How do flexible spending cards aftect ficos?

[kayvebear]

More and more of my cards are getting converted to visa signature or MasterCard flexible. This obviously lowers my avail credit hurting util. Are these cards detrimental to fico? Or do they score differently?

[BobWang]

My FSA cards don't seem to affect # of cards with a balance,

 

or Utilization:

 

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=468354&page=13&do=findComment&comment=4876485

[kayvebear]

Confused. Can you elaborate?

 

They just aren't factored into util %?

[BDK]

If a World (MC) or Signature (Visa) reports the CL, the util is generally figured on the CL. (Which is good.)

 

If it doesn't report the CL, but it does report the previous highest balance, the util is figured on the highest balance. (Which varies from not-so-good to deeply awful.)

 

If it reports neither, it is ignored from util calcs. (Impact will vary depending on how many other "normal" CC's you have, and whether you needed the World's/ Sig's CL for your total revolving util.)

--haulingthescoreup

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Flexible-spending-credit-card-utilization-calculation/m-p/556130#M39994

 

 

 

[kayvebear]

So these so called upgrades actually hurt our ficos

[BDK]

So these so called upgrades actually hurt our ficos

With maybe a few exceptions, NO change whatsoever.

[kayvebear]

Bofa visa sig stopped reporting credit limit so I lost 15k avail credit

[BDK]

BOA is one of the exceptions, I believe.

 

BW, help me out here....

[BobWang]

Theoretically, a change to FSA can hurt overall utilization,

 

but if your credit is good enough to qualify for them,

 

the benefits of "hidden" lines are worth the small FICO hit.

[kayvebear]

Clue me in as I'm missing it. Where is the benefit of a hidden line? You can carry a avalanche without affecting util. Anything else?

[tifozi]

FSA/NPSL, any account not reporting a credit limit work the same way for FICO purposes. If they carry a balance, then it affects the number of accounts reporting balance part of the equation. Easy to see the effects on utilization in a similar way.

[BobWang]

Hidden lines reduce the likelihood of being denied due to "excessive available credit"

[kayvebear]

Avalanche = balance. Autocorrect