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zelah posted:I'm in a kinda similar spot but in my situation I think it will help. Experian shows me as an authorized party on a card of my mom's and is counting the balance/limit towards my utilization, jacking it way up. I am pretty sure that is the same spot I am in. It is a home equity credit card of some sort, the balance is $3,346 and there is no limit apparently. There is a spot that says High Credit on my Equifax report and that is $9,907. Aside from that card I have a car loan ($14,884 balance) and two credit cards ($550 & $700 limits, balance is currently $347 & $260) so that $3,346 is a sizable chunk of my overall balance. For some reason is is showing my total debt to credit as 110%, and it looks like that is the case because it is counting that $3,346 as credit used, and since it shows no credit limit it looks like I am using way more credit than I have.
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May 24, 2011 20:16
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moana posted:Tons like lots of cards? How many are we talking about? I think it should be fine, especially if they are your oldest ones. 6 cards total, two I've had for 4+ years, 4 I've opened in the last 15 months. I use three of the newest 4 for different rewards and don't touch the other ones.
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May 24, 2011 20:21
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I vote just keep them all.
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May 24, 2011 20:26
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Zeta Taskforce posted:They should remove the account entirely, but it might take some effort and you might have to dispute it on the credit bureaus. Other lenders may be reluctant to increase your credit lines or grant new credit if they are seeing a 120 day late, even if 660 isn’t that bad. Even if you are joint and it never comes off, time will heal this wound. This is going back a little bit, but it seems the account was closed by the credit grantor, so I'm not sure how I'd be removed as an authorized user. Am I screwed?
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May 25, 2011 00:21
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Is there an easily available (in the us) credit card that support the chip-and-pin system more common in Europe? Last time I was in Paris I wasn't able to rent Velib bikes because the machines don't support magnetic strips, I'd like to avoid any problems on this trip to Europe. Not even USAA's "World Mastercard" has the chip-and-pin, and no other cards I've managed to googled have it.
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May 25, 2011 15:28
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ryanmfw posted:This is going back a little bit, but it seems the account was closed by the credit grantor, so I'm not sure how I'd be removed as an authorized user. Am I screwed? Only the primary cardholder can do that. They and only they are able to grant and revoke permission to use the card. The fact the account is closed shouldn’t matter, nor would it change the relationships and responsibilities each of you have to the account.
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May 25, 2011 15:37
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modig posted:Is there an easily available (in the us) credit card that support the chip-and-pin system more common in Europe? Last time I was in Paris I wasn't able to rent Velib bikes because the machines don't support magnetic strips, I'd like to avoid any problems on this trip to Europe. Not even USAA's "World Mastercard" has the chip-and-pin, and no other cards I've managed to googled have it. I had a Target Visa card back in '03 that had a chip in it, but it looks like the new ones don't have one. http://travel.usatoday.com/deals/inside/story/2011/04/Travel-friendly-chip-and-pin-credit-cards-coming-to-US/46327546/1 Chase Palladium is about your only bet ($600 annual fee) (unless you are an employee of the UN) In other news, anyone want to start a credit card company for travelers??? Seems like an untapped market. Spend an extra $.05 per card, get virtually anyone who travels internationally and most security/id concious consumers. If Bank of America can make a profit putting peoples photos on card, you better believe an actual security feature should bring business. On a related note, will we see these cards more if the Interchange Fee limit comes to pass? Theoretically they are more secure and prevent fraud, thus are cheaper in the long run. KennyG fucked around with this message at 16:54 on May 25, 2011 |
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May 25, 2011 16:50
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I had lost my job back in '04 and had some credit issues which have all been dealt with since then. Am I reading correct that later on this year, October/November is when the blemishes appear, the blemishes go away since it's been 7 years? One other question is if they go away does it basically make my score skyrocket since they are the only things on there? (do creditors not see anything about it anymore?)
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May 26, 2011 18:56
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himurak posted:I had lost my job back in '04 and had some credit issues which have all been dealt with since then. Am I reading correct that later on this year, October/November is when the blemishes appear, the blemishes go away since it's been 7 years? Your credit score is heavily weighted toward the last 2 years. Negative stuff that is 4, 5, 6 years old, even unpaid collection accounts, don’t count that much against you. Therefore it is unlikely your score will skyrocket this fall if they come off. The way I read this was you did settle the bad debt. That is smart because people get the mistaken impression that the debt is forgiven after 7 years. In actuality it just isn’t supposed to be reported after 7 years; that is something very different. If something was not paid, it’s always possible that some rogue collector will buy it for pennies on the dollar and aggressively start collecting it, or you will be getting a mortgage and your loan officer will ask you why there is a default judgment on your credit.
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May 26, 2011 21:30
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I got LASIK last year, financed about $2850 of it, 2 years no interest. I just finished paying it off yesterday (9 months ahead of schedule!). The financing came from GEMoney. What do I do now? I turned off AutoPay, but I have no plans on getting more elective surgery with which to use this credit line. Should I just let it sit? Close it? Call them and do something? I'm not really sure what I should do with it.
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May 27, 2011 16:00
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dunkman posted:I got LASIK last year, financed about $2850 of it, 2 years no interest. I just finished paying it off yesterday (9 months ahead of schedule!). The financing came from GEMoney. What do I do now? I turned off AutoPay, but I have no plans on getting more elective surgery with which to use this credit line. Should I just let it sit? Close it? Call them and do something? If there are no fees associated with the account (yearly, maintenance, inactivity, etc), just let it sit as an open credit line. It won't hurt you to have it at $0.
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May 27, 2011 16:15
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Bojanglesworth posted:I am pretty sure that is the same spot I am in. It is a home equity credit card of some sort, the balance is $3,346 and there is no limit apparently. There is a spot that says High Credit on my Equifax report and that is $9,907. Anyone have any insight on this?
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May 27, 2011 16:58
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traveling midget posted:If there are no fees associated with the account (yearly, maintenance, inactivity, etc), just let it sit as an open credit line. It won't hurt you to have it at $0. I have to disagree. I don’t care what you do, but whatever (minimal) boost you will get from your credit is not worth having an extra account out there. It is another account that can get compromised, another account that’s going to generate junk mail, another account that you have to keep track of. What if there is a clause somewhere in there that there is an inactivity fee, or they decide to start charging annual fees, and since you never use it you don’t give them your new address and phone number so you don’t realize it until they send it to collections? I would close it. Don’t worry, even if you close it someone else will be more than happy to let you finance something else if you so desire in the future.
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May 27, 2011 20:30
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Zeta Taskforce posted:I have to disagree. I don’t care what you do, but whatever (minimal) boost you will get from your credit is not worth having an extra account out there. It is another account that can get compromised, another account that’s going to generate junk mail, another account that you have to keep track of. What if there is a clause somewhere in there that there is an inactivity fee, or they decide to start charging annual fees, and since you never use it you don’t give them your new address and phone number so you don’t realize it until they send it to collections? I would close it. Don’t worry, even if you close it someone else will be more than happy to let you finance something else if you so desire in the future. I can't say you're incorrect, even though I don't necessarily agree.
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May 27, 2011 20:40
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There is a middle ground here. For actual bank backed credit cards, I always keep all info updated on the 5 or so I have even if I never use them. For store cards, if I don't use them in a year, I close them.
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May 27, 2011 20:57
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Bojanglesworth posted:I am pretty sure that is the same spot I am in. It is a home equity credit card of some sort, the balance is $3,346 and there is no limit apparently. There is a spot that says High Credit on my Equifax report and that is $9,907. Just tell them to take you off. Do you remember how ryanmfw got messed up how his parents “tried to help” build his credit”. You have enough tradelines. I don’t want to be your personal nemesis here, but stop playing around with interest rate magic, leasing magic, authorized user magic. I get that you are a one income family. Maybe this isn’t good advice, but everything I read seems to indicate with all things credit and financing you are trying to squeeze something out of nothing and juggle things around so you can consume more stuff. Stop building your credit, start building an emergency fund. Your credit will take care of itself.
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May 27, 2011 21:04
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traveling midget posted:I can't say you're incorrect, even though I don't necessarily agree. This is what I hate about FICO because they are constantly tweaking the algorithm, and it’s like a mysterious black box that spits out a number, but one of the recent changes means that an account with no activity for 6 months doesn’t get scored the same way as one you are actively using. I don’t want to say it is ignored, but I don’t help your credit as much. So I guess in this stupid cat and mouse game between FICO and the people trying to outsmart FICO, people will begin to use all their zero balance cards exactly once every six months. But we can disagree and still be friends 
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May 27, 2011 21:13
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Zeta Taskforce posted:Just tell them to take you off. Do you remember how ryanmfw got messed up how his parents “tried to help” build his credit”. You have enough tradelines. Ok good, I already have one too many nemeses here already. Just for the record, I have been an authorized user on that card for years. I am not sure if it was that or other things that have helped my credit but my score has gone way up since two years ago when I had them add me. I have a couple of months worth of living expenses in savings (and putting just over 20% of my salary into savings each month.) Thank you for all of your help though, I will have them remove me as a user.
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May 27, 2011 21:57
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I called up their customer service line and was able to close the account using their automatic system. Good bye $3000 of unused credit, I guess.
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May 27, 2011 23:09
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Zeta Taskforce posted:This is what I hate about FICO because they are constantly tweaking the algorithm, and it’s like a mysterious black box that spits out a number, but one of the recent changes means that an account with no activity for 6 months doesn’t get scored the same way as one you are actively using. I don’t want to say it is ignored, but I don’t help your credit as much. So I guess in this stupid cat and mouse game between FICO and the people trying to outsmart FICO, people will begin to use all their zero balance cards exactly once every six months. That change to FICO makes you the 'more right' one, I'd say. We're still friends. 
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May 27, 2011 23:14
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How would I go about getting money from a HELOC when my mother-in-law owns the deed on the house and the grandparents are on the loan? We're taking out money to do repairs before we sell the house. Do the grandparents just take out the loan and we take the cash? House has about 95% equity in it.
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May 27, 2011 23:50
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This is kind of a stupid question. I have $270 on my discover card and I can only pay off like 250 of that this month. Does that mean next month's bill will have $20 plus the interest on it?
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May 28, 2011 20:28
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Peven Stan posted:This is kind of a stupid question. I have $270 on my discover card and I can only pay off like 250 of that this month. Does that mean next month's bill will have $20 plus the interest on it? Yes. And they will charge interest on the average daily balance, so it could be assessed on the majority of the $270, depending on when you pay it.
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May 28, 2011 20:31
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Zeta Taskforce posted:Yes. And they will charge interest on the average daily balance, so it could be assessed on the majority of the $270, depending on when you pay it. Good lord. The bill isn't due until June 22 and I just paid it. Will this reduce the finance charge I need to pay? I apologize about how sheltered this all sounds because I've never gone over what I could pay before until this month.
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May 28, 2011 20:42
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Peven Stan posted:Good lord. The bill isn't due until June 22 and I just paid it. Will this reduce the finance charge I need to pay? I apologize about how sheltered this all sounds because I've never gone over what I could pay before until this month. In that case, the average daily balance will be closer to $20, so that's what they will charge interest on. That said, most cards have a minimum finance charge, which means they won't charge less than $1.00. Or $2.00; depends on the card holder agreement
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May 28, 2011 21:28
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If I want to open a Roth IRA, what should I be looking for in order to compare between different companies? Any suggestions of best companies to use?
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May 30, 2011 20:01
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You should be looking at their fee structure for the type of funds you're looking at (I'm guessing just a basic index fund or a target retirement date fund)- some companies are particularly bad with high fees. I normally recommend Vanguard since the company is owned by the funds themselves, so there is no incentive for high fees to profit the owners. I've had nothing but good experiences with them, and setting up a Roth was very straightforward and you can do most of it online. They seem to consistently have the lowest fees. Still, check around and see for yourself, and I'm sure some other people will chime in with their recommendations.
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May 30, 2011 20:29
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How long should I wait after horribly screwing up my credit to try to apply for a credit card? My score is apparently a 670. I'm too scared to apply for the fear of an inquiry taking it down even more.
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May 31, 2011 17:46
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sleepness posted:How long should I wait after horribly screwing up my credit to try to apply for a credit card? An inquiry is a very minor, and temporary hit to your credit. Maybe 3 points. If you were to be late on something right now, that might be 100 points. People always overestimate the effect of an inquiry on their credit. I’ve seen members of my credit union afraid of applying for something almost to the point of paralysis. If the item you are applying for is something that you need or will further your financial goals, then there is no point in waiting.
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May 31, 2011 17:58
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Looking for opinions on employee stock purchases plans (ESPP). I'm about to be converted and will need to decide how much to contribute. We are offered a 15% discount on the stock price determined by a certain range. Right now our stock has taken a dive, so it's really a no-brainer as I'm sure it will gain value based on where it's at. If our stock seemed artificially high at any point and my price was being determined by it I would probably opt-out or not purchase as much. Basically, if I'm being given (what I think will be) a great deal I don't see much in the way of downside. I am able to immediately sell it once I've purchased it. Assuming a static price, there's a 15% gain every time I do so. I know there are a ton of factors that can affect it, but in general how much is wise to contribute? Is there any downside if nothing unforeseen happens and I'm able to realize the full 15% gain each time?
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Jun 1, 2011 03:10
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transient posted:Looking for opinions on employee stock purchases plans (ESPP). I'm about to be converted and will need to decide how much to contribute. We are offered a 15% discount on the stock price determined by a certain range. There's gotta be some probationary period after the purchase period where you can't sell, right? I'm fairly sure that's how my ESPP works. I contribute about 3% of my salary to mine; the discount is 15% off the lowest closing stock price during the six month purchase period, so a decent deal.
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Jun 1, 2011 06:01
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illcendiary posted:There's gotta be some probationary period after the purchase period where you can't sell, right? I'm fairly sure that's how my ESPP works. I contribute about 3% of my salary to mine; the discount is 15% off the lowest closing stock price during the six month purchase period, so a decent deal. Not necessarily, my current company's ESPP allows me to sell right away. I dump the stock within a few days for a guaranteed 10% gain (+/- a little bit depending on volatility) on 15% of my salary. As long as you can sell right away and don't urgently need the cash flow during your ESPP's holding period it's (1) free money (2) a convenient forced savings plan. The tax treatment is a tiny bit more complicated, but it's totally worthwhile. If you get to buy the stock at a 15% discount off the lowest price during your holding period your upside is even better AND no additional downside. The only real risk is that your stock takes a huge dump between when your ESPP buys the stock and when you're able to sell, but if you're that paranoid you can always short the stock at the appropriate time. laffa fucked around with this message at 06:52 on Jun 1, 2011 |
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Jun 1, 2011 06:47
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Zeta Taskforce posted:An inquiry is a very minor, and temporary hit to your credit. Maybe 3 points. If you were to be late on something right now, that might be 100 points. People always overestimate the effect of an inquiry on their credit. I’ve seen members of my credit union afraid of applying for something almost to the point of paralysis. If the item you are applying for is something that you need or will further your financial goals, then there is no point in waiting.
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Jun 1, 2011 14:48
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Not quite sure where else to ask this: Has anyone else had trouble linking Citibank credit cards with Mint for the past month plus? I can't seem to get it to work.
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Jun 1, 2011 15:06
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10-8 posted:Is there a maximum limit for this, though? I applied for credit a couple of years ago and was denied. When I received my letter from the company, the only stated grounds were "Too many recent inquiries." I have a perfect payment history, low utilization, etc., but I had about 7 inquiries in the previous year. (I had recently moved into a new place and the gas/electric/phone utilities each pulled credit, and I had just shopped around for a vehicle loan too.) Its not like there is a magic number. 7 inquiries in a year starts to move out of the minor negative to perhaps moderate on your credit score. But keep in mind that there are lots of things a bank will look at in addition to credit score when they are about to offer financing. And everyone will weigh the different factors in different ways. If I were to look at someone with a thin credit history and I saw 7 inquiries within a year, that would send up a red flag for me. Even if it didn’t have a disastrous effect on your credit score. It looks like someone is grasping for money in lots of different directions and has a higher potential to accumulate a lot of debt. It’s not like you did anything wrong (or right) by having 7 inquiries. You did what you had to do. You were able to move, get your utilities set up, etc. The system worked. But you began to look like someone who was a higher risk. Perhaps this was unfair, but it’s what happened.
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Jun 1, 2011 15:46
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Chin Strap posted:Not quite sure where else to ask this: Has anyone else had trouble linking Citibank credit cards with Mint for the past month plus? I can't seem to get it to work. Two separate citibank cards, no issues here. Try going into Mint and re-entering your login info. This fixed an issue I had with a non Citibank account.
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Jun 1, 2011 17:51
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Zeta Taskforce posted:I have to disagree. I don’t care what you do, but whatever (minimal) boost you will get from your credit is not worth having an extra account out there. It is another account that can get compromised, another account that’s going to generate junk mail, another account that you have to keep track of. What if there is a clause somewhere in there that there is an inactivity fee, or they decide to start charging annual fees, and since you never use it you don’t give them your new address and phone number so you don’t realize it until they send it to collections? I would close it. Don’t worry, even if you close it someone else will be more than happy to let you finance something else if you so desire in the future. I don't want to be a necromancer here, but this is the best argument for MINT. Obviously you are always open to account fraud which depends on the agreement but at least most are statutorilly limited to $50 and effectively $0. Also, if you aren't using them, there is less chance for fraud. More junk mail, is more junk mail, but really, how hard is it to just throw that away? I personally hate spam FAR more than junk mail. At least they paid $.35 to send it to you, thus reducing your cost of a stamp when you need to mail something. Without junk mail, we'd already be paying $.75 - $1 or more for letters. Email has the opposite value equation. Keeping track of accounts could be the easiest thing in the world once you get Mint. You're actually more likely to keep track with Mint because it alerts you to fees, interest charges, and limit changes which if you aren't examining your statement closely, you may miss. I conceede your point that as FICO adjusts the formula to what constitutes a good credit score, the effort to game the system starts increasing. To me, however, the effort of a no-fee, zero-balance credit card does not outweigh the piece of mind that the unused limit gives me.
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Jun 1, 2011 17:56
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KennyG posted:I don't want to be a necromancer here, but this is the best argument for MINT. Obviously you are always open to account fraud which depends on the agreement but at least most are statutorilly limited to $50 and effectively $0. Also, if you aren't using them, there is less chance for fraud. You can focus your energies on managing your money, sticking to a realistic budget, saving for goals, using credit sparingly, investing wisely, and building wealth. Or you can focus your energies on squeezing out every single point on your FICO score, strategically keeping the right accounts open, using the right card for each purchase to get the maximum rewards. We can debate the cost/benefit to doing different things, how you can automate it and have systems for tracking accounts, you can argue that we are not talking that much time. We can debate the value of the rewards. We can do all this and more, but ultimately it is about your world view. I don’t see people enjoying their retirement saying it was the reward points that put them over the top. When someone drives a paid for car, I don’t ever hear them say that it was because they got such an amazing rate from keeping their Home Depot no payments for a year account open. You can ask FICO to provide for you, or you can provide for you. This is how I see it, and how I answer questions.
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Jun 1, 2011 18:23
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I don't disagree with your facts, it's your conclusion that I just don't see the math for. Yes it's not a good idea to kite your credit and play games to try and eek out 5 points or $20 vs the risk if it comes crashing down. That said, I think you grossly overstate the costs and risks of open credit. To your statement, I also don't see anyone enjoying their retirement saying "Thank God I closed that Visa card. That would have murdered my family in thier sleep." My point is not to leave them open because they benefit you that much (or even at all), but more that they don't hurt you. You say close them if you don't use them, I say if you don't have a problem being a responsible adult, why close them? Yes, if you completely ignore them and never check on them they may evenutally explode if left unattended for years, but with modern technology, you shouldn't have that problem. We aren't far from agreement. Yes, games are bad, but we are talking litterally 3 minutes of annual effort (maybe 15 seconds a month). You could even argue that the return on your time would require years to break even from closing it. Personally, I like options, especially ones that cost me such a negligible amount. KennyG fucked around with this message at 20:32 on Jun 1, 2011 |
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Jun 1, 2011 20:30
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Chin Strap posted:Not quite sure where else to ask this: Has anyone else had trouble linking Citibank credit cards with Mint for the past month plus? I can't seem to get it to work. same issue, except Vanguard. I did some googling and it looks like they've been having on again off again problems for a while, with some new ones popping up a month ago. When I signed up, in April everything worked fine. I checked again yesterday (i check 1st of every month) and it had a pretty generic "we cannot access your account error". Do I need to do anything or is this a problem for everyone?
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Jun 1, 2011 22:12
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