Posted on 04/22/2008 5:11:17 PM PDT by shrinkermd
It’s pretty amusing. I work with cellphones and a class Z (as they define it no credit history) warrents a 750 dollar deposit, and someone with terrible credit history often gets away with a 500 dollar deposit. Of course I’m talking At&T
sprint, if you don’t give a social security number (aka illegals) its an automatic 150 dollar deposit, less than the cost of a new cellphone.
I love how the system.
How about not using credit at all? Howz that for a concept???
************************************************
Nice goal but not really practical in todays world.. without credit you will be asked for $300-$500 deposits on a basic cell phone, double the deposit amounts on electric power , water and home phone accounts... you cannot rent a car , you will be denied jobs as the employer will assume the years without credit report entries were spent in jail or possibly living under a false identity (identity theft perp) or you’re anti-social or weird in some way...
Should I start opening more damned cards so I have a bigger limit to work with?
Actually, yes. With consumer credit, they want to see less than a 50% utilization of **each** card...if you have 5 zero balance cards with $2000 limits and one with a $10,000 limit that’s charged to 80%, it is scored derogatively vs. if you had the others all sitting with a balance of $1000 and only $5000 on the bigger one.
So if SS card is stolen and apply for a new one, what happens with my score?
A couple of times, it has taken 10 days from when we dropped the payment off at the post office until it was credited. Of course, it was late with fees and fines.
We called them up and they grudgingly removed the fees. As if they are doing us a favor.
We have had the credit card for over 20 years.
We are canceling then credit card.
Don't know if this is a game to make more money or if they are just incompetent boobs.
that’s why I do all my banking online. Paycheck comes in, 100 bucks on the card it gets applied within 48 hours, longer on weekends. It’s really tough for them to charge late fees if it’s done digitally.
“How about not using credit at all? Howz that for a concept???”
I think that’s a wonderful concept myself. After finally paying off our house about ten years ago after thirty years of monthly payments we took the extra money and payed off our other debts. We have one credit card and it’s a Home Depot card.I would imagine my credit rating is less than a 100 if that’s possible but I don’t care. I don’t want any credit and when I need a better car I shop around for a very good used car, save up my money and pay cash. Being debt free is better than having a pocket full of credit cards that have to be paid every month and knowing I’m being ripped off in interest and other fees.
It's not a score that measures the ability to buy and sell - it's a score that measures ones' ability to borrow and pay back.
See if your bank has online bill paying. You can schedule an automatic transfer from your acct to the credit card company on the due date, and your bank provides a record of the transfer.
I have an automatic recurring payment set up to pay them a minimum a week before the due date. And then I set up an additional payment (you can do multiple payments to the same company per month)
Thats what the lady told us to do. That or send our payment in 15 days before it is due.
Will see how things go with the new credit card company.
We don’t carry a balance so it is easy to change. Probably another reason why they don’t value us as customers. They make money from the sales but they don’t collect any interest.
We use our credit card almost exclusively now. No checks, very little cash. Would have never done that 10 years ago.
Ding! Ding! We have a winner - in more ways than one.
There are many different scoring systems (FICO's by far the most important), but most average the ages of all your accounts. So if you open a new account, it will LOWER generally your score, especially if you don't have very many cards.
FICO® TIPS
■ Keep balances low on credit cards and other “revolving credit.” High outstanding debt can lower your FICO® score.
■ Pay off debt rather than moving it around. The most effective way to improve your FICO® score in this area is by paying down your revolving credit.
■ Don’t close unused credit cards as a shortterm strategy to raise your FICO® score. Owing the same amount but having fewer open accounts may lower your FICO® score.
■ Don’t open a number of new credit cards that you don’t need, just to increase your available credit. This approach could backfire and actually lower your FICO® score.
■ Avoid credit repair agencies that charge a fee to improve your FICO® score by removing negative, but accurate, information from your credit reports. No one can force credit reporting agencies or lenders to remove accurate information from a credit report. Credit repair companies often take your money without delivering what they promise, or provide only temporary improvements of your score, sometimes by removing accurate information that will reappear later.
Understanding Your MyFico score (booklet on pdf):
http://www.myfico.com/Downloads/Files/myFICO_UYFS_Booklet.pdf
FICO's *NEW* credit scoring system for 2008...
http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/172008_FICO_08.asp
Don’t put it past a CC company to take their time processing a payment to harvest fines. Sorry to sound so cynical, but I sure wouldn’t. And though for many it’s hard to stomach, I’ve been doing online banking & making payments online for years. I’ve never had a problem. But then I’d stay away from Internet Explorer for anything like that.
I do believe canceling the credit card is not advised. However, some of the same people who would advise against that would advise that you pay your bill off in full every month. If the only money the CC company makes from you is on the merchant/service end, the less they tend to like you, scam-ish fees or not. I resist the temptation to do that & always leave $50 or $100 every month just so they’re at least making a couple or a few dollars from me.
I realize that seems odd, but it’s less odd, at least in my experience, than some people who make decisions based on credit reports. The wrong person in human resources or in some other decision-making capacity might respond differently than some might expect. I knew someone who was fired from their job because their credit was too good, and another turned down by a property owner for an apartment rental. Why? Most people like the idea of paying off their credit card bill in full every month, but it never seems to happen for this or that reason. Something always comes up, some unexpected expense, some unforseen event or circumstances that leave people with some revolving balances, and I’m not talking about irresponsible CC holders or people who live paycheck-to-paycheck. It’s just the way it is for a lot of people.
Some view people, for whatever reason, who pay their balances off in full every month as people who are, paradoxically, untrustworthy. As though they’re breaking some unspoken rule regarding human nature, or something. Or perhaps they’re viewed as anal-retentive. I don’t know. It makes little sense on the face of it, but it definitely exists.
I have one credit card with a $500 limit. I use it only for internet, DirecTv and cell phone billing. I have it set up for automatic payment every month. They hate me...;-)
My goal is to one day be in the same position. I want a horribly low credit score but still have a credit line to draw on whenever I need it.
Sincerely,
JoMa
"If you have been managing credit for a short time, don’t open a lot of new accounts too rapidly. New accounts will lower your average account age, which will have a larger effect on your FICO® score if you don’t have a lot of other credit information. Even if you have used credit for a long time, opening a new account can still lower your FICO® score."
http://www.myfico.com/Downloads/Files/myFICO_UYFS_Booklet.pdf
“I have one credit card with a $500 limit. I use it only for internet, DirecTv and cell phone billing. I have it set up for automatic payment every month. They hate me...;-)”
Your know as a “Dead Beat” in the industry for doing that ... and so am I (though I don’t and never will have automatic withdrawals from my checking account).
Quick question for anyone who might know the answer.
I got divorced, the ex got awarded the vehicle. She was to maintain the payments and get a loan to get it out of my name and into hers. She never did and it got reposessed. I updated all of the payments and am keeping it and the payments current.
Could I get that reposession off of MY credit if I were to go to the Credit Union with a copy of the court order that said she was the one obligated to take care of the vehicle?
Not being cynical at all. I wonder how many people don’t know or don’t care that it is happening. The bank is probably hoping...
Interesting and strange at the same time.
BTW, our credit scores were around 780 if I remember correctly, think mine was over 800 when we applied for the new credit card.
Might drop after we cancel the card. But, what the hey.
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