Money and Finance

[Deleted]

I'll probably keep it in my wallet, just not use it. It's good to have the Capital One card because some places don't take Discover - but I don't really use any cards at all except online.

Will I be penalized if the account is $0? How will that work in terms of monthly payments if my balance is zero?

[chonies]

I don't think you will be penalized if you have a zero balance. My Capital One has some monthly fees on it, but I think I put them there--I have a quarterly credit checker, and some other things that probably won't do me any good.

[bossyboots]

You shouldn't be penalized for a zero balance. The bill will arrive and it will say you owe $0. You don't have to do a thing. Once a year (or however they charge the annual fee [if there is one]), your bill will just be the amount of the fee.

[shaz]

My boyfriend tells me that your FICO number and credit rating can go down every time you request a credit report. While I believe this is true, and completely unfair (unless someone can provide a reasonable argument for its fairness), I'm curious about how much it will go down. Can anyone explain this to me?

[bossyboots]

Your FICO number/credit score goes down with each inquiry on your credit report because an inquiry suggests a request for credit. Too many credit requests, and you're branded a "credit seeker" which is deemed a negative because creditors (rightly or wrongly) assume you're trying to get all sorts of credit which you could potentially max out later.

I am not sure that if you request your own credit report whether it constitutes an inquiry or a "hit" as it's sometimes called.

[shaz]

Ah, yes, that's totally understandable that it would be knocked down each time you're trying to apply for credit. I wasn't even thinking of that scenario! I was more thinking about personally requesting to see my OWN credit report. Seems ridiculous to knock the score down because people just want to keep on top of things. Oh well. Thanks for the response! I'm pretty new to this credit thing. I dinged up my credit pretty badly in college by getting too many credit cards, then racking up too much debt (*sigh*, I'm such a cliche). But now I'm trying to buy a house and I want to know what's up with my credit report. I requested one from only one of the companies. I think I'll be safe.

[bossyboots]

I think you have the right approach, shaz. You'd much rather find out yourself if there are problems on your credit report (and/or how major they are) BEFORE sitting across from a loans officer. If there are errors or omissions (both of which happen frequently, I hear), you can take care of it before shopping for your mortgage.

[welshcorgigirl]

I tried to apply for a Paypal Buyer credit card, which was then denied, for reasons that were never given. Now I'm worrying that something is wrong with my credit report. I know I only use my main bank account and have one debit card, and I have never went over the cash limit, so now I'm worryied something (or someone) messed with my credit report, and now I'm screwed! Any one familiar with this?

[chonies]

Hmm, back to the FICO thing. I use CreditInform, which sends me quarterly reports about my credit status. That can't be bad, can it? My score is slowly getting higher (from poor to "not good") and only really took a hit when my uninsured teeth needed emergency dental work and I applied unsuccessfully for a few cards.

Also, I heard that, at least for the purposes of buying a car, being a student overrides or compensates for poor credit. Is this true?

[Deleted]

Everyone in the States can get free copies of all 3 reports once a year at www. annualcreditreport.com. It doesn't give your FICO scores but you will know what's on it and you can have errors corrected. You can also buy your reports showing your FICO scores at myfico.com for about $45 for all 3.

I don't know about that, chonies. I think that being a student helps if you have no credit history as opposed to a poor one.