Credit Wish Credit Card Blog

Myth: Checking your score online lowers your credit score.

This is false. When you check your credit history from a credit monitoring service such as GoFreeCredit.com, it is not treated as a credit inquiry in the traditional sense. This is a consumer inquiry. These types of inquiries are not listed on your credit report. If they were it would discourage a lot of people from periodically reviewing their credit report. It is recommended that you check your credit history at least two times a year, especially if you are interested in buying a home. This helps to remove inaccuracies and detect credit fraud earlier. It can take up to three months or more to remove a discrepency. The type of inquiries that can lower a person's credit score are inquiries made by a third party with permission from the consumer. This is not to be confused with a looksee. An example of a looksee would be Citibank taking automated looks at credit scores from individuals. Citibank will do this in order to collect leads for a direct mail campaign for preapproved credit card offers. There would only be a credit inquiry if the recipient of the offer mailed back the credit application permitting Citibank to review their credit. Too many permission granted inquiries from outside companies will lower your credit score. For example, if you decide in one month that you will apply for a Sears card, a gas card from Shell, a preapproved American Express offer you got in the mail, and a Visa card at the ballpark because they gave you a beach towel with your team's logo on it, then your score is in danger of lowering. This to you may seem like just ordinary life decisions, but to the credit industry you may be deemed as a credit risk. Having too many inquiries can be perceived as this person needs money fast and might not be financially stable. A month later you might decide to buy a car; you may pay a higher interest because your score lowered. Credit inquiries remain on a credit report for a year. Usually after six months of no inquires a credit score will return to it's former self.

Comments (0)     

Many Americans today need and are in the process of rebuilding their credit. Many sites like Credit Wish are helping individuals find the best credit card deal for bad credit. Some people choose secure and some choose non secure credit options when trying to rebuild credit. Another option is to choose a prepaid debit card. Individuals that have bad credit should consider applying for the Orchard card if they want to try to get approved for a card that is not secured. The reason this is a good idea is that some people don't know if they have credit good enough for an unsecured credit card. What Orchard does is process an application and based on their criteria they decide whether to offer an applicant a secured or nonsecured credit card. Orchard is a credit card primarily intended for bad to okay credit. You can have good credit and get approved as well.

Comments (0)     

Deaf Customers and Customer Service

According to Gallaudet Research Institute's figures there are three classifications of deaf. The first category is deaf in both ears. It is believed that 421,000 people fall into this category comprising of 0.49% of the population. The second category is comprised of 552,000 individuals that are not able to hear and understand speech. Lastly the third category can hear and understand words if spoken loudly into their ear; this group consists of approximately 1,152,000 people. These Americans use TDDs (telecommunications device for the deaf) to communicate over phone lines. A variety of large businesses provide TDD Line numbers to provide customer service for this population of over two million.

Credit card companies are no different. Banks strive to provide the best customer service possible for all clients. Most banks now provide customer support for deaf clients with toll-free TDD numbers. This can make life a little easier, since a deaf person can make direct contact with the bank, rather than relying on a relay service as a go between.

Here is a list of Banks that provide TDD numbers.

American Express
TDD line: 1-866-549-6426

Bank of America
TDD line: 1.800.222.7365

Capital One
TDD line: 1-800-206-7986

Chase
TDD line: 1-800-955-8060

CitiBank
TDD line: 1-800-325-2865

DiscoverTDD line: 1-800-347-7449

Orchard Bank
TDD line: 1-800-655-9392

Comments (0)