Cash/Check/Credit/Debit

[lumberjim]

this is actually an area that I have experience in. REAL actual non made up experience.

Your credit score is a constantly changing thing. The information that effects it is typically posted once per month by each reporting creditor......at varying times. It has many factors. One of those factors is availability of revolving credit(credit cards). If you have a $20,000 credit limit on your Visa and have $2000 balance, this will HELP your credit score. you have 90% available revolving. If you have a $19,000 balance, you're more of a risk and your score will plummet.....even if you always make that payment on time. NOW>>>>here's the worst part<<< if your score is low, and the CC companies check periodically.... the CC company may be able(based on your card holder agreement) to RAISE YOUR RATE! talk about fucking you long and hard.

But monster.....just so you know....available credit is a good thing. having had High credit (meaning having had a large balance reported to the bureau at one time) and currently having a low or zero balance is a positive thing. You could have a $15k limit on a card, but if the highest balance ever reported was $3k.....a human credit analyst will only count is as $3k worth of experience.

As for car buying power......you can slip thru automatic approval programs with all revolving credit history...if you have a high score, and long enough time in the bureau...and adequate income to afford the projected payment...but when an analyst looks at the file, they like to see previous Installment credit (car payments, mortgages, fixed payment loans) that are at least 50% of the applied for amount.

[monster]

Originally Posted by lumberjim

this is actually an area that I have experience in. REAL actual non made up experience.

snip

But monster.....just so you know....available credit is a good thing. having had High credit (meaning having had a large balance reported to the bureau at one time) and currently having a low or zero balance is a positive thing. You could have a $15k limit on a card, but if the highest balance ever reported was $3k.....a human credit analyst will only count is as $3k worth of experience.

large balance cleared is way different from retaining small balance.

and yes, nice when you get to deal with humans.

may be a sahm now, but I've sold credit cards, cancelled credit cards and approved them n my murky past... as well as having awesome credit now that's sort of like not made up experience too, just so's you know and all.....