Well, George, I think I found the female version of you! My mom! This week, her computer met its maker. It's been struggling for some time and it finally gave up. So, she wanted a Dell (what can I say, she liked the commercial -"That young man is so friendly and always smiling." LOL)and we went online and ordered it. She saw the 0% financing available for 6 months and wanted to use it and then balance transfer in 6 months to her Sears MC with a $13000 limit, current balance $50 something. Mind you, this woman has years of perfect credit, never a late payment, nothing derogatory at all. Credit score in high 700's. Well, Dell did give her a $4000 CL but said she didn't qualify for the special financing. She used her Sears MC instead of their financing. Now, my question: Should she close the DELL account she didn't use? In other words, is it more detrimental to her score than helpful? Thanks!
I bought a Dell for my wife and couldn't be happier. The hard drive failed (Fujitsu) NOT DELL'S Fault and they sent me a new one. I wouldn't listen to james.
Well, here is another situation where FICO punishes those with good credit, basically because it's a situation where the customer provides no profit for the credit issuer. Your Mom could close the account, but because closed positive tradelines remain on her report for 10 years, it won't do much good. She'll take a score hit for having a new account (they count both open & closed), take a score hit for having an inquiry (if it's not the only inquiry on her report), and possibly start receiving negative score reasons such as "too many bankcards" (instant credit accounts are frequently revolving). Better to leave it open, and have it help the overall credit ratio. (Even though she'll also take a score hit for using part of her available credit line on the MC.) When she really, really needs a high score to get a good rate for something important, such as a car or a mortgage, she'll regret trying to save $50 on the computer purchase.
If the account is left open, she doesn't have to buy anything, does she? Or she could buy something small, web cam, digital camera or printer and pay it off just to show utilization. Just a sugestion.
I also tried for the Dell financing (last year) and didn't get the best rate, but was able to pay it off quickly, and my scores are in the low 700's. I wonder if ANYONE qualifies for their 0% financing plan.... Ditto
Actually, I think it *is* dell's fault in choosing bad drives. We are a large business account with dell where I work, and about 6 months ago, I ordered 15 new DELL computers for my department. While I'm generally happy with the systems, about 8 of them had their harddrives fail within 3 months.
Hmmmm...I got the 0% for six months and my scores aren't in the 700s. Strange. Dell isn't reporting for me, so it may not matter if she closes it or leaves it open. L
Thanks to everyone! Now, it's a line of credit so it's there if she needs it as she did not utilize it this time. Good points on the not reporting situation! Lots of good info here and I thank everyone. As for the Dell, I've learned better than to argue with mom and her rationale as in "I like the commercials."
Good thing you said THINK, because my son had a Fujitsu hard drive in his HP, same thing happened to his. It is only obvious that if the hard drive doesn't have DELL on it, that it isn't their fault. Also, Fujitsu recalled like 2 or 3 million drives.....it was because a third party vendor supplied some faulty circuits.
If you would use it again, keep it open...BUT IF THEY WON'T GIVE HER 0.00% NEXT TIME...WHY BOTHER TO KEEP IT OPEN???
