Do charge cards still exist?

[rgd51]

I have 1 charge card (Sinclair) that doesn't report to credit bureaus so it is a hidden account. I know of the Amex charge cards as well. Any other charge cards out there? Any other cards that stay hidden and don't report to the credit bureaus?

[FinStar]

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@rgd51 wrote:

I have 1 charge card (Sinclair) that doesn't report to credit bureaus so it is a hidden account. I know of the Amex charge cards as well. Any other charge cards out there? Any other cards that stay hidden and don't report to the credit bureaus?

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There's still a few around.  Unfortunately, some of the former Diners Club/Carte Blanche personal cards (still in circulation) are no longer available for apps.

IIRC, the Peter Luger Steakhouse charge card is still around (don't know if it reports or not - someone will have to chime in on this).  There's still some gas cards and retail cards as well, but they report to CRs.

[K-in-Boston]

I know there was a department store that had a charge card that was mentioned here a few years back; can't recall the name.  PayPal Credit/BillMeLater was a hidden revolving trade line for about 20 years until it was sold to Synchrony.  I believe all US-issued Diners Club cards were converted to MasterCard revolving products, but those were historically charge cards.

If you want charge and mostly hidden, there are of course the Amex business versions of Green, Gold, and Platinum.  Their business revolving products are the same; they won't report to your consumer credit bureau reports unless they become delinquent.

Edit: I forgot about the steakhouse!  Good call, FinStar.

Edit 2: Definitely some fleet gas cards.  And also forgot about Blispay originally being a hidden revolver.

[rgd51]

Those cards you mention I've never heard of. It seems cards like the sinclair one are a dying breed and that almost everything reports to the bureaus these days. The sinclair card isn't that rewarding because even though it has no AF it has no sign up bonus or rewards and even though some sinclair stations give discounts, not all stations do and the ones that do can be as little as 5 cents which many regular credit cards give higher cash back on gas than that.

[Mr_Mojo_Risin]

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@FinStar wrote:

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@rgd51 wrote:

I have 1 charge card (Sinclair) that doesn't report to credit bureaus so it is a hidden account. I know of the Amex charge cards as well. Any other charge cards out there? Any other cards that stay hidden and don't report to the credit bureaus?

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There's still a few around.  Unfortunately, some of the former Diners Club/Carte Blanche personal cards (still in circulation) are no longer available for apps.

IIRC, the Peter Luger Steakhouse charge card is still around (don't know if it reports or not - someone will have to chime in on this).  There's still some gas cards and retail cards as well, but they report to CRs.

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We had a member a month or 2 back with a Peter Luger approval. 

@californiaboy935    possibly they'll stop back by and add that DP. 

[rgd51]

Why do the Amex charge cards report to the credit bureaus? Not seeing the point since they usually aren't revolving agreements.

[digitek]

Charge cards used to be more popular but as you can see they are few and far between anymore with the Amex Green/Gold/Plat being the most famous and still offered.

There are fringe cases to want a charge card over a standard revolving CC. Even the Amex charge cards have features like pay over time that have then act like revolvers and carry a balance.

The way charge cards are calculated into credit scoring is actually a pain in the butt. They offer no real advantages in that department and if anything make things more complicated.

If you want a card that doesn't show up on personal CR's then look to Amex business cards. (K mentioned this up-thread mods so don't lambast me for it!)

[FinStar]

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@rgd51 wrote:

Why do the Amex charge cards report to the credit bureaus? Not seeing the point since they usually aren't revolving agreements.

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It's still a loan on plastic @rgd51 even if charges are due monthly (unless a cardholder decides to place eligible transactions under the Pay Over Time/Plan It feature).

Some lenders used to have the option of not reporting tradelines (unless a delinquency occured), but a charge card still reports a "high balance" metric and it's still factored under AAoA.  Plus, if and individual decides to exercise the POT feature, the revolving aspect of that balance would report, IIRC.

[Horseshoez]

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@K-in-Boston wrote:

If you want charge and mostly hidden, there are of course the Amex business versions of Green, Gold, and Platinum.  Their business revolving products are the same; they won't report to your consumer credit bureau reports unless they become delinquent.

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So this begs the question, I have a credit card from my company which displays my company's logo, the card is issued by Citi, it does function as a "Revolver", and has a $10,000 credit limit on it.  When I got it, right in the middle of my Chapter 13, I did need to fill out what looked like a regular credit card application, using my SSN and everything, and then wait for approval.  Since I got it there have been hundreds of charges totalling tens of thousands of dollars, but not one hint that card's existence shows up on any of my credit reports.

Does my experience with the Citi card mean it is an essential functional equivalent of the AMEX business cards?

[FinStar]

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@Horseshoez wrote:

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@K-in-Boston wrote:

If you want charge and mostly hidden, there are of course the Amex business versions of Green, Gold, and Platinum.  Their business revolving products are the same; they won't report to your consumer credit bureau reports unless they become delinquent.

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So this begs the question, I have a credit card from my company which displays my company's logo, the card is issued by Citi, it does function as a "Revolver", and has a $10,000 credit limit on it.  When I got it, right in the middle of my Chapter 13, I did need to fill out what looked like a regular credit card application, using my SSN and everything, and then wait for approval.  Since I got it there have been hundreds of charges totalling tens of thousands of dollars, but not one hint that card's existence shows up on any of my credit reports.

Does my experience with the Citi card mean it is an essential functional equivalent of the AMEX business cards?

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Similar.  There's a plethora of Corporate Card programs offered by most major FIs like AmEx, Chase, Citi, BoA, Diners Club Int'l, etc.  But, Corporate Card programs are not going to report those individual tradelines to traditional business CRs, such as D&B, EQ biz, EX biz, for example.