What is Consumer Finance and HOW....??

[Anonymous]

Hi all!

What exactly is consumer finance, and how do I tell if I'm applying for it?

I understand that CF is less desirable, and has a negative effect on FICO, so I don't want to apply for ANY.

To further clarify, I'm assuming that "buy here pay here" car loans would be consumer finance, but is a Best Buy card, Target Red Card, or Nordstrom account considered CF?

Any other helpful info? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Genrealyl if you are beingfinanced by something with Finanacial in its name it is a CFL.  No the others you mentioned are not CFL just regular revolving debt.  Think 'Finance Companies'.

[Anonymous]

Hmmmm...

So if I got an auto loan through a "normal" dealer, and they called it "special financing" then what does that make it?

Also, I'm assuming that most furniture stores operate as CF? How do you tell for sure what is CF and not regular 'ol revolving credit?

As usual, thanks bunches!

[marty56]

Citibank has a subprime arm that does those.  They sent me a"pre-approval" while I was in DMP with a Citicard!

Dont even think about it.

[sunrise]

If I pay off a finance co. early, would this hurt or help?  I have heard that losing the open TL could hurt, but that having a finance co. on cr hurts also.  Which is the lesser of the evils? TIA

[fused]

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sunrise wrote:

If I pay off a finance co. early, would this hurt or help?  I have heard that losing the open TL could hurt, but that having a finance co. on cr hurts also.  Which is the lesser of the evils? TIA

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Losing it is worse, unless you have a lot of them.

[Anonymous]

After a repo I was forced to use a CF company to finance my new car.  I also have been getting personal loan just to boost my credit so I thought.  I paid the car off in Dec. 07 and will be paying the PL off in Mar.08. 

I applied for a secured CC with Orchard and was approved.  I do not have any credit cards on my CR. I have never really used them with the exception of store CC about 10 years ago.

Hopefully, I will be able to increase my score through the CC since CF are not advisable.  So will my credit score likely decrease when I close PIF to current PL or increase since the CF will be closed?

I am trying to hit 650 by April 08.

EX-569 EQ-563 TU-540

[Junejer]

Jennabean, I had a CFL on my CRs, b/c Ashley Furniture enticed me with 0% for two years yada yada yada. Anyway, when I found out that they are coded differently, I disputed it off of my CRs, even though I was never late. I will never app for anything like that again. Not cool.

[sadie71]

Finance companies are not a good credit source according to the VP at the local bank.  Even though there were no lates, it is definitely "frowned upon" if they see it on your report and it does pull your score down, something to do with the TYPE of credit that you have. 

It kind of makes since as finance companies usually charge a higher interest rate to extend credit to you, who would borrow from them if they could get a better rate at the bank.