Last month, I was notified by GEMB (G.E. Money Bank) that they will be discontinuing a credit loan program called "Genuine" on December 31, 2011.

It is the account I use to pay for major repairs for my Ford Ranger truck. On purchases of over $300.00, they offer a promotional period of six months to a year with no interest charged if paid off by the time the period ends. This account has come in quite handy and I basically use the bank's money for free by paying the total balance due before the promotional period expires.

The bank will close the account on the date indicated above, but I still owe 700.00, which I have until July 2012 to pay the balance in full with no interest.

My questions are:

A. How will this "closed account" look on my credit report since I did not initiate the closure?

B. Will my good payment history still show up on my report even though the account is closed?

C. If I apply for other credit in the future, how will potential lenders use that former account information in deciding whether or not to grant me credit?

Any comments, words of wisdom, etc???

Thanks,

Joey

As a follow on your comments about installment loans dropping your credit score. I have NOT found that they have dropped my scores anymore than having more than a percentage of utilization lower my score. Each of our credit records is unique so what happens to me may be different for you.

I find that if I exceed 5% utilization my credit scores drops a few points. Strange as we all hear that we should stay under 30% and so on. Well for me the magic number is 5%.

What could be happening is bringing to the bureau new debt. While you pay off your other credit cards there may be a lag time on credit reporting that could cause your scores to take a hit because of total outstanding debt. This affect would be temporary since once the dust settles, you will have your total debt and utilization back down. In reference to an installment loan as a score reducer, it will not make any difference. I have had several installment loans and they did not affect my credit. Any score hit should run 30 to 60 days and then you are caught up.

Note, FICO Scores want to see: department store cards, installment loans, bank credit cards and mortgages so a mix is advisable.

This isnt really a question, but i just had to say i found out that credit unions are the way to go for banking and loan/borrowing needs!! I had been looking for another credit card to balance transfer my balance with my capital one cards so i can close them, as i have outgrown them. i still have a couple baddies on my credit reports, and was denied for the 2 balance transfer cards i applied for. I applied for a personal loan at the credit union i am a member of yesterday, and within 2 hours was approved for the amount i needed, and they have my payments and term at exactly what i asked for, and an interest rate of 9.5%. They are the best people to work with and i was suprised at how they caterd to me and gave me exactly the terms that i wanted. now that my credit is better, i am only going to keep my discover card, my visa from the same credit union, and one store card, just to have something reporting to keep my credit score up. How will this new personal loan effect my credit scores? i have heard that an installment loan will drop your scores in the first few months of having it. this is the very first installment loan of any kind ever on my credit reports.

Ya, it was short for Hard Inquiry. It seemed logical to me when I was writing the post. Now that I am looking at it though, it looks like I put a couple uppercase HI's randomly in. Sorry for the confusion.

I am going to guess a Hard Inquiry?

I got the letter in the mail today. Request Denied because of the length of time the account has been closed. I think they made a HI for this when the CS guy I talked with when I made the request said it would not be a HI. The balance on the account is minimal and something I can pay off right now, but I have been making payments just to have a positive payment history before I got a new credit card. I want to call and talk to a credit analyst at BofA to talk about this HI, but should I pay off the balance on the card before I do this? Will having the card paid off help me in getting a new cc with BofA? If they did make a HI should I dispute it because of the conversation I had with the rep who I made the original reactivation request with?

What does "HI" equal? Never heard of it?

I got the letter in the mail today. Request Denied because of the length of time the account has been closed. I think they made a HI for this when the CS guy I talked with when I made the request said it would not be a HI. The balance on the account is minimal and something I can pay off right now, but I have been making payments just to have a positive payment history before I got a new credit card. I want to call and talk to a credit analyst at BofA to talk about this HI, but should I pay off the balance on the card before I do this? Will having the card paid off help me in getting a new cc with BofA? If they did make a HI should I dispute it because of the conversation I had with the rep who I made the original reactivation request with?

i would pay off my existing balance before i get on the phone with the credit analyst.. im not sure if they will remove the HI, but it would never hurt to try..

hmm same thing happened with me, except switch boa with amex blue travel and i asked for them to reactivate it and they said they cant if its more than 2-3 years..

my advice is to calm down.. stick with capitalone for a year or 2 than u worry about getting ur old card.. js

I got the letter in the mail today. Request Denied because of the length of time the account has been closed. I think they made a HI for this when the CS guy I talked with when I made the request said it would not be a HI. The balance on the account is minimal and something I can pay off right now, but I have been making payments just to have a positive payment history before I got a new credit card. I want to call and talk to a credit analyst at BofA to talk about this HI, but should I pay off the balance on the card before I do this? Will having the card paid off help me in getting a new cc with BofA? If they did make a HI should I dispute it because of the conversation I had with the rep who I made the original reactivation request with?

Closing your Capital One cards will not hurt your average age of accounts, while it is true you will lower your over all utilization, the impact will be so small it wont matter. An account closed or not will still report positive for up to ten years so no worries! I just dumped Capital One too! Great rebuilder card, but they never seem to grow! Good luck in your rebuilding journey!

Sorry to hear about the decline. But it seems like you have a good plan with the new discover card and your credit union card.

Although from what I have been reading, closing your capital one card could end up hurting you credit score because of the decrease in available credit and losing the age of what sounds like one of your oldest active accounts.

I called and found out i was denied. I am thinking i am just going to close my re-builder capital one cards, and keep my new discover card, my credit union mastercard and my wal-mart card. i like to keep things simple and i dont need all the available credit that i dont use.

I looked around and could not find a way to check it online.

Found a number that might help though.

1-800-CITIBANK

I asked the live chat rep. for a way to check the status of a credit card application. This is the number they game me.

Does anyone know if i can check the application status for a citi credit card online? i applied for one on the 4th of this month hoping to do a balance transfer away from capital one, and i havn't heard anything from them.

I had a BofA Stuent Card that has been closed for about two years. I am still paying it off right now, but am almost done with that. I recently started to care about my credit and am trying to improve it. I have a 60 and a 30 day late on my record right now that are within the last 2 year. The 30 day late is on the BofA card. In July I applied for a new BofA credit card because I bank there and figured that was my best bet. I was denied (super weak.) I am not even sure what card I applied for anymore. It was early in my credit revolution. Since then I got a CapitalOne secured card. The other day I called BofA and asked if they would reactivate my old student card. The customer service guy said that they would mail me an answer. So, should I have asked for the reactivation? I have not got the letter from them, but I am assuming that it is going to be Denied.

P.S.

I was approved for a Discover More card today after talking to a credit analyst. BOOM! On my way up.

hmm same thing happened with me, except switch boa with amex blue travel and i asked for them to reactivate it and they said they cant if its more than 2-3 years..

my advice is to calm down.. stick with capitalone for a year or 2 than u worry about getting ur old card.. js

I had a BofA Stuent Card that has been closed for about two years. I am still paying it off right now, but am almost done with that. I recently started to care about my credit and am trying to improve it. I have a 60 and a 30 day late on my record right now that are within the last 2 year. The 30 day late is on the BofA card. In July I applied for a new BofA credit card because I bank there and figured that was my best bet. I was denied (super weak.) I am not even sure what card I applied for anymore. It was early in my credit revolution. Since then I got a CapitalOne secured card. The other day I called BofA and asked if they would reactivate my old student card. The customer service guy said that they would mail me an answer. So, should I have asked for the reactivation? I have not got the letter from them, but I am assuming that it is going to be Denied.

P.S.

I was approved for a Discover More card today after talking to a credit analyst. BOOM! On my way up.