When you just applied for a new credit card, you may have seen a “CBNA” on your credit report. If you’ve never received one, you may be worried about what might happen to your credit later.
But it doesn’t mean you have to let it either. If you’ve not applied for a credit account and there’s a CBNA on your credit card, you must definitely do something to protect your identity.
So, what exactly is CBNA on your credit report? Okay, let’s discover the information below!
What Does CBNA Mean on Your Credit Card?
Actually, CBNA can stand for the following:
Citibank North America
CBNA mostly refers to Citibank North America. This is a financial services company in the United States that operates as primary consumer and business banking, including credit and debit cards, investment funds, saving accounts, insurance, loans, deposits, insurance, etc.
What does it mean?
If it appears on your credit card, Citibank has reviewed your credit after you’ve applied to them for credit such as a mortgage, credit card, or car loan. In conducting this review, they may ask you for a hard credit inquiry.
Of course, hard inquiries may have a negative impact on your credit card report since they’ll reduce your credit card score. But also, if you have a few credit accounts, your credit score will also be low, so the creditor may reconsider because they don’t have enough review of your credit history.
Even so, you don’t need to worry. However, hard inquiries are part of the application process for a new credit account. It also determines whether you’re eligible to receive a new credit card.
For example:
If you have applied for a credit card at The Home Depot, you may see THD/CBNA on your credit report. Well, “THD/CBNA” stands for The Home Depot/Citibank North America.
It is known that Citibank offers three retail credit cards for The Home Depot, including:
- The Home Depot Commercial Account
- The Home Depot Consumer Credit Card
- The Home Depot Commercial Revolving Charge Card
This means Citibank is checking your credit. At this time, you may receive a hard credit inquiry. But you need to know that a hard credit inquiry will remain on your report for up to two years, and it may appear even if you haven’t applied for a card recently.
In other cases, if you have been added as an authorized user on one of The Home Depot’s credit cards, THD/CBNA will be on your credit report. This is a way you can build credit, so you are allowed to make purchases at The Home Depot up to the primary account holder’s credit limit. However, you do not officially need to pay back the debt.
But this also has a negative impact on your credit if the main card holder misses a payment that is due.
Credit Bureau of North America
This is a debt collection agency that collaborates with third parties to collect debts that have not been paid by debtors.
What does it mean?
If it appears on your credit report, it means that the agency is authorized to collect your debt because they have purchased it from the creditor. During this collection, they may contact you by telephone, letter, or email and notify you of the payment.
If you have not been able to pay off your debt, you can negotiate with them regarding a payment plan and ask them to remove the entry from your credit report.
Community Bank NA
This is a commercial financial institution providing credit and debit cards, personal loans, checking and savings accounts, mortgages, and financial plans that help individuals reach their financial goals. They’re available in Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.
What does it mean?
If it appears on your credit report, it means that you have applied for a loan from the bank, and Community Bank, N.A., is conducting a hard inquiry into your credit history. And this is part of the loan application process.
Comenity Bank
This credit provider offers a “buy now, pay later” system to many popular retailers. If you apply for a new credit card with Comenity Bank, your credit card will have the Comenity name on it.
Comenity has worked with well-known brands and has issued more than 170 co-branded cards for retailers and sports teams.
Even though those co-branded cards tend to have bad performance, such as expiration dates, poor reward values, and flexible redemption options, they have their own generic rewards cards, which are more competitive, including:
- American Express Bread Cashback Credit Card
- The Ulta credit card
- The IKEA Visa® Credit Card
- PetcoPay credit card
- The Children’s Place credit card
- Some other store cards, such as AAA credit cards, Burlington credit cards, PlayStation credit cards, GameStop credit cards, etc.
What does it mean?
If it appears on your credit card, it means that Comenity Bank is conducting a thorough inquiry into your credit history. This is done after you apply for a store credit card that partners with that bank.
What If CBNA Remains on Your Credit Card?
In some cases, you may be added as an authorized user to someone else’s CBNA account. Sure, CBNA will remain on your credit report. If this happens, you can contact the credit card issuer, for example, Citibank North America, and ask them to remove you from the account.
If you have not applied for anything with CBNA, either a credit card or loan, but you see CBNA on your credit report, you should take steps to write to that financial institution to ask them to remove the credit inquiry from your report if the statement is false.
Although they don’t always do this, it is important to do so because it relates to your identity and personal data.
About Hard Inquiry
A hard inquiry is carried out when a lender or credit company makes a request to review your credit history before your loan application is approved. Creditors are authorized to access your credit history through credit bureaus.
By checking your credit history, creditors can assess your debt habits, for example, some debts you pay past their due date, as well as the possibility of not paying back your debts.
So, creditors can easily decide whether they approve or reject your loan application. Also, they may charge you high interest if you miss payments on your debt.
For two years, the hard inquiry will remain on your credit report. In just a few months, this will impact your credit score.
Even though CBNA’s hard inquiries can damage your credit score, this is not the only reason. There are several other things that can cause your credit score to suffer, such as:
- The length of your credit history
- Your credit payment history
- Your credit utilization ratio
- The number of credits in your name
Conclusion
One part of the loan application process is reviewing your credit to see how good your credit score is and how often you take out loans.
When this process is carried out, a creditor or financial company—either Citibank North America, Community Bank NA, Comenity Bank, or Credit Bureau of North America—will perform a hard inquiry. And then it will be noted on your credit card with “CBNA.”
It’s important to note that the hard inquiry itself will usually impact your credit score. Whether your credit score is high or low will certainly determine whether you can get a new credit card or loan. And that usually happens when you apply for new credit and the creditor revokes your credit file.
