Thank You for Nothing, Citi...

Received very cryptic letter from Citi today.

“Dear Suzy:
As of March 15, 2009, we are changing some of the terms and conditions that will affect your ability to earn and redeem ThankYou Points. They listed about a million conditions under which I could lose the points I’d already accrued, but the first one was the big one: “ThankYou Network may be revised in a manner that may affect your ability to use the ThankYou Points you have already accumulated.” i.e. we can “revise” the program to eliminate what you’ve earned, pretty much whenever we feel like it.”

I immediately went on to the ThankYou Network website and ordered a $50 giftcard to Banana Republic with my 6,000 points. And will check in one more time to cash out before this curious March 15th deadline. And then we’ll see what happens after that…
When I’m not satisfied with any other service or company, I just end the relationship. And yet with credit cards, I fear doing anything that will impact my credit score, and I would think closing this account would. So I will just deal, charge a tank of gas on it a month, and spend more on my other cards that give me better rewards.

Improving My Credit Score...

It seems like every other story on NPR these past few weeks have been about how the economy and credit crunch is affecting the colloquial “Main Street.” And the way I’ve been hearing it, it all comes down to one thing…. Your Credit Score. It seems like that one little number is really the difference between how you’re impacted by any of this.

I posted my score here before: 748 (which is only considered “Good”)
To take it up to “Great” and getting beyond the 78th percentile before I really need a loan would be ideal.

A few actions I’ll be taking to help do what I can to improve my credit score:
--> Scheduling my credit card payments monthly so I never turn anything in late.
--> Close my one dormant retail credit card I opened when I was 17.
--> Keep my balance low. Keep charging one tank of gas a month on the two cards that aren’t my primary card.

I have "Good" Credit

Thanks to the tip-off from Broke Grad Student, I finally found a way to get my credit score for free! Credit Karma . My Credit Score: 748 – that puts me in the 78th percentile of the national population and my credit would be described as “Good”. For being in my early twenties, I’m pretty satisfied with that!

Credit Score Surprises

When I finally got my credit report (which looked good, although I didn’t opt to pay the $9.95 or whatever it was for my actual credit score) there were only two surprises: apparently I still have my American Eagle credit card open from when I was oh, sixteen (balance-less, thankfully). And, two, I am still recorded as an authorized user of one of my parent’s credit cards. I forgot I had it, but I do have it buried in a drawer at my place – my parents wanted me to have it as a last-ditch safety net of sorts. In case of emergencies. However, I started wondering if this affects my credit rating in any way, and started investigating. Not that I necessarily think my credit rating is better than theirs, but now I’m curious. The answer I found: up until now, yes – you were associated with the credit of the actual user. So you have the perks of their line of credit, but also have all of their credit flaws attached to your record as well (late payments, etc.).

But according to WikiAnswers, this will be changing this year, and the use of authorized user accounts will no longer be involved in the computation of the FICO score, and there will probably be a negative impact as a result:

The '08 version of the FICO scoring software, available in September 2007, will completely bypass any accounts listed as Authorized User. Fair Isaac expects that about 30% of consumers will see a drop in their FICO score as a result of this.

These two sources also paint the other side of the picture – the “guilt by association” effect of being an authorized user... we shall see when this takes effect.
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