renc

Well, after quite some time and several followup pings to the EIDT execs, I finally got this note, which was as disappointing to them as it is to us: Sometimes I wonder whether companies listen to customers! Anyway, we are stuck with the limitation, for now. I wish I had better news to report, but the MPM crew seems especially thick-headed. I think we're out of luck. Rick

I just did the online app at USAA for their USAA Platinum Visa and got approved, but only for $500 CL. I suspect this is because my AAOA is still under 6 months. Should I call USAA to ask for a CLI right away, or should I let it sit for a while? I'd prefer to have a higher CL on this new card so that my overall credit moves up and util drops, but I also need to have a couple of revolving accounts reporting. My two other revolving cards have a $10K and a $5K CL. I was hoping this would come in similarly. So, should I give them a call now? Should I wait 60 days or so? Thanks, Rick in NC

I think the dealer was full of baloney - there is no law requiring them to run a credit check! I've bought 2 new cars during the past year, both from out-of-town dealers where I located the best prices. For the first one I wired the money and had the car shipped to me, and for the second we took a cashier's check and met the dealer at the airport in his city. We gave him the check, he gave us the car and a receipt, and we drove home. No credit check on either, no nonsense - just straight, simple business in an arm's length transaction.

A little over 20 years ago I got myself into hot water with credit during a divorce that left me financially wrecked. The effects of that were severe and lasted a long time, and I pretty much adapted my life to operating on a 100% cash basis. Time went by, and I had become so used to my cash basis lifestyle that I didn't pay much attention to the few things I couldn't enjoy due to having no conventional credit. Thankfully, my business prospered, and I built up a solid base of assets and cash balances. The consequences of having no conventional credit were subtle, however. For example, we rented our house for 14 years. It was a very nice house, and we paid like clockwork, but it wasn't ours. We didn't even feel comfortable to paint the walls when they really needed it. Also, we would have to find a car rental company that would accept debit cards since we didn't have any major credit cards. Sometimes getting services like cable tv or cell phones was a hassle because of credit checks, but we had enough cash to pay their outlandish deposits, so the hassles rarely became total obstructions. At the end of 2011 I cleaned up a major, longstanding set of tax-related issues, so finally in the beginning of 2012 I really owed nothing to anyone (and fortunately still had adequate cash and assets.) Having cleaned up the tax mess, it became evident that my wife and I needed to buy a house because we were getting clobbered by the taxman and needed to get smarter about finding some deductions. We began to drive around looking at a few places and imagining ourselves owning one of them. In March, 2012, I decided to take a peek at how our credit records looked, and to my surprise we had been out of the credit system for so long that there was literally nothing at all on either of our reports. We had really lived off the credit grid for years, and so we both had "thin file" reports that included nothing but our names and addresses. I knew we had left a few credit card providers holding the bag with some old charge-offs, so I contacted each of the majors to see what was still on their internal books, and I paid them all in full. It turns out that it wasn't so much money owed after all, even though it had certainly seemed like it at the time. One of my wife's, for example, was an almost laughable $50-ish charge-off to Amex. Imagine! We lost that card for lack of $50. Then for several months I did nothing about credit - just pondering the thought that there was nothing bad out there any more, but also thinking about whether I should take any steps that would risk returning to that former agony of being in trouble with credit and having CAs call, getting certified letters, and losing cars and home. We still looked at a few houses here and there, mostly driving around and looking from the outside, but we went and looked at one or two with realtors. Everyone is allowed to dream, right? In July we went on vacation and had some free time. We started to look at places online more seriously, and we found one we really liked. It was expensive! Even though I had quite a bit of cash on hand, this was beyond what I could afford to pay for in cash. We thought maybe some relatives or close friends might help us cross the gap, and I think we crossed some kind of mental line where we made the decision to try to go forward with it. It turns out it was too late for that house because someone else had just bought it, but something had changed in us. We were determined to get a house of our own. Then, in late July, 2012 we found our dream home! There was no doubt about it, this was the place we wanted to live, but there was another couple who was also very actively in the process of moving to purchase it. We had to get our act together quickly if we were to have any chance of beating them. The house was fairly expensive, but I knew I could buy it outright for cash if I needed to. Doing so, however, would leave my cash dangerously depleted, and it would be better to get a mortgage for some of it. We decided to go talk to our bank, WF, since we had been with them for more than 10 years and maintained large balances and had impeccable account history. The branch manager, who had become a friend over the years, wanted to help us but his hands were tied. At a big bank like WF there is a limit to the authority of the branch personnel, and their mortgage decisions are driven by FICO scores and well-established conventional credit. They didn't want to lose our business, so they involved their "private bank" to see what they might be able to do, but it was quickly clear that WF was not going to be easy to work with on this matter. Then we got word from the realtor that the other couple had placed an offer on this "short sale" house that the bank was expected to accept. It was now or never at that point. We immediately placed a slightly better offer and hoped for the best. I think it helped that we included a 6-figure check with our contract as earnest money, and we were thrilled when we got the call that the bank had accepted our offer! We have a friend who is a credit advisor, so we called and asked him if he would speak with us about how we could put things together to be able to obtain a mortgage. He pulled our credit report and couldn't believe it was blank! We learned a lot about FICO scores and mortgages, and we realized we had been foolish to avoid rebuilding conventional credit for so long. Even when you have enough money to live well completely on cash there are still good reasons to build and maintain good credit. I will never ignore that again! And so, in early August, 2012, I was online exploring credit and mortgage options when I discovered CB. It was great to know that I wasn't alone, and that others had successfully managed their way through situations not so very different from mine! With the good advice of folks here I approached some of the local community banks and candidly told them my story. It turned out that they all wanted my business, and one in particular really seemed like a fit. I left WF and moved both my business and personal accounts to them, and less than two weeks later they approved my mortgage. On my wife's birthday in mid-August we closed the deal, and by the end of the month we had moved into our dream home. It was unbelievable that it could happen, and it happened so incredibly quickly! Since then I have begun monitoring my credit closely, have learned about daily pulls and B*, and I have obtained several credit cards and an installment loan to put together a solid foundation for a good credit rating over the long term. The cards, the mortgage and the installment loan are all set up to pay-in-full automatically, and we even have a prepayment plan in place that should allow us to retire our 30-year mortgage in just a little more than 7 years. It was especially nice when we recently applied for Amex again after 20 years and were approved. I really appreciate the knowledge and camaraderie of the CB community. It is a first-class resource for anyone trying to build or rebuild their credit, and I am grateful for the insights and inspirations that others have shared here with me. I started 2012 as a long-term renter who lived on a cash basis with an empty credit report , and I am ending the year living in my dream home with a pocket full of good credit cards and decent credit scores with all three major agencies. I don't think I could have done it without CB. Thanks to all of you! Best regards, Rick in NC

Great idea, I will certainly ask them to consider this if they cannot or will not fix the broken logic. Best, Rick in NC

I can't make any promises, but I believe the CEO is actively trying to help. EIDT is a subscriber to the MPM service, which is apparently operated by some third party. He has access to those people, however, and is trying to get the request for enhancement properly lodged and noticed. Fingers crossed!

Hi All (especially the B* daily pullers), I wanted to let you guys know that I have reached the CEO of EIDT/MPM. He is arranging a conference call for him, me and the folks responsible for the MPM site to discuss their annoying 24 hours plus 1 minute code logic. It would be great to get MPM to simply allow checks once each calendar day rather than requiring 24 hours plus one minute from the previous check. It could be as simple as a one-line change to their back-end code. He's a very pleasant guy who is trying to help, and I thought you might like to hear there is some small hope of getting them to adjust their braindead software logic. Best, Rick in NC

I got chopped on EQ in NC today 12/14/12. I only started doing daily pulls to achieve B* about a week ago, so it isn't a great loss for me yet, but I hope it helps to confirm the calendar date when they chopped me here in NC. Rick

Does SmartCredit do daily pulls automatically, or do you need to login and manually trigger a soft pull every day by updating your CR? renc

OK, so would it be a reasonable strategy to identify the day of the month the statement is issued and then inquire and pay the current balance a few days BEFORE that day of the month? I know this is probably Credit 101 stuff, but I am just trying to identify the specific steps to implement for optimal results. Also, is my assumption correct that zero balance is the right thing to aim for? Thanks, Rick in NC

We have a new business credit card with a $25K line on it. Our intention is always to pay it in full, and we'd like for it always to report that we have paid in full on time and have no outstanding balance. 1 - Do we want our automated PIF to occur on the statement date? 2 - Do we simply want to ensure that the PIF amount is processed before the due date - pay as soon as the statement becomes available? 3 - Is there some reason we would want to know the PIF amount slightly before the actual statement date and pay it then, so there's never any balance due recorded on a statement? I know you guys are the experts, and I have come to understand that PIF with low/no utilization is best. My questions are about how to set up the mechanics of ensuring that is what we achieve. Thanks all! Rick in NC

I'm sure I'm buying the house because I was prepared to pay 100% cash if I couldn't obtain the small amount of financing I wanted on reasonable terms. Doing so is less than optimal because it would draw down too much of my liquid asset base, but thankfully it is an available option, if needed. Anyway, it turns out that paying all cash was not necessary. We were able to obtain the $300K loan we wanted. It was an eye-opening experience that revealed the differences between a giant bank like Wells Fargo and the smaller, local bank we moved to. They made it relatively easy to get approval on the mortgage we applied for, and the fact that we were going in with over 60% cash downpayment helped a lot. Additionally, I have come to understand that I was simply arrogant to think I could proceed through life entirely outside of their credit system. There are lots of ways, both small and large, that you end up paying for life without a conventional credit score. I still don't want to allow debt into my life except in the most worthwhile and well-considered cases, but I will definitely change my view on establishing good credit. Bucking the system is not winning. Cheers, Rick in NC

You'll get no argument from me. I feel it is a sign of the times, however, that we have a scoring system that depends on people having debts to repay in order to assess whether they are a good credit risk. The complete failure of the system to account for someone who has little or no debt and has ample capacity to repay is a fatal flaw. Adding insult to injury, this requirement to be a debtor to get a score is imposed by a congress and financial regulators and industry who have basically brought this country to its knees with their terrible budget deficits and bad lending practices. I'm glad the local community bank was able to recognize and respect our debt-free status, high net worth and cash on hand as signs of real success. It's so screwed up that we felt like outcasts after our initial discussions with WF. It was as if we were near-criminals for not even having a FICO score. Peace, Rick in NC

Well, I shopped around, and after speaking to some of the community banks it looks like they may be ready to give me the mortgage I'm seeking as part of a package to win my overall banking business. The local bank has a portfolio loan product that they hold in-house instead of packaging and selling into the aftermarket, so they aren't required to use FICO score as a mandatory pre-condition for lending. They are looking at my strong bank balances, large downpayment, personal and business financial statements, two years of personal and business tax returns and letters of recommendation from landlords in home and business. It'll likely be a $300K loan at 4% with no points, 7-year ARM with 30-year amortization schedule. I will establish traditional credit and refi to a fixed 15 or 30 year note, or maybe just pay it off. Cross your fingers for us, and thanks to all the knowledgeable people here at CB! Cheers, Rick in NC

Thanks for the input, jop3. I have definitely spoken with my bank (Wells Fargo.) I think they are too large and compartmentalized, so the local branch officers who have known me for years don't have enough influence to say that my longstanding perfect track record with them counts as a viable alternative. They have mentioned a portfolio loan, but haven't come up with anything I can act on yet. I am speaking with 2-3 of the best local community banks here in NC, and it looks like they may be more able and willing to build a working relationship with me. In 6 months to a year I'll have established the apparently all-important FICO score, but I'd sure like to find an option today that doesn't force me to dangerously deplete my cash reserves for the business. I will also go speak to some of the local credit unions - good idea. Keep your fingers crossed for us! Cheers, Rick in NC