# Should I Even Care About Credit Score?



## imp (Oct 22, 2015)

This bank sent me a nice new credit card, not applied for, I can't believe they are again resorting to this, as they did in the '90s! Most of my cards have limits of a couple thousand bucks, at most. These guys sent me a card with $13,000 limit, I tried verifying by phone, could not hear/understand the electronic machine, finally got a REAL person, nice lady, we talked, I asked if she could go ahead and verify. Bingo! Done. I used the card for a few sundry purposes, today got the statement. Lo and behold, Discover Card said credit rating 809, now  it's 820! Pretty near the max. possible. This is utter rubbish! (as my friends in UK say). PLUS, the statement shows limit bumped up to $15,000, before I've even established use of the damned card!






Steve Forbes believes the banks were as much to blame as the Fed monetary policy for the banking debacle which peaked about 2009. Maybe he's right. My wife and I have combined total annual income of just under the Federal Poverty Line. My OWN income is less than this lamebrain bank hands me for a credit limit. 

I told her, let's go buy a new car with it!     

imp


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## RadishRose (Oct 23, 2015)

Credit scores determine more than our success in obtaining more credit accounts. Unfortunately, those scores also determine in part, how much our car and home insurance premiums will be!

The thinking is, responsible people always pay their bills on time and therefore are safer drivers and property owners. Irresponsible people don't pay their bills on time- if at all, and therefore are accident prone drivers and their homes are full of hazards.


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## Vivjen (Oct 23, 2015)

I have no idea what my credit score is...


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## Ken N Tx (Oct 23, 2015)

Vivjen said:


> I have no idea what my credit score is...



...No reason to know..


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## Don M. (Oct 23, 2015)

A credit score is probably only of importance to younger people...who may be in debt, or contemplating a major purchase, such as a house.  If a person is debt free, and has a long history of paying their bills on time, etc., and has no plans of taking on any significant debt, a credit score is of little concern.  If a person uses their credit cards as a "convenience", and pays the full balance owed when the bill arrives, their credit score will probably always be in the 800+ range.

Of more importance, for most older people, is a careful monitoring of their monthly statements, and annual credit reports from the 3 major credit organizations....Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax....free at AnnualCreditReport.com.  With all the thieves and hackers out there, a person Must always remain vigilant to insure that their finances are not becoming the victim of ID Theft.   

We also keep a limit on our credit card purchases....and require that Any purchase of over $500 be placed on "hold", until we personally verify the purchase with Discover, Visa, etc.  That way, if someone does get our info, they can't run up thousands of bogus debt on us.


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## applecruncher (Oct 23, 2015)

I tend to think credit card companies play the percentages, as is the case in many situations.

I had something similar happen, imp, though not to the extreme you describe.  All of a sudden the limit on one of my credit cards was raised/increased by $6,500.  WHAT?!  I tried to call and inquire, but was put on hold for so long I hung up.  I’m certainly not going to go out and spend, spend, spend.  But some (many?) people DO!  They see credit as “free money” instead of seeing it as debt.

So when they see their limit has been raised they go buy electronics, furniture, book a vacation, or get a bunch of cash advances to help so & so pay their rent or whatever. They’re not thinking that on down the line they might not even be able to scratch up enough for the minimum payment.


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## hollydolly (Oct 23, 2015)

Totally agree AC....there be dragons out there with High CC limits... because along with those come higher repayments..


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## applecruncher (Oct 23, 2015)

I saw a story about a guy who saw his CC limit increased by $2,000.  So over the course of several days he got a bunch of cash advances at an ATM, then spent all of it playing the lotto.  He won $3 (three dollars).  What a fool.


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## imp (Oct 23, 2015)

*"becoming the victim of ID Theft."

*Been there, had it. Name, S/S number, two plastic cards duplicated, cost to me so far = Zero. Fingers crossed.   imp

EDIT: *"**if someone does get our info, they can't run up thousands of bogus debt on us."
*
Are your cards not protected by the issuer? Seems most of mine are, at least the two copied accounts were fully covered. About 10 years ago, one of the issuers called asking if I had recently attempted to buy a Hoveround wheel chair for $4800! I told them hell, no! They seem to use geographical use of the card to pick up fraudulent use; card use almost always in same locale, suddenly thousands of miles distant, Bingo!


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## imp (Oct 23, 2015)

*Peeing Away Borrowed Money!*

One of the first "no-nos" of gambling is to never gamble using borrowed money!    imp


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## Pookie (Oct 24, 2015)

Well, we have only two credit cards with very large limits. We keep those two in a safe in case a transmission falls out of a car, part of the house implodes, or anything else major happens and we don't want to raid the savings account. We are leaving the investments alone, of course.

We have two other credit cards with just the basic limit. Came in handy when my car blew both head and valve gaskets, and I used one to pay the mechanic off immediately and woohoooo no interest if it was paid off within 90 days. Got er done in 60 days. Yay!

I think a credit score might be really important; at least we think so. We don't have any problems with credit, but there's an issue using credit cards online to pay bills. Never do that. We have a Bluebird pre-paid card we use for bills online. We load money on that to pay bills. That way, no one has any access to our credit cards or debit cards online and it's safe.


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## Capt Lightning (Oct 24, 2015)

One of my credit card providers phoned one day to tell me about a new facility whereby I could check my credit rating 24/7 on my smart phone (which I don't have) and how important it was if I wanted to take a loan (I don't) or a mortgage (I don't - I'm retired and own my house) or even applying for a credit card.  All this for £9.99 (about $15) a month.  I pointed out that since they had just given me a credit card with a pretty large limit, my credit score must be good or they were negligent!  So, no thanks.

I've got no idea what my credit score is.


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## Butterfly (Oct 24, 2015)

Pookie said:


> Well, we have only two credit cards with very large limits. We keep those two in a safe in case a transmission falls out of a car, part of the house implodes, or anything else major happens and we don't want to raid the savings account. We are leaving the investments alone, of course.
> 
> We have two other credit cards with just the basic limit. Came in handy when my car blew both head and valve gaskets, and I used one to pay the mechanic off immediately and woohoooo no interest if it was paid off within 90 days. Got er done in 60 days. Yay!
> 
> I think a credit score might be really important; at least we think so. We don't have any problems with credit, but there's an issue using credit cards online to pay bills. Never do that. We have a Bluebird pre-paid card we use for bills online. We load money on that to pay bills. That way, no one has any access to our credit cards or debit cards online and it's safe.



I also keep high limit cards for catastrophes, like the house implosion you mentioned.  I did have to "use it or lose it" a month or so ago, so I used it for a couple small purchases and paid them off right away. 

Otherwise, I don't worry much about credit score anymore.


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## Butterfly (Oct 24, 2015)

imp said:


> *"becoming the victim of ID Theft."
> 
> *Been there, had it. Name, S/S number, two plastic cards duplicated, cost to me so far = Zero. Fingers crossed.   imp
> 
> ...



My cards are protected, as well.  Once someone got a new credit card (reissued by the bank because the old one was expiring) out of my mailbox and used it.  The bank called me about an odd purchase on my new credit card -- I said "What new credit card?" -- and the fraudulent purchases were not charged to me.


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## Ken N Tx (Oct 25, 2015)

Butterfly said:


> My cards are protected, as well.  Once someone got a new credit card (reissued by the bank because the old one was expiring) out of my mailbox and used it.  The bank called me about an odd purchase on my new credit card -- I said "What new credit card?" -- and the fraudulent purchases were not charged to me.



Joke: A friend of mine got a call that their was unusual charges on his wife's CC..He told the CC company that his wife lost the card 3 Months ago. They asked why he did not report it? He stated that whoever found it is charging less than his wife did!!!


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## Son_of_Perdition (Oct 28, 2015)

In 2009 upon retiring my wife and I sat down with our severance package, haphazard budget and fixed income expectations.  We had already decided to sell our home and move to a more hospitable climate which resulted in downsizing, giving our children the pick of the litter of our belonging and paying off all our debt.  It was a eye-opening experience.  The issue at hand was our credit card and installment loan debt.  At that point we jointly agreed that a cash/debit card only basis was our only prudent salvation so to speak.  We were no further in debt than the average American and had the resources to clear up all which we did.

It's been six years now and we have maintained that decision to avoid any debt created by frivolous spending habits.  We have a substantial long term MM savings account coupled with CD's & emergency funds.  I belonged to a financial forum and posting anything negative about credit cards and their various and sundry rewards programs was akin to killing the sacred cow.  I was abused and maligned until I gave up and got on with my life.  I still have zero miles, and never have received a cash back reimbursement but then again I haven't paid anyone interest or purchased any item on time since then.  My FICO scores suffer a little from that decision and they always point out that I have 0 inquires and need to show installment & revolving debt to raise them.

This morning while perusing my favorite financial sites I happened upon this article.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2015/10/27/credit-card-users-suffer-fatigue-rewards-game/


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## imp (Oct 28, 2015)

My cards all offer some kind of "paybacks", but none are the specifically called-out type in the link. I pay little attention at all to the "rewards balances", until my wife calls attention to one, and I redeem it by taking the amount off as a credit. No card remains unpaid longer than a month. No interest ever paid.   imp


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## Manatee (Dec 10, 2015)

Is it not illegal for a bank to send you a credit card that you did not apply for?  Or have I missed something?


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## jujube (Dec 10, 2015)

imp said:


> This bank sent me a nice new credit card, not applied for, I can't believe they are again resorting to this, as they did in the '90s! Most of my cards have limits of a couple thousand bucks, at most. These guys sent me a card with $13,000 limit, I tried verifying by phone, could not hear/understand the electronic machine, finally got a REAL person, nice lady, we talked, I asked if she could go ahead and verify. Bingo! Done. I used the card for a few sundry purposes, today got the statement. Lo and behold, Discover Card said credit rating 809, now  it's 820! Pretty near the max. possible. This is utter rubbish! (as my friends in UK say). PLUS, the statement shows limit bumped up to $15,000, before I've even established use of the damned card!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



It's in their interest to bump you up to $15,000.  At 14.24% for purchases and 25.24% for cash advances, why wouldn't they want you to charge $15,000?


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