Quote:
Originally Posted by eco74
The suggestion to get the credit card is made pretty frequently around here, but it's not like there isn't a cost involved even if you don't use it or pay it off every month. If I'm taking on additional credit, it will impact my credit rating. If that's of no practical concern, then yeah go for it but that won't be true for everyone.
If you consider an overall increase to your score to be an 'impact,' then yeah, it will impact your score. Increased available credit is NOT a bad thing and is costing you nothing since the MLife card has no annual fee. In fact, the increased available credit can help some enough to offset the seven or eight points that might have been 'lost' through the inquiry or the change in average age of accounts.
Certainly there are many who won't see a meaningful impact from the increased available simply because they are already responsible users of credit and are not revolving balances. However, they ARE also the same sort of people that recognize that you ALWAYS get credit when you DON'T need it since banks are not likely to approve a request when the reports make it obvious that someone is in fiscal distress...
Additionally, where there is no annual fee, the prudent consumer will get a card that they can derive some manner of benefit from, either directly through the rewards structure or indirectly through the various benefits associated WITH the card (such as status with the MLife card that allows the free parking).