Dillards my equifax report lists it a Charge card with out a limit

[Anonymous]

Dillards my equifax report lists it a Charge card with out a limit, but I was approved for a $200.00 Limit. Are store cards, charge cards? I am a little confused?

[tsquad131]

Macys is doing the same thing now too. I think any store credit card without a major brand logo like visa, mastercard, discover or american express is considered a charge card because you can only use them at that store. The major branded cards are considered credit cards.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't worry about the Equifax categories you're seeing, although they can throw you a bit the first time you notice.   I don't know how EQ categorizes the AmEx flavors and other similar cards because we don't have one.

On DH's & my EQ, they list the following as charge accounts:

GEMB Care Credit

GEMB JCPenney

GEMB Dillards

GEMB Walmart

Macy's DSNB

RCWilley

The following are listed as credit cards:

Kroger 1-2-3

Alliant CU

HSBC Barclays

BofA

World's Foremost (Cabela's Visa)

HSBC

Cap One

and then, just to be really interesting, they list the following as a credit account:

GEMB JCPenney (notice that a different JCPenneys account - both were standard store cards - is listed under charge accounts)

And, for what it's worth, my Dillard's card shows the CL, unless it just changed in the last day or two (I'll check).

Hope that helps!

[haulingthescoreup]

eta: beamMEup posted while I was sweating through my own copy-paste heck.

Actually, for scoring purposes, "charge cards" are those that have to be paid off each month, like the old-school American Express cards. It's confusing, because store cards used to be called charge cards, because traditionally you didn't revolve balances on them. And you even see "charge card" used in Type of Loan, but it's Type of Account (revolving vs open) that affects the scoring.

There are several fields that you have to look at when trying to untangle all this. And to make it even more special, the fields are different on the different credit reports.

On an Equifax full report (the one with the softs), here's how my Best Buy store card (no Visa, MC, etc.) reports. Note that it's "Revolving" under Type of Account and "Charge account" under Type of Loan:

By contrast, here's how my now-closed AmEx Gold card looks. Note that it's called "Open" in Type of Account and "Credit Card" in Type of Loan. It's the "Open" status that makes it a charge card for scoring purposes:

Here's a now-closed cobranded card, with a store logo and n MC logo. Type of Account is "Revolving" and Type of Loan is "Credit Card."

And here's a plain old, straight-ahead MC. It reports the same as the Sears MC above:

[Anonymous]

So now can I carry a balance on my Dillards Card like a credit card? Or do I have to pay it off by the end of the month?

[haulingthescoreup]

AFAIK, a Dillard's card is a revolving account. You can't use it anywhere but Dillards (you can't buy gas with it, for instance), but you can revolve a balance.

But in general, revolving a balance on a store card is a terrible idea, because they have gi-normous APR's. The exception would be if they give you a 0% APR for X months deal, as does Best Buy occasionally.

[Anonymous]

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haulingthescoreup wrote:  But in general, revolving a balance on a store card is a terrible idea, because they have gi-normous APR's.

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Right-o.  My Dillard's APR is a whopping 22.5%, making it a PIF card for sure!

I report a very small balance about every six months and pay it off right after the statement cuts so it shows activity in the world of the CRA's.

[Anonymous]

Thank you,

I am very new to credit. But thanks to My Fico I bought a house! Now I am learning about credit cards. But key I think I have learned is never charge what you cant afford to pay for! I got the DIllards card so if a need a new dress for that unexpected dinner party and its a few days shy to pay day..."Viola" New dress paid bought, paid off on pay day. (every once in a while carry a small balance" Whew! Thanks!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thank you,

I am very new to credit. But thanks to My Fico I bought a house! Now I am learning about credit cards. But key I think I have learned is

never charge what you cant afford to pay for!

I got the DIllards card so if a need a new dress for that unexpected dinner party and its a few days shy to pay day..."Viola" New dress paid bought, paid off on pay day. (every once in a while carry a small balance" Whew! Thanks!

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Sounds like you are doing super great.  And congrats on that new house.

I wish I would have understood "never charge what you can't afford to pay for" perfectly when I was much much younger.

Balances on credit cards - especially high APR cards - are considered toxic debt by many experts.

I'm with you - I've yet to pay Dillard's (or my other store card - Macy's) a dime of interest.

In other words, we use our cards rather than letting our cards use us.