Question about FICO and NPSL cards

[Anonymous]

I have only two credit cards, one with Citi, one with Chase. The history on each of these accounts go back 15-20 years. Both of theses accounts were recently changed to NPSL cards against my will. Chase is Visa Signature, Citi is World MasterCard. The recent Cardhub study on NPSL cards said cards from Chase or Citi don't get factored into the FICO utilization ratio. So what if these are my only cards? Will my credit utilization always be zero no matter what my balances are? Will my score tank because I have no credit limits at all? This is very confusing.

[Lel]

Hi, and welcome to the Forums.

Have you checked your credit reports to see how your credit cards are reporting?  If they are reporting the highest past balance, then this number will be used to calculate your utilization.  I have two Chase NPSL cards, and both of them report the past high balance.

If neither of your cards are reporting a credit limit or a past high balance, then they would excluded from your utilization. Did you ever check your FICO score before the changes were made, and have you checked your credit score recently to see what it is?

Here's a blog post that discusses this kind of card.

Is there no limit to the confusion surrounding NPSL cards?

[Anonymous]

On Equifax, My Chase card has switched from being reported as a revolving account to an open account. My Citi card was just changed over so my credit report doesn't yet show how the new NPSL will be reported.

[vanillabean]

That sounds vaguely familiar.  Apply for an Amex credit card and/or a Discover card, the sooner the better.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous-own-fico wrote:

That sounds vaguely familiar.  Apply for an Amex credit card and/or a Discover card, the sooner the better.

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To clarify (I know you said AmEx credit card, but some people don't catch the difference), you'd want an AmEx revolving credit card, like a Blue, rather than the classic charge cards like Green or Gold.

AmEx and Discover don't do the World (MC) and Signature (Visa) cards, so they do report properly.

OP, your cards will still continue to help you in terms of having healthy tradelines reporting, but you will be up the creek when it comes to reported util, depending on how they report, your highest balance, and whether you let balances report.

[vanillabean]

Haha hauling, hope I didn't make you (too) nervous.

What's a good Amex credit card these days by the way? I have the Delta, and DW has the Costco. The Blue Cash is not an option. Would a Blue Sky seem reasonable? This is for someone who doesn't really need another card.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies. I guess I'm just going to have to wait and see how my Citi card reports. According to the Card Hub investigation, Citi NPSL cards don't factor into the ratio because they don't report a credit limit or a high balance. Neither will the Chase card because it reports as an open account, not revolving. If this is the case, I will only have two cards, neither of which factors into the ratio. Don't know if that is good or bad for my score. http://education.cardhub.com/no-preset-spending-limit-2010/

[haulingthescoreup]

What many of us have found is that not all these cards behave the same for everyone.

Give it a month or so, until you know that both are reporting their new status, and then pull your full reports, the ones that you get directly from each individual credit bureau or via annualcreditreport.com. (Don't sign up for anything on the credit bureau websites, and don't try to buy one bureau's report from another bureau's site; in other words, don't try to buy your EQ report from EX. You won't get the full version.)

Once you have the full reports, check to see whether it says Open or Revolving in Account Type, and whether anything is reported for Credit limit and Highest Balance. Then you'll know what you're dealing with.

I'm very grateful that both my World cards report like normal cards (BofA and USAA.) They show as Revolving, and so there's no weirdness.

[Lel]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for the replies. I guess I'm just going to have to wait and see how my Citi card reports. According to the Card Hub investigation, Citi NPSL cards don't factor into the ratio because they don't report a credit limit or a high balance. Neither will the Chase card because it reports as an open account, not revolving. If this is the case, I will only have two cards, neither of which factors into the ratio. Don't know if that is good or bad for my score. http://education.cardhub.com/no-preset-spending-limit-2010/

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Ah, it is time for my personal "duh" moment.  That's right, open accounts don't count toward utilization.  And I figured out the very same thing in a response to that blog link that I mentioned earlier - my Chase cards are both categorized as open, so they don't factor into util despite their reporting of the high balance.  My memory isn't what it once was.