Current Events > I got denied car insurance for having too many credit cards.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I tried getting a car insurance quote from Ameriprise and was denied for that reason.

According to the credit pull from Ameriprise (with Equifax), my score is 829. According to Discover's TransUnion FICO, it is 798.

According to Discover's TransUnion data:
Total Accounts - 33 (22 revolving credit accounts, 11 installment loans)
Length of Credit - 8 years 5 months
Inquiry - 1 in the last 12 months
Revolving Utilization - 4% ($5,079 of $130,900)
Missed Payments - 0

I'm shocked. Someone please help explain.

P.S. I currently have Geico for my insurances (home, auto, life, and umbrella), but heard Ameriprise might be cheaper... so tried getting a quote from them, and was denied.

That's a lot of cards.
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America, fuck yea
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Burgess posted...

That's a lot of cards.

Back when I was younger, I opened up credit cards left and right to get sign up bonuses (like 60,000 miles, $200 back after $500 spent, $500 back after $4000 spent, etc.).

That's weird since your credit is great. It'd make sense if it was awful
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IdiotMachine posted...

I tried getting a car insurance quote from Ameriprise and was denied for that reason.

According to the credit pull from Ameriprise (with Equifax), my score is 829. According to Discover's TransUnion FICO, it is 798.

According to Discover's TransUnion data:
Total Accounts - 33 (22 revolving credit accounts, 11 installment loans)
Length of Credit - 8 years 5 months
Inquiry - 1 in the last 12 months
Revolving Utilization - 4% ($5,079 of $130,900)
Missed Payments - 0

I'm shocked. Someone please help explain.

P.S. I currently have Geico for my insurances (home, auto, life, and umbrella), but heard Ameriprise might be cheaper... so tried getting a quote from them, and was denied.

Wait. Why were you denied a quote for something that you have to pay up front for?
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ChromaticAngel posted...

Wait. Why were you denied a quote for something that you have to pay up front for?

I am guessing it's risk based, and their calculations included my credit history in the risk assessment... And I guess in their calculations, # of credit accounts is directly related to risk

Jesus that's a lot of accounts <_< what the fuck kind of job do you have?
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Why didn't you close some of those churning cards?
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Well anyway the last time I shopped around I found progressive was much cheaper than geico so maybe give them a shot.
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wackyteen posted...

Jesus that's a lot of accounts <_< what the fuck kind of job do you have?

I am a nuclear engineer who dabbles in various investments.

SwordMaster13X posted...

Why didn't you close some of those churning cards?

I didn't think I needed to. Closing churning cards doesn't reduce your average age of account... So what's the point? No idea if closing accounts will still show me as risky...

why not get rid of like 20 of those accounts? at least <_<

i have 2 cards and don't even need the 2nd since i never used it. just got it because it was a bonus deal on new tires. but even then i ended up not using it. they sent an email saying they were gonna close my account since i didn't use it but then sent another email like a week after saying it was a mistake. there's no annual fee so it's not hurting me to have it sit there.

Wow I thought I had a lot of credit cards lol.
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@_BlueMonk
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Damn we have a nuclear engineer and a rocket scientist here. Gamefaqs could probably make a working nuke before North Korea
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creativeme posted...

why not get rid of like 20 of those accounts? at least <_<

Well I use like five of them on a daily basis, to min/max my spendings. You're right though, that I literally don't use probably at least 10 of them.

thronedfire2 posted...

Damn we have a nuclear engineer and a rocket scientist here. Gamefaqs could probably make a working nuke before North Korea

Well to be fair, I don't know wtf I am doing most of the time at work lol. I feel like I'm more of a project engineer, than someone who actually does the math/work.

SwordMaster13X posted...

Why didn't you close some of those churning cards?

Closing dings your credit.

Best is to keep them open, but not use them. So usually people sign up for a card with a great bonus then before the end of the year "downgrade" the card so you don't get an annual fee. As long as your credit utilization was low, it actually helped your score.

I was going to suggest that the debt/income ratio was too high in TC's case, but that doesn't seem it be it. Honestly, it's probably a fluke. Maybe try a different insurance company.
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Soviet_Poland posted...

Closing dings your credit.

I don't think that's true, as long as you paid off your balance before closing it. The average age of credit doesn't go down even if you close the account...

IdiotMachine posted...

Soviet_Poland posted...

Closing dings your credit.

I don't think that's true, as long as you paid off your balance before closing it. The average age of credit doesn't go down even if you close the account...

Oh I see. If you close an account with some balance still remaining on other cards, your credit utilization as a ratio goes up, thereby making credit worse.

If you're under 5% to begin with, the ratio won't change much.

Either way, I think it's dependent on the credit limit of that card. If you only have, say 30k in lines of credit, and have only a balance of 500 on another card, closing a 10k limit card will make some impact, no?
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byron posted...

IdiotMachine posted...

Soviet_Poland posted...

Closing dings your credit.

I don't think that's true, as long as you paid off your balance before closing it. The average age of credit doesn't go down even if you close the account...

It'll give you a lower available credit and your utilization will be a higher percentage.

That's true. I didn't think about that.

IdiotMachine posted...

Soviet_Poland posted...

Closing dings your credit.

I don't think that's true, as long as you paid off your balance before closing it. The average age of credit doesn't go down even if you close the account...

It's not true as a general rule.

Closing dings your account if it causes any of the following things to happen:
1. It's your oldest credit account and you don't have any other accounts of comparable age (max is 10 years, as long as you have two accounts 10 years old or older you can close one of them)

2. It's a large credit account and closing it significantly reduces your total available credit
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