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Kinglord,
Given the portfolio of solid cards you have now, you honestly don't need any store cards to improve your Fico score. Now if you and your wife like to shop and pay those bills in full, I would definitely look into retail cards for the discounts and other perks. I have several and they all get paid in full when the bill arrives. As a matter of fact my Belk and Target store cards got upgraded to the Mastercard version.
Update: This post was updated to reflect Belk and Target Mastercard.
Guyatthebeach
@Guyatthebeach wrote:Kinglord,
Given the portfolio of solid cards you have now, you honestly don't need any store cards to improve your Fico score. Now if you and your wife like to shop and pay those bills in full, I would definitely look into retail cards for the discounts and other perks. I have several and they all get paid in full when the bill arrives. As a matter of fact my Belk and Target store cards got upgraded to the Mastercard and Visa versions.
Just a bit off-topic as far as the retail CCs you mentioned. Can you clalify the bolded piece @Guyatthebeach? Belk's doesn't upgrade to Visa and we know the Target RedCard can be upgraded to MC. So did you get that mixed up? Belk's has the store and MC versions only (not Visa). When did you get the Belk's upgrade btw? Asking for @UncleB.
@FinStar wrote:
@Guyatthebeach wrote:Kinglord,
Given the portfolio of solid cards you have now, you honestly don't need any store cards to improve your Fico score. Now if you and your wife like to shop and pay those bills in full, I would definitely look into retail cards for the discounts and other perks. I have several and they all get paid in full when the bill arrives. As a matter of fact my Belk and Target store cards got upgraded to the Mastercard and Visa versions.
Just a bit off-topic as far as the retail CCs you mentioned. Can you clalify the bolded piece @Guyatthebeach? Belk's doesn't upgrade to Visa and we know the Target RedCard can be upgraded to MC. So did you get that mixed up? Belk's has the store and MC versions only (not Visa). When did you get the Belk's upgrade btw? Asking for @UncleB.
FinStar,
You're right! Belk is a Mastercard. It was upgraded from the store card in either September or October to the MC version. I actually have only used mine card once since it upgraded. The better half uses it regularly. I got a small CLI from 7500 to 8000. The store card issue date and payment history carried over to the new account. FYI the Belk MC reports to TU as Synch/Belk Dual card.
When I was making the post, I was talking to Mrs. Guyatthebeach about South Jamaica's BECU credit card experience. We were talking about applying for a Heloc and a Visa with them. I'm on the fence on it, because I have read a lot people have to go through a lot with BECU's verification department.
Guyatthebeach
@Guyatthebeach wrote:
@FinStar wrote:
@Guyatthebeach wrote:Kinglord,
Given the portfolio of solid cards you have now, you honestly don't need any store cards to improve your Fico score. Now if you and your wife like to shop and pay those bills in full, I would definitely look into retail cards for the discounts and other perks. I have several and they all get paid in full when the bill arrives. As a matter of fact my Belk and Target store cards got upgraded to the Mastercard and Visa versions.
Just a bit off-topic as far as the retail CCs you mentioned. Can you clalify the bolded piece @Guyatthebeach? Belk's doesn't upgrade to Visa and we know the Target RedCard can be upgraded to MC. So did you get that mixed up? Belk's has the store and MC versions only (not Visa). When did you get the Belk's upgrade btw? Asking for @UncleB.
FinStar,
You're right! Belk is a Mastercard. It was upgraded from the store card in either September or October to the MC version. I actually have only used mine card once since it upgraded. The better half uses it regularly. I got a small CLI from 7500 to 8000. The store card issue date and payment history carried over to the new account. FYI the Belk MC reports to TU as Synch/Belk Dual card.
When I was making the post, I was talking to Mrs. Guyatthebeach about South Jamaica's BECU credit card experience. We were talking about applying for a Heloc and a Visa with them. I'm on the fence on it, because I have read a lot people have to go through a lot with BECU's verification department.
Guyatthebeach
Thanks for the tag, @FinStar!
And @Guyatthebeach, thank for the data point about the Belk PLCC upgrading to the Dual Card/MasterCard version... as far as I know, this is the first we've heard on here of an upgrade on the Belk card.
Here's hoping a Belk upgrade will find its way to me! <fingers crossed>
@Guyatthebeach wrote:
@FinStar wrote:
@Guyatthebeach wrote:Kinglord,
Given the portfolio of solid cards you have now, you honestly don't need any store cards to improve your Fico score. Now if you and your wife like to shop and pay those bills in full, I would definitely look into retail cards for the discounts and other perks. I have several and they all get paid in full when the bill arrives. As a matter of fact my Belk and Target store cards got upgraded to the Mastercard and Visa versions.
Just a bit off-topic as far as the retail CCs you mentioned. Can you clalify the bolded piece @Guyatthebeach? Belk's doesn't upgrade to Visa and we know the Target RedCard can be upgraded to MC. So did you get that mixed up? Belk's has the store and MC versions only (not Visa). When did you get the Belk's upgrade btw? Asking for @UncleB.
FinStar,
You're right! Belk is a Mastercard. It was upgraded from the store card in either September or October to the MC version. I actually have only used mine card once since it upgraded. The better half uses it regularly. I got a small CLI from 7500 to 8000. The store card issue date and payment history carried over to the new account. FYI the Belk MC reports to TU as Synch/Belk Dual card.
When I was making the post, I was talking to Mrs. Guyatthebeach about South Jamaica's BECU credit card experience. We were talking about applying for a Heloc and a Visa with them. I'm on the fence on it, because I have read a lot people have to go through a lot with BECU's verification department.
Guyatthebeach
Thanks @Guyatthebeach. We don't see very many upgrades to the Belk MC so I was just curious since you mentioned it. UncleB has the store version and I have the MC.
One last question, can you confirm whether your upgraded Belk MC reports as one or two separate tradelines on your CRs? There was a recent change with how CareCredit [upgraded MCs] report. And, because DPs help the community, I wanted to confirm whether the history carried over to the MC from your store account or whether SYNCB closed the store version and the MC started reporting as a new account.
FinStar,
The Belk MC reports as a single trade line. It also lists all the payment history, account history, and the original issue of the store card all carried over.
Hope this helps!
Guyatthebeach
Did someone utter the name Synchrony? I thought I heard a bear growling in the distance.
Insurance scores factor in the ratio of Retail(Closed Loop) to Bank Cards in your profile. Theory being Retail card heavy consumers tend to have lower income profiles and higher percentage of derogs making them more prone to bust out or fraud. If you were born on a Tuesday that may cause some issues as well.
@Anonymous wrote:
Insurance scores factor in the ratio of Retail(Closed Loop) to Bank Cards in your profile. Theory being Retail card heavy consumers tend to have lower income profiles and higher percentage of derogs making them more prone to bust out or fraud. If you were born on a Tuesday that may cause some issues as well.
I didn't know an explanation was ever given, just empirical experience-based correlation. Derogs would appear anyway in other parts of the credit report.
As for Tuesday births, well that's obvious. 100% of major and minor fraudsters in the last 100 years were born on a Tuesday plus/minus 3 days
@longtimelurker wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Insurance scores factor in the ratio of Retail(Closed Loop) to Bank Cards in your profile. Theory being Retail card heavy consumers tend to have lower income profiles and higher percentage of derogs making them more prone to bust out or fraud. If you were born on a Tuesday that may cause some issues as well.
I didn't know an explanation was ever given, just empirical experience-based correlation. Derogs would appear anyway in other parts of the credit report.
To be more clear, a higher potential of derogs not yet appearing already.
I see a lot of people saying that a retail card isn't necessary, however I also read everywhere that creditors/banks prefer a diversified file/portfolio with different types of credit lines/loans for better scoring and considerations.
E.g., open loop, closed loop, cobranded, branded, retail store, gas station, bank, cu, fintech, mortgage, car, personal, etc...
The suggested mix versus the advice to not mix is a bit conflicting.
Granted, I fully agree one should only app for credit lines they will actually use, rather than sock drawer.