@Anonymous wrote:
@Slabenstein wrote:
@disney2 wrote:I have some confusion. I am working on paying down my cards, mostly because I think I need to pay those down before paying off any loans, and I have a question. Sometimes I see notes like balances on bank cards too high. What constitutes a bank card? To help my score, do I pay those down first or do I pay off the other cards? I plan to pay them to AZEO but need to know what to pay first to help my score.
For purposes of FICO scoring and negative reason statements, a bankcard is a bank- or CU-issued credit card that runs on a major payment network like Visa, MC, Disco, or Amex. This is contrasted with store cards, which can only be used at specific retailers. I don't know that balances on bankcards are penalized any differently than those on store cards by the FICO algos, but, as has been said upthread, I would put finances above FICOs and pay down your balances in the way that makes the most financial sense to you (e.g. smallest balance to largest balance, or highest interest to lowest interest).
Also, I just wanted to add that what @Anonymous says about bankcards and AZEO is essentially correct, but almost all store cards and CU issued credit cards will report to all three bureaus. The reason that a bankcard is recommended for AZEO is that FICO algos penalize you for not having a reported balance on at least one bankcard. Storecards aren't recommended b/c they aren't bankcards. CU issued credit cards should work, but they aren't always coded correctly so it's better blanket advice to use a bank-issued credit card.
@Anonymous, is there anything helpful you could add?
@Slabenstein Correct, for purposes of fico, a bankcard is a bank/CU-issued MasterCard, Visa, American Express, or Discover that reports to the CRAs.
The reason a bankcard is recommended for AZEO is because at least one revolver must report to avoid AZ loss and as stated, store cards can end up giving partial AZ losses and credit unions seem more likely to be miscoded. LOCs have been used without incident, but we don't know they always would be. Plus at least one version tracks bankcards specifically.
Oh, right, my LOC test was one of the ones where it didn't cause AZ loss, so I should know that it's not bankcards specifically that that's looking for, lol
@Slabenstein wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Slabenstein wrote:
@disney2 wrote:I have some confusion. I am working on paying down my cards, mostly because I think I need to pay those down before paying off any loans, and I have a question. Sometimes I see notes like balances on bank cards too high. What constitutes a bank card? To help my score, do I pay those down first or do I pay off the other cards? I plan to pay them to AZEO but need to know what to pay first to help my score.
For purposes of FICO scoring and negative reason statements, a bankcard is a bank- or CU-issued credit card that runs on a major payment network like Visa, MC, Disco, or Amex. This is contrasted with store cards, which can only be used at specific retailers. I don't know that balances on bankcards are penalized any differently than those on store cards by the FICO algos, but, as has been said upthread, I would put finances above FICOs and pay down your balances in the way that makes the most financial sense to you (e.g. smallest balance to largest balance, or highest interest to lowest interest).
Also, I just wanted to add that what @Anonymous says about bankcards and AZEO is essentially correct, but almost all store cards and CU issued credit cards will report to all three bureaus. The reason that a bankcard is recommended for AZEO is that FICO algos penalize you for not having a reported balance on at least one bankcard. Storecards aren't recommended b/c they aren't bankcards. CU issued credit cards should work, but they aren't always coded correctly so it's better blanket advice to use a bank-issued credit card.
@Anonymous, is there anything helpful you could add?
@Slabenstein Correct, for purposes of fico, a bankcard is a bank/CU-issued MasterCard, Visa, American Express, or Discover that reports to the CRAs.
The reason a bankcard is recommended for AZEO is because at least one revolver must report to avoid AZ loss and as stated, store cards can end up giving partial AZ losses and credit unions seem more likely to be miscoded. LOCs have been used without incident, but we don't know they always would be. Plus at least one version tracks bankcards specifically.
Oh, right, my LOC test was one of the ones where it didn't cause AZ loss, so I should know that it's not bankcards specifically that that's looking for, lol
@Slabenstein yeah I figured you would remember that 
but the point is LOCs may vary in how they're coded, so bankcards are recommended for that reason (bankcards are more highly likely to be coded correctly, imo).
Plus store/retail cards can give partial revolving activity awards/ partial AZ losses it seems. I guess it's if you wanna look at it as if you get a certain amount of points for having 'revolving activity' (as opposed to AZ). Well you don't get as large of an award when it's a store/retail card it seems. So the end result is you get a lower score if you use a retail card for AZEO card.