Well, Looks like my husband & I got a case GEORGE-ITIS. Did our taxes last night, & we owe the IRS about $3K. Instead of paying it outright, the H&R Block preparer suggested we apply for the Household Bank "Balance Due" loan. If we were to repay them before July 15th, it would be an interest free loan, otherwise, it would accrue 18% interest backdating to yesterday. Neither my husband nor I have any negatives, and we carry very little debt: 7% debt to income ratio. DENIED! GEORGE, I feel your pain
I think HHB must be one of those lenders who uses a scoring method geared to profitability. You would obviously be able to pay it or transfer it before the 0% deal expires, and they would not get their 18% later.
That's exactly what we (well, me really; DH just wanted to pay it then & there) wanted to do. The preparer said in the last 3 weeks, only 1 person got approved.
Michael - I wish the preparer did tell us beforehand that most people get denied, so I may end up fighting the inquiry on those grounds. GEORGE - my husband said the same thing: they know they can't expect a profit from us, so they didn't bother. leo728 - The IRS charges back dated interest if the full amount isn't paid by April 15th. Even though I didn't want to deal with HHB based on what I read here on Creditnet, I figured an extra 4 months to hang on to the money would have been nice.
LIARS!!!!! Get this! DH & I get our denial letters from household bank, advising us to write or call for the specific reasons for denial. They denied because we have "too many open accounts with balances & delinquent accounts". I'm like, no, I don't have any negatives on my report & my husband has never had bad credit. You denied us because you didn't think you'd make any $$ off of us, but he kept repeating it's totally based on the credit score & report. So after I get off the phone, I buy our FICO scores. Since last month mine went up 5 points to 722, and DH's score is 759!!! I mean come on! 12 years ago Sears sent my hubby a statement with "$0.00 due". So he was being funny & sent them a check for $0.00. I guess they bit him on the butt for that one. Anyhow, we're disputing that late entry because he really had no payment due that month. Until this happened to us, I never really believed your credit can be "too good" for some lenders.
Re: LIARS!!!!! Rina, make sure they aren't getting you guys confused with someone else! It really sounds like they saw a different credit report than what yours and your husband's are. Maybe you could call the lender and find out for sure and get them to give you more specifics. Its scary when the denial letter doesn't match what's on your report, because you are never sure that they are seeing what you are seeing. I *really* am starting to wonder what the lenders see that we don't. L
Re: LIARS!!!!! Regarding the IRS....you can take up to 5 years to pay them back. They don't care, as long as you're paying. And yes, they DO continue to charge you interest for NOT paying on time.
Re: LIARS!!!!! I called them back, and it confirmed my suspicions that somethin' fishy is going on with their model. I told him the scores & said I know you can't tell me specifically, but are the 722 and 759 similar to what you got? He said yes. I was still going to go for that float if it were possible, but they won't reconsider even with a corrected report (like regular credit apps would). At the time of filing, they're connected to the IRS & would transfer the $$ directly if we were approved. Otherwise, their system tells the IRS we're denied & will be sending a check. I'm over that part. I told him I find it hard to believe that they, a subprime lender, would turn down somebody with good credit. Even if the 30day late pay was correct, it's the only negative. He was nice enough, but I staunchly believe their profitability model knocked us out. Otherwise, I'd have to believe that everybody who has an HHB account has better credit than DH & me.
