Originally posted by rakerman I have found the Equifax report useful, in particular for telling me that both MBNA and Citibank both won't close your credit card account unless you repeatedly beg them. They like to keep the account open "for your convenience", which lowers your credit rating.

What do you mean that keeping an account open lowers your credit rating? You mean if you don't use the card, thats a sign you are bad with credit?

Some guy just called me about a credit card I ordered over a year ago, I said I already have 4 I don't need another, and he said its his job to put the application through ... He said just cancel it when it comes. Maybe I should call them back and just cancel it?

Originally posted by EL_Fudge What do you mean that keeping an account open lowers your credit rating? You mean if you don't use the card, thats a sign you are bad with credit?

Your credit rating is an assessment of credit RISK to them.
If you have a card with say $5000 limit and $0 used, that means even though you are not currently using it, you have the potential to suddenly add $5k to your debt load. Basically one aspect of their assessment is whether you could service all of your debts if all of your cards were maxed out all of a sudden.

Or to put it another way, they don't like to see people with lots of cards with lots of available credit on them.

Of course, you will get a worse credit rating if you have lots of cards with NO available credit left on them.

So you should always Just Say No to credit cards you don't need, and cancel ones you are no longer using.

Originally posted by rakerman Your credit rating is an assessment of credit RISK to them. If you have a card with say $5000 limit and $0 used, that means even though you are not currently using it, you have the potential to suddenly add $5k to your debt load. Basically one aspect of their assessment is whether you could service all of your debts if all of your cards were maxed out all of a sudden. Or to put it another way, they don't like to see people with lots of cards with lots of available credit on them.

That's a generalization at best. I have half a dozen cards with credit limits ranging from $10k to $30k, only two of which I use routinely. I pay my balances off every month. Apart from a small mortgage I have never taken out a loan.

My credit rating is R-1 (the best.)

Originally posted by bylo That's a generalization at best. I have half a dozen cards with credit limits ranging from $10k to $30k, only two of which I use routinely. I pay my balances off every month. Apart from a small mortgage I have never taken out a loan. My credit rating is R-1 (the best.)

I agree with the post from rakerman, but I think he is referring to middle class people with incomes $30-50,000, with half a dozen credit cards and limits from $10-30K you would have access to at least $60,000, so your income must be more substantial than 30-50K. But for myself (or other people in my income bracket) it would not look good at all to see we have access to $60,000 credit, that would be a HUGE payment every month if we decided to go on a shopping spree and rack all those cards up to their limit. So creditors would think there is a big risk with that type of credit available.

Originally posted by bylo That's a generalization at best. I have half a dozen cards with credit limits ranging from $10k to $30k, only two of which I use routinely. I pay my balances off every month. Apart from a small mortgage I have never taken out a loan. My credit rating is R-1 (the best.)

Well, I think we are maybe talking about different things, I'm talking specifically about the FICO scores provided by Equifax.ca, where one of the recommendations it gives to improve the score is "have fewer credit cards".

I think the R-1 rating is based solely on your previous payment record, i.e. it reflects the fact that you always pay off your balances each month.

But I am certainly no expert and I know you spend a lot of time investigating money matters, so it's entirely possible I'm wrong.

-- Richard Akerman
http://www.akerman.ca/money/

What is a rating?

Every piece of credit history information in your credit file is assigned a rating by the credit grantor. The most common ratings are "R" ratings. These are known as North American Standard Account Ratings and are the most frequently used. The "R" indicates that the item being described involves revolving credit. If you always pay on time, it will be coded an R1. If an amount was written off because you never paid it back, it is coded R9. The R ratings are a coding system that translates "on time", "one month late", "two months late", etc., into two-digit codes.

Copied from Equifax

Originally posted by rakerman Well, I think we are maybe talking about different things, I'm talking specifically about the FICO scores provided by Equifax.ca, where one of the recommendations it gives to improve the score is "have fewer credit cards".

OK. I was basing my comments on the R-1 rating. I have no idea what my FICO is, nor do I care (since I have no plans to ever apply for a loan) but the explanation makes sense to me. After all, someone who already carries loans may want to keep a bunch of high-limit credit cards around to tide them over a "crunch" (e.g. a job loss.)

Has anyone had any luck getting an online credit report if they live in Nova Scotia ? Equifax will only mail me one...Ideas....I can't wait to see how big of a credit risk I am...

Originally posted by Burlygoat Has anyone had any luck getting an online credit report if they live in Nova Scotia ? Equifax will only mail me one...Ideas....I can't wait to see how big of a credit risk I am...

As I understand the Equifax online report is available for anyone in Canada, but you must have a credit card to pay for it, if you click this it will give more info: https://www.econsumer.equifax.ca/ca/main?lang=en
If you have no credit card then you would have to mail them all your info etc. and they will mail your report back to you.

Nope, when you put in nova Scotia is says...No Can Do Buckaroo, you must mail....I'm wondering if there is a law down here stating no online stuff.....

Originally posted by Burlygoat Nope, when you put in nova Scotia is says...No Can Do Buckaroo, you must mail....I'm wondering if there is a law down here stating no online stuff.....

Thats pretty strange you're probably right about there being a law, LOL I like the No Can Do Buckaroo

I checked out www.iquiri.com and they also state that you need to mail it if you are in Nova Scotia.....Or as I now like to call it: Cuba .........Damn Dictators...

Originally posted by Burlygoat Has anyone had any luck getting an online credit report if they live in Nova Scotia ? Equifax will only mail me one...Ideas....I can't wait to see how big of a credit risk I am...

Try iQuiri.com. I got my credit report online from them and they are cheaper than Equifax. They also have this new product which offers credit monitoring to show you the changes that occur each month. It's $89 but worth it if you are checking your report regularily. I'm not sure if they do Nova Scotia though.