I've seen a credit score increase of 100 points in the past 3 months or so

@MethDozer how did they keep track of them I wonder? They arent what we have today at all

@Nebula Basically all the credit agencies consolidated and centrilized their scores. Then in the 90's we got that FICO abomination.

@Nebula Somewhat. Dun and Bradstreet was around since the mid 19th century, and they were the general source for listing businesses and individuals who had a need for credit.

Until the 1920s, 30s, 40s, 50s, etc. consumer credit was generally handled by businesses themselves. Like department stores and even grocery stores sold on credit and carried the debt, and in most cases the debt was carried through the whole distribution chain; like customers bought on credit from a local retailer who in turn bought on credit from local wholesalers, who in turn bought on credit from regional distributors , who bought on credit from the factories. Meanwhile, banking was mostly local and were a part of that long credit chain.

The great depression wiped out much of that credit chain, as did changes in banking laws, banking consolidation, and the premium that cash carried over credit and by the 1970s turned the retail distribution chain into a COD (cash on delivery) chain. But the blooming boomers had more need than cash so the surge in the credit-card industry to fill that gap.

@Heartlander IIt's the samething. What I don't get is how they build credit but a debit doesn't when they both function the same way. You put $2000 into an account, you no have up to $2000 tk spend on the card. You're debating the difference between a credit or debut card. I don't think you know or grasp what a credit builder card is. You don'y charge tk a credit builder card. You spend what funds you have in the account, there's no credit or credit balance on them.



Fyi you can ring a credit card as a debit and vice versa

@MethDozer Yes, some of the newer POS devices can automatically discriminate which is which as POS devices merge with ATM machines, and a cash advance on a credit card may appear to be the same as a withdrawal from a checking account, but a debit card transaction is still but a shortcut to replace writing a check, and the electronics behind the face of the device are there to connect to your bank account. For a credit card transaction the electronics would connect you to a credit card company and access your line of credit. Writing a check has little to no effect on one's credit rating, except when it's a bad check; paying off a credit card transaction will affect one's credit card rating, even if it's payed in advance. Credit ratings are a tool of the lending industry, not a tool of the deposit side of the banking industry.