Credit Card reported as Installment account

[Dawn]

I have just pulled my free reports from annualcreditreport.com but did not pay extra to obtain scores at this time, as we had recently purchased a new car and were told that our Beacon score was excellent.

When reviewing these reports, I discovered that the Credit Card that we put most of our monthly purchases and bills on, and pay off each month, is being reported as an unsecured installment account.

Two years ago when I pulled these reports, this Credit Card was reported as a Revolving Credit Card account with a $12,000 limit.  This apparently changed in February 2006 when our credit union "upgraded" their credit card offerings and changed our account number and it now shows as an installment account. 

I also just discovered that sometime since 2005, Sears requested that our account be closed.  It had been open since 1976 and had a $10,000 limit on it, but had been inactive since 1994.

Considering  the loss of the ancient Sears account and generous credit limit, is the reporting of the Credit Card account as an installment account something I should pursue and have changed? 

Message Edited by denbar2003 on 10-08-2007 01:34 PM

[fused]

This is interesting!!! I would say it might be good thing...how many other CCs do you have? What are the credit limits and balances on each of them. If this was your only CC it would be a bad thing because you would have no revolving history reporting and it would difficult to get an approval for a CC.

[Dawn]

I think I just found my own answer.  It appears that it is to my advantage to leave well enough alone unless there is a problem with this credit card data being added to the installment loan category.  We only have one other installment loan, which is for a recent new car loan.

Between the three agencies, there are 4-7 cards being reported in various combinations (some are duplicates on the same report) with total CLs of $2900, $3400 and $19,900.  I only use one of these "cards" in addition to my major bank card that is being reported as an installment loan.  The others are for stores we either don't have access to anymore, or we simply don't shop there anymore.

Total balances on each of the reports is only $46 since the balance on the card I use regularly is not included. This leaves utilization quite low on two reports. 

The $19,900 CL includes the CC with a $12,000 CL, but it shows a $0 balance.  It would normally show a $2,000-$2,500 balance if it were being reported properly.  Without a balance for the $12,000 card, my utilization is very low.  With the current balance added, the utilization would jump to 12%.  It would be slightly higher on the other two reports because they are missing the benefit of the CLs from some of the cards on this one.

I'm not really worried about the score at this point, but do want to make sure that with the new guidelines regarding authorized users no longer being reported, I am not left vulnerable since I am only an authorized user on some accounts.

However, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" might apply here?  

[fused]

I agree, leave it alone. Most reporting errors are in not in your favor but this one is.

[Anonymous]

Does it show as installment on all 3 CRAs?

[Dawn]

It shows as installment on two out of three CRAs.  There are two entries for one CRA ... one as an installment and one as revolving credit with $0 balance.  This was when they transferred it to a new account number (as an installment) and didn't show the first account (revolving credit) as closed.

It doesn't appear at all on Equifax.