If you have received a credit card, but never activated it, does it go against your credit rating score?

Question

Also, if you do have a card that's activated but don't use it much, will that also go against your credit rating? ($500 limit)

Answer 1

No, it won't go against your credit....all your credit will show is that you have a line of credit extended to you that you don't have a balance on. I doesn't matter how much you use your card. As long as you have credit and pay the bill on time your rating should be good. Always try to pay more than the amount due. Do not cancel your cards, the longer you have credit cards the longer your credit history is.

Answer 2

Activating a card has ABSOLUTLY NOTHING to do with your credit report. If you have a Credit Card the acct is open. Even if you don't activate it you still have an acct. You cannot use the card without activation, but that is where activating a card affecting you ends. If you do not want the acct close it. Some Credit Card companies will close accts after certain periods of inactivity, but don't count on it. Unused credit WILL affect your credit report and score. It affects your Debt-to-Income ratio, whether or not you use the card doesn't matter. ANY open acct is Potential debt, and will effect your credit worthiness. Any acct you don't use you should close, however it is also bad to have "young" accts. "BT Surfing" can negatively affect your credit as well. BT Surfing is when you have a balance and transfer it to another acct, when the intro 0% runs out, transfer to another card, close the card, and repeat, etc. Credit Card companies can see this very easily on your credit report, and it make you a non-profitable acct, and a lot of the time they will low-ball the Line of Credit to you. Like wanted to transfer $10,000 from your current acct to the new one, if you are a BT Surfer you may only get a Line of Credit of $3,000, so the company can limit their loss. They know you are just going to transfer it again in a year, so why should let let you take advantage of them? It is best to have older accts on your credit report, and to utilize less than 50% of the Line of Credit, but at the same time you use them on a consistent basis.

Answer 3

If the credit card has an annual/monthly fee attached to it and you either don't activate it or don't cancel it, the card company will assume you agree to pay the fees and will charge you.
If it has a fee and you don't want to activate it, close it.

If you do not activate and use that card or have never used the $500 limit card, they probably will not help your scores as the credit limits will not be factored in.
You have already taken a hit for the inquiries, but not using the cards will not hurt your scores.

I'm not saying that you should use the cards often, just pull them out about every six months and make a small charge - a pair of socks or a pack of gum, then pay in full when you receive the statement.
Make the cards work for you, not you work for the cards.

Answer 4

The person who rarely uses their card has not established if he or she is a good credit risk. So use your card often,if you don't want to pay interest then pay what you owe every month and on time.Then when you wish to get a mortage for a house someday you will have a good record as to whether or not you are a good risk.
It won't affect your credit if you don't activate it, or activate it and don't use it. But either way the credit card company will get upset if you don't use it and will eventually send you notification of a charge being instituted for inactive accounts.
get all information about credit card at: http://www.credit-card-gallery.com/article/

Answer 5

Strangely enough the person who uses their credit cards the most is the better credit risk because if that person uses credit a lot ,he or she is establishing a credit rating.The person who rarely uses their card has not established if he or she is a good credit risk. So use your card often,if you don't want to pay interest then pay what you owe every month and on time.Then when you wish to get a mortage for a house someday you will have a good record as to whether or not you are a good risk.

Answer 6

I think that just the act of applying for a credit card shows up on your credit. A few cards doesn't hurt, but if you apply for lots of credit cards, even if you never use them, I think that can hurt you slightly. But it wouldn't give you BAD credit. I used to apply for all kinds of credit cards in college cause you got free calling cards, t-shirts, etc. It took 3 years (I think that was the length of time) to wipe those off my credit report. My credit was not bad, it just showed up on the report and I was advised that it could hurt my credit score. Every time you apply for one, they have to do a credit check to approve you, and too many credit checks are what go on your record. (or something like that...)

Answer 7

If you have not activated it, your credit will not be unaffected. Be certain, however, that although you haven't activated it, someone else could. If you don't plan to use it, cut it up.

If you don't use the other as much, that's okay. But try to use at least occasionally. Just pay the balance when due or pay completely to show that you are a careful user.

Answer 8

It won't affect your credit if you don't activate it, or activate it and don't use it. But either way the credit card company will get upset if you don't use it and will eventually send you notification of a charge being instituted for inactive accounts.

Answer 9

No it wont hurt your credit it will help it in the long run. Your debt to available credit ratio will be good and new lenders like to see length of credit history.

Answer 10

not activating the card does not affect your credit!