as well. I don't follow their advice, as it is not FICO. I only use them for looking at my scores. My TC and FICO's suggestions are so far apart and it can be a little confusing to pay attention to what both says.

[WhirledPeasPlease]

Hi Techgirl (and others)--

You actually asked the question that I came here to find the answer for!  On TC I too got the "there are not enough premium cards...  blah blah blah" message.  I think it's hysterical.  I have 10 total ccs:  target visa, union plus mastercard (HSBC), Discover Direct Rewards Platinum, Travelocity Mastercard and the Gold Delta Amex, along with 5 store cards.  I'm at 50/50 with what I'm assuming are the premium cards.  Does anyone know?  (I keep reading that TC gives bad advice, so perhaps this is the case.)

As far as the Gold Delta Amex, I rec'd that one when I was at about 95% util (I know, I know) and scores in the high 500s/low 600's.  I just wanted to see if I could get that fancy Amex in my wallet and let me tell you, it feels good for about the first five minutes and that's it.

It's almost uncanny that we have the same issues.  I am looking at doing a refi on my current house so if it doesn't sell, I can rent it.  (I can get a 'deal' from the mortgage company that is associated with the builder of my new house.)  When I paid off the last of my cc debt my mortgage guy was in awe at the way my scores went up -- somewhere between 50 and 70 points in about two weeks.  Shazam!  In my situation it made a lot more sense to get the CC debt down and then look into the refi.  It's the difference of hundreds of dollars a month on a 30 year mortgage for me -  YMMV.  When I did the first refi, as well as with the potential refi, my mortgage guy went by the MIDDLE score each time.  For various reasons my EQ score is in the toilet (about 50 points below the other two FICOS- maybe EQ is preferred for Indiana residents) so the fact that one is low and the others are reasonable helps in my mortgage quest.  Please note this is only my experience, others may know something different.

Peas

[haulingthescoreup]

Others might not get the exact score zoom that you did, but their scores should improve. Very cool impressing the mortgage lender! They've seen a lot, I'll bet.

As for the cards, for FICO scoring, anything that has the words Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or AmericanExpress counts as a major or bank card (those are the terms that FICO uses.) It doesn't matter if it's co-branded, like a Sears MasterCard or a USAA AmEx. And they also don't care how la-dee-dah the issuer might be, as long as it has one of those four magic names.

IMO, anything that gets a monthly mortgage payment down is worth doing. I'd rather use those extra hundreds for a couple of months to pay down CC's than pay them as part of the mortgage for the next 30 years.

[WhirledPeasPlease]

Thanks Hauling.  Btw - I've always valued your posts!  Well done!

Now that I have a few CC choices I'm trying to decide which one(s) I want to use to get the best rewards.  I checked the Delta card and I basically have enough miles to fly to the end of my driveway and back.  That's definitely not worth the AF.

As far as the mortgage guy, it's now a game to see what my scores will look like when it's actually time to close on the house under construction.  I'm going for 740!!!

[Anonymous]

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WhirledPeasPlease wrote:

Thanks Hauling.  Btw - I've always valued your posts!  Well done!

Now that I have a few CC choices I'm trying to decide which one(s) I want to use to get the best rewards.  I checked the Delta card and I basically have enough miles to fly to the end of my driveway and back.  That's definitely not worth the AF.

As far as the mortgage guy, it's now a game to see what my scores will look like when it's actually time to close on the house under construction.  I'm going for 740!!!

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Don't forget that the Delta card has no AF for the first year.  If you account for the bonus miles you get just for signing up, it only takes a little less than $4000 in double-miles-eligible purchases in the first year to get your free flight, and that's before the AF even hits.

Just had to get that in there, since I sort of fancy myself as the board's unofficial spokesman for the idea of keeping this card for the first year.