Rebuilding credit - GE Money

[jo23171]

It has been 1 year since I filled. I am 100% focused on rebuilding my credit now. I already have a few credit cards and I am thinking about financing a small purchase with GE Money. I have the cash to buy them but if I finance for 6 months with no interest it can only help my score a bit more. Has anyone used GE Money before? Is it considered revolving credit? I want to diversify from only having credit card accounts in my credit report.

[IamOld]

Yes GE Money IS revolving credit. BUT be VERY VERY VERY careful - if it's six mo interest free, it's not six months and one minute! IF I were you, and you will do this, pay it off in month four or five!!!!

[IBroke]

I obtained a similar account from a local auto-dealership to pay for a repair on my previous car. The bill was about $920 (last July) and it was interest-free for 6 months with minimum payments of about $30/month and a CL of $1,000. So far, I paid it down to $300 and my final payment will be in January ($300) which will avoid more than $80 in interest. They won't get a single penny in interest from me!

[SPalin]

Good luck with GE Money, as they are very anti BK! I had three GE Money accounts paid off before I filed and once they saw the BK on my credit reports, they closed those accounts! Like IAMOLd said, make sure it is paid off before the 6 months, otherwise you will be paying interest.

[df04527]

For the best shot at credit score increase - try not to have more than three credit cards (prime cards, of course, are better than sub-prime) but I understand you get what you can get - but shoot for the prime cards as soon as your score climbs enough.

If you can is it possible to get a signature loan from a credit union? or something like that? Remember DIFFERENT types of credit are score boosters, over the long haul, and not too much of one kind, such as CC's.

[Logan]

Hey df04527, would you consider Capital One a subprime card? Also, why would a subprime card be any different as far as your credit score are concerned? Someone with great credit and No BK could apply for a subprime card so why would that affect them?
Also, Credit One is BK friendly but lots of people in my job have one because they charge no International fees and alot of us travel internationally so I'm just curious if it is actually considered subprime?.

Logan

[IBroke]

Also, why would a subprime card be any different as far as your credit score are concerned? Someone with great credit and No BK could apply for a subprime card so why would that affect them?
Also, Credit One is BK friendly but lots of people in my job have one because they charge no International fees and alot of us travel internationally so I'm just curious if it is actually considered subprime?.

Logan

There is no difference between subprime and prime in regards to credit scoring. Credit One (which, BTW, I have an account with as well) is subprime - but that doesn't bother me at all.

[df04527]

Sub prime and prime cards do make a difference when you go for certain types of credit. Further, the lenders have their own algorythms and consider this when they pull your scores. Remember each lender uses their own customized Scoring models. You wont see any difference, whatsoever, in your scores you pull from a third party or directly from FICO themselves. Those are generic models they use.

Here is the deal, and its rude but is the reality of it, almost anyone with a pulse can get a subprime card. Lenders know this and your scores will reflect it to some extent. If you have say an Amex and a platinum what the heck kind of card open and active they know you stand way above the rest and with that your risk to the lender goes WAY down and your scores up.

The way credit is nowadays, almost all loans are manually underwritten. Hth

As for Cap One being subprime, it probably depends on the card, but my guess is they are considered subprime.

[Logan]

Sub prime and prime cards do make a difference when you go for certain types of credit. Further, the lenders have their own algorythms and consider this when they pull your scores. Remember each lender uses their own customized Scoring models. You wont see any difference, whatsoever, in your scores you pull from a third party or directly from FICO themselves. Those are generic models they use.

Here is the deal, and its rude but is the reality of it, almost anyone with a pulse can get a subprime card. Lenders know this and your scores will reflect it to some extent. If you have say an Amex and a platinum what the heck kind of card open and active they know you stand way above the rest and with that your risk to the lender goes WAY down and your scores up.

The way credit is nowadays, almost all loans are manually underwritten. Hth

As for Cap One being subprime, it probably depends on the card, but my guess is they are considered subprime.

Interesting, so someone like me who has a Chase with a 7k credit limit and the 2 subprime-- capitalone and barclaycard--would be ok because I have a Chase card? The funny thing is my 2 subprime cards are great cards. Capitalone eats foreign transaction fees which is rare and my Barclaycard has a very good interest rate. If I were to cancel any of my cards it would be chase.
Logan

[df04527]

If you could eventually lose the two subprimes and replace with prime (or A rated) cards you would be in a better position, risk wise and from the viewpoint of the lender. And yeah it is funny you would get rid of Chase... Go figure they would be the worst of the three you have.

[Logan]

If you could eventually lose the two subprimes and replace with prime (or A rated) cards you would be in a better position, risk wise and from the viewpoint of the lender. And yeah it is funny you would get rid of Chase... Go figure they would be the worst of the three you have.

I won't ever replace my CapitalOne card because of the free foreign transactions. My credit is just fine with a mid 716 after 4 years and with a wife that has an 800 FICO we'll pretty much never have any issues with credit. We were looking into getting an American Express card to purchase groceries because they give 6% cash back but they won't let me be an authorized user because of my BK so we're not immune.
Logan

[IBroke]

If you have say an Amex and a platinum what the heck kind of card open and active they know you stand way above the rest and with that your risk to the lender goes WAY down and your scores up.

And how is their scoring-model supposed to know that I have a Platinum card? Even Amex has "entry-level" cards all the way up to their famous "black card" - but that type of information is NOT part of your credit-report. A potential lender can see the creditors of their applicants but they can't tell if you have a Platinum card, Gold card or whatever based on the information on your report. This type of information is simply not on file.

It's possible that they ask the applicant what type of cards he/she has (although that never happened to me before) and use that information to build their own scoring-model - but if they only depend on the credit-report, they can't tell the difference.

The reason why FICO doesn't make a difference between prime and subprime is simple: What matters most is how you handle your account. It would be very difficult to justify why an applicant with a $1,000 CL on his AMEX should have a higher score than an applicant who handles his Credit One card with the same limit in exactly the same manner.

[df04527]

The platinum reference was just an example as I couldn't think of another prime card off the top of my head besides AE. Your right - YOU cannot see what is on your report - believe me - the creditors can see and they can see ALOT more than we think they can see. They can also see DELETED items if they so desire. Ever heard of the dreaded full factual? Lexis Nexis? There are many names for it.

Your reference with FICO not making a difference is laughable.

[Amy26]

The only time I have seen a sub prime card hurt either a score or a credit application is 1. if the limit on the card is a "toy limit" or 2. on manual review. The pure existence of which card is which on your credit report is not going to make any kind of difference. Sub prime cards tend to give much lower limits which when looked at for limit increases and new credit can be a negative factor if they see a lot of really small limits. And upon manual review the lender could skoff at a Credit One card...but I think that reason would be much lower on the totum pole.

I am a firm believer in credit unions post bankruptcy. They are really the bread and butter of rebuilding.

[IBroke]

The platinum reference was just an example as I couldn't think of another prime card off the top of my head besides AE. Your right - YOU cannot see what is on your report - believe me - the creditors can see and they can see ALOT more than we think they can see. They can also see DELETED items if they so desire.

So basically, you are saying that lenders openly violate the FCRA? I'd love to get more into detail. As far as I know, the FCRA clearly states that derogatory information has to be removed after 7 (1/2) years of the DOFD. Why doesn't this law apply to Full Factuals as well? Are these companies above the law?

Your reference with FICO not making a difference is laughable.

Sorry, but that's a fact. It doesn't make a difference to your score if you have a subprime card with a $300 limit and a reported balance of $3 or a Discover card with a $20,000 limit and a $200 reported balance. Both reflects a utilization of 1% and that's all FICO considers.