"JohnH" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 5 Dec 2008 11:26:55 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:

Help me out here.

I hear the economy is frozen. Banks won't lend. No mortgages. Hoarding
their bailout money.

Yet, virtually every commercial break on MSNBC or CNN features at least
one
pitch from a major bank or a mortgage company (Ditech comes to mind, which
is a GMAC subsidiary) offering low interests mortgages, loans and "we
have
money to lend" announcements.

So, why aren't they lending? Seems to me that this would be an ideal
time
for people to re-finance for lower rates, etc.

Economics confuses me.

Eisboch



I applied for an LL Bean card over the internet last week. I filled out
the
application, hit the button, and was approved within about seven seconds.
For $31,000! Hell, all I wanted was free shipping and monogramming.

Don't ask me what's going on. I think the liberals just want to bitch
about
banks and anything that's non-union. It'll all get fixed when Obama takes
office.
--
John H.

Not really a good idea to open a lot of credit accounts for the sake of free
shipping, etc. It can affect your FICO score negatively.

On Sat, 6 Dec 2008 08:33:40 -0500, "D.Duck" wrote:


"JohnH" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 5 Dec 2008 11:26:55 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:

Help me out here.

I hear the economy is frozen. Banks won't lend. No mortgages. Hoarding
their bailout money.

Yet, virtually every commercial break on MSNBC or CNN features at least
one
pitch from a major bank or a mortgage company (Ditech comes to mind, which
is a GMAC subsidiary) offering low interests mortgages, loans and "we
have
money to lend" announcements.

So, why aren't they lending? Seems to me that this would be an ideal
time
for people to re-finance for lower rates, etc.

Economics confuses me.

Eisboch



I applied for an LL Bean card over the internet last week. I filled out
the
application, hit the button, and was approved within about seven seconds.
For $31,000! Hell, all I wanted was free shipping and monogramming.

Don't ask me what's going on. I think the liberals just want to bitch
about
banks and anything that's non-union. It'll all get fixed when Obama takes
office.
--
John H.

Not really a good idea to open a lot of credit accounts for the sake of free
shipping, etc. It can affect your FICO score negatively.


You get to a point in life where you don't really worry about your FICO
score. I'm there.

Anyone looking at the two credit cards I carry would never see a dime's
worth of interest paid to either company.

I've actually got a pretty good score, for a guy who was stupid enough to
get drafted.
--
John H.

"JohnH" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 6 Dec 2008 08:33:40 -0500, "D.Duck" wrote:


"JohnH" wrote in message
. ..
On Fri, 5 Dec 2008 11:26:55 -0500, "Eisboch"
wrote:

Help me out here.

I hear the economy is frozen. Banks won't lend. No mortgages.
Hoarding
their bailout money.

Yet, virtually every commercial break on MSNBC or CNN features at least
one
pitch from a major bank or a mortgage company (Ditech comes to mind,
which
is a GMAC subsidiary) offering low interests mortgages, loans and "we
have
money to lend" announcements.

So, why aren't they lending? Seems to me that this would be an ideal
time
for people to re-finance for lower rates, etc.

Economics confuses me.

Eisboch



I applied for an LL Bean card over the internet last week. I filled out
the
application, hit the button, and was approved within about seven
seconds.
For $31,000! Hell, all I wanted was free shipping and monogramming.

Don't ask me what's going on. I think the liberals just want to bitch
about
banks and anything that's non-union. It'll all get fixed when Obama
takes
office.
--
John H.

Not really a good idea to open a lot of credit accounts for the sake of
free
shipping, etc. It can affect your FICO score negatively.


You get to a point in life where you don't really worry about your FICO
score. I'm there.

Anyone looking at the two credit cards I carry would never see a dime's
worth of interest paid to either company.

I've actually got a pretty good score, for a guy who was stupid enough to
get drafted.
--
John H.

I'm pretty much in the same position. I haven't had a loan payment in over
20 years (FICO now 800+) and hopefully won't need one again in this
lifetime. For those that will need credit, the extra baggage on the credit
report won't help.

"D.Duck" wrote in message
...


I'm pretty much in the same position. I haven't had a loan payment in
over 20 years (FICO now 800+) and hopefully won't need one again in this
lifetime. For those that will need credit, the extra baggage on the
credit report won't help.




The last credit report I read indicated that my score was not as high as it
could be because I didn't have a mortgage.

??????????

I am like you and JohnH now. Now that I don't need it, I have all kinds of
credit available and I don't use any of it.

But, I also remember that it took me 10 years to pay off a small balance on
a stupid Hechinger's credit card that I had back in the Navy. Every penny
counted for many years.

Eisboch

On Sat, 6 Dec 2008 11:30:04 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


"D.Duck" wrote in message
m...


I'm pretty much in the same position. I haven't had a loan payment in
over 20 years (FICO now 800+) and hopefully won't need one again in this
lifetime. For those that will need credit, the extra baggage on the
credit report won't help.




The last credit report I read indicated that my score was not as high as it
could be because I didn't have a mortgage.

??????????

I am like you and JohnH now. Now that I don't need it, I have all kinds of
credit available and I don't use any of it.

But, I also remember that it took me 10 years to pay off a small balance on
a stupid Hechinger's credit card that I had back in the Navy. Every penny
counted for many years.

I had a guy bug me with some crap about a magazine subscription my
daughter had canceled. It was in my name. He said if I didn't pay
(it was a lousy 15 bucks or so) my credit rating could be hurt.
I basically told him to go ferk himself because I don't care about the
credit score. Don't know how that turned out. I hung up.
But I have heard that insurance companies use your FICO as an element
in setting your premium. Don't know if it's true - but I use it as a
"counseling" tool when preaching the evil of debt to my kids.

--Vic

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...

"D.Duck" wrote in message
...


I'm pretty much in the same position. I haven't had a loan payment in
over 20 years (FICO now 800+) and hopefully won't need one again in this
lifetime. For those that will need credit, the extra baggage on the
credit report won't help.




The last credit report I read indicated that my score was not as high as
it could be because I didn't have a mortgage.

??????????

I am like you and JohnH now. Now that I don't need it, I have all kinds
of credit available and I don't use any of it.

But, I also remember that it took me 10 years to pay off a small balance
on a stupid Hechinger's credit card that I had back in the Navy. Every
penny counted for many years.

Eisboch


I haven't had a mortgage since 1994. Maybe there's something else in the
Fair Isaacs formula. From what I understand their metrics and analysis
tools are a closely guarded secret.

On Dec 6, 11:30*am, "Eisboch" wrote:
"D.Duck" wrote in message

...



I'm pretty much in the same position. *I haven't had a loan payment in
over 20 years (FICO now 800+) and hopefully won't need one again in this
lifetime. *For those that will need credit, the extra baggage on the
credit report won't help.

The last credit report I read indicated that my score was not as high as it
could be because I didn't have a mortgage.

??????????

I am like you and JohnH now. * Now that I don't need it, I have all kinds of
credit available and I don't use any of it.

But, *I also remember that it took me 10 years to pay off a small balance on
a stupid Hechinger's credit card that I had back in the Navy. *Every penny
counted for many years.

Eisboch

When we took a home equity loan to prepare our shoreline home for
rental property they told us our credit was good, but would be better
if we had some credit cards so we got a couple and use them here and
there but pay them off as soon as possible...

Last week we had one of them write a letter and they told us our
credit line was going to go down, and our rate up because we screwd up
and were three days late with a payment. We sent a payment in that
nearly closed the account and scared the crap out of them, so they
upped our limit again and kept our low rate right where it was They
were afraid we would pay it off completely and they would have
nothing... little do they know, they are all gettint paid off next
month, save the motorcycle loan which is at a very low rate anyway...

On Sat, 6 Dec 2008 08:50:12 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

On Dec 6, 11:30*am, "Eisboch" wrote:
"D.Duck" wrote in message

...



I'm pretty much in the same position. *I haven't had a loan payment in
over 20 years (FICO now 800+) and hopefully won't need one again in this
lifetime. *For those that will need credit, the extra baggage on the
credit report won't help.

The last credit report I read indicated that my score was not as high as it
could be because I didn't have a mortgage.

??????????

I am like you and JohnH now. * Now that I don't need it, I have all kinds of
credit available and I don't use any of it.

But, *I also remember that it took me 10 years to pay off a small balance on
a stupid Hechinger's credit card that I had back in the Navy. *Every penny
counted for many years.

Eisboch

When we took a home equity loan to prepare our shoreline home for
rental property they told us our credit was good, but would be better
if we had some credit cards so we got a couple and use them here and
there but pay them off as soon as possible...

Last week we had one of them write a letter and they told us our
credit line was going to go down, and our rate up because we screwd up
and were three days late with a payment. We sent a payment in that
nearly closed the account and scared the crap out of them, so they
upped our limit again and kept our low rate right where it was They
were afraid we would pay it off completely and they would have
nothing... little do they know, they are all gettint paid off next
month, save the motorcycle loan which is at a very low rate anyway...

Now that the credit union gives rebates for VISA purchases:

# Earn 2% cash back on supermarket purchases*
# Earn 5.00% cash back from gas purchases paid at the pump*
# Earn 1.25% cash back from all purchases** you make with the card during
each billing cycle

I use it for everything. If I buy two baking potatoes, they get put on
VISA. I get some funny looks at the grocery store, but it's a good
deal...if it's paid off monthly.
--
John H.

On Dec 6, 12:26*pm, JohnH wrote:
On Sat, 6 Dec 2008 08:50:12 -0800 (PST),
wrote:





On Dec 6, 11:30*am, "Eisboch" wrote:
"D.Duck" wrote in message

om...

I'm pretty much in the same position. *I haven't had a loan payment in
over 20 years (FICO now 800+) and hopefully won't need one again in this
lifetime. *For those that will need credit, the extra baggage on the
credit report won't help.

The last credit report I read indicated that my score was not as high as it
could be because I didn't have a mortgage.

??????????

I am like you and JohnH now. * Now that I don't need it, I have all kinds of
credit available and I don't use any of it.

But, *I also remember that it took me 10 years to pay off a small balance on
a stupid Hechinger's credit card that I had back in the Navy. *Every penny
counted for many years.

Eisboch

When we took a home equity loan to prepare our shoreline home for
rental property they told us our credit was good, but would be better
if we had some credit cards so we got a couple and use them here and
there but pay them off as soon as possible...

Last week we had one of them write a letter and they told us our
credit line was going to go down, and our rate up because we screwd up
and were three days late with a payment. We sent a payment in that
nearly closed the account and scared the crap out of them, so they
upped our limit again and kept our low rate right where it was *They
were afraid we would pay it off completely and they would have
nothing... little do they know, they are all gettint paid off next
month, save the motorcycle loan which is at a very low rate anyway...

Now that the credit union gives rebates for VISA purchases:

# Earn 2% cash back on supermarket purchases*
# Earn 5.00% cash back from gas purchases paid at the pump*
# Earn 1.25% cash back from all purchases** you make with the card during
each billing cycle

I use it for everything. If I buy two baking potatoes, they get put on
VISA. I get some funny looks at the grocery store, but it's a good
deal...if it's paid off monthly.
--
John H.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

What we do is use a Visa card for gasoline and groceries... then we
send one big check out every month but it keeps the credit reporting
agencies happy as long as we are using a card. The only real balance
we carry is the Kawasaki card and that will be done in a few months
too. By spring we should be ready to start over, we need a new
enclosed trailer for the bikes so we can get them out of the kitchen

wrote:
On Dec 6, 11:30 am, "Eisboch" wrote:
"D.Duck" wrote in message

...



I'm pretty much in the same position. I haven't had a loan payment in
over 20 years (FICO now 800+) and hopefully won't need one again in this
lifetime. For those that will need credit, the extra baggage on the
credit report won't help.
The last credit report I read indicated that my score was not as high as it
could be because I didn't have a mortgage.

??????????

I am like you and JohnH now. Now that I don't need it, I have all kinds of
credit available and I don't use any of it.

But, I also remember that it took me 10 years to pay off a small balance on
a stupid Hechinger's credit card that I had back in the Navy. Every penny
counted for many years.

Eisboch

When we took a home equity loan to prepare our shoreline home for
rental property they told us our credit was good, but would be better
if we had some credit cards so we got a couple and use them here and
there but pay them off as soon as possible...

Last week we had one of them write a letter and they told us our
credit line was going to go down, and our rate up because we screwd up
and were three days late with a payment. We sent a payment in that
nearly closed the account and scared the crap out of them, so they
upped our limit again and kept our low rate right where it was They
were afraid we would pay it off completely and they would have
nothing... little do they know, they are all gettint paid off next
month, save the motorcycle loan which is at a very low rate anyway...

Next time call them tell them that you are tired of them playing games
with depositing your checks late and as soon as your account balance is
zero you are going to close your account. See what they offer.