"In order to conduct this shop, you must be credit worthy. This means that you must be able to apply for and qualify for a credit card."

$75 is this enough for you to take this shop?

I'll pass.

Several things to consider:
A - applying for a credit card is a temporary hit to your credit score
B - fully paying off credit cards regularly is a big plus to your credit score and making timely payments on outstanding credit cards is neutral to a plus
C - 'Responsibly' handing multiple credit cards over time is a big plus
D - Having multiple 'lines of credit' (i.e. credit cards) is a plus to your credit score
E - Having more bucks available to you as higher card limits overall is a plus to your credit score

I find that my credit score dips 10-20 points when I have just gotten a new credit card, opened a new bank account, etc. but within a month or two it goes on back up to where it was. I do not anticipate needing to borrow for a car, education, medical emergencies or a new mortgage any time in the near future (or even distant future) so I don't need to worry about a temporary dip possibly costing me higher interest rates. I try to use each of my cards at least every couple of months so that I can pay it off and add to my 'credit worthiness', so the real question I would have at the $75 fee is, "Could I get paid more for opening the card?" The bottom line is if you have the card and you got paid $75 to open it, if in 6 months you have an offer of $200 to open it you won't be eligible because you have it already.

It would absolutely be worth doing if you were considering opening an account for that card anyway. I saw a shop (different MSC than this one) where they want the shopper to buy a new cell phone with a carrier. It pays $75 now for the report and $50 reimbursement towards your phone. It probably doesn't make any sense to go buy a phone if you weren't already planning to. But if you were going to buy a phone on your own dime anyway, this might be worth signing up for.

I think the MSCs are hoping to get some people at the base rate who would be doing the activity anyway and will take an extra $75 or so in exchange for filling out the report about something they would have done anyway.

The credit card offer I got was for $200.00. That was the starting fee, not bonus.

I saw that for an 18-20 year old, so I don't qualify by a handful of decades.

I have gotten that much or more as a bonus to open a credit card directly through a credit card company. Right now you can get $100 if you open a Chase Freedom card and spend $500 in the first 90 days. That is not hard to do -- just charge all your utility bills (and then pay the credit card off before the interest hits). Plus you will get 1% cash back.

Length of credit history is affected by applying for new cards and that is one factor in determining credit score. I use Credit Karma to keep track of my credit scores and details. I have excellent credit, but in the section that refers to credit length it says "fair" -- the average of the length all my credit cards have been open is 7 years. It says it has a "medium" impact on my credit score.

If the card has an annual fee, that is another definite consideration before accepting the MS.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/2015 03:03AM by rainy.